ALAMO HEIGHTS ROTARY ATTENDANCE POLICY
(updated 181231)
While the goal of each member should be perfect attendance, the goal of some is to meet at least minimum attendance requirements. The general rules for attaining minimum attendance have been well established over the years by Rotary International (RI) and are summarized in our Club Constitution and Bylaws. There are no published RI Perfect Attendance (PA) guidelines and the exact details of this process varies from club to club. Our Club PA guidelines are summarized in this document (also located on our website).
1.MINIMUM ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS. For individuals who ARE NOT attempting to maintain a Perfect Attendance record:
a.In any 12 month period any combination of: (1) A minimum of 24 meetings (or make ups made in accordance within the guidance below for make ups) OR (2) 24 hours of approved club project, event, or activity participation OR (3) a combination of either will meet minimum attendance. For purposes of meeting minimum attendance rules, makeups described below do not have to be accomplished within the 2 week before or after a meeting time frame.
b.The hour(s) of project, event, or activity participation does NOT need to be within any time frame related to any missed meeting. The amount of time that may be credited for participation in each approved activity is indicated in parenthesis following each activity listed in MAKE UPS below. Time counted should be exclusive of travel to/from and time off during the project, event or activity.
c.For example, if you worked on a project for 5 hours, you would count 5 hours towards minimum attendance; if you took off 1 hour for a break/meal in that project you would count 4 hours towards minimum attendance. That example project does not have to be within 2 weeks before or after any missed meeting to be counted as project participation hours.
2.PERFECT ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS. For individuals who ARE attempting to maintain a Perfect Attendance record:
a.The rules described in items 1-19, in the section on Make Ups below, will apply and all regularly scheduled meetings must either be attended or a makeup completed within a 2 week period before or after a missed meeting.
b.If the individual participates for 2 or more hours on an approved project, event, or activity on the same day, the hours may be split and counted in one hour increments as make ups for more than one missed meeting as long as they are still within the 2 week period before or after the missed meeting.
c.For example, if your regular meeting was on Tuesday and you missed two Tuesday meetings in a row and you did a 2 hour project on the Thursday between the missed meetings, you could take credit for two make ups, one for the meeting before Thursday and one for the following meeting.
d.RECOGNITION FOR PA.Recognition is normally attained only in annual increments and is recognized in our club with a certificate and a numerical tag with the number of years that can be worn with the Rotary lapel pin.
(1) To attain Perfect Attendance a member must attend all meetings of our club for a year (there is no specific starting date required to begin a PA record) or make up any missed meeting within the period of two weeks before or after a missed meeting. Any authorized makeup within that period may be counted. Members must record their attendance at meetings or report makeups to the Executive Secretary.
(2) Any missed meeting without an authorized makeup is the end of the period of a previous perfect attendance. A new PA period starts with the next meeting attended or made up.
(3) While an active member of our club, no excusal for any reason provides an exception to the rule to need to do an authorized makeup for a missed meeting.
(4) Club meetings that are cancelled or not programmed to be conducted (e.g., a cancelled meeting during the December holiday period) do not require a makeup.
(5) Members who depart our club who have perfect attendance up to the date of departure from our club and rejoin our club at a future date and begin a period of perfect attendance immediately upon rejoining may count the previous time of perfect attendance as part of their perfect attendance time after rejoining. They will not be allowed to count the time that they were not a member, unless they also had perfect attendance at another Rotary club during the interim time and they had perfect attendance for the entire period of time while a member of that club. Examples:
- John had 5 years PA in our club ending on June 30, 2014. He departs our club and joins another Rotary club on January 1, 2015. He maintains PA at that club until he departs on June 30, 2015, and returns to our club on October 1, 2015. John will be given on October 1, 2016, 5 years and 6 months PA credit as long as he starts his PA immediately after rejoining on October 1.
- Same situation as number 1 but John does NOT join another club after departing our club on June 30, 2014. On October 1, 2015, when he rejoins our club, he will be given credit for the 5 years he had when he left as long as he starts his PA immediately after rejoining on October 1.
- In both examples 1 & 2, above, if John rejoins our club on October 1, 2015, and does not attend or make up any missed meetings during October 2015, he will start a NEW PA record with the first meeting he attends or makeups after that time.
(6) A new member that has a PA record from the last club they were a member club that ended at the time they departed that club may carry forward credit from that club beginning on the day they join our club. The time they were not a member of that prior club or our club is not counted.
