(File Photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Chamber Bylaws

Chamber of Commerce updates set of bylaws ahead of being re-accredited

Jun 21, 2024 | 5:00 PM

An updated set of bylaws is now a reality for the Battlefords and District Chamber of Commerce after a special general meeting of members passed a proposal earlier this week.

“It provides for who can be a member, the fact that the board can set…membership dues annually,” said Linda Machniak, chief operating officer.

“There wasn’t a lot of significant change, what there was, was an updating for us.”

One of those was the legal name change and the board terms limits – the latter and already been a policy of the board but had yet to be officially in the documents.

Among the updates includes the use of gender-neutral language, electronic contact methods, and the process to elect directors.

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“They were very he, she, I’ll say an older language, so we’ve taken a lot of that out,” Machniak said of the move towards inclusivity.

“The reason it happened now, specifically, we are submitting our re-accreditation application to the Accreditation Council of Canada for our local chamber of commerce and as part of that, we have to submit our bylaws,” she added.

According to a follow-up email sent to battlefordsNOW, the “Boards of Trade Act,” gives chambers from across the country the operation authority.

“We wanted to ensure we had the most up-to-date copy,” said Machniak.

“That has to go in in August, so part of it was to make sure we could get this done prior to the summer break and have that in place.”

Meanwhile, other aspects include meetings, auditors, procedures, dues and according to the email and each section lays out the guidelines.

“From an operational perspective, it will not change significantly what the chamber of commerce does or how we operate,” she said.

“It does provide us the more current framework for us to operate under.”

Once the application is submitted, they expect to hear the results this fall.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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