Our Constitution
1. THE CLUB
1.1. The Club shall be known as the SUDBURY JOGGERS (thereafter: the club).
1.2. The primary assembly point for the club is outside the Sudbury Kingfisher Leisure Centre.
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE CLUB
2.1. To support and encourage members of all abilities in the sport of Amateur Athletics in Sudbury and the surrounding area.
2.2. To abide by the rules as laid down in the UK Athletics (UKA) ‘Rules for competition’ handbook.
3. MEMBERSHIP
3.1. The club shall consist of amateurs according to the UKA definition of an amateur.
3.2. The club shall be open to any individual aged sixteen years and above regardless of sex, age, nationality, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation or any other beliefs.
3.3. Prospective members may attend club training sessions for a period of up to three sessions without applying for membership. Prospective members cannot compete for the club.
3.4. Application for membership shall be made in writing on the form provided, to the club secretary for approval.
3.5. Membership to the club requires each member to pay a subscription (see section 4).
3.6. To resign from the club, the member shall give notice, in writing, to the secretary, and his/her notice terminates on the date of the notice, unless he/she is financially indebted to the club, in which case the committee may withhold acceptance of resignation until he/she has discharged any liability.
3.7. Membership renewals are to be paid in the month of April. Any membership not paid in full will not have the UK Athletics membership renewed, will be unable to race as an affiliated athlete and lose access to any members-only apps, groups and sites.
3.7.1. A member can request a month of grace to pay their membership. Requests must be made to the Treasurer and are considered on a case by case basis. Delays in renewal can lead to delays in the renewal of a member’s UKA membership and could result in some race registration systems declining the claiming of the UKA race discount.
4. SUBSCRIPTION
4.1. The Club subscription will be payable on the 1st of April each year. Or if joining later than April, part thereof, as decided by the management committee.
4.2. Subscriptions must be paid for the current year before the member can compete for the club, except where the club chooses to waive this rule.
4.3. There are three subscriptions that a member can subscribe to:
4.3.1. First claim; Sudbury Joggers will be the members’ primary club, and membership includes the fee to the UKA.
4.3.2. Second claim; for members that are affiliated to another club where their UKA membership is included.
4.3.3. Social; where members do not wish to compete in races.
4.4. The amount of each subscription is to be decided by the Management Committee and agreed on at the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
4.5. The committee shall have the power to expel any member whose subscription is two months in arrears, provided a month’s notice has been sent to such a member by registered post or recorded delivery, addressed to his/her last known address and informing him/her of the proposed action of the committee.
5. MANAGEMENT
5.1. The Management Committee shall consist of THREE statutory officers, a male club Captain, a female club Captain, plus a minimum of FIVE casual officers who will be elected at the Annual General Meeting.
5.1.1. The Management Committee should not number more than one officer for every ten members.
5.2. The statutory officers shall consist of the Chair, the Secretary, and the Treasurer.
5.3. An Honorary President may also be chosen at the AGM.
5.4. Statutory officers will be voted into the Management Committee for a term of TWO years. Casual officers will be voted into a position for a period of ONE year.
5.5. The Management Committee may fill an officer’s vacancy. This position may only be held until the next AGM where they may seek re-election.
5.6. Elections for the positions of Chair and the Secretary should be held in alternate years to avoid a loss of club knowledge and experience in a single election.
5.7. Management Committee officers shall serve a term from April 1st to March 31st.
5.8. At the completion of a term, any member of the Management Committee has the right to seek nomination and re-election to the Management Committee for the next term.
5.9. The Management Committee shall meet at least once every twelve weeks.
5.10. A quorum for the Management Committee shall be formed by a minimum of one Statutory Officer plus three Casual Officers.
5.11. All decisions shall be by majority vote, the person chairing the meeting shall have the casting vote in the event of a tie.
5.12. Club members may attend Management Committee meetings. Non-Management Committee members will have NO VOTING RIGHTS. The quorum reserves the right to ask any non-Management Committee member to step out of the committee meeting when it relates to sensitive information.
