May 1 Update from Elissa Wellikson, Chair of the Congregational Bylaws Revision Comm.:

I want to give you an update on the meetings thus far with congregants on the proposed bylaw amendments. Congregants in these meetings asked for the background and rationale for several changes proposed by the board. Most of these explanations were satisfactory to the congregants so that they did not propose additional changes on those items. However, here is a summary of the changes that were requested by the congregants who attended.

On Sunday 4/27 Ron Shipper and Peri and James Baloun attended. Based on the discussion, the Bylaws Committee recognized the need for making it easier to refer to specific section numbers. As a result, on our next revision of the Proposed 2008 Bylaws, we will modify the section numbers to include article numbers. For instance, Section 4 in Article VII would be denoted as Section 7.4.

The following changes were requested and the Bylaws Revision Committee agrees that the Board should modify the language accordingly
before submitting the proposed Bylaws by the congregation later in May for its vote:

• Change "Jew" to "Jewish person" or something similar as the word "Jew" standing alone has derogatory connotations to some people (i.e., in Polish). This change will be made in Section 2.1
• Immediate past president would serve for a seventh year only, rather than a seventh and eighth year. This change will be made in Section 3.10
• A typo will be corrected in Section 8.3 so that the final sentence will read "Notices shall be deemed given when posted on the website, and sent by electronic mail or by deposit thereof with the United States Postal Service in Santa Clara County, postage prepaid."

A few items were also requested but the Bylaws Committee believes they are not improvements. I will list the topics; upon request, we can provide more details regarding these proposals and why the committee believes them to be counterproductive: (1) term limit for committee chairs, and (2) a two-year period when a Director leaves the board at any time, during which that person may not be elected or appointed to the Board.

On Wednesday 4/30, the 4:15pm meeting was attended by Evelyn Merritt and Robert Berman and went until 6:45pm. There was detailed discussion and questions about the amendments proposed, including approval of allowing participation by non-Jewish members, questions about deleting 300 family trigger for considering congregation size, agenda for Board meetings, delegation of duties, formal meetings of committees, notice methods and absolute majority voting requirement for some decisions.

The following changes were requested and the Bylaws Revision Committee agrees that the Board should modify the language accordingly
before submitting the proposed Bylaws by the congregation later in May for its vote:

• move the final two sentences added to Section 2.1 concerning ability to pay and fair share to the beginning of Section 2.4
• modify Section 2.3 Voting Rights to better indicate who may vote. The following language was worked out: "Each individual member of the Congregation, and each adult in a membership family unit (other than an unmarried adult child living in the household or a financially dependent adult child) shall be a voting member entitled to one vote. Determination of voting status based on other family circumstances may be made by the Board in its discretion."
• restore modified language regarding keeping a list of member and address data to Section 4.8.e. to read "Keep at the principal office of the Congregation, a record of the name and address of each member of the Congregation and, in the case where any membership has been terminated, a record of such fact together with the date on which such membership ceased."
• change required signature policies for checks in Section 5.2 from "two officers" to "two individuals authorized by the Board" which will allow the Exec Dir to be one of the signers.

On Wednesday 4/30, the 6:45pm meeting was attended by Jeremy Siegel. No changes were requested in this meeting.

The last meeting will be Sunday 5/04 at 10:15am. The meeting will begin in the Backyard Patio, but will move into the Beyt Knesset as soon as a prior meeting in that room exits (circa 10:30am).

Additional Update, quoted directly from the Minutes of the Board Meeting of May 4, 2008

Elissa referenced the "update" report on the three congregational meetings before today (distributed to board members by email and then posted on the website for congregants' review). She handed out a revised draft of the Proposed Bylaws, which take into account the committee recommendations based upon the feedback from these congregational meetings.

She further reported that four long-standing members had attended this morning's discussion, and the two main objections that arose were:

• There are a lot of changes, so could the Board split the one proposal into two, "substantive" and "procedural," so that congregants could vote for or against one and/or both? Elissa recommended against this, since it's become clear in both Board discussions and congregational discussions that one person's "procedural change" is another person's "substantive" change. Since there is no clear dividing line, she recommends proceeding with one proposed draft for an up/down vote by the congregation.
• While the proposed bylaws address allowing non-Jews on the Board, there are other issues raised by the active participation of non-Jews in our congregation, and the congregation has never fully discussed what the inclusion of non-Jews in the congre­gation means in all its aspects (e.g., what are all the can-do's and can't do's in a Bar/t Mitzvah for an interfaith family). Discussion. Elissa suggested that the proposed Bylaws changes do not preclude having such a conversation, and that we should proceed with the Bylaws proposal as revised in her handout at the Board meeting.
• John moved to accept the bylaws as presented, with permission to Elissa to clean up any remaining typos and other non-substantive corrections. Bob K. seconded. MOTION PASSED.

The "clean up" draft was circulated for final review by Board Members after the Board Meeting. That draft was then posted on this website with a link on the Governance webpage: "Final (May 2008) Language: Proposed Amended & Restated Bylaws of 2008 ."