The Constitution of the CIE

October 2015

The Cornish Institute of Engineers

Registered Charity Number 306287

Constitution and By-Laws,

as accepted at a Council Meeting on the 24th July 1974

revised and accepted at Extraordinary General Meeting 8th October 2015

TITLE

“The Cornish Institute of Engineers”

SECTION I

Objects

The Institute shall devote itself to the advancement of all branches of Engineering and the exchange of information and ideas concerning the foregoing by:

• Arranging meetings for the presentation of papers, technical presentations, and the discussion of any subjects approved by the Council.

• Collecting and selecting matter for the publication in the form of transactions, mining statistics and records, or otherwise as arranged by the Council.

• Co-ordination with interested bodies of existing and new engineering activities.

SECTION II

• The Institute shall consist of Members, Honorary Members, Associate Members and Student Members.

• Members shall be persons who are or have been directly engaged in a responsible position in Engineering for a period of three years or more, and shall pay an annual subscription of not less than £10.

• Honorary Members shall be persons who have rendered outstanding services to the Institute, and shall be elected by the Council in perpetuity and be exempt from annual subscription.

• Associate Members shall consist of organisations, societies, companies, or persons who may be interested in Engineering or Allied Industries, and who are desirous of advancing the interest of those Industries.

• A company or organisation shall pay not less than £100, and an individual £20, annual subscription for Associate Membership. Society memberships shall be expected to be reciprocal in nature and paid ‘in kind’.

• Students shall consist of persons not less than 16 years of age, who are engaged in the full time study of engineering or associated industry, or apprenticeship within the same, and shall pay an annual subscription of not less than £1. Payment of Student membership may be deferred until said student has reached qualification for full or Associate membership.

• The employing company of apprentices applying to become Student members shall be assessed by the Council and if found suitable, invited join as Associate Members of the Institute prior to their apprentices being accepted.

• Student members employed as apprentices of Associate Members will have their annual subscription waived until such time as they become full time employees or qualify as Full Members.

• On application, Student members may be transferred to Full Membership at the discretion of the Council. An example of such circumstances is the transfer between undergraduate and post-graduate study/research or apprentice to full-time employee.

• The Annual Subscription shall become due on the 1st January, irrespective of the date of first membership.

• All Members, Honorary Members, Associate Members, and Student Members shall be equally entitled to the privileges of Membership, except that Associate Members and Students shall not be entitled to vote in General Meetings, nor to be Members of Council, excepting the case of a Student Vice President.

• Any person desirous of joining the Institute as a Member of full standing, must be proposed and seconded by two existing Members who must be personally acquainted with that person. Nomination must be made on the form provided for the purpose for the consideration of the Council.

• Every candidate shall be admitted to membership if they secure the vote of three-fourths of the Members of the Council, and will be entitled to receive the privileges of a Member on undertaking that they observe the Constitution and by-laws, and pay their subscription.

• Applications for Student membership shall not require a seconder to support their application as their attendance of full time education or apprenticeship shall be deemed supportive of their application.

SECTION III

Removal from Membership

• Any Member, Associate Member, Honorary Member or Student, who may have been proven to have committed any professional offence, shall be liable to expulsion by a majority of three-fourths of those present at a Council Meeting. The burden of proof lies with the person’s external professional body, whose final decision will be taken by the Institute as definitive. The President shall have responsibility to move for expulsion after explaining their reasons for the record.

In case of dispute regarding expulsion of a member the Institute will defer to the procedures of the IOM3.

• The Council may remove from the register of Members the name of any person whose subscription is in arrears, after reasonable notice (considered to be no less than two years) has been given by the Secretary.

SECTION IV

Management and Officers of the Institute

• The Institute shall be managed by a Council chosen from Members only, consisting of the President, not less than two and not more than four Vice-Presidents and up to fifteen elected Members.

• Six Members of the Council shall form a quorum.

• Past Presidents shall be ex-officio members of the Council for a period of two years, immediately following their term of office.

• The President shall be elected bi-annually and the Vice Presidents annually

• The President shall not hold office for more than two consecutive years, except by unanimous vote from the Council in the exceptional circumstances that no suitable replacement comes forward. In such circumstances an extension of The Presidency of one year shall be granted.

• Vice Presidents may be designated rank of Senior or Junior at the President’s discretion.

