BY-LAWS OF THE 
FRANKLIN COUNTY SPORTSMEN’S CLUB, INC. 
INCORPORATED JANUARY 1988
Amended May 2021

ARTICLE 1

Name
The name of this Organization shall be the Franklin County Sportsmen's Club, Inc. 
The words "Society" "Club" and "Organization" appearing herein shall mean the 
Franklin County Sportsmen's Club, Inc. 

ARTICLE 2

Purpose
The purpose of this Organization is to support and sustain the Shooting Sports in Franklin County, Massachusetts to establish and maintain a Club for the enjoyment and practice of the Shooting Sports by the Club's membership, to promote education and training in the skills and ethics of the Shooting Sports, and to insure the perpetuation of the Shooting Sports in Franklin County, our State and our Nation; and to do any and all other acts and things which may be necessary and convenient in connection with the purpose thereof and in connection therewith to do all things permissible under Chapter 180 of the General Laws of Massachusetts. 

ARTICLE 3

Membership
Section 1. Membership in the Franklin County Sportsmen's Club shall be open to any individual adult citizen of the United States who possesses a current License to Carry or Federal Identification Card in Massachusetts, and who can certify they are not prohibited by any reason of law from possessing a firearms license in Massachusetts or the state in which they reside, that they have not been convicted of a felony, or for no other reason of law from not possessing firearms or ammunition. This includes Annual, Family, Student (18-23 years), and Senior Memberships.

Section 2.  Individual Memberships in the Club entitles the member to a vote comprised of full voting rights and privileges in all Club endeavors.  Family memberships are recognized as two Individual Members and carry a single vote per person of full voting rights and privileges.  All Individual memberships confer the privileges of individual access to and use of the facilities of the Club subject to and in a manner consistent with the Club's Rules and Regulations. 

Section 3. Membership applications for new membership in the Club must be approved by the Interview Committee in accordance with the guidelines set by the BOD and must attend the next regularly scheduled Club Meeting.  The Interview Committee shall have the right to carefully screen all applicants for membership regarding character and reputation in 
accordance with accepted practices.  The attendance of the applicant proposed for membership is requested at the interview and the next regularly scheduled Club Meeting.  
Thereafter, the elected member shall become a provisional member upon payment of the annual dues. Newly elected members shall be considered provisional members for the 
first six months of their membership, understanding that the Club can ask for their 
resignation for any reason during that time. At the end of six months their status reverts to a regular membership. 

Section 4.  All Club Membership Dues shall be paid annually.  The amount of the annual dues shall be recommended by the Board of Directors. In the event of a change or increase it, shall be approved by a majority vote of the General Membership at a regular Club meeting.  The Membership Director shall notify all members who are two months in arrears, and those whose dues are not paid within 30 days thereafter shall be dropped from membership from the Club.
Section 5. Any member desiring to resign from the Club shall submit his resignation 
in writing to the Secretary, who shall present it to the Board of Directors for action. 
Section 6. All members must obey Club rules and regulations. In the event that a member’s actions or conduct is in violation of the rules or becomes injurious to the organization and its purposes, the Club has the right to discipline the member according to the parliamentary procedure followed by this organization.  Punishments that may be imposed by the BOD include reprimands, fines, suspension, or expulsion. The Executive Committee shall be the primary disciplinary body of the Organization and may invoke the right to use executive session for certain disciplinary proceedings. 

ARTICLE 4

Officers and Directors
Section 1. Officers
The officers of the Organization shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and 10 Directors. These officers shall perform the duties prescribed by these bylaws and the parliamentary authority adopted by this Organization. 

Section 2. Nominating Committee

At the General Meeting held the third Wednesday of October, a Nominating Committee shall be elected by the Board of Directors. It shall be the duty of this committee to gather candidates for the offices to be filled at the annual election in January.  The Nominating Committee will meet before the end of October to prepare the Call to Ballot to be sent out by the beginning of November. Once they have a full ballot it will need to be sent out by the first week of December.  All ballots counted will be of members that have a paid, current membership. Election night will be the second Tuesday of January in which the ballots will be counted, and the list of new Board of Directors will be posted.

