SMAF Club members, please take the time to read the By-Laws and email proposed updates to the club president.

Article 1 Name:

The name of this club shall be the "Southern Mustang and Ford Club"; it shall be a non-profit organization.

Article 2 Official Club Emblem:

A.  The official emblem of the Southern Mustang and Ford Club shall consist of a circle with a facsimile of the Mustang emblem centered therein, with the words “Southern Mustang and Ford Club” inscribed just inside the circumference in lettering and “Charleston, SC” inscribed outside the circumference positioned at the bottom of the circle in a particular style as described below.  Additional emblems may be voted via majority vote of a quorum at a monthly club meeting.  The club may use more than one official emblem.

   1.  The official club emblem may be used and displayed by any member in good standing.

   2.  The official club emblem is the property of the Southern Mustang and Ford Club.

Article 3 Objectives:

The general purpose of this club shall be to preserve and maintain the Ford brand name and its subsidiary companies (ie; Mercury, Jaguar, Lincoln) to include the complete line of motor vehicles starting with the first year of manufacture to current model year, and to serve as an accurate and technical source of information concerning these automobiles for the benefit of its members as well as the general public.

A. To promote interest in models/ types of Ford automobiles.

B. To create good fellowship and sportsmanship amongst members.

C. Promote greater automotive safety in and around the community.

D. Provide interested individuals with an organized environment in which they may pursue their automotive hobbies and interests.

E. To conduct club operations and activities in such a manner as to bring about a clearer
understanding of Ford automobiles on the part of the general public.

Article 4 Membership:

A. Any person interested in Ford products is eligible for membership.

    1.  Though highly encouraged, ownership of a Ford product is not required.

B. Membership may include one couple (two people and child dependents).

C. Membership couples (not dependents) shall each have individual voting privileges.

D. In regards to alcohol consumption and illegal drugs (to include prescription and non prescription drugs which negatively influence driver impairment or promote poor driving): Southern Mustang and Ford club will not be legally responsible for the actions of any person who attends or participates in club events/ gatherings.  Every member is expected to obey established laws placed into effect by the county, city or state to include federal regulations, laws and policies there of.  

    1.  Any member convicted of any felony related to an automotive event will be automatically dismissed from the Club permanently. 

E. The use of narcotics is forbidden. Any member who jeopardizes the reputation of this club by using narcotics at a club event, or at any time will be automatically dismissed from the club permanently.

    1.  Members who self-identify them selves as a drug abuser and actively seek assistance (verifiable) may have their membership maintained. 

F. The Southern Mustang and Ford Club assumes no liability for any members actions at any time, to include and not limited to the following; Traveling to or from the previous or next destination, from any club sponsored event, including regularly scheduled monthly meetings.

G. A member (s) can be dismissed from membership if said member has demonstrated verifiable unruly, disrespectful, unlawful or disruptful conduct.  Said club member can only be dismissed via majority vote from fellow club members in attendance at the formal monthly club meeting.  In lieu of majority vote at a formal monthly club meeting, a member can be dismissed permanently via the club president.  The club president must have the full support (in writing) from the vice president, treasurer and activities director stating their support to dismiss said member from enrollment.  If a member is dismissed, that dismissal is permanent.  Dismissal event must be documented and briefed by the club secretary and placed respectively in the club meeting minutes at the next scheduled club monthly meeting.  

     1.  If said member has exhibited unruly, disrespectful, unlawful or disruptful conduct/ behavior in a consistent manner over the past year of his/her membership.  He/she can be refused by unanimous decision of all club officers or majority vote of general membership to be refused entry on a permanent basis to the club.     

H.  Indemnification of Directors/ Club Officers

Via majority vote of membership present at a formal monthly meeting,  after presentation by any member, majority vote shall authorize the Club to pay or reimburse any present or former Director or officer of the Club any costs or expenses actually and necessarily incurred by them in any action, suit, or proceeding to which he/she is made a party by reason of their holding such position if he/she is made a party by reason of their holding such position if they acted in good faith and in a manner they reasonably believed to be in, and not opposed to, the best interests of the Club; provided, however, that they shall not receive such indemnification if he/she be finally adjudicated therein to be liable for misconduct in the performance of their duty to the Club. The indemnification herein provided shall also extend to good faith expenditures incurred in anticipation of, or preparation for, threatened or proposed litigation. Club membership may, in proper cases, extend the indemnification to cover the good faith settlement of any such action, suit, or proceeding, whether formally instituted or not.

I.  Upon joining the club each new member, upon asking for, shall receive a copy (in full color) of these By-Laws. 

Article 5 Dues:

A. Yearly dues for the members of this club shall be twenty dollars ($20.00) per year and shall be payable to the Southern Mustang and Ford Club on the fiscal anniversary of original membership approval.

