6.1 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 The date and location of the Annual General Meeting of the ALLIANCE shall be designated by a majority vote of the Executive Committee. The Annual General Meeting of the ALLIANCE MUST be held prior to and including the last Saturday of June in the current hockey year, but not before May 1st of the current hockey year.
6.2 SEMI ANNUAL MEETINGS:
.1 The date and location of a Semi Annual Meeting of the ALLIANCE shall be designated by a majority vote of the Executive Committee. The objective of this meeting will be to present and discuss items relating to financial planning for the ALLIANCE and ALLIANCE members for the upcoming season. There will be no voting at Semi Annual Meetings. The intent of the meeting is for information purposes only.
6.3 SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 A Special General Meeting of members may be called:
.1 at the discretion of the Executive Committee as determined by majority vote;
.2 if seven (7) Presidents or designates of Member Associations sign a letter to the ALLIANCE President or Senior Vice President requesting a meeting.
6.4 NOTICE OF MEETINGS:
.1 Notice of any Annual General Meeting shall be given to all members in good standing at least thirty (30) days before the meeting is to take place. Notice of any Special General Meeting shall be given to all members in good standing at least seven (7) days before the meeting is to take place and shall specify the purpose for which the meeting is called.
6.5 QUORUM OF MEMBERS:
.1 A quorum for the transaction of business at any Annual General or Special General Meeting shall consist of not less than fifty per cent (50%) of the Executive Committee, and not less than fifty per cent (50%) of the voting delegates registered for such Annual General or Special General Meeting.
6.6 VOTING DELEGATES TO ANNUAL GENERAL AND SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 Each member minor hockey association of the ALLIANCE in good standing shall be entitled to designate one (1) voting delegate for each 100 registered players (House League, Minor Development and/or Representative players within the said association to a maximum of ten (10) and a minimum of two (2) voting delegates.
.2 Each minor hockey association in good standing may send additional non-voting delegates to such Annual General or Special General Meeting provided they pay the prescribed registration fees, if any.
.3 Member minor hockey associations are required to send at least one (1) representative to regional meetings which may be called at least twice per year. Failure to attend such meetings without reasonable justification may result in the loss of voting rights at Annual and/or Special Meetings or other discipline as prescribed by the ALLIANCE Executive.
6.7 VOTING AT ANNUAL GENERAL OR SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 Members of the Executive Committee, Honorary Life members, Referee appointment to the Representative Council and each voting delegate of a member minor hockey association of the ALLIANCE, in good standing, who are in attendance at an Annual or Special General Meeting shall be entitled to vote on any issue to be determined at such meetings;
.2 No person shall have more than one (1) vote;
.3 There shall be no proxy voting;
.4 All persons voting must be at least eighteen (18) years of age;
.5 Election of Executive Members shall be by secret ballot;
.6 Beyond this, voting may be either by show of hands or by secret ballot; but the latter will be used whenever it is so requested by a majority of voting members and voting delegates in attendance;
.7 All questions shall be decided by a majority of votes of such members and approved voting delegates, unless otherwise stipulated herein;
.8 The President of the ALLIANCE will not have a vote except in the case of a tie vote, at which time, the President will vote to break the tie.
6.8 REQUEST FOR A CONFIDENTIAL VOTE:
.1 Any member minor hockey association in good standing when seconded by another member minor hockey association in good standing can request a confidential secret ballot vote on any item included in the Annual or Special General Meeting agenda that will be distributed at least fourteen (14) days prior to the meeting, if the agenda topic concerns:
.1 Specific personnel (staff, volunteers, referee, etc.);
.2 A contract;
.3 Competitive bid;
.4 Litigation matters.
6.9 RULES FOR CONDUCTING ANNUAL OR SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 The following rules shall govern all Annual or Special General Meetings of the ALLIANCE:
.1 If there is no quorum within thirty (30) minutes of the time fixed for the meeting to begin the Chairperson (hereinafter referred to as the Chair) shall declare that there can be no meeting on this occasion;
.2 Parliamentary procedure, as specified in Robert's Rules of Order Revised, shall be followed at all meetings;
.3 The Chair shall have the right to require that any motion or resolution be presented in writing whether it is submitted before the meeting or during the meeting;
.4 The Chair shall decide all questions of order, in accordance with Robert’s Rules of Order Revised.
