Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Local Coalition- elections, goverance, and more!

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Good morning,

I am writing to those listed as the current local coalition leads and/or co-leads. This email is to provide information about the transition process and implementation of the newly approved Restated Bylaws. There are several new or re-defined terms that we will be using moving forward. I have attached the Restated Bylaws and they can also be found on the BOS website.

Corporation =                                   WI Balance of State CoC 501c3 non-profit organization
Member =                                         Members of the Corporation shall consist of local coalitions working to end homelessness.
Membership =                                  The assembly of delegates from each member of the corporation.
Delegate =                                        The person selected by the member to represent the member in accordance with its governing documents to attend membership meetings and vote on the member’s behalf.
Director =                                          The person elected to serve on the Board of Directors.  
Board of Directors =                       The assembly of Directors responsible for managing the affairs of the Corporation and advancing the mission of the Corporation.
Chair =                                               Previously referred to as President, the Chair of the Board presides over meetings of the members and Board of Directors.
Vice Chair =                                       Previously referred to as Vice President, the Vice Chair of the Board presides over meetings of the members and Board of Directors in the Chair’s absence.
President =                                        The CoC Director and chief executive officer of the Corporation responsible for carrying out the directions and policies of the Board or otherwise delegated by the Board.

Following this week’s board of director meeting, the following decisions were made. Here is a quick “check list” of items that need to be done at each local coalition. 

(1) Accept nominations for Directors and vote on a Director.  Deadline April 30th – minutes to be submitted to wiboscoc@gmail.com
(2) Draft, approve and submit governing documents.  Deadline May 16th – documents to be submitted to wiboscoc@gmail.com
(3) Following the process identified in the governing documents, select a Delegate and notify Lisa Haen. Deadline April 16th – name of delegate to be submitted to lhaen@khds.org
(4) Send out an email to your local coalition to see if anyone is interested in joining the Nominating Committee. Deadline March 15th – contact Kathleen at kathleenfpoz@gmail.com

Below is a more detailed explanation.

Election Process – Local Coalition Directors
As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article IV, each of the Corporation’s “members” (local coalition) may nominate one Director, who, upon election by the Membership, will serve on the Corporation’s Board of Directors. Between today and April 30th, each local coalition shall conduct an election process in which nominations and a vote shall take place to select the Director the local coalition wishes to nominate. The election by the Membership of all 21 local coalition Directors will occur during the Balance of State quarterly business meeting on Friday, May 17th.  A copy of the minutes illustrating the process, the candidates, who was invited to participate in voting, and the voting results must be submitted to the wiboscoc@gmail.com no later than April 30th.

The duties and responsibilities of the nominated Director can be found in the Restated Bylaws in Article IV, Section 1. Directors are expected to attend board meetings, be actively involved in the local coalition, participate/chair committees, attend Balance of State quarterly meetings, and advance the mission of the Corporation. For more information, please contact the Board Chair – Jeanette Petts.  Directors also have fiduciary duties not outlined in the Restated Bylaws but covered under Chapter 181 of Wisconsin Statutes. 

There are two key fiduciary duties of a director of a nonstock corporation set forth in Chapter 181 of the Wisconsin Statutes: the duty of loyalty and the duty of care.
·        Duty of Loyalty - In basic terms, the duty of loyalty requires a director to put the interests of the corporation above the interests of the director personally or any third-party organization with whom the director may be affiliated. It also prohibits the director from making any decision or entering into any transaction for which the director will personally profit. If a director was appointed to the Board to represent a specific interested party, that director nonetheless has a duty to act in the best interests of the corporation as a whole, rather than to advocate for that interested party.

·        Duty of Care - The duty of care is typically described as a director’s duty to act with good faith and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in a like position under similar circumstances.

As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article IV, Section 2(f), the Board of Directors is responsible for devising a method of dividing Directors into three classes to create staggered terms. During the Balance of State quarterly business meeting on Friday, May 17th, each Delegate and/or Director will be called to draw out of a container a number.  That number will represent the length of the Director’s term in office.  There are 21 coalitions and divided into three classes, that means there will be: 7 Directors serving a one year term (ending fall of 2020), 7 Directors serving a two year term (ending fall of 2021), and 7 Directors serving a three year term (ending fall of 2022).

Each local coalition’s nominated Director must attend the Balance of State quarterly meeting. There will be a Board meeting held after the Thursday portion of the meeting. 

Local Coalition Governing Documents
As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article II, each Member of the Corporation is a local coalition working to end homelessness in the Corporation’s geographic service area. In Section (d), the Restated Bylaws state “in order to be eligible for Membership in the Corporation after adoption of these Bylaws, a Local Coalition must . . .”  In Section (d)(3), the local coalition must adopt a memorandum of understanding (MOU), corporate charter, or other written document(s) acceptable to the Corporation. This is referred to as the “Governance Documents” of the Member. 

