BYLAWS OF
CAPITAL AREA PROFESSIONAL PET SITTERS
AS OF FEBRUARY 19, 2014
Capital Area Professional Pet Sitters (hereinafter “CAPPS”) amends and restates its Bylaws in their entirety as follows:
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of CAPPS is to provide business-related support and information to its members, to offer a support system of friends and colleagues and to build an awareness of professional pet sitting in our community and our State. All members adhere to the Pet Sitters International Standards of Excellent in Pet Sitting.
All activities and work by CAPPS are to be designed to benefit its membership and the professional pet sitting industry as a whole.
II. MEMBERSHIP
Membership in CAPPS is open to professional pet sitting businesses with clients within one hour of Albany, NY. CAPPS reserves the right to deny membership if prospect has been convicted of Cruelty or Negligence to animals or convicted of theft. All members must reapply for membership in March of each year by paying their annual dues and providing written proof of their current liability insurance.
Insurance is a requirement for being a member in good standing and must be maintained throughout the membership year. As insurance renews during the current year, a cop of the renewal must be submitted to the Vice President by mail or email as a jpeg or pdf file within 2 weeks. Failure to do so will result in Member Company being removed from the CAPPS website until it is received.
New members are required to be in business a minimum of six months. They are required to attend three (3) meetings within a six (6) month period before they are eligible to join. Once they have attended the required three (3) meetings within six (6) months the group will vote on approving their membership. If approved they will then be eligible to join and pay their dues. Once dues have been received they will be listed on the CAPPS website and added to the CAPPS Facebook group.
Each member company will pay dues annually in March in the amount voted on and set by the Board members the previous February. Membership Dues are non-refundable. Dues payment and proof of liability insurance must accompany applications for membership.
Funds raised through membership dues will be used to send information to members and potential members, hold network events, advertise, and pay for other budgeted expenses. Special assessments may take place during the year to pay for special events such as trade shows. These assessments are to be voted on by the membership with an approval of 2/3 of members present.
Each member pet sitting business has the privilege of one vote, one membership. Proxy votes are permitted on any network business, unless there is enough of a majority in attendance at the meeting to vote. Employees of pet sitting businesses may not hold individual membership or have their own vote, but are welcome to attend meetings and participate in select activities of CAPPS. All members are responsible for seeking new members from the community and for mentoring new and potential members.
Each dues-paying member must attend two (2) general meetings a year.
III. STRUCTURE: ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD
CAPPS operates with a formal structure of officers: President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer and Membership Coordinator (hereinafter the “Officers”). The Membership Coordinator, along with the Officers comprise the Administrative Board team. These positions are voluntary and will be revisited annually. The Administrative Board is responsible for the administrative business of CAPPS, including: establishing and coordinating special committees, supporting and mentoring the members, promoting professional pet sitting, maintaining the web site and member Facebook group and defining CAPPS priorities.
The President’s responsibilities include: soliciting and hearing reports from special committees, including the Membership Coordinator; overseeing the CAPPS web site, chairing the Administrative Board meetings; arranging for guest speakers, and conducting the monthly membership meetings.
The Vice President is responsible for: maintaining files relating to members written proof of insurance; chairing the Administrative Board and mediating meetings in the absence of the President; and assisting the President in other duties as necessary.
The Secretary/Treasurer is responsible for preparing agendas and minutes; member attendance and alerting the President when a member has not fulfilled requirement for membership and for managing CAPPS bank account, depositing dues, tracking expenses and giving a report at every monthly meeting and preparing the annual budget.
The Membership Coordinator contacts potential new members to invite them to join the group and maintains a record of who they have contacted and the responses and to provide a Membership Report at monthly meetings.
IV. FINANCES
The CAPPS bank account is located at Sunmark Credit Union. Collected dues and other income are deposited into this account, and expenses against CAPPS are paid from this account. No other Network checking, savings, or equity accounts exist, and all income and expenses must go through this account. A current record of source and amount must be kept for every transaction that goes through this account, and a receipt must accompany all expenditures.
V. DISSOLUTION
If CAPPS should ever cease to exist, all equipment and capital goods will be disposed of, liabilities paid, and remaining assets distributed to the most recently chosen nonprofit to receive such donations, within 60 days of dissolution. No individual pet sitting business or member, past or present, has any claim to any asset of CAPPS.