6.10 ORDER OF BUSINESS AT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS:
.1 Normally the order of business at all Annual General Meetings of the ALLIANCE shall be as follows:
.1 Opening of the meeting and explanation of procedural rules governing meetings;
.2 Reading of the minutes of the previous Annual General/Special General Meeting
.3 Business arising from the minutes;
.4 President's Address;
.5 Standing Committee Reports;
.6 Special Committee Reports;
.7 Treasurer’s Report;
.8 Announced total declared registered voting delegates:
.9 Confirmation of Amendments under By-law 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.17, 6.18 and 6.19;
.10 Amendments to the By-laws and/or Rules and Regulations of the ALLIANCE, if any;
.11 Election of – President, Senior Vice President, Regional Vice Presidents, Chair of the Representative Council and Chair of the Recreational Council;
.12 Destruction of election ballots;
.13 Appointments - Secretary Treasurer, Auditors, Referee Technical Director, Appeals Chairperson;
.14 Unfinished business;
.15 New business.
.2 The order of business may be altered by a two-thirds (2/3's) vote of the registered voting members present
.3 The Chair shall determine the order of business at any Special General Meeting.
6.11 ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
.1 All nominations for ALLIANCE Executive Committee positions must be submitted in writing to the ALLIANCE Executive Director no later than thirty (30) days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting.
.2 The President shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting during even number years, for a two (2) year term (i.e. 2006, 2008) and shall serve no more than four (4) years as President and must have served on the Executive Committee one (1) of the last two (2) years, except a person completing the term of President under 6.11.2 (f) may still complete two (2) full terms in addition to completing the portion of the previous President’s term.
.1 The Senior Vice President shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting during odd numbered years for a two (2) year term (i.e. 2017, 2019) and must be a nominated member of the present standing Executive Committee;
.2 Regional Vice Presidents shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting;
.1 Even numbered Regions shall be elected during even numbered years for a two (2) year term. (i.e. 2020, 2022)
REGION TWO: Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo
REGION FOUR: Brantford Community, Brantford Minor, Stratford Minor, Stratford Rotary Hockey
and Woodstock
.2 Odd numbered Regions shall be elected during odd numbered years for a two (2) year term. (i.e. 2017, 2019)
REGION ONE: Hamilton, Greater Fort Erie Minor Hockey Association, St. Catharines CYO and Burlington BLOMHA and Burlington Jr Cougars
REGION THREE: Elgin-Middlesex, Huron-Perth, GLHA and London Rep Hockey Inc.
REGION FIVE: Chatham-Kent, Lambton County, Sarnia, Sun County and Windsor AAA Zone
.3 The Chairs of the Representative Council and the Recreational Council will be elected at the Annual General Meeting for two (2) year terms, with the Chair of the Representative Committee being elected in even numbered years and the Chair of the Recreational Council elected in odd-numbered years.
.4 Members voting at the Annual General Meeting will have voting privileges as follows:
.1 Each voting member or delegate may vote for the President and Senior Vice President;
.2 Voting members are restricted to voting only for the Regional Vice Presidents who are candidates
for their designated regions;
.3 Voting members or delegatescan only vote for the Chair of the Representative Council if their association
is qualified to be a member of that Council, one (1) vote per member association;
.4 Voting members or delegates can only vote for the Chair of the Recreational Council if their association
qualifies as a member of the Recreational Council, one (1) vote per member association.
.5 Each registered voting delegate must be present. Each voting delegate will individually place their ballot in the ballot box provided.
.6 If the position of President, Senior Vice-President, Regional Vice-President, Chair of the Representative or Chair of Recreational Council is vacated prior to the election year, an election for the vacant position shall be held at the next Annual General Meeting, and this position shall be held for a one (1) year term.
.7 Each of the positions of President, Senior Vice President, Regional Vice President, Chair of the Representative Council and Chair of the Recreational Council must be elected on a separate ballot and must gain a majority of fifty percent (50%) plus one (1) of the votes cast.
