CONSTITUTION 

  1. Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee shall be the name of this organization.
  2. Mission: The mission of this committee is to promote, advance, and encourage safe and responsible use of firearms and archery equipment among 4-H members enrolled in 4-H shooting sports.  
  3. Membership: Any Cascade County 4-H adult leader that is active in the current 4-H year is eligible for membership irrespective of race, color, creed, age, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status, or parental status.
  4. Officers: The officers of this committee shall be President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
  5. Meetings: The committee shall meet the first Thursday of the months of October-June and September.
  6. Amendments: It shall require discussion at one meeting and a two-thirds vote of enrolled active voting members present at the next meeting to amend this constitution. 

BYLAWS  

Article I: Objectives:  

  1. Promote the highest standards of safety, sportsmanship, and ethical behavior by providing safe, updated equipment to instruct with and learn from.
  2. Develop integrity, sportsmanship, cooperation, decision-making skills, and public speaking skills in youth through participation in structured, informal learning experiences, including demonstrations, visual presentations, tours, competitive shooting events, community service activities, and exhibits. 
  3. Teach concepts that lead to the safe and responsible use of firearms and archery equipment, including sound decision-making skills, self-discipline, and concentration.
  4. Complement and enhance the impact of existing safety, shooting, and hunter education programs using experiential educational methods and progressive development of skills and abilities by offering one or more multi-agency education/safety event annually. 

Article II: Membership and Member Duties:  

Any Cascade County 4-H adult or junior leader that is active in the current 4-H year is eligible for membership irrespective of race, color, creed, age, religion, national origin, sex, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, marital status or parental status.  

  1. The duties of members of the Cascade County Shooting Sports Leaders Committee shall be to attend meetings and take an active part in the program.
  2. Voting members shall be enrolled active Cascade County 4-H adult or junior leaders in good standing. 

Article III: Election of Executive Officers:  

The Executive Officers shall be elected by ballot at the October meeting and installed as officers at the November meeting each year and shall assume office through the following October meeting. The terms of office shall be two years. Officers may hold any one office for not more than three terms in succession.  

  1. President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer must be an enrolled active Cascade County 4-H adult leader for a minimum of one year.
  2. Voting members will vote for President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer. Ballots will be counted by the Cascade County Extension 4-H Agent.  
  3. If an officer is no longer able to hold an office, elected officers will appoint a replacement to finish the term. This position then becomes eligible for election when the term ends. 
  4. Officer election rotation shall be President and Secretary elected in even years, Vice President and Treasurer elected in odd years.  

Article IV: Duties of the Officers:  

  1. Executive Officers
    1. President will preside at all meetings of the committee and have in mind at all times the best interests of the committee and its mission. The President, with the approval of the Executive Officers, may call special meetings as necessary. The president shall prepare the agenda for the meetings with the help of the secretary and the extension agent. They need to send the agenda, minutes, financials and any other packet information out to all members one week before the meeting and the information to the office 2 weeks prior to the meeting. 
    2. Vice-President will perform the duties of the President when the President is absent. The Vice President will chair the Fundraising Committee.
    3. Secretary will keep a record (minutes) of all proceedings of the committee, shall act as committee correspondent in matters pertaining to the business of the committee, and shall, with assistance from Extension office staff, keep a correct enrollment of all members. The Secretary will submit committee minutes to the President and the Extension Office no later than two weeks after meetings. The Secretary will assist the President and Extension Agent in setting meeting agendas, attend scheduled Leaders Council meetings, and attend Foundation meetings, as needed.
    4. Treasurer will work in conjunction with the Cascade County 4-H bookkeeper to maintain financial records and shall provide a current profit and loss statement at all regular meetings., deposit monies prepared by the 4-H bookkeeper, and return the receipt to the Extension office in a timely manner. The Treasurer shall maintain a list of sponsors and donors to be recognized annually and submit a current list of bank account signers to the Extension office. Signers must be three of the current Executive Officers and must be available to sign checks in a timely manner. The Treasurer will chair the Budget Committee.  
  2. Extension Agent: The Extension Agent acts as the facilitator to the Shooting Sports Leaders and provides all necessary resources. They act as an Ex-officio member of all committees, are responsible for receiving complaints or policy exceptions from members and referring to the proper committee, following up on ruling and referring back to members in a timely manner, sending meeting notice and materials to committee one week before the meeting, and providing a current list of enrolled, active, voting members, and maintaining a current list of certified shooting sports instructors.  
  3. 4-H Bookkeeper Services: Bookkeeping services will be provided by a Contract for Services bookkeeper. The bookkeeper will perform general bookkeeping duties and provide quarterly invoices of services to the Shooting Sports Leaders Committee. The bookkeeper will efficiently and responsibly utilize bookkeeping software. This is a contract with the Cascade 4-H Foundation and the scope of the contract includes the Cascade 4-H Foundation, Cascade County 4-H Leaders Council, Cascade County 4-H Horse Leaders, Cascade County 4-H Livestock Leaders, and Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders. Wages are prorated between each entity for time worked on each entity’s account.  

