CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS
(Adopted on March 01. 2006)
Article I. NAME OF THE UNION:
Section a. The name of the Union shall be the Nevada Rugby Union, called the Union. The Union shall be comprised only of the state of Nevada.
Article II. OBJECTIVES AND POLICY OF THE UNION:
Section a. The objectives and policy of the Union shall be to foster the growth and development of Rugby Union within its jurisdiction and to represent the interests of its members within the framework of Nevada Rugby.
Section b. To coordinate affairs among the invited members of the Union.
Section c. To coordinate incoming and outgoing rugby tours.
Section d. The policy of the Union shall be a policy of inclusion and the Union shall not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, religious affiliation, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
Section e. To do the business of the Union as defined by its members.
Section f. To establish player and club eligibility criteria.
Article III: MEMBERSHIP:
Section a. The members of this Union shall be the Clubs based in Nevada.
Section b. The geographical jurisdiction of each member union shall be defined as follows:
1. Nevada counties eligible for membership in the NRU shall be Washoe, Storey, and Ormsby. Clark County, Nevada teams may affiliate with Arizona or So. California RFUs.
Section c. To qualify for membership in the NRU you must have a minimum number of one team (25 players).
Section d. You must be registered with the Nevada Rugby Union and must have a Constitution and set of bylaws acceptable to the NRU.
Section e. Each club side must have yearly elections of officers and an Annual General Meeting.
Section e. NRU will establish their own conference within the high schools of Nevada.
Section f. The Referee Society in Nevada is counted as a member of NRU.
Article IV: EXECUTIVE OFFICERS:
Section a. The Executive Officers of the Club shall be:
CEO, President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Immediate Past President.
Section b. Elective Officers shall not hold office in a member union. Only the office of President of NRU requires that the candidate have held previous elective office in a member union or 3 years as club Executive Officer.
Section c. No member Local Area clubs shall have more than two elective officers
on the NRU Executive Committee.
Section d. Duties of the Executive Officers:
1. The PRESIDENT shall select the date, place, time, and of all Union meetings, which may include Conference, telephone calls.
2. He must give thirty-day advance notice of all meetings except in the case of emergency meetings.
3. He shall set the goals of the Union and work diligently toward their accomplishment.
4. The VICE-PRESIDENT SHALL ASSIST THE President and serve when necessary in his place. The Vice-President shall succeed the President if the President is unable to complete his term of office.
5. The SECRETARY shall prepare an accurate record or minutes of the Union meetings and be examined by the President before they are distributed to the members of the Executive Committee. The SECRETARY shall maintain all other necessary records of the Union.
6. The TREASURER shall keep a true record of the Union’s financial matters, and present financial statements at all General meeting and Annual General Meetings of the Union to the Executive Committee.
7. The IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT of the Union may be assigned special duties by the President and shall assist the President and Executive Committee in maintaining Union continuity.
8. Executive officers of the Union shall be elected only at the Annual General Meeting of the Union. No more than two officers of the Union shall be elected at each Annual General Meeting. The rotation shall be Treasurer.
9. Elected officers shall serve terms of two years and terms of office shall commence immediately after the election at the Annual General Meeting,
10. Candidates in writing or electronic mail to the Union Secretary shall submit nominations for elective office before April 15th each year.
11. Candidates shall not be required to be a delegate from a Local Area Union.
12. If there are no nominations before April 15, nominations shall be taken from the floor at the Annual General Meeting.
13. The Secretary of the Union must notify each Local Area Union of the April 15th deadline thirty days in advance of the deadline.
14. Only those persons whose names have been submitted prior to the deadline for submission of names shall be considered as candidates for elective office.
15. The Secretary of the Union shall notify all members of the Executive Committee and member of the Union of those persons whose names have been placed in nomination after the deadline for submission of names.
16. Elections shall be by secret ballot and shall be conducted by the Secretary with two observers appointed by the President. The members may examine ballots.
17. If three candidates are contending for office and no one receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held immediately between the two highest vote getters.
Article V: THE EXECUTIVE COMMMITTEE:
Section a. The Officers of the Union shall have one vote. The CEO may vote a second time, if needed, to break a tie.
Section b. Directors from the Nevada Rugby Union shall have one vote each and shall stand for election every off numbered year at the Annual General meeting.
Section c. In the event that a Director is no longer able to fulfill his duties as Director, a special election shall be held at the next general meeting.