.8 For each of the positions referred to in 6.11, if no winner is declared on the first ballot, the candidate with the fewest number of votes will be eliminated from the second ballot and so on, until a candidate obtains the votes necessary for election to office.
6.12 BALLOTS:
.1 Each registered voting delegate must be present and will individually place their ballot in the ballot box provided.
.2 Each registered voting delegate may only cast one (1) vote per voting round for the candidates running for the position of President.
.3 Each registered voting delegate may only cast one (1) vote per voting round for the candidates running for the position of Senior Vice President.
.4 Each registered voting delegate may only cast one (1) vote per voting round for the candidates running for the position of Vice- President for their Region.
.5 Each eligible association may only cast one (1) vote per voting round for the position of Representative Council Chair.
.6 Each eligible association may only cast one (1) vote per voting round for the position of Recreational Council Chair.
6.13 ELECTION RESULTS:
.1 The results of the election for office in the ALLIANCE will be listed in a prominent place immediately following the elections. The results will be available upon written request to the Executive Director of the ALLIANCE.
6.14 PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTIONAL BY-LAW/RULES & REGULATIONS:
.1 Notice of proposed amendments to the Constitutional By-law and/or the Rules & Regulations of the ALLIANCE must be made by registered mail or electronic mail to the Executive Director not later than forty-five (45) days in advance of the Annual General Meeting. All proposed amendments may only be submitted by the MEMBERSHIP as defined in ARTICLE FOUR (4) – MEMBERSHIP and/or EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE as defined in ARTICLE SEVEN (7) – EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE. The Executive Director shall, in turn, notify by mail or equivalent, all members of the proposed amendments at least thirty (30) days prior to the Annual General Meeting.
6.15 NON-WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSED AMENDMENTS:
.1 Any amendments placed before the Annual General Meeting, provided that they are not contrary to OHF and/or HC rules, must be voted upon and may not be withdrawn from the meeting unless the person who proposed the amendments requests withdrawal or puts forward a motion to defer the proposed amendments.
6.16 TWO-THIRD'S (2/3'S) VOTE REQUIRED FOR CONSTITUTIONAL BY-LAW AMENDMENTS:
.1 Amendments or changes to the Constitution may be made only at the Annual General Meeting by a two-third's (2/3's) vote of the members voting. Notwithstanding Articles 6.14 and 6.15, the giving of notice provided therein may be waived at the Annual General Meeting by a
2/3’s majority vote.
6.17 MAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED TO AMEND RULES & REGULATIONS:
.1 Amendments or changes to the Rules & Regulations may be made only at an Annual General Meeting based on a majority of eligible votes being cast in favour.
.2 Any changes to the HC Constitution, By-Laws and/or Regulations and/or the OHF Constitution, By-Laws and/or Regulations, which are more stringent than those of the ALLIANCE, will be adopted and implemented for the current playing season effective on the date identified by either HC or the OHF. These changes must be reflected in the ALLIANCE Handbook.
6.18 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORIES:
.1 On questions concerning changes or additions that refer only to specific classification categories, only registered voting delegates from those classification categories shall be eligible to vote.
6.19 CHANGES TO BY-LAWS, RULES AND REGULATIONS DURING PLAYING SEASON
.1 Not withstanding Articles 6.14, 6.15 and 6.16 of ALLIANCE Hockey Constitution and Bylaws, the giving of notice provided therein may be waived at any Executive Committee meeting by a two-third (2/3) majority vote of the voting Directors present at the meeting.
.2 The Executive Committee may, at the request of the Representative Council and Recreational Council, make amendments to the Constitutional Bylaws and Regulations of ALLIANCE Hockey which will be effective until the next Annual General Meeting of ALLIANCE Hockey.
.3 Such a motion would require two readings and approvals at the Representative Council and Recreational Council meetings at least one (1) month apart to provide an opportunity for discussion by all members.
.4 All amendments to the Constitution and By-laws and Regulations made by the Executive Committee must be ratified at the next Annual General Meeting of the Association.