Article V: Sub-Committees:  

Sub-Committees standing and special will be appointed by the President as needed. The President will appoint the chairman and fill any vacancies. Sub-Committee chairmen must be enrolled active Cascade County 4-H leaders. Standing and special committees may research, investigate, organize, and establish proposals to be reported to the general committee. Any proposals must be voted upon by the Shooting Sports Leaders Committee before taking action.  

  1. Standing Committees shall be:  
    1. Budget Committee chaired by the Treasurer, will prepare an annual Committee budget to be presented to the Shooting Sports Leaders Committee in October and the Cascade County 4-H Leaders Council meeting in November.  
    2. Fundraising Committee chaired by the Vice President, will maintain a list of current and potential sponsors. Research and recommend fundraising opportunities.  
  2. Special committees shall be, but not limited to:  
    1. Committee Bylaws Review Committee shall review the bylaws on odd years. This special committee shall be formed in September. The special committee presents the final draft of the policy for approval at the October meeting. If necessary, bylaws may be amended at any regular Shooting Sports Leaders Committee meeting provided the amendment has been submitted and read at the previous meeting. A quorum must be present. A majority vote is required to amend the bylaws. 
    2. The Grievance Committee is responsible for handling grievances filed with the committee. See Article XV for more information.  

Article VI: Meetings:  

Regular meetings shall take place on the first Thursday of each month unless ordered otherwise by the Executive Officers. Each month, in the meeting notification email and on the agenda, the location of the next meeting will be announced. Regular meetings or discussion and voting on urgent club business may be held in person, via conference call, video call, email, or other electronic means. Notification and a reasonable deadline will be announced for urgent matters so that all members have an opportunity to respond. The President, with the approval of the Executive Officers, may call special meetings as necessary. Notice of meetings shall be emailed by the Extension Agent to voting members at least one week prior.  

Article VII: Quorum:  

A quorum is needed to hold an official business meeting. A quorum consisting of a minimum of four members must be in attendance whether in-person, by conference call, video call, electronic, or other means.  

  1. If a quorum is not present, and there is business to be voted upon that cannot wait until the next scheduled meeting, the President will wait 10 minutes before calling the meeting to order. During these 10 minutes, attending members may attempt to call missing members and conference in the missing members by phone or video.  
  2. If a quorum is not present and there is no urgent business, the President will call the meeting to order, state there is no quorum, and ask for reports. No business which requires voting will take place without a quorum.

Article VIII: Voting:  

A motion will pass with a majority vote. A majority vote is 50% of the Committee’s voting members in attendance. All voting shall be done by voting members in a usual vote taking method, i.e. viva voice (by voice), a show of hands, raising the right hand, rising, ballot, roll call, “ayes and nays”, general consent, mail, email, phone, or electronic means.  

Emergency voting between meetings may be conducted via email between meetings. Emergency voting, conducted by the executive committee, must have 100% participation, and will pass with majority vote.  

Article IX: Order of Business:  

The order of business for regular meetings shall be as follows: Call to Order, pledges, reading and approval of minutes, reading of communications, treasurer’s report, agent report, discipline reports, unfinished business, new business, announcements, adjournment of the business meeting.  

Article X: Code of Conduct:  

4-H Code of Conduct for Shooting Sports Leaders will be followed at all committee and shooting sports activities. 

Article XI: Amendments:  

If necessary, bylaws may be amended at any regular meeting of the committee provided the amendment has been read at the previous meeting OR has been distributed to each committee member that is eligible to vote, in writing or electronically, at least two weeks prior to the meeting. A two-thirds vote of current members is required to amend the bylaws. Members will be able to vote and/or offer discussion points in-person, via electronic, or other means. Votes from electronic or other means are due before the regular meeting begins and any votes and discussion points will be reported and presented at the meeting. 

