Bylaws
ARTICLE I
NAME and ADDRESS:
A. The name of this organization is the Barga Genealogy Research Group, hereinafter referred to as the "Group."
B. The URL for the Group's Internet website is http://www.bargagen.org
C. Mailing Address: 31 Quaker Ridge Rd.; Tonawanda NY 14150; USA
ARTICLE II
PURPOSE
1. The Barga Genealogy Research Group is an Internet-based, non-profit educational organization founded to: 1. Aid members in establishing their genealogical history, associated with the Town of Barga, Lucca, Italy. This includes, but is not limited to, the smaller villages or hamlets (frazioni) of Albiano, Castelvecchio, Loppia, San Pietro, Sommocolonia, and Tiglio.
2. Collect, compile, record, index, preserve and store genealogical and historical records from Barga. Costs associated with these activities may need to be covered from the Group treasury. These expenditures might include the costs for camera equipment and computers. However, under normal situations, all labor associated with such activities will rely upon the use of volunteers at no charge. Donations and gifts to the local priests, church, or diocese to obtain access to the records may be considered. However, as discussed in Article 3, major expenditures will not be undertaken without the approval of the majority of the Group membership.
3. Provide genealogical guidance and services to members seeking such information.
4. Provide advice and assistance to members who travel to Italy to obtain genealogical records in Barga.
ARTICLE III
POLICIES
A. The Barga Genealogy Research Group is a non-profit educational organization.
B. All money collected from membership dues and donations shall be used only for those activities consistent with the stated purpose of the organization, as determined by the Board of Directors, based on input from the members. Major expenditures will not be undertaken without the approval of the majority of the Group membership.
C. No part of the net income or earnings of the Group shall accrue to the benefit of any individual member or be distributed among its members or Directors.
D. The Barga Genealogy Research Group Forum shall not be used in any way to further any causes other than the stated genealogical purposes.
E. The information contained in the Group’s databases is held there as copyrighted material and may be used free of charge by all registered members. However, this information is for personal use only and cannot be resold or utilized in any other way. Resale of information published in the Barga Genealogy Research Group website is strictly forbidden. Research by proxy will not be allowed.
F. To avoid the possibility that the Group's information is used forcommercial purposes, it cannot be published in any form (e.g. in books, on CDs, or on other Internet web sites). Each member of the Group, as a condition of their membership, must sign an agreement to this effect. However, members are allowed to utilize, in theirpersonal family trees, information on specific individuals (e.g. a marriagedate or a spouse’s name) that a member finds in one of the Group's databases.Such family trees are the property of the member and as such he is free to publish it.
ARTICLE IV
MEMBERSHIP
A. Membership in the Barga Genealogy Research Group is available to all persons interested in gathering genealogical and historical information for personal use only. Each member will be required to pay dues of fifty dollars ($50.00 US) per year. Couples residing in the same household need pay only a single membership fee. Lifetime memberships are available for two hundred dollars ($200.00 US) and may be paid in installments within the first six months of any calendar year. All dues are due on January 1st of each calendar year, and must be paid by April 1st to retain the rights and privileges of membership. Once received by the Group, dues are non-refundable.
New members are welcomed to join at any time during the calendar year. Dues paid before September 1st cover the current calendar year. Dues paid after September 1st cover the last four months of that year and the entire 12 months of the following year.
B. Membership is open to all persons regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or other areas of human difference. The only requirement is that one be interested in genealogical information from Barga, Italy and that they be willing to abide by these bylaws.
C. Members need to abide by the following rules, procedures, and guidelines in order to maintain their membership in good standing.
1. All members must pay dues as outlined in Part A above. The initial payment of dues will be construed to mean that the member accepts and agrees to follow all bylaws of the Group. In particular, all members must agree not to engage in, or allow, the dissemination of the Group’s genealogical information for any commercial purpose.
2. Members need to agree to having their name and email address published on the web site so that it is available to other members. However, it will not be available in the general access area of the web site. Members must also avoid divulging their userid and password used for access to the site to anyone else, members or non-members, except to the Webmaster.
3. Members should not share any data retrieved by the Group and published on its web site with non-members. A member who obtains information on his own and shares it with the Group is free to share this information with non-group members. However, this practice should be limited so as not to undermine the value of membership in the Group, itself.
4. Email correspondence, which is sent to all Group members, is considered the Barga Genealogy Research Group Forum. Such email is encouraged but should follow these guidelines.
a. Content should be restricted to items of interest to the Group as a whole. Appropriate topics include genealogical information of interest to those with ancestry from Barga and the surrounding towns, as well as any issue concerned with the mission of the Group, and how it operates.
b. Care should be taken to avoid writing anything that might be offensive to any other member of the Group. If someone says or does something with which you disagree, it is best to discuss it first (and in a private email) with that individual. If you are not satisfied with the resolution of the issue, then contact the Board of Directors, not the entire Group.
c. Care should be taken to avoid sending any email attachments that might contain a virus. Do not send virus warnings of a general nature. If you believe an email sent or received by a member contains a virus, contact the Webmaster with that concern immediately, and alert the other members.
d. Do not breach copyright or licensing agreements. If you own copyrighted materials of a genealogical nature, be certain you abide by the copyright laws before sending such information in group emails.
e. Since we have members from various countries, be sure to respect their individual customs. Often an expression used in one country may mean something entirely different in another country. With respect to dates, it is better to spell out the entire date, instead of using “slash” notation. 2/11/44 could mean February 11, 1844 or November 2, 1944. The best practice would be to write it as 11 Feb 1844 if you must abbreviate it.
