DANBURY GIRLS SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION

(D.G.S.A.)

CONSTITUION AND BY-LAWS

(Effective January 2017)

 

1. NAME

2. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE

3. GOVERNMENT

4. BOARD MEMBERS AND THEIR DUTIES

5. MANAGER SELECTION CRITERIA

6. MEMBERSHIP

7. RULES

 

 

I.NAME:

A.The name of this organization shall be THE DANBURY GIRLS SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION.

II.PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE:

A.The organization is organized exclusively for the promotion of instruction and training in the fundamentals of softball undersection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or corresponding section of any future federal tax code. The net earnings of which are devoted exclusively to charitable, educational, and recreational purposes.

B.Should DGSA elect to dissolve, all assets would be donated/given to another non-profit organization as approved per DGSA Board of Directors.

C.The objective shall be to promote an attitude of fair play, honesty, sportsmanship, loyalty, courage, reverence and discipline.

III.GOVERNMENT:

A.The government of this association shall be under the supervision of a Board of Directors.

B.A Board of Directors shall be elected to a 1 year term beginning the 2nd Sunday in August by the general membership and shall consist of odd numbers of members, the Association President, Vice President, Secretary, and the Treasurer will make up the officers of the board. Other board positions are Registrar, Equipment Manager, Director of Concessions, Director of Fundraising, T-Ball Coordinator, Association Scheduler and Division Representatives. Board members may be re-elected.

C.Individuals who wish to run for a Board Position must be present at elections or have a letter of intent in writing prior to elections and turned in to a Board Officer.

D.The Board of Directors shall meet the third Sunday of each month or as necessary, and conduct the business of the association. No business may be conducted unless a quorum is present. A quorum shall be more than one-half of the board members. Board members must be given one day’s notice of the meeting and a simple majority will pass or defeat a motion. An attempt must be made to notify all board members of all board meetings. All board meetings are open to the Association membership.

E.The Association shall meet twice a year and conduct the business of the Association. No business may be conducted unless ten members are present, seven of which must be Board Members. The Board of Directors may call for a special Association meeting with 48 hours notice.

F.Vacancies will be filled at the discretion of the board.

G.Board members must abstain from voting if vote concerns themselves and/or their immediate family (i.e., spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister).

H.Any 2 Board members can call a special board meeting.

IV.BOARD MEMBERS AND THEIR DUTIES:

A.Association President:

1.The President shall preside at all meetings as necessary to conduct all of the activities of the Association.

2.The President shall select and chair the following committees: Nominating Committee, Scholarship Committee and Ad-Hoc Committee.

3.The President shall select and chair a Nominating Committee to be composed of three other people. This committee will be appointed during the month of May, and their names and phone numbers will be posted so that anyone interested in a Board position can submit their name for nomination prior to the election. They will be responsible for verifying that the people nominated are willing to accept the position, and will actively seek people to serve on the Board. Nominations will still be accepted from the floor on election day.

4.The President has a non-voting position on the Board unless a vote is required to break a tie or two-thirds vote of the board.

5.The President shall chair and appoint a scholarship committee composed of 5 members. The committee will consist of the President, two (2) additional board members, and two (2) school officials.

B.Association Vice-President:

1.The Vice President shall assist the President at all times, and preside and act in his absence.

2.The Vice President shall select and chair a Rules Review Committee.

3.The Vice President shall serve as the Tournament Director. He/She may appoint another Board Member if necessary.

4.The Tournament Director and Assistant Tournament Director/Division Representative shall arrange for and be responsible for any tournament sponsored by the Association.

5.The Board of Directors shall approve the size, dates, entry fees, and brackets.

6.The Vice President shall serve as the TGCGSA representative.

7.The Vice President shall preside over all pre- and post- season drafting with the representative from that division present.

8.The Vice President will order uniforms for the team players and coaches. No orders may be changed except by the Vice President’s approval.

C.Board Secretary:

1.The Secretary shall keep minutes of all meetings and will present copies of regular meeting minutes for approval at subsequent meetings.

2.The Secretary shall conduct Association correspondence.

3.The Secretary shall arrange meeting places, and notify all Board Members and Active Executive Board members of upcoming meetings.

4.The Secretary shall notify members of any addition of meetings and special events.

5.The Secretary shall take roll at Board meetings and record absences and those present.

D.Treasurer:

1.Records – The Treasurer shall keep and maintain current financial records in ledger form of all income and expenses. He/She shall prepare monthly and yearly financial statements. He/She shall submit all records for Income Tax purposes to a professional firm approved by the  Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall approve the return prior to filing.

2.Bank Accounts – The Association shall maintain a checking account in a local bank to be selected by the Board of Directors. The treasurer is fully responsible for the records of the Operating Account. All receipts from the Concession Stand will be deposited into the Operating Account.

3.Accounts Payable – All accounts shall be paid by check by the Association. Receipts should be turned in to the Treasurer and retained for the year. All checks shall require 2 signatures of the following officers of the board: Treasurer, Association President, Vice-President, and/or Concession Director.