• A Student Vice President may be invited to attend Council meetings, and be allowed to vote in non-Constitutional matters only, as a representative of the Institute’s student membership. Their vote in other matters shall be counted as equal to any other Council Member.

• A Treasurer, who shall be a Member of good standing, shall be elected at each Annual General Meeting, and shall be an ex-officio member of the Council.

• Two Auditors shall be elected from members at each Annual General Meeting to examine the accounts during the ensuing year and report thereon to the next Annual General Meeting.

• The Council shall appoint, direct and have power to dismiss the Secretary and any other officers. The Council may also appoint Sub-Committees for the purpose of transacting any particular business connected with the objects of the Institute.

• Should a vacancy occur in consequence of the death, resignation, or removal of any officer, or Member of council, such a vacancy may be filled at the discretion of the Council until the expiration of the current year.

• Any Member of the Council who has served for three years is required to retire and, if they wish, shall be eligible for immediate re-election at the Annual Council Meeting.

• The Council will nominate a Chairman for the Annual General Meeting at its Annual Council Meeting. This will normally be The President, but will fall to a Vice President on the occasion that The President is unable to attend the AGM.

SECTION V

Elections to Office

• At least two months before the Annual General Meeting, the Secretary shall send to every Member a list of Offices to be filled for the ensuing year, nominations for which offices must be posted so as to reach the Secretary not later than 28 days before the date of the Annual General Meeting.

• The position of Student Vice President will be selected by invitation of the Council and normally be made from the second year of the undergraduate student body of Camborne School of Mines for a period of no more than two years.

• If, and only if, the number of persons nominated for office exceeds the number of Council positions to be filled, will a formal ballot be run, as dictated below.

• As per Section III subsection 13) The Council shall designate a Chairman for the AGM who will then prepare a list containing the name of all persons so nominated.

• The list so prepared shall be the balloting list for the election.

• The balloting list shall be sent at least seven days previous to the Annual General Meeting to every Member, who may vote by striking out names from the list, leaving names not exceeding in number the officers to be elected and returning the list to the Secretary, by the date specified thereon.

• The Chairman of the AGM shall appoint Scrutineers, who shall receive and scrutinize the balloting papers, compile their results, sign and hand to the Chairman a list of the elected officers.

• Balloting lists, which do not accord with the foregoing directive, shall be rejected.

SECTION VI

Meetings

• The President and the Secretary shall arrange for all meetings.

• The Annual General Meeting shall be held during April, with all Members informed of the date and time at least two months in advance.

• The Council shall call a Special General Meeting whenever they deem it necessary and are bound to call such a meeting on a requisition signed by not less than twenty Members.

• Any Member, Honorary Member, Associate Member or Student may introduce a visitor to any General Meeting, but the latter shall not take part in the proceedings except by permission of the Chairman.

• The Annual Council Meeting shall be held during March, with up to six Council Meetings to be held through the next twelve months. At least one such Council Meeting, to be held in period of the beginning of April to the end of May, will be reserved for the management of the Institute’s public Session and its program, with additional administrative meetings called as necessary by The President.

• The Session of public meetings shall commence with a meeting during the last week in September or the first week of October of each year, and succeeding public meetings shall, as far as possible be held at intervals of one month or less and ending in April, unless otherwise arranged by the Council. Session meetings shall be freely open to the public and, when possible, advertised in local media outlets.

• Supplementary activities such as visits, dinners or various others, may be arranged by The Council with Members notified at least two months in advance.

• The proceedings of Sessions or other activities shall be published in such manner and at such times as the Council may determine, under the Editorship of the Secretary or other persons appointed by the Council for that purpose.

• Every Member, Associate Member and Student Member whose subscription is not in arrears, and each Honorary Member, shall be entitled to receive a copy of all such publications on an ‘at cost’ basis.

SECTION VII

Amendments

No alteration of any rule or by-law shall be made without the consent, by simple majority, of an Annual General Meeting or a Special General Meeting convened for the purpose.

At such a meeting Twelve Members shall constitute a quorum, and fourteen days notice of any such proposed amendment must be given to every member.

In the event that quorum cannot be reached in three successive General meetings, properly advertised and notified, the Council may amend the constitution, rules and by-laws by unanimous vote at a Special Council Meeting convened for that purpose.