D. Members are also strongly encouraged to provide needed genealogical information to the Group. Such information may consist of original research, copying of existing records from paper or microfilm records, collating and editing of information, or preparing spreadsheets to improve the accessibility of information.
ARTICLE V
FISCAL YEAR
The Barga Genealogy Research Group fiscal year shall be the calendar year from January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
ARTICLE VI
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Barga Genealogy Research Group was founded by these four individuals: Brian Castine, Jack Cholette, Norman Peter Daprato, and Peter Tonacci. Brian Castine, Jack Cholette, Peter Tonacci, Roberto Lucherini, and Lelio Angelantoni presently serve as the Board of Directors for the Group.
Additionally, Brian Castine serves as Webmaster for the Barga Genealogy Research Group's Internet Site and Peter Tonacci serves as Treasurer. At its discretion, the Board of Directors can select a 5th Director. That person will have equal status with the other four Directors.
There will be no term limits associated with the Board of Directors. If and when a Director's position becomes vacant, the remaining Directors will select a replacement from one of the current members. If the Director being replaced so desires, he may participate in the selection process.
All actions, except amendments to these bylaws, taken by the Board of Directors require a simple majority vote.
ARTICLE VII
DUTIES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
A. The board of Directors of the Group shall perform the following duties:
1. Supervise all Group functions, including the selection of projects and the approval of funding for such projects;
2. Oversee the selection of new members;
3. Insure that all policies, procedures and guidelines of the Group are properly adhered to by all members;
4. Insure that the Webmaster adequately maintains the web site;5. Correspond with all members in order to keep them adequately informed about the activities of the Group and obtain from them suggestions as to what actions might be taken to improve the Group;
6. Evaluate new concepts, ideas and member services;
7. Oversee the Treasurer to insure that he adequately accounts for all financial matters;
8. Perform any other duty that it deems necessary to enhance the overall functioning of the Group.
B. It will be solely in the hands of the Board of Directors, as the governing body of the Group, to determine how to fulfill its duties. However, any Member of the Group may bring any issue or concern to the attention of the Board. In such cases, the Board will discuss the matter and take a vote to determine what action should be taken to resolve the problem.
C. The Webmaster shall have charge of all databases and information on the Group's web pages. He will maintain and convert for web placement, all material contributed by any member and/or compiled under the auspices of the Group. The selection of what material will be added to the website will be at his discretion, based on the advice of the members. The Webmaster will also keep master copies of all data maintained by the Group. The Webmaster will also maintain a listing of all current members with their addresses and email addresses.
D. The Treasurer shall receive all monetary dues, donations, or other funds of the Group, maintain a proper accounting thereof, and disburse such funds as ordered by the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE VIII
MEETINGS
Currently there are no regularly scheduled Meetings of this Group. All activities and discussions normally take place through the use of email. In the future, if meetings are held, they will be transacted on the Internet at the following URL: http://barga.homedns.org:81
Additionally, social functions may be sponsored by the Group, and held in appropriate locations. Such functions will be organized to help fulfill the mission of the Group and maintain the vitality of the Group. Any function of this kind will require the approval of the majority of the members, and be paid for only by those participants of the function, and not from money contributed as dues.
ARTICLE IX
RESPONSIBILITY
A. The Group, it's Board of Directors and its members shall assume no responsibility for errors of fact or opinion in contributed material. Errors of fact will be corrected when proof is provided.
B. The Group will not publish facts about living individuals such as birth, marriage, or place of residency. The removal of these facts is the responsibility of the contributor.
C. The Group is not responsible for loss of material due to server crashes or any other circumstances that might occur.
ARTICLE X
NON-MEMBERS
The Group's information is for the benefit only of the members of the Group. Although some parts of the Group's website is accessible by non-members, there is no guaranteed access to this information by non-members. Only members of the Group have any rights from the Group itself. Non-members have no standing whatsoever. While membership is open to anyone fulfilling the requirements stated in these bylaws, there is no guaranteed right to membership. It is solely at the discretion of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, any existing member may be expelled for cause as determined by the Board of Directors, without any recourse, other than the prorated return of dues for that year. Such situations are expected to be very rare and would result only after the member was advised of his/her transgression and given an ample opportunity to explain or rectify the situation.
ARTICLE XI
COPYRIGHTS
A. The Group owns the copyright to all web pages containing Group-compiled information.
B. Member-contributed material copyrights reside solely with the creator and/or the contributor of those materials.
C. Copyright to queries and any other submitted data resides with the submitter. The submission of queries and other data to the Group implies that the Group may continue to post the material until the Group deems it appropriate to remove said material.
D. Copyright to data contributed to any special project resides with the contributor. The Group, as a non-profit organization, shall have permanent use of the data conditional upon the non-profit nature of the Group and will become invalid if the Group should ever cease to be non-profit.
ARTICLE XII
DISSOLUTION
Upon dissolution of the Group, and after paying, or making provisions for the payment of all liabilities of the Group, the assets of the Group shall be disposed of as follows:
1. All monies and bank deposits shall be distributed to those non-profit organizations that have contributed material, time or resources to the Group. Currently, the main ones would be the parish churches in and near Barga, Italy.
2. All remaining property such as books, records, computers, printers, and office supplies, shall be sold, if possible, at fair market value with the proceeds being distributed as described in point 1 above. Any remaining items will be distributed to a non-profit genealogical organization within reasonable driving distance of where the asset is currently located.
ARTICLE XIII
RATIFICATION AND AMMENDMENT OF BYLAWS
These bylaws will be ratified by a 2/3 majority vote of the Board of Directors, following input from the members of the Group. Amendments to the bylaws may be proposed by any group member and will be enacted if approved by a 2/3 majority of the Board of Directors.
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Dated: May 3, 2005Updated: January 1, 2010