4.When the Treasurer leaves town for any reason the checkbook must be left with the President or Vice President.

5.The Treasurer will report at all regular meetings the status for accounts and show checks issued for that month and produce a spreadsheet and/or bank statements reflecting incoming and outgoing funds.

6.The Treasurer will be the Agent for DGSA for all correspondence with the State of Texas. The duly recorded address to the State of Texas will be P.O. Box 818 Danbury, TX 77534.

E.Registrar:

1.The Registrar shall be responsible for maintaining a current roster of the players, parents of players, Board of Directors, and the General Membership. The Registrar shall keep and maintain copies of all players’ birth certificates.

2.The Registrar shall be responsible for providing each team Manager with their current year player roster, a blank ASA Official Waiver and Release of Liability & Indemnification Form (current year ASA Official Roster), and copies of their player’s birth certificates, prior to the each teams parent meeting.

3.The Registrar shall be responsible for hand-delivering the Original current year ASA Official Roster, registration forms and copies of birth certificates from each DGSA team and to the District 27 ASA Youth Commissioner along with registration fee. Registrar may delegate this responsibility to any person on the current year DGSA Board if for any reason is unable to perform this responsibility.

4.The Registrar shall be responsible for obtaining bid’s for the taking of team photos in early January of the current year and present the bid’s to the Board of Director’s for consideration and approval of a photographer to use.

 

F.League Representatives:

1.The League Representatives shall in general supervise and control the business, and affairs of their Division. He/She shall act as a liaison between the Coaches, Teams, and Board of Directors in the division they represent. All team complaints must be in writing and presented to their respective Division Representative who will in turn present it to the Board of Directors.

2.The Division Representative will be responsible for relaying all pertinent board decisions to their coach or team in their division. In the event of absence of Division Representative it must be presented to the Association President only.

3.He/She shall maintain compliance with Constitution and By-Laws, Playing Rules, and Regulations, and inform the Board of all violations.

4.He/She shall issue each coach in his/her division equipment, uniforms, and fund-raising materials by receipt. All receipts will be held pending return of merchandise, or money in lieu of merchandise.

5.He/She shall not be a manger or coach in his/her division.

6.He/She shall assist in the collection and verification of all issued DGSA property. The division coach, if damaged by means other than routine wear, will explain returned property. Any item damaged by abuse will be the responsibility of the coach who possessed said equipment.

7.He/She shall assist the Vice President in presiding over pre- and post-season drafting for his/her division.

8.He/She will act as the Assistant Tournament Director for the division that they represent. He/She will work with the Vice President on their respective tournament.

9.There will be a total of six league representatives. T-Ball, Pixie I, Pixie II, 10U, 12U,  and A Ball Teams.

G.Equipment/Field Manager:

1.Distribute to managers all playing equipment. Managers will be required to sign receipts for all equipment and uniforms, and be responsible for its return.

2.Solicit at least three (3) bids from Sporting Goods stores for equipment and uniforms. All bids must be submitted to the Board of Directors for consideration and approval. All purchases must come from board-approved suppliers.

3.Purchases over $100.00 must have approval of at least 3 additional board members, with the exception of game balls, chalk and score books.

4.An inventory of all DGSA equipment must be maintained annually.

H.Director of Concessions:

1.The Director of Concessions shall order supplies for the concession stand.

2.The Director of Concessions shall keep financial records of all concession costs and present a status report at regular meetings on receipts and expenses, and deliver the money as necessary to the treasurer for depositing into the operating account.

3.The Director shall serve as chairperson of the Concessions Committee. The Committee shall consist of each league representative.

 

I.Association Scheduler:

1.The Scheduler shall attend scheduling meetings and be the contact person for all scheduling situations.

2.The Scheduler shall coordinate all scheduling with the District 27 Scheduler.

3.The Scheduler shall be responsible to approve and reschedule all games of Danbury teams.

4.The Scheduler shall contact the umpires of game changes.

5.The Scheduler shall schedule T-ball games.

6.The Scheduler shall schedule all events on DGSA facilities.

J.Fund Raising Director:

1.The Fund Raising Director will form a committee of Association members to make recommendations to the board on any fundraising ideas. The Board of Directors must approve these ideas. They will coordinate with the League Representatives on any correspondence to the teams.

K.General Duties of all Board Members:

1.All Board Members are expected to participate in all DGSA functions (i.e., meetings, fund-raisers, events, tournaments, workdays, etc.)

2.All Board members are expected to serve as board member on duty which consists of serving as facility official during games, opening and closing of concession stand and equipment room etc.

3.Board members that do not attend 3 consecutive meetings or events are subject to removal by discretion of the board of directors.

L.Ex Official Members:

1.Any member in good standing having served as Association President will be allowed to serve as a non-voting member on the Rules, By-Laws, and Executive Committee.

V.MANAGER SELECTION CRITERIA:

A.Managers shall be appointed by action of the Board based on written applications from the Manager candidates.

