SECTION I - Voting Member

A voting member is any regular employee residing in New Mexico.

SECTION II - Non-voting member

A) A non-voting permanent member is a:

1) spouse and/or dependent of a voting member;

2) retired employee, spouse and/or dependent;

3) spouse and/or dependent of a deceased employee.

B) A non-voting temporary member is:

1) any employee, spouse and/or dependent of NRAO/AUI not residing in New Mexico, while in New Mexico;

2) any temporary employee, spouse, and or dependent;

3) a guest of NRAO/AUI or the Board of Directors.



4) any employee who is discharged involuntarily without cause for a period of 6 months after the termination date.

SECTION I - Board of Directors

A) The PRA shall be governed by a Board of Directors consisting of seven voting members. This Board shall consist of, as a minimum requirement, three members from the AOC and two members from the VLA site. A director will be a voting member

B) The duties of the Board of Directors shall be:

1) to formulate the policies, rules and regulations which conform to the Constitution and Bylaws of the PRA;

2) to prepare a yearly budget and authorize expenditures for the PRA;

3) to elect from its members, at its January meeting, a President, a Vice President, a Secretary and a Treasurer, by a majority secret ballot;

4) to prepare an annual report to the voting membership including details of election results, a financial report, and details of any other PRA activities throughout the year.

C) The term of a director is two years. A director may not serve more than two consecutive terms.

SECTION II - Officers

A) Election of officers:

1) The Board of Directors at its January meeting shall elect from its members the following officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.

B) The duties of the President shall be:

1) to preside at all board meetings (in case disputes arise during meetings, the president reserves the right to implement "Roberts' Rules of Order" to bring order to the proceedings);

2) to serve as official representative of the PRA;

3) to appoint committees as required;

4) to see that the Constitution and By-Laws of the PRA are enforced;

5) to approve expenditures authorized by the Board.

C) The duties of the Vice President shall be:

1) to assume full responsibility for the duties of the President in his/her absence;

2) to provide liaison between Board committees.

D) The duties of the Secretary shall be:

1) to issue calls for meetings under the direction of the President;

2) to call roll at meetings and ascertain if a quorum is present a quorum shall be defined as four Directors;

3) to submit minutes of the previous meeting at the opening of each meeting and to maintain the official record of these minutes;

4) to provide a draft of the minutes to each board member within one week following a meeting;

5) to assume full responsibility for the correspondence of the PRA;

6) to maintain bulletin board postings and to keep them current.

E) The duties of the Treasurer shall be:

1) to maintain the financial records of the PRA;

2) to keep receipts of all financial transactions;

3) to provide financial reports to the Board;

4) to provide liaison between the Board and outside agencies, e.g., accountants, auditors, state and federal;

5) to coordinate an audit by an outside, independent auditor when requested by the board.

SECTION III - Vacancies

A) When a vacancy occurs on the Board of Directors, other than an expired term, such vacancy may be filled by nomination and election by the Board of Directors at any regular meeting.

B) Any member of the Board of Directors may be removed from office for just cause, said cause to be determined by the Board of Directors. Such removal shall require a two-thirds vote of the members of the Board of Directors, at any regular meeting when there shall be a quorum present.

SECTION I - Nominations

A) Each October, the Board shall send a list of all qualified members to all voting members. From this list each voting member shall be asked to select a maximum of seven nominees.

B) The ratio of Nominees selected, shall be in accordance with Article II, Section I-A.

SECTION II - Election

A) In even numbered years, four voting members shall be elected. In odd numbered years, three voting members shall be elected.

B) The election results will be tabulated by two volunteers from the general membership, and be made available to any eligible voter from the General Membership for a period of up to sixty days from the date of the election. The nominees with the most votes in accordance with Article II, Section I-A will become Board members on January 1 following the election. Until that time, they will serve an apprenticeship with the Board.

SECTION I- Amendments

A) Amendments may be proposed by a group of any ten voting members who shall submit the proposal to the Board.

B) Amendments may be proposed by any Board member who shall submit the proposal to the Board.

C) Proposed amendments accepted by a two-thirds majority of the Board shall be placed in ballot for ratification by the voting membership. A two-thirds majority of the returned ballots of the voting members shall be necessary to ratify an amendment. Proposed amendments which are not accepted by a two-thirds majority of the board can be placed on the ballot if a petition signed by 33% of the voting membership is presented to the Board.

D) Amendments may be presented at any time for consideration by the board. Those amendments which are passed by the board shall be presented to the general membership for vote at the same time as ballots to elect board members.

SECTION II - Attendance at PRA Events

A) If for any reason the PRA is dissolved, all assets remaining after all debts are satisfied shall become the property of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (operated by Associated Universities, Inc., a non-profit corporation, under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation)

Copyright © 2009 Associated Universities, Inc.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.