Article XII: Compensation and Conflicts of Interest: 

  • All persons associated with this chartered committee are volunteers.  
  • No adult or youth will use their position with 4-H or the knowledge gained from their position in 4-H for personal financial benefit.  

Article XIII: Whistleblowers Protection:  

To maintain the highest standards of conduct and ethics, the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee will investigate any suspected fraudulent or dishonest use or misuse of resources. Any allegations of dishonesty will be handled with sensitivity, discretion, and confidentiality to the extent allowed by law. The 4-H organization will use its best efforts to protect whistleblowers against retaliation.  

Article XIV: Document retention and destruction:  

The following procedures for the retention and destruction of records will be followed. 

  • Charter        -permanent  
  • Bylaws        -permanent  
  • EIN Paperwork      -permanent 
  • 990 tax returns       -7 years  
  • Annual and Audits      -7 years  
  • Bank Records       -3 years 
  • Donor Records and Acknowledgement Letters  -3 years  
  • Grant paperwork       -3 years after completion  
  • Minutes        -3 years  
  • Correspondence       -3 years  
  • Yearly Program Plans      -3 years  

Copies of all permanent records will be kept on file at the local Extension office. The Extension offices in collaboration with the Committee President, are the designated persons to identify the records that have met their required retention time and will oversee the destruction. All destruction will be by shredding.  

Article XV: Grievance Procedure:  

For those who feel aggrieved due to some action in the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee the following steps must be taken:  

  1. A written statement of the grievance shall be filed by the party/ies grieving a process or decision. The statement should include the following information: 
    1. The date of the incident.
    2. The name(s) of the people filing the grievance.  
    3. A complete statement describing the incident including all facts upon which the complaint is based.  
    4. Any rules, regulations, policies or procedures that have been violated, if any.  
    5. List of the names and phone numbers of people who have been involved in the incident and their role as well as a detailed timeline of events.  
    6. Signatures of those submitting the grievance.  
  2. The grievance statement should be filed with the MSU Extension Cascade County 4-H Agent, who will then contact the other Grievance Committee members to complete the process.
  3. Grievance committee and their duties:
    1. The committee shall consist of the MSU Extension Cascade County 4-H Agent who is the appropriate agent for the grievance and the Executive Officers of the Shooting Sports Leaders Committee.  
    2. Narrow and define the issues related to the incident.  
    3. Gather information related to the incident which may include identifying and obtaining input from people reviewing the documents.
    4. Identify other processes deemed necessary by the committee.  
    5. Prepare recommendations for the resolution of the grievance. The recommendations will be non-binding and no testimony used by the grievance process may be used for other purposes.
  4. Grievance documents received by the Grievance Committee are considered confidential information. Grievance Committee members shall not share the documents without the permission of the author and the consultant of the Montana State 4-H Center. The intent of the grievance may be summarized and shared but sensitive information or information which may cause harm (real or perceived) to individuals, should be protected.  

Article XVI: Dissolution Clause:  

Upon termination of affiliation with Cascade County and MSU Extension and/or upon dissolution of the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee the governing body of the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Committee shall promptly pay or make provisions for the payment of all liabilities of the Committee. The governing body of the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee will then promptly transfer all the remaining assets of the Committee to the Cascade 4-H Foundation, Inc. to be dispersed by it to a qualified entity (including the Cascade 4-H Foundation and any of its affiliates) under Section 501(c)3 or 509(a)3 of the Internal Revenue Code (or the corresponding provision of any United States Internal Revenue Law) which is chartered by, affiliated with, or supportive of 4-H programs and activities. Alternatively, the Cascade 4-H Foundation may transfer the remaining funds and assets to the responsible County 4-H Council within that county to be held in a separate account designated for that county and to be disbursed for 4-H programs and activities in that county as determined by the holder of the funds.  

Article XVII: Parliamentary Authority:  

The rules contained in the current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Cascade County 4-H Shooting Sports Leaders Committee in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these by-laws and any special rules of order the Committee may adopt. 

 

Adopted      Revised      Revised      Revised      Revised      Revised 

3/1/18         12/13/18     11/7/19     10/7/21      11/2/23      11/7/24