The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association

North Carolina State Beekeepers Association

Todd Walker

Notice of vote to amend the Constitution and Bylaws

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In December of 2017, the Board of Directors discussed the fact that the Constitution and Bylaws were not in compliance the North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act and Robert’s Rules of Order. The Board adopted a resolution to have an attorney examine the Constitution/Bylaws and determine what sections, if any, violated nonprofit law.

In May of 2018, the Association retained an attorney, Jon Carr, a partner with the Raleigh law firm of JordanPrice. Jon Carr advised the Association on several points including:

  1. The preferred practice of an organized society today which is to combine the Constitution and Bylaws into a single document named the Bylaws.
  2. The need to streamline and simply our Bylaws in order to make their intent and direction more clear.
  3. The electronic process policy necessary in order to conduct business and to serve proper notice to the membership in order to be able to amend the Constitution and Bylaws.
  4. An attendance policy to govern the Board of Directors.

In regards to compliance with the North Carolina Nonprofit Act, Jon Carr advised that the following provisions of the Const/Bylaws were not consistent with the NC Statutes.

  1. The Board of Directors, not the President, must appoint Committees and Chairpersons.
  2. The Board of Directors, not the President, must appoint any vacant office.
  3. The quorum is defined by law as 10% of the votes entitled to be cast.
  4. The approval of the Board is required to amend the Articles or the Constitution/Bylaws.

In July of 2018, the board began to act on the attorney’s advice and adopted resolutions including:

  1. A motion to amend the Constitution and Bylaws to align with the NC Nonprofit Corporation Act pending approval of the membership.
  2. A motion to amend the Constitution/Bylaws to affect an attendance policy as recommended by Jon Carr, pending approval by the Executive Committee.

In November of 2018, the Board approved a resolution to adopt the Electronic Process Policy written by the attorney Jon Carr.

In March of 2019, the Board approved resolutions to amend the Constitution and Bylaws which the membership approved in August of 2019. The amendments changed the calendar date for terms of officers, reduced the term length for the Membership Secretary and Treasurer, and changed the role of the NC State Extension Apiculturist

In July of 2020, the Board approved resolutions to amend to the Constitution and Bylaws which the membership approved in August of 2020. The amendments removed from the Constitution/Bylaws the Commercial Membership, Honey Bee Queen, Calendar, and the Discipline Policy. The Articles of Incorporation were corrected to reflect the correct tax filing structure of the Association.

The following documents are available for reference.

  1. Notice of vote to amend the Constitution and Bylaws and summary of changes
  2. The existing Constitution
  3. The existing Bylaws
  4. The document entitled “PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS OF THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, INC.”
  5. A red text strikethrough version of the document showing the proposed changes to the existing Constitution and Bylaws.

The notification and ballot will be mailed or emailed to the active members of the association no later than 7/28/2021. Mailed responses must be postmarked no later than 8/27/2021. Electronic submissions must be submitted no later than 8/27/2021. 

Master Beekeeper Testing – June 26 and July 24, 2021

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MBP Testing for Journeyman and Master levels will be held June 26, 2021. Only written tests will be offered at this time. Pre-registration is mandatory. Limited space available. Email mbp@ncbeekeepers.org to start the registration process and to receive additional details. CDC guidelines will be followed. All registrants must sign a “Waiver of Liability”. Registration will close June 11, 2021.

Additional MBP advanced level testing is now open for registration. The new date is July 24, 2021 and will be held at Alamance County Center in Burlington, NC. Both written and practical exams will be offered. Pre-registration is mandatory. Limited space available. Email mbp@ncbeekeepers.org to start the registration process and to receive additional details. Face coverings will be required and social distancing protocols will be followed. All registrants must sign a “Waiver of Liability”. Registration will close Friday, July 9, 2021.

