Bylaws of the King County Asthma Forum

Convened in 1998, the King County Asthma Forum brings together individuals and agencies to establish an on-going asthma network to communicate about, collaborate on, and coordinate projects that improve and support asthma prevention, diagnosis, and management in King County.

General membership

Who Can Be a Member?

The King County Asthma Forum is open to all organizations and individuals concerned with asthma in King County. Multiple individuals from a single organization can be members, preferably each representing a different unit within his/her organization. Members may represent themselves or a specific organization. Members need to attend at least two of any KCAF meetings per year. The KCAF will meet quarterly and will facilitate electronic and postal service communication.

Forum roles

The KCAF general membership will meet quarterly to:

facilitate communication and networking among persons and organizations who have an interest in asthma;

share experiences, problems and successes

transmit current asthma-related knowledge

select at-large steering committee members

select Forum Chair and Chair Elect

review and vote on changes in by-laws

provide input on all Forum activities and areas of participation

strategize and mobilize around policy issues

Forum projects

There are three levels of KCAF projects: core (Level 1); sponsored (Level 2); and endorsed (Level 3). All Forum projects must meet the following universal criteria:

address a priority goal of the KCAF

engage community members to an appropriate extent

provide benefit to the community

agree to coordinate activities with other KCAF projects and send representatives to cross-project coordination meetings when appropriate.

Core projects meet the following criteria in addition to the universal criteria:

1.	KCAF steering committee approves developing a proposal for the project.
2.	KCAF steering committee is involved in designing the project prior to submission for funding and implementation.
3.	The project is approved by KCAF steering committee prior to submission of funding application (or implementation, if no external funds are involved), including its leadership, goals and objectives, workplan and budget.
4.	Project Director is member of KCAF steering committee.
5.	Project Director makes periodic progress reports to steering committee at intervals determined by steering committee, including a final report at conclusion of project.
6.	Project Director is accountable to KCAF for satisfactory implementation and may be removed at the steering committee's discretion for non-performance.
7.	KCAF is accountable to funders for successful project completion.
8.	Significant changes in workplan or budget (more than $10,000) must be approved by the steering committee.
9.	KCAF steering committee is involved in publications and abstracts regarding the project as described by the KCAF Publication Guidelines.

Sponsored projects meet the following criteria in addition to the universal criteria:

1.	Project is reviewed by KCAF steering committee, and its goals, objectives, and workplan are approved prior to submission of funding application (or implementation, if no external funds are involved).
2.	Project director or designee makes periodic progress reports to KCAF steering committee at intervals determined by steering committee.
3.	Project director makes a final report to KCAF steering committee on project outcomes at conclusion of project.

Endorsed projects typically involve a letter of support from the KCAF. An endorsed project meets the following criteria in addition to the universal criteria:

1.	Project is reviewed by steering committee, and goals, objectives and workplans are approved.
2.	Project is free of proprietary interests.

Officers

The Chair and Chair Elect will each serve a one-year term. After completing the one-year tern, the Chair Elect will assume the position of Chair. The general membership will elect a Chair Elect at the fall quarterly meeting. If the Chair Elect is unable to assume the role of Chair after completion of the term, the general membership will also elect a new Chair at this time. A request for officer and at-large nominations will be made to Forum members 90 days before the fall election. Nominations and self-nominations for each position will be submitted to the steering committee or its designee prior to the steering committee meeting that precedes the election. The steering committee will distribute the list of candidates to the membership two weeks prior to the general meeting. Forum members can vote in person at the general meeting or by mail or e-mail as long as their votes are received within one day before the general meeting. The nominee receiving the largest number of votes will be elected. There is no limit on the number of terms an individual can serve.

The roles of the Chair are to:

facilitate steering committee and general membership meetings

represent the KCAF or delegate this task to another member, preferably with prior approval of the steering committee if time permits

serve on the steering committee.

The roles of the Chair-elect are to:

perform the roles of the Chair when the chair is absent

serve on the steering committee.

assume the position of Chair after completing the one-year term as Chair Elect.