Section 3. Term in Office

The officers and directors shall be elected by ballot to serve for one year or until their successors are elected, and their term of office shall begin at the following General Monthly Meeting after the election has closed. There shall be four (4) Executive Members, President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. Ten (10) BOD Members and one (1) Past President, Ex-Officio, which shall hold this position until there is another eligible Past President (term unlimited).

Section 4. Eligibility

No member shall hold more than one office at a time, and no member shall be eligible to serve more than three consecutive terms in the same office.

Section 5. President
	The president shall be the chief executive officer of the Organization and, 
subject to the control of the directors and shall have general charge and supervision of the affairs of the Organization.  The president shall preside at 
all meetings of the members and at all meetings of the directors, except as 
the members or Directors shall otherwise determine. 

Section 6. Vice-President

	The Vice-President shall have and may exercise all the powers and duties of 
	the president in the President's absence or in the event of the President's 
	inability to act, and the Vice President shall have such other powers and 
	duties as may be determined by the directors.

ARTICLE 4 (cont’d)

Section 7. Treasurer

The Treasurer shall be the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Accounting Officer of the Organization.  The Treasurer shall oversee the Club's financial affairs, funds, securities, and valuable papers and shall keep full and accurate records thereof.  The Treasurer shall have such other duties and powers as designated by the directors or the President. The Treasurer shall also oversee the Club's financial books of accounts, accounting records and the Club's accounting procedures. 

Section 8. Secretary 

	The Secretary shall record and maintain records of all proceedings of the members 	and directors in a series of files kept for that purpose. Such files shall be kept 
	within the Commonwealth at the principal office of the Organization or at the
office of its Secretary, or of the Club's resident agent and shall be available at 	all reasonable times to the inspection of any member.  These files shall also 	contain records of all meetings of Directors and the original or attested copies of 	the Articles of Organization and Bylaws. The names of all members and 	Directors and the address of each shall be available from the Membership
Committee at any time. If the Secretary is absent from any meeting of the
members or Directors, a Temporary Secretary shall be chosen at the meeting and 
shall exercise the duties of the Secretary at the meeting. 

Section 9. Suspension or Removal

	An officer may be suspended or removed with or without cause by vote of a 
	majority of Directors then in office at any special meeting called for such 	purpose or at any regular meeting. An officer may be removed with cause 
	only after reasonable notice and opportunity to be heard.

Section 10. Vacancies

	If the office of any officer becomes vacant, the Directors may elect a successor. Each 	such successor shall hold office for the unexpired term, and in the case of the 	President, Treasurer, and Secretary, until their successor is elected and qualified, or 	in each case until they die, resign, is removed, or becomes disqualified. 

ARTICLE 5

Meetings

Section 1. The regular meetings of the Organization shall be held on the third Wednesday of each month unless otherwise ordered by the Society. Virtual meetings shall be considered acceptable if the need presents.  Voting on articles by the organization or Board of Directors of other club business that may arise shall be allowed by contacting as many members as are present on the current electronic member list, or the current Board of Directors list.

Section 2. The annual meeting shall be held separately on the Wednesday prior to 
the second Saturday in January and shall be for the purpose of electing officers, 
receiving reports of officers and committees, and for any other business that may 
arise. 

Section 3. Special meetings may be called by the President or by the Board of Directors and shall be called upon the written request of ten regular members of the Society.  The 
purpose of the meeting shall be stated in the call. Except in cases of emergency, at least three days’ notice shall be given. 

Section 4. Eight members of the Society, two (2) of which must be Club Officers, shall constitute a quorum.