(7) We accept the PA records of any active Rotary Club even if their rules for calculating PA are not the same as ours.
(8) If the exact date that began a specific PA record is not known, the annual calculation can end on any date in that month for purposes of identifying how many years there has been PA for that award.3
3.SERVICE PROJECT TIME.The following guidance will be followed concerning the activities and time that may be counted as a project, event, or activity for the purpose of accumulating hours towards minimum attendance requirements.
a.Counting multiple hours of service in lieu of weekly meeting attendance was authorized by RI to accommodate the interest individuals have in providing community humanitarian services and to recognize participation in other club events and activities.
b.Service projects that may have hours counted include any of the approved makeup activities listed below such as Alamo Heights Night (as a volunteer), Meals on Wheels, Holiday Decoration Contest, Support at the Food Bank or Bereavement Center, recycling books/phones, etc. or other projects approved in the future.
c.Participation in administrative and logistical club and related events and activities and training sessions may be used as a regular make up for a missed meeting or towards minimum attendance. Details are listed in the following section on MAKE UPS.
AHRC APPROVED MAKE UP AND EXCUSAL POLICY
Missed meetings may be made up in a number of ways. Make up meetings are authorized at any Rotary Club meeting anywhere in the world within the time period of two weeks before or after the missed meeting (see the Club Constitution for additional guidance on time variance applied to meetings made up at overseas locations). This also applies to make ups on line at clubs that have on line meetings. A copy of the location and times of all meetings is normally available at each of our regular Tuesday meetings or the information can be found on the RI web site. A number of other alternate make up opportunities have been approved by our Board of Directors and are listed below. The locations and times of local club meetings and some on line (e-club )meetings are listed in our weekly Newsletter (Rotator). Copies of recent Rotators may be found in the Important Document section of the Club Directory.
MAKE UPS
The Club Bylaws and Constitution authorize make ups for missed meetings and authorize the club Board to approve alternate make up opportunities. The AHRC has approved the following club projects, events, and activities as a make up for missed meetings:
The amount of time that may be credited for participation in each approved activity is indicated in parenthesis following each activity. Time counted should be exclusive of travel to/from and time off during the project, event, or activity.
1- Attendance at a scheduled Alamo Heights Rotary Club (AHRC) Board of Directors or Board of Directors-Elect meeting (not an ad hoc meeting). (credit for one hour/meeting regardless of meeting length)
2- Attendance at a scheduled Alamo Heights Night (AHN) LLC Board of Managers meeting (not an ad hoc meeting). (credit for one hour/meeting regardless of meeting length)
3- Attendance participation in any capacity as a volunteer worker at Alamo Heights Night or in preparation for or cleanup afterwards. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
4- Participation in a scheduled new member orientation meeting. (credit for one hour/meeting regardless of meeting length)
5- Participation as a representative of Alamo Heights Rotary in a regularly scheduled meeting, event, or activity of an Interact or Rotaract Club sponsored by Alamo Heights Rotary.(credit for number of hours actually participating)
6- Attendance at District, Zone, and RI sponsored events/meetings (e.g., RYLA, District Assembly, District Conference, RI International Conventions, etc). (credit for up to 8 hours per day)
7- Participation in approved RI e-club (or other Rotary Club that meets online) meetings may be used as a make up. (credit for one hour/meeting regardless of meeting length as long as participation exceeds 30 minutes)
8-Participation in evaluation of residences in the Annual Holiday Decoration Contest. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
9-Participation activities in support of the Food Bank, Jefferson Outreach, or Bereavement Center. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
10- Participation in a scheduled meeting of the following committees/entities: Any of the five Rotary Club standing committees, the Finance Committee, the Nominating/Election committee, or any of their subcommittees. (credit for one hour/meeting regardless of meeting length as long as it exceeds 35 minutes)
11- Attendance at and participation in any Alamo Heights Rotary Club or AHNLLC sponsored community event or meeting that has been (1) recommended by a Board member or committee chairperson; and (2) is approved by the Board of directors as an approved make up event/meeting. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
12- Participating in the Club sponsored community service activity in support of Meals on Wheels. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
13- Participating in at least a one hour meeting involving AHRC scholarships at or with an educational institution or spending at least one hour reviewing AHRC scholarship applications. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
14- Participating as an AHRC representative Bingo Worker in the Club sponsored community service Bingo fund raising activity. (credit for number of hours actually worked)
15-Training sessions conducted (in person or on line) by the AHRC, District, Zone, RI, or other agency and attendance is required or approved by AHRC or AHNLLC. (credit for up to eight hours per day of participation in training session). Sessions include but are not limited to:
-TABC training session to obtain licensing for duties requiring that training/licensing at Alamo Heights Night or other event conducted by the AHRC/AHNLLC.