NCSBA Spring 2021 Web Series

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Dear Members of NCSBA,
I hope this message finds you in good health and we hope for the continued well being of yourself, family/loved ones, & friends. The Covid-19 era has hit us all hard & we are all looking forward to when we can all gather in fellowship with other beekeepers once again.  We understand that many may be discouraged or frustrated that we weren’t able to host our usual summer conference and also have had to likewise cancel our regularly scheduled Spring conference this year in New Bern.  We want you to know we share your frustrations but that we have put the wellbeing of all our members health concerns first.  Much of our membership is an older/most at risk demographic and we could not in good faith or legally hold a large group conference like we normally do.  Even though we haven’t been having conferences your executive committee& board of directors have been meeting to find ways to move our group forward for you our members.  It is in this spirit that we have decided to give back to our membership, for the good of the hive! We will be hosting a weekly web-series beginning in mid-March, hosting notable speakers from the honeybee world to present to our NCSBA membership at the steep price of on-the-house.  We hope that you will join us and take advantage of the great speakers we have lined up for you.  You will find below the dates, speakers, topics, and short bio on the speakers. We are hopeful that by summer there may be a possibility of an in-person conference but it is too early to say for certainty.  Be on the look out for more information on how to access the presentations from 1st VP Frederick Proni and message from the President Doug Vinson regarding any other details for NCSBA, conferences, & NCSBA programs for 2021.

Sincerely, Burton Beasley

2nd VP of NCSBA

Upcoming Webinars

(Access information will be provided closer to the event date)

March 18th, 2021: 7pm-9pm ET
Sam Comfort: Anarchy Apiaries
Topic: The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly: recent efforts to simplify a complex bee world

Sam ComfortAfter winning 6 hives in a poker game, Sam Comfort worked for several years in commercial beekeeping across America.  He started Anarchy Apiaries in 2005 to explore permaculture ideas of low input natural cycles.  He breeds queen from hardy survivors, experiments with splitting techniques, and messes around with hive designs.  So the mission is to 1) make more beehives than there are televisions, and 2) have a good time, all the time (with bees).  Anarchy Apiaries runs around 1000 hives that split seasonally into around 2000 mating nucs with no treatments, minimal feeding, and do-it-yourself hive boxes in New York and Florida and spots in between.  Through teaching independent, biological beekeeping, he hopes to make it more affordable, approachable, and enjoyable; thus, bring the means of production back to the beekeeper.

@anarchyapiaries
www.anarchyapiaries.org

March 25th, 2021: 5:30-7:15pm ET
Dr. Margaret J. Couvillon, Assistant Prof. of Pollinator Biology & Ecology
Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech
Topic: Dancing bees bio-indicate landscape profitability for pollinators

Dr. Margaret J. CouvillonDr. Margaret J. Couvillon is a broadly trained bee researcher with a particular interest in the foraging and recruitment behaviors of the honey bee. I earned my undergraduate degree from Loyola University in New Orleans (B.S. in Biology, minor in Chemistry) and then spent a year as an AmeriCorps *NCCC volunteer. I completed a M.S. in Neurobiology at Duke University before moving overseas for my Ph.D. with Professor Francis Ratnieks at the University of Sheffield, where I investigated mechanisms of nestmate recognition in honey bees and stingless bees. As a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Anna Dornhaus at the University of Arizona, I investigated proximate and ultimate explanations for worker size variation in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. For a second postdoc, I rejoined the lab of Francis Ratnieks, now at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. There I worked to develop the honey bee, in particular its waggle dance communication, as a bioindicator for the “health” of the British landscape.

April 1st, 2021 7:00-9:00pm ET
Mike Palmer: French Hill Apiairies
Topic: A Year at French Hill Apiaries – An overview of the management that goes into a commercial apiary

Mike PalmerMike Palmer bought his first two packages of bees from FW Jones Company of Quebec in 1974. They cost $10.50 delivered. Neither colony made it through the first winter, but he kept trying and built up to 200 hives by 1981.

In 1982, Mike got a job managing the bees owned by Chazy Orchards in Chazy, New York and did so until 1986. Then he convinced Chazy to sell their bees to him, so at that time, he had more than 600 colonies.

Mike began raising his own queens in 1998 and has been doing so ever since. Today, Mike raises about 1200 queens and manages over 1000 colonies, with some 600-700 production colonies, and hundreds of nucleus colonies.

He has lectured on his methods of beekeeping all over the world

**April 8th, 2021: We are currently working on the possibility of hosting a 4th speaker**