Greetings NASW Idaho Members!
Your Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers is one of thirteen out of fifty-six chapters that is growing. Due to our ongoing growth, the Board of Directors has voted to add an additional branch. The new branch will be called “Capital Branch” and will divide our largest branch (Southwest Branch) so that there is a better “general proportion (voting strength) to each branch's membership…” We will also be decreasing the terms of our branch chairs and officers by one year to make it a more reasonable commitment for qualified candidates to commit to serving on your Board of Directors. Please review the proposed bylaws and contact your Chapter Office if you have any questions (208.475.4215 or naswidaho@earthlink.net ).
Pursuant to Article XIV. Amendments to Chapter Bylaws, of the NASW Idaho Chapter Bylaws, the attached bylaws will be adopted by the NASW Idaho Board of Directors in February 2009.
These new changes will require that at least two candidates be slated for President-elect and the Board of Directors will either appoint or have slated (a) candidate(s) for a Chapter Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification (CCNLI) Capital Branch Representative and at least one candidate for Capital Branch Chairperson. I am confident our CCNLI will not have any problems identifying these four persons for this election. Nominations for all elected positions close February 28, 2009. Our CCNLI Chair, Theotosca, will give a face-to-face status report on the election process at the February 14th board meeting in Boise.
These new bylaws will:
1) Correct an error that is in our current bylaws regarding the Branch Chair terms.
2) Reduce the Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Branch Chair terms to two years rather than three and reduce the President and Treasurer roles to three year commitments rather than four (since each serves one year as position-elect before taking on the Officer role).
3) Establish a new branch called the “Capital Branch,” in order to give a more balanced representation on the Board of Directors to the Chapter’s most populous region. The bylaws do not define how branch borders are defined. After reviewing our membership numbers and growth patterns, I am recommending that the Capital Branch membership will be all members who report “Boise” as their primary address as defined in the NASW database or will be a Boise zip code. All other five branches will retain the same boundaries.
If your membership is not current, please renew today by clicking here, calling 1.800.742.4089 or 202.408.8600 or by email at membership@naswdc.org to reinstate your membership.