Transition Exmouth Constitution Mission statement: “To strengthen the community’s response to climate change, inequality and shrinking supplies of resources, including energy, water and land, by building long-term town resilience and reducing carbon emissions.” Aims: 1. Create awareness and understanding of the mission and the Transition Town movement. 2. Apply the Transition Town model to the town of Exmouth and locality. 3. Empower stakeholders to envision and follow pathways of energy descent and practical actions that contribute to the mission. Strategy: Transition Exmouth will achieve these aims by: 1.Organizing and running events that raise awareness of the Transition Town movement and the aims of Transition Exmouth. 2.Informing the public of events and issues related to the aims through publishing and distributing information by newsletters, website, email etc. 3.Coordinating, informing and empowering the community to follow pathways of practical action. 4.Engaging with the Transition Network, businesses, community and other groups within Exmouth and the surrounding area. 5.Raising funds on a not-for profit basis to fulfil these aims by hiring rooms and equipment, supporting activities of groups, coordinating volunteers, employing staff etc. 6.Reviewing the structure of Transition Exmouth on an ongoing basis. Constitutional changes may be made at an annual or extraordinary general meeting. 7.Creating a group (the UMBRELLA) to facilitate the work of members engaged in these activities. Membership: Members may join on application to a person appointed by the UMBRELLA. 1.Members shall be admitted without preference to wealth, politics, race, sex, disability, age or sexual preference, as long as they live or work in the area of Exmouth and environs and are in agreement with the mission, aims and strategy of Transition Exmouth. Personal members shall subscribe to the UN charter of universal human rights (General Assembly resolution 217A (III) 10 December 1948). 2.Membership of Transition Exmouth is by the yearly payment of a nominal membership subscription to be paid to the membership secretary at the end of each AGM or within a month thereafter. The subscription amount shall be set by each AGM and will be due at the date of the AGM. 3. A member shall cease to be a member if he/she resigns, moves away, is requested to leave by a 3/4 majority of the UMBRELLA, or dies. Members requested to leave will have an opportunity to appeal at an extraordinary general meeting. Corporate Membership: An organisation may apply for corporate membership of Transition Exmouth. For the application to be successful an organisation must be governed by a constitution, produce regular financial statements, and keep minutes of general meetings and committee meetings, all of which must have been shown to our Umbrella Group who will decide whether the aims of the two organisations are compatible. Further, the organisation's governing body must have formally noted its acceptance of the aims and strategies of Transition Exmouth as set out in our constitution. The application may be approved by a vote of 3/4 of the Umbrella membership. The corporate membership subscription will be decided each year at our AGM. Groups: 1. Any group of members or non-members can apply to become an affiliated group (AG) (subject to approval by the UMBRELLA) and will be admitted if they support the aims of Transition Exmouth. 2. Transition Exmouth is not responsible for the governance, finance, structures or actions of any AGs. The UMBRELLA has the power to remove AG status from an AG that it believes is not supporting the aims of Transition Exmouth, subject to a 3/4 majority vote. 3. The UMBRELLA may request, giving a week’s notice, that an AG send a representative to one of their meetings to discuss specific issues. If the AG is unable or unwilling to send a representative after repeated requests, the UMBRELLA may remove AG status, subject to a 3/4 majority vote. 4. Any AG can ask for agenda items to be added to meetings of the UMBRELLA with 5 days notice, and send a representative to meetings of the UMBRELLA. 5. The UMBRELLA will host ameeting at least every six months to which all affiliated groups are invited. Umbrella: 1.The UMBRELLA shall be responsible for facilitating the work of members in enacting the strategy of Transition Exmouth. 2.The membership will elect a UMBRELLA of up to 8 members which shall include a chair, a treasurer and a secretary, specifically elected to those roles. They will be elected on an annual basis at a General Meeting. 3.The UMBRELLA can co-opt additional members or non-members up to a maximum size of twelve members. 4.The UMBRELLA shall assign other roles among its members as appropriate. 5.The UMBRELLA is responsible for approving members given any additional named posts within TTE. 6.The UMBRELLA needs a quorum of at least 3/4 of its membership to make binding decisions. Voting will be calculated according to the membership of the UMBRELLA at that time. 7.The UMBRELLA shall meet approximately once every month for the first six months, to be reviewed after that time, with notice of meetings given to the membership at least one week in advance. 8.Any member can ask for agenda items to be added to meetings of the UMBRELLA with 5 days notice, and meetings of the UMBRELLA. will be open to all members. 9.Affiliation of groups must be approved by the UMBRELLA by 3/4 majority vote. 10.Members of the UMBRELLA can be removed subject to 3/4 majority vote of the UMBRELLA. Members or non-members may be invited for particular meetings of the UMBRELLA for specific business. 11.The secretary will be responsible for a record of meetings of the UMBRELLA. and will make the minutes available to all personal members. 12.The treasurer will be responsible for administeringany finances, preparing written accounts and submitting them to a general meeting at least once annually. Finance: 1.Any property and funds of Transition Exmouth shall be held and administered by the UMBRELLA. 2. Transition Exmouth will ensure that any expenditure is balanced by income, in such a way that Transition Exmouth is self-supporting, solvent and raises financial resources to initiate new activities. 3.Each event planned by the UMBRELLA should be planned where possible to cover its costs, including room hire, speakers and incidental costs such advertising and poster production, from income related to that event. 4. Transition Exmouth is not responsible for the finances of AGs; however it may decide to award or accept funds to or from an affiliated group for a specific purpose related to the aims of Transition Exmouth. Funds allocated to AGs should be returned in an agreed timescale. 5. A bank account shall be held by Transition Exmouth. There shall be four signatories to the accounts drawn from the Umbrella, any two of which may sign at any time. 6.The financial year of Transition Exmouth shall be from 1st April to 31st March. 7.The annual accounts of Transition Exmouth shall be examined by a suitably qualified person before their presentation at the AGM. Annual General Meeting: 1.The UMBRELLA shall call an Annual General Meeting (AGM) giving notice of at least three weeks. 2.All personal members will be invited to the general meeting. Only members have voting rights at the AGM. 3.The AGM will take nominations (put forward by two members) and will vote to determine membership of the UMBRELLA. Extraordinary General Meeting: 1.An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) can be called by a majority of the UMBRELLA or any member with the support of 15 other members in the form of a written motion signed by the nominee and all 15 supporters. Dissolution: 1.Dissolution can only occur after a unanimous vote of the UMBRELLA. 2.Upon dissolution, any funds in the group account should be donated to a local group with similar aims, to be agreed upon by the UMBRELLA. ends