Proposed St. Anne’s Bylaw Changes for 2022
Proposed change 1:
I. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
B. Eligibility for voting at the parish meeting shall be in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of North Carolina.
1. Article 9, Section 3, of the Constitution provides that only enrolled confirmed adult communicants in good standing, and who thereby consent to be governed by the Constitution and Canons of this church as are or may be adopted by the General Convention, and the Convention of the Diocese pursuant thereto are permitted to vote in parish elections. Only members present shall be allowed to vote.
Voting at annual meetings may take place by members who are in person and by members who are joining the meeting remotely.
This new Canon was voted on at our diocesan convention in March of 2021
Comment: Canon 22, Section 1(e) currently allows only those votes of qualified members who are present and voting at the Annual meeting to be counted in vestry elections. However, Canon 22.2(g)(4) allows parishes to adopt a bylaw permitting absentee ballots and other forms of “remote voting” which allows qualified members who are not actually present at the Annual Meeting to vote in the vestry election. The proposed change to Canon 22.1(e) reconciles the current version of that subparagraph with Canon 22.2(g)(4) are actually counted.
Making this change to our bylaws will allow us to have elections conduct business as a parish that requires voting should the world shut down again due to pandemic or some other catastrophe.
Proposed change 2:
I. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
C. The Vestry shall be constituted and elected according to the following rules:
- The three Vestry members whose terms are about to expire, the Rector, and a member-at-large appointed by the Vestry upon recommendation of the Senior Warden, shall constitute a nominating committee. The nominating committee shall seek to bring before the congregational meeting a list of at least
six nominees (twothree nominees (at least one nominee for each position).
Reason:
As St. Anne’s continues to reemerge from the pandemic, we are still finding our way and accounting for active members in good standing. At this time, filling a slate based on the current bylaws causes us to look for people who may not be fully invested in serving but their yes will help us meet the requirement of this bylaw. By changing the wording to at least one nominee for each position, we aren’t limiting ourselves to just three candidates, we are acknowledging that in our current make up, we may only have three people who feel truly called to serve and meet the requirements to serve.
Proposed Change 3:
Removing this item from our bylaws:
I. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
D. The Canons prohibit holding an annual parish meeting by means of a teleconferencing service in times when state and local government regulations as well as Diocesan directives prevent a traditional in-person annual parish meeting from taking place. Since the election of new Vestry members is the mandatory item during the annual parish meeting, the Vestry can choose one of these two options:
- The Vestry may leave the expired Vestry positions vacant until a traditional annual parish meeting can be held.
- The Vestry may fill the expiring terms of outgoing Vestry members by its own action and elect members in good standing from the congregation to fill the vacancies. Those elected to the Vestry in this manner will serve full three-year terms beginning on October 1.
Reason:
At the 205 Diocesan Convention held in March of 2021, the convention amended the canons to permit annual meetings to be held using technology. See the new canon below:
The Canons of the Diocese of North Carolina are amended by adding a new Canon as follows:
“Canon 1.1
Conduct of Annual or Special Conventions by Remote Technology
The Convention may adopt Rules of Order providing for the conduct of business by teleconference, videoconference, or any other technology that allows all persons participating to hear each other at the same time and to participate in discussion and voting. Members participating in a meeting by means of remote technology are deemed present in person at the meeting.”