Section d. The Directors shall present an informational report to the members of the Executive Committee at any General meeting following a meeting of Pacific Coast, which requires the attendance of the Directors from the NRU.
Section e. In the event that a Union officer, Director, or voting delegate cannot attend a meeting of the union, proxies may be accepted by the Secretary with the signature of the of the person giving the proxy. Electronic proxies may also be accepted. No person shall carry more than one proxy vote for any purpose at a Union meeting.
Section f. The Executive Committee shall organize and administer all of the affairs of the Union.
Section g. Meetings of the Union shall be in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order.
Section h. Regular general meetings of the Union shall be noticed fourteen and seven days in advance of the meetings. It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary to notice members.
Section i. A legal meeting requires a quorum of voting members of the Executive Committee. The quorum shall be one vote more than half the membership of the Executive Committee.
Section j. Voting shall be by a show of hands unless the President or a majority vote of the Executive Committee decides to have a secret ballot.
Article VI: ACCOUNTS OF THE UNION
Section a. The CEO and President or the Vice President shall be the signatories on the Union bank account.
Section b. The Union bank accounts shall be audited every two years. To be determined when select sides have been formed.
Section c. It shall be the aim of the Union to be financially self-supporting though donations, tournaments and sponsorships.
Article VII: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Section a. The Annual General Meeting of the Union shall be held between March 15th and May 1st each year on a date to be determined by the President. The President shall give at least thirty days advance notice of the meeting.
Section b. The meeting call shall be noticed to all union officials and member Unions.
Section c. The Agenda for the Annual General Meeting shall be as follows:
(1) Call to order
(2) Roll call and presentation of any proxies to the Secretary and the President for inspection. Roll call is to be accompanied by a statement of good standing. Failure to pay dues, fees, and assessments shall result in a suspension of voting rights and right to participate in discussions. The Treasurer shall inform the President as to who is not in “good standing as a result of failure to pay the annual dues, fees, assessments to the Union.”
(3) Reading and approval of the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting.
(4) Reading of the President’s Report on the State of the Union. Read and distribute.
(5) Pacific Coast Committee Reports:
(6) Financial Report by the Treasurer and establishment of dues structure for the new fiscal year.
(7) Adoption of a budget for the new fiscal year.
(8) Applications for membership to the Union.
(9) Presidents list of objectives for the Union.
(10) Changes and amendments to the Constitution. Requires a two-thirds vote for approval. Notice of proposed amendments or changes to the Constitution and bylaws must be delivered to the Secretary of the Union twenty-one days in advance of the meeting and the Secretary will then distribute proposed changes to the Executive Committee and Member Unions.
(11) Election of Officers via secret ballot
(12) Announce date and location of next Annual General Meeting
(13) Adjournment and proceed into the General meeting.
Article VIII. REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS:
Section a. The Union is empowered to assemble certain representative teams from its member unions, or any combination of some of them, for inter-territorial, international, or other competitions. Nevada Rugby Union Representative teams shall be called the “Wolves"
Section b. Eligibility for Ware wolves’ teams shall be the same that established by the Nevada Rugby Union. The right and ability to determine a player’s eligibility in cases of dispute lies with the Nevada Rugby Union.
Section b. Selection to the Representative teams shall be the responsibility of the Nevada Rugby Union Coaching and Selection Committee with each member club having a minimum of one vote and the coach having a second vote to break ties.
Article IX: COMMITTEES OF THE UNION
Section a. The following committees shall exist to promote the interests of the Union and to coordinate and advance the purposes of each Committee.
(1) Collegiate Committee.
(2) Referees Committee and Society
(3) Women’s Rugby Committee
(4) Competitions Committee
(5) Coaching and Selection Committee
(6) Medical Committee
(7) High School Rugby Committee
(8) Disciplinary Committee
(9) Legal Committee
(10) Eligibility Committee
Article X: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Section a. All Nevada Rugby Union Representative players must meet the same requirements as stated by NRU. This includes resident documentation, age requirements where mandated, medical insurance, CIPP registration, good standing in local area clubs, and/or any other such requirements as deemed necessary by the Union.
Section b. Players beginning the season on one team’s roster cannot play for another club unless there is a signed release from the original club and approval by the competitive league chairperson.
The purpose of this requirement is to prevent club hopping.
