INTRODUCTION: This organization shall be known as the Green Party Of Mendocino County, or GPOMC, and is comprised of the Green registered voters of Mendocino County.

Article 1: MISSION: The Mission of the GPOM is to practice, promulgate and implement the Ten Key Values of the Green Party within itself, in its campaigns and candidates, and in the decisions of those it elects to public office;, to employ electoral politics to effect fundamental social change in accordance with those values at every level of society.

Article 2: MEMBERSHIP  
    a.)All persons registered as Green Party voters, residing in the County of Mendocino, shall be regarded as members of the Green Party of Mendocino County.
    b.)Any other person not eligible to vote in the United States may be recognized and enrolled as member in Good Standing of the GPOMC if they have been actively engaged in the work of the Green Party of Mendocino County. Such enrolled members shall enjoy equal rights and privileges as any other member.
    c) A member in Good Standing is one who maintains Green voter registration, votes in elections, attends GPOMC meetings, donates funds, and otherwise engages in political activity to build the Green Party.

Article 3: TRANSPARENCY
    a) All meetings, documents and proceedings of the GPOMC shall be open to all members.
    b) All meetings of the GPOMC shall be publicly noticed as to day, date, time and place as well as possible agenda items through psa announcements sent to local newspapers, radio, and appropriate email lists at least ten (10) days in advance.
    c) The GPOMC shall act only in duly noticed meetings as provided in these Bylaws.

Article 4: MEETING PROTOCOL:
    a) There is no obligation to permit attendance at GPOMC meetings by anyone but members;
    b) Within the confines of good order, all members are encouraged to speak freely at General Meetings, and to propose, suggest, and comment on any item, whether or not on the agenda;
    b) Only members in Good Standing shall be able to block or vote on action decisions at GPOM meetings.   
    c) All GPOMC meetings shall be conducted by a member temporarily designated as Facilitator.
    d) Action decisions at GPOMC meetings shall be made only on seconded motions.and preferably by consensus, or alternatively in the event of a deadlock, the Facilitator may call for approval by 80% majority vote.
    e) In determining consensus, the Facilitator shall first call for blocks, stand asides and reservations, and shall attempt to resolve any blocks by negotiation. Any action which is not blocked or which is unblocked shall be deemed approved by consensus, which the Facilitator will announce for recording in the minutes of the meeting.
    f) Members present shall choose from among themselves a Facilitator to chair the subsequent meeting with the object of having the post rotate and alternate between men and women.

Article 5:  POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING:
    a) The General Meeting  (GM) is the main deliberative body of the Green Party of Mendocino County. It retains all powers to itself not specifically delegated to the GPOMC County Council or any other party body. Among these are to:
    1) Define general goals, policy, strategy, and priorities of the GPOMC
    2) Make endorsements of candidates and ballot measures in the name of the Green Party of Mendocino County in meetings when the consideration of endorsements have been duly noticed as in Article 3 of these Bylaws, above.
    3) Direct the Spokesperson or Chairperson to make statements in the name of the GPOMC
    4) Elect delegates to the General Assembly of the Green Party of California or any other party body;
    5)Review the decisions and actions of any other body of the Green Party of Mendocino County
    6) Amend these Bylaws in accordance with Article 10  of these Bylaws, below
    7) Elect members to fill County Council (CC) vacancies between primary elections in accordance with these Bylaws.
    8) To form, disband and supervise Working Groups from time to time for the purpose of conducting campaigns, performing research or organizing on behalf of the GPOMC.    
    9) Choose the day, date time and place as well as a Facilitator for the next General Meeting who will then collect items and establish the agenda for said meeting.

Article 6: CONDUCT OF THE GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
    a) General Meetings (GM) of the GPOMC will be held every third month alternating insofar as possible between Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg and Boonville. The date, time and place shall be decided at the previous GM and noticed in the county media as provided in Article 3b.  
     b.)A quorum necessary to make a decision at a General Meeting shall be nine (9) members.

Article 7: POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL:
     The powers and duties of the County Council of the Green Party of Mendocino County are:
    a) To interpret and enforce these Bylaws, and make findings of fact to resolve disputes among the members so as to facilitate the Mission of the Party;
    b) To liason with any and all government entities regarding the business of the GPOMC.
    c) To carry out any duties required of it by the Green Party of California.
    d) To represent and speak for the members between General Membership meetings;
    e) To appoint officers of the GPOMC as follows: Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, and Spokesperson. Insofar as possible, these officers shall be CC members. If they are not CC members, their terms shall not exceed those of the CC which appointed them.
    f) To maintain all records, minutes and pertinent business documents of the Green Party of Mendocino County in such a way as to facilitate reasonable member access.
     g) To set dates, times and places for General Meetings, if not otherwise decided at the previous General Meeting, and to publish notice of such meetings in acccordance with these Bylaws. To call extraordinary meetings of the GM in accordance with the notice requirements of  Article 3,  above.
    h) To supervise the performance of Working Groups and to make recommendations on such to GM;  
    i) To implement decisions of General Meetings   
    j)  To appoint Delegates if  a General Meeting fails to elect or provide for the election of sufficient Delegates to the State of California General Assembly.  If at the General Assembly there are not a sufficient number of delegates present, then the GPOMC Delegates present may choose alternates from any members in Good Standing of the Green Party of Mendocino County who are present.
    k) To make such decisions of a routine nature as are normally reserved to a General Meeting, but should not reasonably be delayed until the next scheduled General Meeting. Such routine decisions of the CC are subject to review at the next General Meeting.    
    l) To carry out the legal and fiscal responsibilities of the Green Party of Mendocino under the laws of the state of California.
        