5.13. The Management Committee has the power to co-opt extra non-voting members (up to a limit of three), to create trustees, to form sub-committees, as, and when, considered necessary.
5.14. The President or Chair has the power to nominate any member of the Management Committee that performed examples of outstanding dedication to the club for more than five consecutive years to become an Honoured Officer.
5.14.1. The Management Committee must ratify Honoured Officer nominations.
5.14.2. Honoured Officers shall be a member of the Management Committee, will hold full voting rights and once elected, the position of Honoured Officer shall be for life.
6. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS AND VOTING
6.1. NOMINATIONS
6.1.1. Self-nominations must be submitted to the secretary between six weeks and four weeks before the AGM. The nomination should be in writing or by electronic mail.
6.1.2. Candidates must fulfil the following criteria to have a valid nomination:
6.1.2.1. Be a fully paid-up member with a first claim membership.
6.1.2.2. Been a member of the club for a full subscription year.
6.1.3. All nominations will be for a Casual Officer of the Management Committee.
6.1.4. One or two positions on the Management Committee will not be available in the elections. These are where positions are reserved for presiding Statutory Officers to fulfil their second year of term on the Management Committee as specified in 5.4. and 5.6.
6.2. VOTING
6.2.1. A ballot box will be available at club runs for the two Wednesdays before the AGM. Voting concludes when the AGM begins.
6.2.2. Votes are to be counted by two Counters in front of a minimum of two other witnesses.
6.2.2.1. The two counters will comprise of one Casual Officer of the Management Committee and by one non-Management Committee member of the club.
6.2.2.2. Counters and Witnesses should be volunteers attending the AGM.
6.2.3. Members can vote for a maximum of FIVE candidates for the position of Casual Officer. Voting for more than five candidates will invalidate that member’s vote for the Casual Officer.
6.2.3.1. Voting for the Male and Female Captain positions will be made on separate ballot papers where members can vote for only ONE nominee for each position.
6.2.4. When counting; Voting slips will be placed in piles by position. Each counter will count each pile individually. If counts do not match, a recount must be carried out by both counters. If the counts match, the results will be recorded and signed by each witness.
6.2.5. Members will only be voting for positions to the Management Committee as Casual Officers.
6.3. RESULTS
6.3.1. Counted results will be presented to the Chair to announce to the AGM. The Secretary will enter the total number of votes for each candidate into the minutes.
6.3.2. The elected members will be the candidates with the highest number of votes.
6.3.3. If the total number of candidates for Casual Officers is greater than the total number of available Management Committee positions, the candidates with the highest number of votes shall be elected.
6.3.4. If the total number of candidates for Casual Officers is less than total positions available, all candidates with at least two votes will be elected.
6.3.5. In the event of a tie for the election of the Female or Male Captains, the presiding committee will vote. Any further tie with be decided by the presiding Chair.
6.3.5.1. Any additional voting by the presiding committee will be completed and counted by the counters before any results are announced.
6.4. STATUTORY OFFICERS
6.4.1. The Management Committee will consist of THREE Statutory Officers as described in the Roles and Responsibilities document.
6.4.2. Any Casual Officer wishing to be considered for a Statutory Officer position must fulfil the minimum requirements of:
6.4.2.1. Held at least two years of continuous first claim membership.
6.4.2.2. Served as a member of the Management Committee for a minimum of one year.
6.4.3. The available Statutory Officer positions will be nominated and voted on by the members of the newly elected Management Committee at the Year-end Committee Management meeting after the AGM and before April 1st.
6.4.4. Only newly elected members of the forthcoming Management Committee have voting rights for these assignments.
6.4.5. In the event of a voting tie for any Statutory Officer position, the final decision will be made by the Statutory Officer position of Chair or Secretary that will be serving the second year of their term.
7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
7.1. The Annual General Meeting will be held on the first Tuesday of March each year. If this is not possible, the AGM should be held within ten days of this date.
7.2. The following business should be undertaken: The minutes from the previous years AGM and any EGMs held; Reports from all Statutory Officers will be read and discussed; Accounts will be presented; Motions submitted will be discussed; The Management Committee will be elected as per section 6.
