I'm the Secretary of a car club in the Madison area and we're having some issus with a few members... If you are/have been involved in a car club, does your club have "bylaws" that you follow? The past President insisted we have bylaws and more and more I'm finding them more annoying then necessary. I'm just out to have a good time and show the Chevelle, not worry about politics.

With arklatex I think.And Houston Chevelles,no officers there.Allways seems it to hard to get a group together at the same time.And power corrupts.

I'm the secretary of our car club, and we have by-laws but it is more to have a bit of structure; I don't think we've ever really had to specifically "invoke" them or anything. We've got 250 members and a waiting list for more to join, and everything's been running smooth. We really have no "political" problems in our club. What kind of trouble are you having? Feel free to PM or email me if you want.

One of the reasons I gave up with local car clubs, too much BS usually. Seems there are several people who do everything for the club, then there are people who do nothing but want it all done their way. :clonk:
Reminds me of high school. And boy am I way past that!
Good luck hun :thumbsup:
rachael anne :waving:

A few friends and I were going to start a new club. We were going to call it the
LOOZERS CAR CLUB. The guy that makes the most screw ups on his car that week is the president. lol. We seem to have a lot of friends that can qualify for this, including me, Bigtime. lol. No other politics involved, only rule is you have to bring beer

I'm in the local, "let's get together and eat", car club.

Every now and then someone brings up something about their car but the subject is quickly changed.

Rachael,
Here's a simple solution: join the Northstar Chevelle Club. A great bunch of Chevelle lovers just up the road from you (I-94 that is). Our fearless leader Derek and his successor Brad do most of the work and we all have a great time. Lots of knowledge, no fighting, just fun. Check out:

http://www.chevelles.net/forum/ultimatebb.php/category/2.html

Paul

I'm president of our local club. We have bylaws but they are pretty simple and don't get into fine detail (which allows for some flexibility). We must be doing something right since we have quite a few members from all over the midwest (Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska) even though we are predominently based in the Omaha/Lincoln/Council Bluffs area. We collect dues so we have to have some kind of structure and controls for that aspect if no other. We try our best to involve the entire membership in any meaningful decisions.

Mr. Dean is a high mucky munk in our club, Mid Americs Chevelle Club. I'm sure he can tell you a few stories.

i am in 2 clubs TRI-STATE CHEVELLES and
THE RUMBLERS.they both have by-laws but like others said just for structure. i have some real good freinds in both clubs.our chevelle club we get togather once a month.been in it 3 years have only seen a few get p. o. but not over by-laws and they are gone.
joined the rumblers because we see most of them 3-5 nights a week at local cruise-inns they are not big into politics either 5/15 /05 the RUMBLERS are celabrating there 50th aniversery.no matter what you can't make everyone happy
if you have a problem with some of your by-laws why not have a vote at your next meeting?
GOOD LUCK

I'm in the Hoosier State Chevelle Association. We have by-laws but are seldom necessary. We have well over 50 paid-up members but only about 15 to 20 that go to meetings and club functions.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The Northstar Chevelle Club has by-laws too. Usually, Karl or Larry buys everybody lunch, and Derek buys the beer.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The Northstar Chevelle Club has by-laws too. Usually, Karl or Larry buys everybody lunch, and Derek buys the beer.

We were required to have by-laws by the IRS and the state of MN so that we could be incorporated, and be "not for profit"

Being involved in a club can be a lot of work, but we're a pretty casual club, which makes it way more fun. :thumbsup:

Iam in the Heart of Dixie Chevelle Club, and Peach State Club. Both are great! I like it due to no politics! If that ever came up, then I would leave. The people are great in both clubs. Its just a big family. I have met a lot of friends through both. I dont have time for BS, as I get enough of that and stress at work. When I am off from work I just want to enjoy my 67 and see my friends.

Just asking as we have a club with around 75-100 members but of course only a few participate. I don't have a problem with that. Lately we've had some real complainers that are making life miserable for the officers, but it sounds like that's pretty normal. I've tried to turn the other cheek and make them realize this is a car club , not a multi million dollar organization. If I had my way, there would be no bylaws, we'd just be in the club for the love of cars and the friendships that go along with that...

I just joined the Marylam Chevelle Club and got a two page packet of by laws.

The only Car Club at this time that I deal with is The Car Club I put on my steering Wheel. Was associated with a Trans Am Car club years back, thats about it.

Rachael,
Here's a simple solution: join the Northstar Chevelle Club. A great bunch of Chevelle lovers just up the road from you (I-94 that is). Our fearless leader Derek and his successor Brad do most of the work and we all have a great time. Lots of knowledge, no fighting, just fun. Check out:

http://www.chevelles.net/forum/ultimatebb.php/category/2.html

Paul

Or you could join the Md Chevelle Club, ya don't have to live in Md to join. We have bylaws and pay dues and there is a group that does most of the work and many more pitch in during our annual show. Just click on the link in my sig for more info. NO political fighting that I know of.

