Southern California Association of Packet Sysops
Constitution and Charter

Complete Rewrite Resultant to Re-Vitalization
General Meeting of 04-19-1994, By Appointed
Charter Committee dated: 10-18-1994

Purpose:  To form a friendly and cooperative association of digital end user delivery system operator's, which will serve as a conclave of information intended to better operate and improve it's member systems, and benefit it's users.

Scope: The main thrust of "The Southern California Association of PACKET SYSOPS", is the betterment of community based, end user oriented information delivery systems (known as bulletin board systems), located in California south of latitude 36 degrees north.  This scope shall also include link, network, and support functions, ancillary to these information delivery systems.  To qualify under this division, these systems shall operate at least one input/output in an amateur radio band above 50 Mhz.

The governing documents of the Southern California Association of Packet Sysops shall be this Constitution and Charter, BBS Authentication Procedure, and other procedures the association may establish in the future.

The membership of S.C.A.P.S. shall be:

Full Membership (voting) - limited to those individuals or clubs who operate a full time digital end user delivery system, which has been authenticated, and is either listed in the SCAPS Westnet-Linked BBS list in accordance with the SCAPS BBS Authentication Procedure, or approved for "Special Service" by the SCAPS BBS Authentication Committee.

Note: Club or group membership is limited to one vote.

Associate Membership (non-voting) - anyone interested in digital information systems.

Dues: There shall be no membership dues

Officers:
Chairman: One full member is to be elected each year at the Annual Fall General Meeting to serve as Chairman.  The chairman will chair all formal general meetings, see to all the affairs of the association, and shall use a project team approach to discharge his/her responsibilities.

Vice Chairman: One full member is to be elected each year at the Annual General Meeting to serve in the capacity of Chairman in the event the Chairman is unable to discharge his/her duties.

BBS Authentication Committee Chairman: One full member shall be elected by majority vote of the membership at large at the Annual Fall Meeting, and shall preside over the BBS Authentication Committee, and discharge the duties thereof, as defined in the BBS Authentication Procedure.  The Chairman of the BBS Authentication Committee shall publish the SCAPS-WESTNET Authenticated BBS list at least once each year, in the for of a bulletin to "SCAPS@ALLUSW".

Users At Large: Two associate members, resident in diverse locations within Southern California shall be elected by majority vote, whose purpose is to advise the association of ways and means with which to better serve BBS users.  Each meeting agenda shall provide for the report(s) of these elected representatives.

Scribe: One full member shall be elected to serve as Scribe for the association.  The Scribe shall be responsible for recording meeting minutes, maintaining membership lists, attendance rosters, and will assist the Chairman in matters affecting the association.

Meetings: At least one General Membership Meeting, (*) but not more than two, shall be held annually, in a location conducive to the attendance of the majority of members.  In the event of more than one meeting, the fall session shall serve as an election.  A 30 day formal notification shall be sent to each member at his/her Home BBS.

(*): An electronic meeting may serve in lieu of a general meeting, and shall not be included towards the count of "not more than two" as defined above.

The Chairman may electronically poll the membership in order to conduct the association's business, except for elections.  All members who wish to participate in the conduct of business shall be entitled to receive correspondence via electronic means, and shall not be denied access to information that is distributed in this manner.  The Chairman shall maintain an electronic distribution list of all SCAPS members who have indicated a desire to participate in this manner.
The failure of electronic distribution to reach a particular member shall not invalidate a poll, but such member shall have the right to request that another call sign be copied in all future business.

Voting: A simple majority of those full members in attendance at a general meeting will decide all votes.  There shall be no quorum required for any general meeting, except that either the Chairman or Vice Chairman must be in attendance.

Point of contact: The Association's address and point of contact shall be the current address of it's Chairman.  The current Chairman is:

c/o Rick Fearns - K6VE
P.O. Box 65643
Los Angeles, CA 90065

Adopted: 10-08-1988    Revised:10-03-1991