Susan Wilson wrote: > > Gee, just adopted a county yesterday (Marshall) and already I'm having to > ask questions. Could someone explain the *practical* reasons why this is, > as some people have said, necessary at this time? I'm not asking for > political reasons, at least not right now. I need to understand what > benefits, in very practical ways, would accrue from incorporation. How much > would it cost? Where will the money come from? The cost to file in Tennessee is $100. The money is pledged. Not a problem. Note, this does not included the filing for tax exempt status from Federal income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. If we incorporated as a nonprofit, we could consider that issue. There are pros and cons about that, and it should be examined closely before that step is taken. Also, that issue should be considered and decided by the CCs at a much later date. (Oh, I'm tempted to ask -- > "is there any more, and could I have a grant, please?" but I won't. :-)) USIGS might have money for you if you qualify. :^) > What are the practical reasons we *must* do this? Incorporate how? What > kind of structure are we talking about? Would there be a board? Would > there be elections? What's the time frame? There is no *must* here. If it was *must* we would have already filed. Some of us consider it wise to offer this as an option to our fellow CCs. We all, as a group will decide. As pointed out in an earlier letter, autonomy, organizational immortality, and a guarantee of our nonprofit and volunteer principles are the main reasons. We are growing and we might like to create a solid foundation so that in the future, what was started in 1996 will be there for future generations. Once we reach agreement to file, the Charter is submitted to the Tennessee Department of State. As so many of us live outside Tennessee, we would need to use an agent. (We have one) We could file as soon as we settled the issues and get a final go ahead. The Charter gets filed. It takes Tennessee a while to return the papers (2 months in some states, but I don't know about Tennessee) A provision is written into the proposed Charter that the CCs will have six months to adopt the bylaws. Also a democratic vote would be required. A basic set of bylaws would be posted. We would need to go through a period of bylaw revision, prior to vote. ALL CCs would have input. Words like fair and simple come to mind when I think about bylaws. I would be wise to have a Board (RCs) plus the SC and ASC. And (perhaps) non voting special coordinators. As the RC position is based on computer skill and trustworthyness, it would seem that they should be the board, however, we would not want to set rules that would exclude any CCs from runing for the Board. This is why the bylaws need to be carefully addressed. The actual structure would be determined by the CCs during the revision period. The question of meetings would need to be addressed. As we are spread across America, a weekly "in person" meeting is impractical. Even a once a year meeting would be rough. I think elections would be wise, and also, the ability to remove any elected person if necessary. > If all of this has been answered already, just forward the stuff to me. I'm > off to put the finishing touches on my revamp of Chester County SC, so I can > get to work on Marshall County! > > Su Wilson > County Coordinator, Chester County SC USGenWeb Project > http://www.rootsweb.com/~scchest2/scchester.htm > > I'd rather be looking for dead people than have them looking for me! Respectfully, Fred Smoot