Lewis-Clark State College

Classified Staff Organization Bylaws

Revised December 2012

Article I. Mission

To represent the interests of classified employees at Lewis-Clark State College by working with other constituents of the campus for the improvement of personnel and program management, morale, working conditions, and productivity.

A. To provide leadership opportunities for classified employees in the promotion and development of programs, policies, and procedures that complement the LCSC Mission.

2. To provide formal representation on behalf of classified employees in policy matters pertaining to personal and professional welfare.
3. To promote an active role for classified employees in the institution’s governance structure.
4. To make recommendations regarding the establishment, interpretation and publicity of operating policies and procedures.
5. To cooperate with the Faculty and Professional Staff Organizations in the formulation of joint recommendations relative to problem solving common to faculty, professional and classified employees.
6. To promote and encourage ethical practices among classified employees.
7. To form committees, as necessary, to study special and/or continuing topics of interest to classified employees.
8. To provide representation and/or recommendations to general campus committees and other study groups.
9. To call to the attention of the President all matters concerning classified staff affairs in all divisions and departments.

Article II. Membership

Section 1:
Membership in the LCSC Classified Staff Organization (hereafter referred to as CSO) is open to all classified staff and is automatic the first day of employment. Membership does not include:

1. Employees in a professional position
2. Employees holding faculty rank
3. Irregular help
4. Student workers

Section 2:
A person ceases to be a member of the CSO upon termination or change of position to non-classified rank.

Article III. Membership Meetings

Section 1: Meetings
The CSO will meet at least four times per academic year (i.e. September, December, February and April). Special meetings may be called by the CSO Chair or upon the written request of three CSO members.

Section 2: Quorum

1. A quorum shall consist of members present at meetings.
2. General business of the CSO shall be ratified by a majority of votes cast.

Article IV. Elections

The Chair, Chair-Elect, Recording Secretary, Web Secretary and Treasurer shall be elected from the collective CSO body. These positions shall henceforth be referred to as the "Officers’ Council".

Section 1: Election Process
The Nomination/Election Committee will solicit nominations from the CSO membership. An email from the Web Secretary will be sent to CSO members who have been nominated. A response from each CSO member will be sent back to the Web Secretary accepting or declining the nomination. The voting of CSO officers will be done on-line or at an official meeting and the new officers will be announced at the last scheduled CSO meeting. If for any reason the individual receiving the most votes declines his/her elective office, the next individual receiving the most votes will be contacted to serve. If the person who received the next highest votes declines the office, the Nomination/Election Committee will solicit nominations from the membership and a special election will be held.

Section 2: Vacancies
In the event a vacancy occurs during an officer’s term due to resignation, termination, reclassification or the member’s inability to perform his/her duties, the member will submit a formal resignation letter to the current CSO Chair stating the reason for the vacancy. If the Chair is resigning the letter would go to the Chair-Elect. The Chair/Chair-Elect will notify the Nomination/Election Committee who will contact the person receiving the next highest votes to assume the duties of the vacated office. If for any reason the runner up declines the position, the Nomination/Election Committee will begin a special election process.

In the event an officer is unable to fulfill their responsibilities for a period of more than 60 days the CSO Chair/Chair-Elect will assume the officer has resigned from their duties and will notify the Nomination/Election Committee to begin the replacement process, whether or not notification is received.

When the vacancy is filled, the new officer will serve the remainder of the term.

Article V. Officers

Section I: Officers’ Duties
Chair shall:

1. Serve a one-year term.
2. Preside at all meetings of the CSO.
3. Represent the CSO at President’s Council.
4. With the majority approval of the Officers’ Council, determine necessary subcommittees.
5. Maintain lines of communication between the CSO, Officers’ Council, College President, Faculty Senate, Professional Staff Organization and Associated Students.
6. With the approval of the Officers’ Council, nominate representatives to college committees, as requested by the college President or other campus entities.
7. Perform other duties pertaining to the office of Chair.
8. Serve as Past Chair for one year following the last term served as Chair.
9. Serve on the Compensation Review Committee as a CSO representative.

Chair-Elect shall:

1. Serve a one-year term.
2. Assume duties and responsibilities of the Chair in the event of absence or disability.
3. Share committee responsibilities equally with the Chair.
4. Maintain the most current copy of the approved bylaws as well as proposals for bylaws revision.
5. Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or Officers’ Council.
6. Notify Chair of members who are eligible to serve on the Employee of the Year Committee.

Past Chair shall:

1. Attend CSO and, by invitation, Officers’ Council meetings.
2. Provide advisement and/or services in current Officers’ Council and CSO meetings.
3. Serve a second year on the Compensation Review Committee as a CSO representative.

Recording Secretary shall:

A. Serve a one-year term.

B. Act as recorder at all CSO and Officers’ Council meetings by taking minutes thereof.

C. Submit minutes of all general membership & Officers’ Council meetings to the Officers’ Council within ten (10) working days.

D. Communicate meeting schedules to general membership two weeks prior to meeting.

E. Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or Officers’ Council.

F. Work closely with successor to provide smooth transition of duties.

Web Secretary shall:

1. Serve a one-year term.
2. Attend all CSO and Officers’ Council meetings.
3. Maintain and update the CSO web site.
4. Post general membership meeting minutes within fifteen (15) working days after general meetings.
5. Work closely with successor to provide smooth transition of duties.