ARTICLE 6

Board of Directors

Section 1. The Board of Directors shall be comprised of the Executive Board including the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  The remaining board will be the 10 elected Directors and the Past President (Ex-Officio); fifteen officers in total. All 14 Directors will be elected from the General Membership. 
Section 2. The Board of Directors shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Club between its business meetings, fix the time and place of meetings, appoint special action committees, set rules and regulations governing the conduct of the Club and all its business, and perform such other duties as are specified in these bylaws.  The Board shall be subject to the orders of the Society, and none of its acts shall conflict with action taken by the Society.
Section 3. Unless otherwise ordered by the Board, regular meetings of the Board of 
Directors shall be held as scheduled by the President. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the President and shall be called upon the written request of three members of the board.

Section 4. The Board of Directors shall seek the approval of the General Membership for purchases that exceed $10,000. This approval shall be made by a two-thirds majority vote at a monthly meeting. Notification of this vote will be made 30 days prior to said meeting.

ARTICLE 7

Treasury

The Treasurer shall hold all monies and cash held by the Club in specially designated accounts in the name of the Club.  The Treasurer shall collect all monies held by the Club and deposit same within thirty (30) days of receipt of said funds by the Club. The Treasurer will reflect deposits and Disbursements from these accounts in the keeping of a proper book of accounts. These records shall be open to scrutiny by the Directors or Officers of the Club or by any member upon proper and written request through the Board of Directors.

ARTICLE 8

Committees
Section 1. Auditing Committee. 
	The finances will be audited annually as approved by the Board of Directors.

Section 2. Membership Director
A Membership Director shall be established whose duties it shall be to process all applications for Club membership. This Director is responsible 
for all membership record keeping and for keeping the Club roster of members current and up to date. It will annually provide the Treasurer with a 
list of members two months in arrears in their dues. The Membership 
Director in conjunction with the Executive Committee shall have the right to suspend or revoke provisional membership. 

Section 3. Range Management, Safety and Development Committee 
A Range Management, Safety and Development shall be the responsibility of the Board of Directors and Executive Board.  The running of the ranges, recommend new and enforce existing Safety Rules, and develop new and existing shooting activities shall be their responsibility.

Section 4.  Nominating Committee.
This committee will be responsible for coordinating along with the President all aspects of running the Annual Elections Meeting to be held in January of each year.

Section 5. Other Committees. 
	Such other committees, standing or special, shall be appointed by its
President as the Society or the Board of Directors shall from time to time deem
necessary to carry on the work of the Organization.  The President shall be an 
Ex-Officio member of all committees except the Nominating Committee.

ARTICLE 9

Dissolution of the Franklin County Sportsmen's Club

In the event of the need to dissolve the Franklin County Sportsmen's Club, Inc., all outstanding bills and liabilities must be paid or provided for as required by the liquidation of the then standing Club assets. Only after all creditors of the Organization have been made whole, and the Club's Officers and Directors taken out of harm's way, can there be any further proceeds to distribute. Any remaining assets of the Club will be transferred determined by vote of the regular, active membership in accordance with State and Club By-Laws. 

ARTICLE 10

Parliamentary Authority

The rules contained in the current edition of "Roberts Rules of Order - Newly 
Revised" shall govern this body in all cases to which they are applicable, and in 
which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws or any special rules of order the 
Club may adopt.

ARTICLE 11

Amendment of Bylaws
These By-Laws may be amended at any regular meeting of the Club by a two-thirds 
vote of the members present and voting, provided that the amendment has been 
submitted in writing at the previous regular meeting, and notification has been sent to all members at least 10 days before the vote. 

ARTICLE 12

Fiscal Year 
The Fiscal year shall be the calendar year.

ARTICLE 13

Tax Exempt Corporation
The Franklin County Sportsmen's Club, Inc. shall be a tax-exempt organization of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and under Section 501 C (4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. 
ARTICLE 14

Liability
The members, Directors, and officers of the Organization shall not be personally 
liable for any debt, liability, or obligation of the Organization. All persons, 
corporations, or other entities extending credit to, contracting with, or having any 
claim against the Organization may apply to the funds and property of the corporation 
for the payment of any such contract or claim, or for the payment of any debt, damages, 
judgments, or decree, or of any money that may otherwise become due and payable to 
them from the corporation.