Steering committee

Membership

The steering committee consists of:

Forum Chair and Chair Elect
Standing Committee Chairs
A representative from each Neighborhood Asthma Committee
Project Directors or Principal Investigators of core and sponsored projects
At-large members, who are community members whose lives are impacted by asthma and/or representatives of community based organizations or clinics

It is the intention of the KCAF to have broad demographic, organizational and professional representation in the membership of the steering committee. The at-large members will serve 3-year staggered terms and will be elected by the general membership at the fall quarterly meeting in the same manner as the Chair and Chair Elect. The standing committee chairs will be selected by the membership of each committee for 1-year terms. The Project Directors and Principal Investigators of Forum projects will serve as long as the projects continue. The steering committee will meet monthly. These meetings will be open to anyone who wants to attend.

Purpose

The steering committee will:

provide vision and guidance to the KCAF (agenda setting for KCAF; project recommendations; policy statement recommendations)
provide strategic direction to the KCAF by sponsoring or endorsing projects
provide oversight to all KCAF sponsored projects at the operational level. The steering committee will approve selection of Project Directors, Project Investigators and key personnel; budgets; and workplans, and will receive regular reports regarding progress meeting project objectives
make decisions for the KCAF. These decisions will be reviewed at the quarterly meeting that follows the decision and can be re-opened for discussion, amendment or rejection at the request of a member attending the meeting
create ad-hoc committees needed to study a specific issue (grant competition between multiple KCAF members, evaluation of a contract, hiring or firing of KCAF staff). Members with a conflict of interest (e.g. applying for a contract from the KCAF) would not serve on an ad-hoc committee while the topic related to the conflict was being decided
initiate additional standing committees as needed
designate a spokesperson for the KCAF for specific purposes, as needed.

Standing committees

The standing committees will facilitate the work of the KCAF in their respective areas. New standing committees may be established by the steering committee, as the need arises.

Membership

Membership in the standing committees is open to anyone who is interested. The members of each individual committee will schedule the meetings and the frequency will be based on the work at hand. The Chair of a standing committee is elected by committee members for a one-year term and can be re-elected.

Purpose

The standing committees serve to:

provide vision and leadership to the KCAF in their particular area;

provide the day-to-day human power needed to accomplish the goals of the KCAF.

Decision-making

The general membership elects officers and makes decisions regarding by-laws. The steering committee makes all other decisions. An effort will be made to achieve consensus on all steering committee and Forum decisions. If consensus cannot be attained, decisions will require a simple majority vote by those attending the meeting. In that case, a quorum of 25% will be required (the denominator will be based on total membership in January for Forum votes, and on steering committee membership for steering committee votes). Those unable to attend a meeting can provide input to the Chair or staff for presentation at the meeting. They may also provide additional input after the meeting to the Chair or staff for discussion at the next steering committee meeting.

The agendas for meetings will be sent to members one week in advance. General members may contribute items to the agenda. Only steering committee members can vote on steering committee issues. However, the steering committee must consider member input on issues up for discussion and voting. In addition to one-on-one communication with general members, the steering committee will seek member input through standing and ad-hoc committees, community meetings, process evaluation findings, and other means.

Minutes from steering committee meetings will be distributed to the general membership. The Chair will present a summary of key steering committee decisions at each Forum meeting. Any member of the Forum may request that the steering committee reconsider a specific decision by sending a statement to the Chair describing his/her concern, including the reason(s) for requesting the review. In that case, the Chair will circulate the statement to the steering committee and facilitate a discussion about the issue at the next steering committee meeting, with the requestor present. If the issue cannot be resolved within the steering committee, the chair will circulate the request and its rationale to all members by email, along with a statement explaining the basis for the steering committee decision. If the review is not time sensitive, discussion will be held at the next general meeting. If the requestor and Chair believe the issue is time sensitive they will determine a date for a special meeting of the general membership, providing two weeks advance notice of the meeting. If they do not agree about the urgency of the issue, the steering committee will decide when to hold the meeting. Once the meeting has been held, the Chair/KCAF staff will email a summary of the discussion to the general membership within 2 business days of the meeting. A vote on the issue will be held in the meeting and by email with votes due within 5 business days. The issue will be decided by 51% of the total number voting on the issue.

Certain decisions (e.g. approving policy statements, endorsing grant applications) will require consensus for approval. The details of this process need to be developed.

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