    1.  Members may option for the “LIFETIME” membership at a one time cost of one hundred dollars.

B. Any member dues which are one month in arrears shall be sent a reminder note from the Membership Officer via US Postal Service or email with an electronic receipt. If no effort is made to correct his/her financial standings within thirty (30) days after being notified, the member will be subject to automatic cancellation of his/her membership.

Article 6 Officers:

A. Officers of the Club shall be: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Officer, Webmaster and Activities Director and shall not serve longer than 15 consecutive months between elections.

    1.  TENURE OF OFFICE –  Each term for an elected club officer shall be 12 consecutive months.  At the conclusion of a 12 month term, club elections for each officer position identified in this document must take place.   

      a. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Club. The President shall serve a term of one year.

  1. With approval of the Vice President and Treasurer, the President shall have the authority to spend a total sum not to exceed $300 for non-budgeted expenditures.  The club is to be notified of any such expenditure at its next scheduled meeting via the treasurer financial briefing.

      a.  Unless voted and passed by a majority vote at a monthly meeting, the club checking account shall not be less than $500.00  

  2.  Club Officer nominations and creation of other officer positions may be submitted by any member in good standing and voted on by general membership at a scheduled monthly meeting for specific terms not exceeding one year (between elections).  These may include, but not limited to; show committee, board members, personnel tasked to monitor specific portions of club activity(s) or special quorums as needed. 

B. In the absence of the club president, the Vice President shall preside over meetings. The Vice President will wield the same authority as the club president vested to that office by this document.  The Vice President shall serve a term of one one year.

C. The Treasurer shall collect dues, collect monies due from the membership, keep/ maintain financial records both current and past records, make available a monthly financial report about the financial condition of the club at monthly club meetings and make payments from club funds when deemed necessary for expenses such as postage, flyers, posters, signs and other small expenditures not to exceed a total of $100.00 

   1.  If monthly expenditures exceed more than one hundred dollars, approval from the President or Vice President must take place.  If approval is granted, that approval must be briefed by the treasurer to club membership at the next monthly meeting.     

   2.  Treasurer report shall consist of each expenditure and gain in monetary amounts and reason for gain/loss as follows;

       a.  Example of loss expenditure: LOSS: Amount of $100.34 for trophies at auto show

       b. Example of gain expenditure: GAIN: Amount of $100.35 for club dyno day registrations

    3.  The Treasurer shall serve a term of one one year. 

D. The Secretary of the club shall attend scheduled meetings thereof and prepare the minutes/newsletter of such meetings. The Secretary shall have charge of all non financial clubs records, files and official documents. Club Treasurer shall furnish a copy of his/her report to the club secretary for inclusion in the monthly newsletter.  The Secretary shall send a copy of the minutes/ newsletter of each formal monthly club meeting to be forwarded promptly to club members within 20 days after previous meeting.  Variances from stated secretarial duties in this document must be coordinated in writing between parties and be briefed to the general membership at a scheduled formal monthly meeting.  The Secretary shall serve a term of one one year.

E.  Webmaster has total responsibility for the design and functionality of the club website and is responsible for the daily and monthly maintenance, postings, uploads and other such responsibilities as it relates to the website, web address, email address and club chat room.

    1.  Yearly/ monthly dues associated with the website shall be forwarded to the club Treasurer. 

        a. Said dues shall be voted upon via club majority vote before purchase of yearly service(s).

F. Membership Officer shall be responsible for maintaining a current and accurate membership roster consisting of each members name, address, phone number(s), model of Ford(s) currently owned, email address(s) and anniversary date of yearly dues. 

    1.  Additional information may be kept on the roster.  Additional member information on the club roster must benefit the club and not impede member privacy or allow the member to be discriminated against in any manner.

    2.  The club roster cannot be sent out or distributed out to outside agencies. 

    3.  A modified version of the roster may be posted on a secure portion of the club website consisting of the members first initial and last name, model of Ford(s) owned and email address.

        a.  Club members objecting to their information being posted on a secure portion of the club website must be honored and their information removed from that roster.    

    4.  The Federal Privacy Act of 1977 must be followed as closely as possible. 

Article 7  Voting procedures/ Elections of club officers:

A.  All nominees for office shall be members in good standing.

B. Officers shall be selected to serve by majority vote of the members in attendance which must comprise of no less than 10% of paid club members via the club roster.    

     1. Any members nominated for President or Vice  President  must be paid members for no less then 12 months.

     2.  Regular yearly election of officers shall take place at the scheduled February Membership meeting of each calendar year. Nominations for said election are made at the scheduled January Membership Meeting

          a.  Extenuating circumstances, such as resignation, death or other circumstances   may net an early election be held.  In such a case, elections shall take place at the next scheduled monthly meeting OR if there are at least 20 days notification of said election shall take place.    