Treasurer Shall:

A. Serve a one-year term.

B. Maintain and be responsible for the funds raised by the CSO body.

C. Submit a report at all meetings to the CSO body.

D. Serve as a member of the Employee Recognition Committee and provide a report at all committee meetings.

E. Maintain lines of communication with the CSO Chair and Employee Recognition Committee Chair.

F. With the CSO Chair, sign all monetary transactions. The CSO Chair and Employee Recognition Committee members will review all monetary transactions and final approval will be via e-mail or in a committee meeting. The CSO Chair and Treasurer are able to approve expenditures up to $25.00 without the approval of the Employee Recognition Committee Chair. Prior notification of impending monetary transactions is requested.

G. Work closely with successor to provide a smooth transition of duties.

H. Perform other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or Officers’ Council.

Article VI. Committees

Section I: Standing Committees

Bylaws Committee:

1. Responsible for annual reviews of the bylaws that represent the CSO mission statement and provide policies and procedures for how CSO conducts business.
2. Periodic recommendations for amendments to the bylaws. (see Article VIII "Amendments" for voting procedures).

Employee Recognition Committee:

The Recognition Committee is responsible for the fundraising activities and promoting and coordinating the annual social. The Committee Chair and members who make up the committee are volunteers from the CSO body. The Chair will maintain communication with the Treasurer and CSO Chair and meet as needed to discuss impending expenditures; including, but not limited to, expenses relating to preparing for events, CSO member birthday gifts, retirement gifts and hardship donations. Expenditure requests are submitted to committee members to vote on by email or at an Employee Recognition Committee meeting.

Hardship donations are given to classified employees who have an unexpected medical emergency/surgery, terminal illness diagnosis, or death of an immediate family member (within the household).  The assistance of all CSO members is needed to alert the Chair of the Recognition Committee of anyone who may qualify.  Committee members will then determine if individuals meet the above guidelines. The dollar amount of hardships will be determined by the Recognition Committee based on CSO funds availability, though will not exceed $50.

Nomination/Election Committee:

By the first of February, the CSO Chair shall appoint a Nomination/Election Committee consisting of the Chair-Elect (who shall serve as the Nomination/Election Committee Chair) and three (3) members from the organization to identify a slate of persons willing to serve as officers in the organization. Nominations will be actively solicited from the membership. The slate shall be presented to the membership through email notification by the first of March. New officer orientation by immediate past officers shall occur between the election results and June 30. New officers shall take office at the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1.

Employee of the Year Committee:

The Employee of the Year Committee is responsible for soliciting nominations and selection of the CSO Employee of the Year. The past Employee of the Year will chair the committee, consisting of five (5) committee members. In the event the past Employee of the Year is unable to chair the committee, the Chair of the CSO can designate a CSO member who is not eligible to receive the award. The members will consist of individuals who cannot be nominated because they have already received the award or new employees who are not eligible for nomination. Members who are not eligible to be nominated are those who have worked for Lewis-Clark State College for under two years (as of April 30) or who have received this award within the last five years.

1. The committee Chair will solicit five (5) committee members by the end of January.
2. No committee member may serve more than once in a five year period with the exception (see C) of request from the committee Chair.
3. If a committee member cannot complete his/her duties, the committee Chair may appoint a qualified member to fill this position.
4. No committee member is allowed to make nominations.
5. The selection committee will meet the first week in February to review the selection process and finalize a time table for nominations and selection.
6. The committee Chair will call for nominations from the whole body of the campus (faculty, staff and students) via the Intranet and CSO web site during the first three weeks of March.
7. The committee Chair will receive the nominations.

The committee Chair will remove the name of the nominee from the nomination form and replace it with a number; the committee Chair will also remove any identifying information of the nominee so that no committee member will know the identity of the nominee. The nominations will be sent to the committee members 1 week prior to the selection meeting. The committee members will rate the applications following a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the strongest. The committee as a whole will meet, discuss the nominations, and vote.

The committee Chair will inform the CSO Chair and the Provost’s Office of the committee’s selection by the second Friday in April. The recipient’s name will be kept confidential until the Awards Ceremony in May at which time he/she will receive the award.

When the selection has been completed and award given, all letters of nomination will be delivered to each nominee. Copies of nomination letters will also be sent to each nominee’s supervisor. A list of nominees and finalists by year will be kept in the Employee of the Year Committee records. After the award has been announced, the Employee of the Year Committee will meet with the award recipient (who is to become the next year’s Committee Chair) to discuss the process and make suggestions for the next year’s committee.

Section 2: Committee Formation
Special or ad-hoc committees may be created and disbanded by majority vote of the Officers’ Council. The CSO Chair shall be an ex-officio (with vote) member of all subcommittees except the Nomination/Election Committee. General membership will be informed of committee formation.

1. All committees must have a chairperson who is appointed by the CSO Chair.
2. Committee Chairs will maintain a committee notebook containing a list of committee members, current assignments, correspondence, record of activities, and minutes of committee meetings.
3. The out-going committee Chairs will hold a transition meeting with in-coming committee Chairs.
4. There is no limitation on the number of years a member can serve on any committee.

Article VII. Communications

1. Formal communication to the CSO membership will be the responsibility of the Officers’ Council. The communication(s) may occur in the following forms: meetings, e-mail, listserv, web page updates and/or written communication.
2. Two weeks prior to each general membership meeting, the Recording Secretary shall send e-mail notices to all members announcing the meeting.
3. The CSO web site shall include, but not be limited to, the following: general membership meeting minutes, bylaws, voting procedures and events.

Article VIII. Amendments

1. Amendments to the bylaws will require a majority of votes cast for ratification.
2. Proposed amendments will be sent via e-mail to all members at least two (2) weeks prior to the vote which will be held on-line or at an official meeting.