Article 8:  FORMING THE COUNTY COUNCIL
      a.)Members of the County Council must be members in Good Standing of the Green Party of Mendocino County.
       b)Members of the County Council of the GPOMC shall be elected at large for two-year terms in each  state of California primary election and shall take office at noon on the Tuesday following the 30th day after their election.
    c.) The name of each candidate for member of County Council shall appear on the ballot only if she  or he has filed a nomination paper pursuant to Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000) of the Elections Code, signed in the candidate's behalf by twenty (20) members (sponsors). These sponsors may reside in any district within Mendocino County, and may endorse up to seven CC candidates regardless of the district in which these candidates reside.  
    d) If such election yields fewer than seven CC members, vacancies to make up the difference shall be filled in General Membership meetings.in accordance with these Bylaws. In the event of four (4) or more such vacancies, no more than half the total vacancies on the CC may be filled in one GM.
    e) Any GM at which vacancies of the CC are to be filled must be duly noticed as provided in Article 3 of these Bylaws, above.
    f) The County Council may remove a CC member by majority vote of the remaining CC members for any Good Cause. Such removal is to be made only after a hearing in which the member to be removed is invited to present evidence why they should not be so removed.
    g) Notwithstanding e), above, Good Cause is for removal is automatically deemed to exist if a CC member moves out of Mendocino County, changes party registration, or misses three consecutive CC meetings without advance notice to the Chairperson. In such case, no hearing is required.
    h) Any GPOMC member removed from the CC will be deemed not in Good Standing  for a period of twelve (12) months.

Article 9): POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICERS:
a) Chairperson: The duties of the Chairperson are:
    1) To perform such administrative and ceremonial duties required from time to time to maintain good order and functioning of the party in accordance with these Bylaws when no other members have done so; For example, to call meetings of the GM or CC; to facilitate meetings, to enquire as to the performance of other officers and make reports at meetings; to represent the GPOMC to the press and public, etc.
    2) To seek out and promote good relations between the GPOMC and other community organizations in Mendocino County.
    3) To research and propose programs, policies and campaigns that will build the Green Party of Mendocino County.
    4) Shall liason with county government concerning legislation which is subject of GPOMC organizing.
b) Secretary: The duties of the Secretary are:
    1)  Take the minutes of both GM and CC meetings or assign a member to do so in the secretary's place from time to time.     
    2). Keep all official GPOMC documents including Bylaws, standing rules, position papers, meeting minutes, financial records, membership lists, etc. whether they be in electronic or hard copy form so as to be reasonably accessible to members, for example for delivery at the next regularly scheduled meeting or by return mail or email.
    3) To determine the Good Standing of members, and to keep a list of members in Good Standing.
    4). Act as the conduit for all reports to the County Council not assigned to another contact person.
c)  Treasurer: The duties of the Treasurer are:
    1). Maintain the financial accounts of the GPOMC.
    2). Keep the party checkbook and be responsible for acceptance and dispersal of all party funds.
    3 Shall report the GPOMC finances to the GM and CC at every meeting or appoint someone to do so if unable to attend.
    4). Shall be submit in good order all legally required government reports to proper agencies, for example FPPC reports in the County Clerk's office. Shall liason with such agencies concerning such reports.
d) Spokesperson: The duties of the Spokesperson are:
    1) To represent the party to the public and press by delivering official party statements prepared in meetings;
    2) To prepare and distribute press releases;
    3) To maintain good relations with the press in order to promote the interests of the GPOMC.
    
Article 10; AMENDING THESE BYLAWS:
    These GPOMC Bylaws were approved by a General Meeting on ______________. They may be amended or revised by the General Meeting as follows.
    a. Proposals for an amendment or revision of these GPOMC Bylaws may be submitted to the GM by any member whereupon they shall be briefly discussed.
    b. The CC will publish such proposals to the GPOMC membership in an appropriate manner before the following GM.
    c. Such proposed amendment or revision may be adopted at any subequent   GM that has been duly noticed according to Article 3 above as a meeting at which Bylaw amendments or revisions may be adopted.

 EMERGENCY BYLAW #1 : For GPOM general meetings the quorum is temporarily lowered to six (6) registered Greens, until such time as nine (9) registered Greens show up at a meeting to form a quorum as provided elsewhere in the bylaws. And if and when that occurs, decisions made under this emergency quorum bylaw can be revisited. (Adopted in Albion July 8, 2007)

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