C. Club elections shall be performed in a manner which protects member vote privacy. 

     1.  Club members cast a vote via paper which is then folded in half and placed in a security container.

         a. Until voting is closed out, the vote container must be in full view of the general membership at all times. 

     2.  Once all members have cast their vote, a verbal warning announcing the end of the voting process must be performed. 

     3.  Upon completion of the general membership voting, the votes must be promptly counted by two volunteer club members in good standing.  Those two members cannot be officers and cannot be officer candidates.

     4.  While the votes are being counted, two additional non officer and non candidate members will stand-by to ensure 100% compliance with this publication. 

     5.  Votes will be taken out of the security container by one member and shown to the other member who in-turn records the vote on plain bond paper.  The person physically taking the vote out of the security container cannot record the vote on bond paper, it must performed by the other member present.  At no time will the member recording the vote, actually touch the ballot being recorded. 

    6.  Upon completion of the vote tally, the votes are placed back in the security container and the counting process starts again.  The two members tallying the votes change places and a clean sheet of plain bond paper is used to tally the votes a second time.  Upon completion of the tally, the two vote totals are compared, if they match then the results are presented to the club membership by the person who recorded the actual votes.  

        a. If the vote tally totals do not match, the two members counting the votes will be replaced with two different members. 

        b. Anytime the vote process is objected to, the process must stop, completely!  It will not continue until the objection is settled.  If necessary, objections may be brought to a majority vote by club membership. 

    7.  Upon completion of the club voting process, votes are placed in full view of club membership.               

    8.  Officers shall begin their term immediately following a majority vote of the attending members.

    9.  Voting

        a.  Each club member present shall be entitled to one vote per question / election.

            1.)  A vote must be written on a pre-established voting ballot and placed in a pre-established ballot box.

        b.  No member may cast more than one vote by virtue of holding multiple offices in the Club simultaneously.

        c.  Proxy voting is not allowed in any capacity.

   10.  In the event elections are deemed falsified, they must be cancelled immediately and rescheduled for another formal club meeting.

      a.  Club members responsible for hosting elections which were considered false must be replaced with new election officials (members in good standing).

C. Any member in good standing may present issues before the club for a majority vote.  Person placing issue up for a majority vote must physically stand up, identify them selves and clearly state the issue to be placed up for a vote.

     1.  No matter if the issue passes or fails, the issue up for vote must be recorded by the club secretary.

Article 8 Meetings:

A. A majority of the members in good standing at any formal monthly meeting shall constitute a quorum.  The number of members must represent at least 10% of the overall club membership as listed on the club membership roster.

B. Regular membership meetings shall be held once a month on the first Tuesday of each month unless otherwise voted upon at a formal monthly meeting and members notified.

C. The President may call special meetings to facilitate any club projects or problems/ serious issues which arise unexpectedly.

D.  Meeting locations shall be at the discretion of the club president or Vice President.

     1. Meeting locations may be negated via suggestion by any member in good standing and subsequently put his/her idea up for vote.  Once passed by majority vote of membership in attendance, this effectively over-rides the presidents decision on the next meeting location.

Article 9 Delegations:

A. In the event the ("Southern Mustang and Ford Club") is dissolved, any remaining monies and or assets shall be donated to a charity or other area club of which shall be approved by majority vote of attending members.

B. If deemed necessary for the betterment of the club, up to two club officers or two appointed members in good standing may travel within the southeast to attend a large automotive event.  

   1.  This activity must be passed with a majority vote at a monthly club meeting.

   2.  Automotive event defined:  Attend meetings of national clubs to serve as representatives of the club and speak on behalf of the club, attend large events in an effort to gain success while racing, showing or otherwise promoting a show car or other activity where the club is promoted as well.

      a.  If a member(s) are representing the club in a nationally sanctioned event, that member must have pre-installed a club decal or other club identification on their vehicle(s).

Article 10 Amendments:

A. This Constitution/ By-laws may be amended at any regular or special meeting of the membership by majority vote of the attending members.

     1.  Amendments adopted shall take effect immediately.

B.  An amendment proposal/ change to by-laws must be in writing to each club member no less than 20 days prior to the next scheduled monthly or special meeting.  Notification may take place via email or US Postal Office.  

These By-Laws have been enacted by majority vote of club membership this day _____  Month ________________Year  ______________

Signed (please sign your name, then print legibly next to your signature);

Signed

President 

Vice President 

Treasurer 

Secretary 

Activities Director

Membership Officer