Since, under Section 5.8 of the Constitution "…Amendments may be proposed by a majority of an Annual Meeting…" and "The Constitution may be amended by a two thirds majority of the votes cast in a mail vote…sent to all members at least 30 days prior to voting."

I, Bill Henderson, a Full Member of the Association and a member of the Executive, propose that this meeting request the Secretary to prepare and hold a mail vote to:

Amend Section 5.12 (Membership Fee) by replacing the first two sentences of the section, with the following…

"The Executive shall establish the annual fee to be paid by Full and Associate Members for the Membership Year, which will run from April 1 to March 31. Members shall be invoiced by March 1 each year with payment due immediately and new members, enrolling on or after October 15, shall be entitled to membership for the forthcoming membership year."

Under the present Constitution, the Annual Fee Invoice should be mailed before Dec 31 but, in practice, it has rarely been sent out until mid January (and no one noticed?) anyway, we found that the earlier it went out the more our members failed to pay by return and then 'excused' their late payments because they didn't remember receiving an invoice or had 'lost' it!

Routinely, every year, at least half the membership fail to remit their fees by the end of the first Quarter but those that do, are already looking for their ‘proof of payment’! This places severe pressure on the Secretary to prepare, print and distribute Membership Cards in several batches so as to be in time for the early season races.

The proposed amendment will mean that members receive their invoices by April 1, when everyone is at least beginning to be sailing minded and, with the first "Counter Regatta" only two months away and 200 or so getting 'anxious' about their insurance renewal on June 1, most will hopefully send in their cheques by return. The Secretary may then be able to print and distribute 80% or more of the Membership Cards, in one mailing, before most of us are actually in the water and can get on with preparing and launching her own boat?