These documents must clearly outline the following information:
(1) Define the geographic area the local coalition includes
(2) Define what membership is and who it includes. Be mindful of the list included in the Restated Bylaws in Section 1(b) and (d)2.
(3) Identification of meetings, process for holding meetings
(4) Explanation as to the specific mechanism(s) whereby the local coalition will exercise the local coalition’s rights and responsibilities as a Member of the Corporation
(5) The process the local coalition will follow to select and remove its Delegate for Membership meetings
(6) The period of time its Delegate will serve in that capacity
(7) The Delegate’s responsibilities to the local coalition. This is where local level expectations can be clarified, including the role of “local coalition lead” for the purposes of CoC communication.
(8) How does voting occur within the local coalition, who is included.

Recommended inclusion:
(1) How are dues paid or assessed
(2) Who takes minutes and how are they disseminated
(3) How are Directors nominated
(4) How often will these documents be reviewed and/or revised

Members (local coalitions) have the ability to nominate a Director. To be a Member, the local coalition must submit Governing Documents for review no later than Thursday, May 16th to wiboscoc@gmail.com.

Sample governing documents are attached. These were previously sent out in early 2018. The documents include: local coalition membership application, draft MOU, and Coalition bylaws.  Thank you Kate & Colleen from Lakeshore CAP for sharing!    NOTE: these samples were created before the change in bylaws and requirements listed above. So they will be great templates but will need to have additional information added to be compliant.

Selection Process – Delegate
As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article II, Section 3, each member of the Corporation will be represented by one Delegate selected by the member in accordance with its governing documents. The Delegate attends Membership meetings on behalf of the Member the Delegate represents and votes on the Member’s behalf. The local coalition may select its Delegate in whatever manner it deems appropriate as reflected in and consistent with the Member’s Governing Documents. Each Member shall notify the Secretary of the Corporation (Lisa Haen) of the identity of the Delegate at least 30 days prior to the meeting the Delage will first attend as the Member’s Delegate. 

This means that no later than April 16th, each local coalition (member) must select a Delegate in a process reflected in their Governing Documents (see section above) and submit that person’s name to Lisa Haen at lhaen@khds.org for the May quarterly Balance of State meeting.  Prior to the August quarterly meeting, no action must be taken unless there is to be a change in the Delegate.  Any change to the Delegate must be submitted to Lisa Haen at least 30 days prior to the quarterly meeting.  Note: no Delegate is permitted to represent more than one Member.

Only the Delegate is authorized to vote during a Membership meeting, if voting is to occur. At the May quarterly meeting, voting will occur on the election of Directors.

Note:  For communication purposes, there the Delegate will replace “Local Coalition lead” or “CoC lead.”

Nominating Committee
As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article VI, Section 3, the Board of Directors shall appoint a Nominating Committee consisting of at least one Director.  The Board appointed the committee and Kathleen Fisher has agreed to chair this committee. The committee is responsible for developing and conducting a process that will identify and solicit qualified individuals to serve as Directors (except Directors nominated by Local Coalitions) of the Corporation. This includes the additional and optional additional Directors.

·        As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article IV, Section 2(d), the Corporation will have two additional Directors: (1) an individual who is homeless or was formerly homeless and (2) the manager of the HMIS system. These two additional Directors will be nominated by the Nominating Committee and elected by the Members.

·        As identified in the Restated Bylaws in Article IV, Section 2(e), the Corporation may have up to four additional Directors from the following categories: (1) an organization serving veterans; (2) an organization serving youth; (3) an organization serving the chronic homeless; and (4) an organization serving victims of domestic violence. The Board of Directors agreed to seek out all four optional additional Directors. These optional additional Directors will be nominated by the Nominating Committee and elected by the Members.

The election of these 6 Directors will occur at the May 17th Balance of State quarterly meeting in the same manner as those Directors nominated by the local coalitions.  Each of the 6 Directors will be called to draw out of a container a number.  That number will represent the length of the Director’s term in office.  There are 6 additional Directors, divided into three classes, that means there will be:  2 Directors serving a one year term (ending fall of 2020), 2 Directors serving a two year term (ending fall of 2021), and 2 Directors serving a three year term (ending fall of 2022).  Each of the additional Directors must attend the Balance of State quarterly meeting. There will be a Board meeting held after the Thursday portion of the meeting. 

If you are interested in joining the Nominating Committee, please contact Kathleen at kathleenfpoz@gmail.com by Friday, March 15th


Please let me know if there are any questions.

Thank you,

Carrie Poser

COC Director
Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care
PO Box 272
Eau Claire, WI  54702
715-598-3301

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