Just to make it clear... i AM a member of the Carolina Chevelle Club, but that's not like the local one i was involved with a few years ago. CCA is a FANTASTIC group of people! Nuthing like the other one.
Ya'll remember THAT fiasco don't ya? :D
Hey... IF IT IS A CHEVELLE CLUB - there ain't no problems! :thumbsup:
I know I will be joining the chief muckamucks club when I get home to MO - long as Dean will let me in!
Thanks for the invites PaulS and Leo! Leo - you know me and JJ would be dukin it out in 5 min., tho that might be fun for ya'll to see!
rachael anne :waving:

For those that have bylaws, just what do they say? I can't imagine getting two pages of bylaws! :(

Not sure if we had any bylaws,didn't get any.Went by roberts rules of order.Had to have three of more officers to vote.Looks like might be something starting in dallas.Hope it will be state.Just going to get my elky finished ,few neighborhood stuff.Going to get my stuuf out now to ACES and shoot for CB06.Leave the "i'm mad,and taking my ball home" people alone.

RMCC put in bylaws to deal with just this problem, and to ensure we kept going. Without officers the club grinds to a halt. We've got 65 members now and they are all great. No problems of any kind, and we don't play BS politics either.

I've been in a prior club that had major issues with members and can see how that ruins it for everyone. Suck, and I hate to hear it.

We're putting on our second show this year and can't wait!

I started the Mid America Chevelle Club back in 1987 and we have had by-laws since the beginning but recently updated them.
In the state of Kansas, in order to maintain a non profit corporation status we are required by law to have by laws and officers and to keep minutes of board meetings.

Those of us that do take part and are active have a lot of fun together but we have some members who never come and participate in anything so it's always the same few people doing everything.
In fact, we have some people that have been members for years, yet I have never seen them and wouldn't know them if we ever met.
We have surveyed the membership and tried to get ideas of what they want their club to be/do and no one says anything.

Wondering why so many come and GO and what we might do to make the club better, spark more interestand retain members, we had been discussing how to get members to take more interest.
We decided to remove the politics from our meetings and do more fun things by having seperate board meetings and seperate fun club meetings with no business being discussed.

We thought maybe the reason we keep loosing members was because people don't really want to come to meetings and here all the bickering and boring stuff.
The plan was to have something planned that would be more fun and interesting at every general club meeting.

Guess what, one person that never came and did anything with us anyway got mad and quit and joined another Chevelle club 200 miles away.
Go figure ?

Even though we all do share the same interest in cars, probably the most enjoyable part of belongong to a club is just the great people, making new friends and the comarodery.

Can someone explain to me what "bylaws" are?

Is it things like "if you belong to our club, the raised white letters on your tires have to face inward, because everyone elses does" ?

Maybe some examples would help as well....

I didn't get mad Dean, I just didn't like the fact the dues paying general membership has no vote on club issues, so I moved on! Nothing more, nothing less.


Rocky

Can someone explain to me what "bylaws" are?

Is it things like "if you belong to our club, the raised white letters on your tires have to face inward, because everyone elses does" ?

Maybe some examples would help as well....

Our club bylaws are posted on our web site, take a look: http://heartland.chevelles.net/bylawspage.html

They are basic rules dictating structure and basic procedures of the club.

Rich, just curious why you need to be a U.S. citizen?

Section 2: All elected officers must be Current Members, U.S. citizens and twenty-one (21) years or older.

Here's ours

http://macc.chevelles.net/members/macc_bylaws.pdf

Rich, just curious why you need to be a U.S. citizen?

Section 2: All elected officers must be Current Members, U.S. citizens and twenty-one (21) years or older.

We created our bylaws from a basic sets of bylaws drawn from various sources as used for purposes such as ours. We changed them to meet our needs in some places but left much of the original wording as we found it. This part is a legal safety measure. We saw no need to change this bit of wording as we are based in Nebraska and it only makes sense that our officers be members and U.S. citizens. Since officers have control over the club funds, it just makes sense that we wouldn't want someone outside full US legal jurisdictions to have access to our funds. Our member who is a lawyer recommended keeping that clause in our bylaws and no one else saw any reasons to remove it.

Makes sense. I wont be able to use that bylaw living in california.

DEAN
i like the board system your club has.when awhole club is bounceing idaes around at meetings it gets stretched out,and takes away from the chevelle talking time. my wife pretty much refuses to go because of that unless we have meeting at a show. just when you think the bussiness is about over up comes another off the wall subject. MAC is a catchy club name also.

Other than ACES and TC I have not been a member of any other clubs in the last 2 years. I was the treasurer for the local club for 2 or 3 years. I decided to not run for reelection since it was requiring me to be at every club function and I was no longer having fun. I still hang out with the local club when I can but I don't miss the behind the scenes stuff.
The local club was different in that nobody wanted to be the prez.

The Tri-State Chevelle Club has bylaws. We have them posted here (http://www.chevelles.net/tristate/printables/ByLaws.pdf). We have them just as structure. We are a pretty laid back group when we get together. Like Jerry said, we tend to stray off subject at times. You know how that is. Bench Racing stray into the club meetings no matter how hard we try to maintain organization.

Thanks for the bylaw's! We're in the process of "cleaning house" and redoing the bylaw's set by the previous @#%* President is the first item on the agenda. I'll put these to good use!

It amazes me how quickly one or two people (or groups) can ruin a perfectly good thing.... Life's too short to worry about such trivial issues but people do!

I'm a rogue :D
Other than TC and a loose association with the New England Oldsmobile Club and the Connecticut Chevelle Connection,thats about it.
Just don't have the time...