B.Manager and assistant manager candidates must submit a completed application form to the Board by the posted deadlines.

C.All candidates for the position of manager and assistant manager must meet the objectives of this Association and be of age 18 or older. Selection will be based on experience, and previous conduct in DGSA, of Board approved applicants.

D.All new and returning candidates for manager and/or assistant manager must be approved by majority vote of the Board, pending background check.

E.The Board approved managers and assistant managers returning in a league shall be automatically appointed to his/her team from the prior season, including advancement from one division to the next.

1.In the event that more than one returning manager returning to the same division has partial teams and     not enough players to reasonably fill all rosters, the manager with the most returning players will be appointed as team manager.

2.In the event that a manager is advancing up into a division and has partial teams and not enough players to reasonably fill all rosters, the current manager of that division will be appointed as team manager. 

3.In the event a manager does not return to a team within a league, (if desired) assistant manager may take the position of manager if that person is in good standing and approved by the Board. If not, then all Board approved applicants for manager, will be considered.

F.The Registrar and League Representative for each league will prepare a ballot of their respective division of the remaining manager candidates in alphabetical order and certify the number of coaching vacancies. The DGSA Board will then vote on the candidates.

G.The President and the Registrar will collect the ballots, and in conjunction with the Board Members, count the votes.

1.Any ballot containing more votes than the number of coaching vacancies will be voided.

2.The candidate receiving the most votes shall be appointed manager. If more than one opening exists, the candidate with the next most votes shall be appointed manager, etc., until all vacancies are filled.

H.Managers elected under Part G will draw for teams immediately following the board vote.

I.Managers will select one person to serve as assistant coach. These selections are required to submit a league application form to the DGSA Board for approval by the posted deadline. Applications will be taken only if a vacancy exists after the posted deadline.

J.All field coaches are required to submit a league application and provide proof of a cleared background check from www.registerasa.com prior to draft. Failure to do so will result in loss of managing/coaching privileges.

VI.MEMBERSHIP

A.Memberships:

1.Parents/legal guardians of children who participate in DGSA and/or volunteers, who contribute their time and/or resources to the softball program is a member and ha a vote at all general meetings.

 

B.Participation:

1.Any youth who meets the requirements of age and other requirements that may be stated in the constitution, or the National, or State affiliate organization is eligible to participate in the activities of the organization.

2.Any youth may play in any association, as defined by District 27 ASA rules.

C.Suspension:

1.The Board of Directors shall at any time by a two-thirds majority vote have the authority to suspend any member of the Association (playing or non-playing by due process) whose conduct is determined by the members of the Danbury Softball Association or Board of Directors to be detrimental to the purpose of objective of the program.

D.Due Process:

1.All written complaints are to be resolved within a 30-day period after being presented to the DGSA Board of Directors.

2.If written complaint is brought to the attention of the DGSA Board and the Board considers the complaint warrants further action, the Board will assign the complaint to the Ad-Hoc Committee for review and recommendation. If the person involved is a Board member, the situation will be addressed at a special Board meeting held as soon as possible. The Board will decide if further action is necessary. This will include letters in response to both the complainant and the person to which the complaint refers.

VII.RULES

A.Meetings will be conducted in the following order:

1.Call to order

2.Old Minutes

3.Treasurer Report

4.Committee Reports

5.Old Business

6.New Business

7.Agenda for Next Meeting

8.Adjourn Meeting

B.Meetings will be conducted with general parliamentary procedures.

C.The official organization rules and regulations shall be those of the official rules of the National or State Affiliate in addition to those stated in this Constitution.

D.Association rules shall be prepared by the Board of Directors, approved by the Association, govern league play and discipline, and shall be filed with Danbury Softball Association President before league play begins. League rules may not take precedence over affiliate rules of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Association.

E.The Rules and Regulations of the State or National Affiliate and league rules will define league ages in the absence of affiliation.

F.There will be NO Alcoholic Beverages consumed or sold at any DGSA function (i.e. fund-raisers, tournaments, workdays, ball games, and board meetings.)

G.Upon acceptance of these rule changes, changes can only occur once a year at the general meeting by a 2/3 majority vote of the Association Membership and it must be a quorum of the Board and at least 3 members of the Association that are not Board Members. No rule changes may take place from date of draft through the completion of post-season play, unless mandated by association or A.S.A., which may supersede or affect DGSA. Monetary values may be changed, as the Board deems necessary.

1.Upon acceptance of these rules, they will be effective immediately.

H.Rules will be provided for parents at sign-ups.

 

 

Agreed to and Approved by the DGSA Board of Directors 2016-2017

 

__________________________                    __________________________                   

President                                                         Vice President

 

__________________________                    __________________________

Treasurer                                                         Secretary

 

__________________________                    __________________________

Registrar                                                          Scheduler

 

__________________________                    __________________________

Concession                                                      Field Maintenance

 

__________________________                    __________________________

Player Rep                                                      A Ball Rep