HONORARY LIFE MEMBER POLICY

A properly constituted Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting may appoint any person as an Honorary Life Member of the Southland Mountain Bike Club as stated in Section 4.3 of the Southland Mountain Bike Club rules. An Honorary Member shall not pay any membership fees for a period determined by club members. An Honorary Life Member shall not pay any membership fees for life.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The Nominee should have been a Member of the SMTBC for many years. The Nominee should have rendered exceptional service to the SMTBC. This could be in the form of individual contributions or working for or on behalf of the SMTBC.

Exceptional service could be recognised in terms of:

  • Continued long term assistance and support of the club's activities, its event management, organisation, interests and objectives;
  • Benefits gained for the SMTB e.g. from sponsors or government bodies;

In recognition of the importance and honour associated with Life Membership, the SMTBC will limit the number of inductions to a maximum of two per annum. Such a limit will not however result in the automatic granting of two Life Memberships per year.

NOMINATION PROCEDURE

  1. All nominations are to be strictly confidential. Under no circumstances shall the Nominee be advised of his/her nomination until such time as the nomination is approved. Each nomination must be managed by a Proposer. The Proposer should, in confidence, nominate the Nominee to the SMTBC Secretary, detailing in writing the reasons for the nomination.
  2. The Secretary must promptly pass the nomination to the current President who is the Chair of the Life Membership subcommittee which comprises the President, Vice-President and immediate Past President. Should a member of the subcommittee not be available for a substantial part of the period allocated for consideration, the remaining members may coopt another subcommittee member with suitable background.
  3. The subcommittee must consider the nomination against the Life Membership criteria in light of the general principles. Each nomination must be considered on its merits. In considering the nomination, members of the subcommittee are not to be influenced by any personal relationship with the nominee and are not to make direct comparisons with other Life Members, nominees or persons not nominated. The subcommittee may request additional information from the nominator if that would assist its deliberations. Only a majority vote by the Life membership subcommittee will confirm the Nominee’s appointment of Honorary Life Membership. Should the nomination be successful then appropriate arrangements will be made for the presentation of the Membership.
  4. In the event that the nomination is not accepted the SMTBC Committee will advise the Proposer. Such nominations can be resubmitted for consideration in the future.


DEFINITION

Honorary Life Membership

Honorary Life membership is not intended to be a reward for personal achievements in competition, but as an honour bestowed upon a very select few who have had a major effect upon the Club by “acting above and beyond the call of duty”.