-Training to obtain a Bingo Operator License.
-District training seminars (Leadership, Membership, Rotary Foundation, etc.)
16- Participation in scheduled AHRC/AHNLLC fellowship events open to all members (includes club sponsored happy hour, holiday party, installation dinner). (credit for up to 2 hours per event)
17- Administrative and logistical work accomplished in planning, preparation, and carrying out support of AHRC/AHNLLC service projects, activities, and objectives as an individual or group charged with that responsibility. (credit in one hour or longer periods for work actually performed – time counted does not include accumulation of short periods (e.g., adding up several less than 30 minute work periods to reach 1 hour))
18- After the fact, and without having prior approval of the Board, the Attendance Committee or Rotarian Secretary may approve a request by individual or groups of AHRC Rotarians to receive make up credit (which can then be used to count as a make up for a missed meeting or towards hours worked on a project, event, or activity) for activities they participate in within the following parameters:
- Requests to the committee may be verbal, email, or in writing. Contact Rick Berchin.
- The project, event, or activity proposed for a makeup must be related to the operation of the AHRC or AHNLLC, or their fundraising or community service activities. The amount of time involved or type activity is not specified but some relative consistency with the efforts involved in other Board approved make up activities will be considered.
- The time frame applied, if appropriate, will remain as for all other make ups.
- While requests for make up should be submitted within a short period of time after the activity involved, there is no prescribed time limit in which the request may be submitted to allow an individual the opportunity to maintain perfect attendance or to keep from being eliminated from membership for not meeting minimum attendance requirements.
19-The AHRC Board may approve in up to 12 month increments that specific individuals, recommended by a committee made up of the President, Rotarian Secretary, Membership Committee Chair and Attendance Committee Chair (and others as determined by the President), are pre-approved as meeting minimum attendance without the need to request approval for make ups for individual activities performed during that time period even if the actual total time would not meet the normal minimum requirements. These Board approvals will be reviewed prior to the end of each authorized period to determine if they are to be renewed. This process is not meant to permit the elimination of minimum attendance for all club members, but to provide a simple process to maintain active membership status for a limited number of individuals who provide a valuable service to the club but have difficulty in accomplishing or documenting normal routine attendance minimums.
Note that the term “attendance” should be interpreted as including “participation” in any form of authorized make-up to meet the annual goals for both PA and minimum attendance.
NOT AUTHORIZED AS MAKE UPS
It is Rotary International policy that there is no provision for granting attendance credit or for being excused to a member who is absent from a club meeting for any of the following reasons:
1) Jury Duty
2) Compulsory attendance at sessions of a state legislature
3) Attendance at informal gatherings of Rotarians held on ships*
4) Addressing another non-Rotary service club*
5) Military service or National Guard duty
*Note also that a cruise ship shall not be the locality of a Rotary club and there are no provisions for obtaining attendance credit at a meeting of another service organization.
EXCUSALS
- The Club Constitution and By laws provide for excusals from meetings under appropriate circumstances approved by the Board. Pending approval by the Board at their next regularly scheduled Board meeting, the President may approve an excuse to miss one or more meetings.
- Upon written request, individuals may be excused from attendance requirements if their age and years of Rotary service total 85 or more.
QUESTIONS: Contact Rick Berchin (rick@ahrotary.org)
ADMINISTRATION
1.The Executive Secretary will maintain a spreadsheet of attendance records based on sign in logs at each meeting and submissions from Committees and individuals. This spreadsheet will be provided the Attendance Committee Chair and other interested members on a regular basis normally at least twice a month.
2.The Attendance Committee Chair is responsible for following up on members not attending regularly as well as periodically, normally at least twice a year arranging an award ceremony/presentation for those attaining a new level of PA. The Chair will also make recommendations to the AHRC Board as needed concerning any administrative action needed to address members not meeting minimum attendance requirements.