7.3. Motions to be discussed must be submitted, in writing, to the Secretary at least fourteen days before the AGM.
7.4. Standing orders or rules may only be changed by a two-thirds majority decision.
7.5. One-third of all paid members will constitute a quorum.
7.6. The person chairing the meeting shall have the casting vote.
8. COMPLAINTS, DISCIPLINE AND APPEALS
8.1. All complaints regarding the behaviour of members should be submitted by letter or electronic email to either the Chair or the Secretary.
8.2. A disciplinary committee will be formed within fourteen days of receipt of the complaint.
8.3. The disciplinary committee should consist of the Chair, the Secretary, the Male and/or Female Captain, the Treasurer (if relating to finance) plus a minimum of two other members of the Management Committee.
8.4. Attendance of the complainee or complainant to any of the disciplinary meetings will be at the discretion of the disciplinary committee. The complainee and/or complainant should be given a minimum of three days notice before such a meeting.
8.5. The Secretary will take minutes of all disciplinary committee meetings and can be made available to the complainant upon appeal.
8.6. The disciplinary committee has the right to issue warnings, suspensions and expulsion from the club by a majority vote.
8.7. Any member found guilty of misconduct (i.e. behaviour contrary to the constitution or in a non-sporting manner) shall have the right to appeal to the disciplinary committee at a meeting called at his/her request, not later than two weeks from the date of the warning, suspension or expulsion.
8.8. The name and address of any person so expelled from the club, in the Southern District, shall have his/her name sent to the Honorary Secretary of the Southern Counties AA, who shall enter his/her name in a book, (to be called the ‘Black Book’), kept for that purpose. Every person whose name has been entered in the Black Book shall be surrendered from competing at any meeting held under UKA Laws until the liability causing the said expulsion, (which shall not exceed one year’s subscription), shall be discharged.
9. AMENDMENTS TO THE CLUB CONSTITUTION
9.1. The Management Committee, by a two-thirds majority at a quorate meeting called for that purpose, may propose amendments to the Constitution. The changes may be made only at the AGM, or at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called for that purpose. Four weeks notice must be given for an EGM.
9.2. A quorum consists of a minimum of twenty voting members of the club’s membership.
9.3. If a two-thirds majority passes the motion, the amendment to the constitution will be adopted.
9.4. Alternatively, ten paid up, and voting members may petition the club Secretary in writing or electronic email to call an EGM, in which conditions in the rest of section 9 will apply concerning calling the meeting and voting at it.
10. CLUB COLOURS
10.1. The colours of the club shall be royal blue vests or tee shirts, incorporating yellow side panels, with blue, or black, shorts or running bottoms.
10.2. Club colours must be worn by all competitors at all UKA sanctioned meetings where registration is made under the club’s name. If mutually agreed by both a Club Captain and the Race Referee, section 10.2 can be waived.
11. RACE ENTRIES
11.1. Members wishing to take part in any event that is coordinated/entered via the club will have to pay any fees due in advance. Non-payment will mean that the member no longer wishes/requires to take part in the event.
11.2. Non-Affiliated members must enter any race as “Unattached” and cannot receive the UKA race discount.
12. PUBLICITY
12.1. No members shall act as a representative of the club by letters, by electronic mail, via the medium of the press, without the wording of such documents/letters being sanctioned by the Management Committee or the working party appointed by the Management Committee.
13. DISSOLUTION
13.1. The Management Committee, by a two-thirds majority at a quorate meeting called for that purpose, may decide to dissolve the club. They must then call an EGM, giving four weeks notice to all club members. If a two-thirds majority passes the motion, the club is then dissolved.
13.2. Alternatively, ten first claim, paid-up voting members may petition the Secretary, in writing, to call an EGM, in which conditions specified in section 9 will apply concerning calling the meeting and voting at it.
13.3. Upon dissolution, any funds remaining, after all debts have been met, will be donated to the COUNTY AA to be used to further Road Running in the county.
This CONSTITUTION was adopted at the EGM held on 29TH OCTOBER 2019.
