87-24
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COUNTY OF ELGIN
By-Law No. 87-24
"BEING A BY-LAW TO PROVIDE FOR THE OPERATION OF THE ELGIN COUNTY
PIONEER MUSEUM."
WHEREAS the Council of the Corþoration of the County
of Elgin passed By-Laws numbered 1687 and 81-6 providing for the
establishment, operation and management of the Elgin County
Pioneer Museum in the years 1956 and 1981 respectively; and
WHEREAS, oecause of changing circumstances, it is now
deemed desirable to update the provisions of the said by-laws and
to define the operations, organization and management of the
museum in a mor~ comprehensive manner.
NOW THEREFORE the Municipal Council of the Corporation
of the County of Elgin hereby enacts as follows:
1. NAME - The name of the Museum shall continue to be "The Elgin
County Pioneer Museum".
2. PROPERTY - The lands, buildings, furniture, equipment, goods
chattels, artifacts and objects of any nature whatsoever whether
acquired by or donated to the museum and including objects and
artifacts given to the museum to be held in trust prior to the
enacting of this by-law shall be the property of the Corporation
of the County of Elgin.
The museum shall have the right at its option to claim a lien
upon any article or artifact loaned to the museum for display or
upon any article or artifact held in trust by the museum where
the museum has incurred substantial costs in the restoration or
repair of such object or artifact.
3. OBJECTIVES - The principal objectives of the museum shall be
to collect, preserve and display for the benefit of the public
items and artifacts which relate to the history and development
of the County of Elgin and City of St. Thomas and without limit-
ing the generality of the foregoing to provide educational and
information services relating to the life and times of pioneer
days in Elgin and St. Thomas and to encourage public interest in
the history of the area.
4. ORGANIZATION -
(a) The museum operation and management shall be under the con-
trol and management of a committee which shall be known as the
"Elgin County Pioneer Museum Executive Committee".
(b) The said Committee shall comprise seven members to be
appointed annually by the Council of the County of Elgin at its
December Session and to be appointed in the following manner:
Two Members of the Elgin County Council
One appointee from nominees provided from each of the
following organ~~afions-- .
The East Elgin District of the Women's Institute
The West Elgin District of the Women's Institute
The Municipal Chapter of the I.O.D.E.
One appointee to be nominated by the Council of the
Corporation of the City of St. Thomas
One appointee to be named by the Cou~cil of the
Corporation of the County of Elgin who shall be a person
other than a Member of the County Councilor a member of
any of the preceding groups providing nominees.
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The Secretary shall maintain a record of the proceedings of
meetings of the Committee, provide noticecof meetings and report
attendance of members to the Elgin County Clerk-Treasurer and be
generally responsible for general correspondence of the Committee
The Vice-Chairman shall assume the duties of the Chairman in his
illness or absence and shall have when so acting all the author-
ity and responsibility of the Chairman
The Chairman should attend meetings of the Elgin County Pioneer
Museum General Advisory Committee, report and interpret policies
and decisions of the Executive Committee for the benefits of the
General Advisory Committee and generally act as a liaison officer
in fostering effective communications between the two Committees.
He shall provide and render a report annually of the Museum
activities and the general condition of the buildings, grounds
and facilities. The report shall be submitted to the November
Session of the Elgin County Council and the annual meeting of the
Museum membership
He shall countersign all cheques and generally
activities of the Executive Committee
supervise
7. DUTIES OF OFFICERS - The Chairman shall be the Chief
Executive Officer of the Executive Committee. He shall arrange
for meetings of the Committee and preside at all meetings and be
an ex-officio member of all other committees
the
In the event that a member is absent from three successive
meetings of the Executive Committee without being excused by
resolution of the Committee, such member shall be deemed to have
resigned from the position and the Committee shall forthwith
notify such member by certified service mail and proceed to
request the appointing body to fill the vacant position on the
Committee
6. TERM OF OFFICE - The members of the Executive Committee
shall continue in office until their successors shall have been
appointed. The members of the Executive Committee, with the
exception of the Members of County Council, shall be appointed
for a term of three years and provisions shall be made in the
initial appointments for members to serve for terms of one, two
and three years so that the expiration of members' terms of
office shall expire on a successive or 'staggered' basis with
succèeding terms to be for a period of three years. The two
Members of County Council shall be appointed annually for a
period of one year only. A member of the Executive Committee
shall not serve longer than six successive years, but after an
absence of one year may be eligible for re-appointment
The Executive Committee shall appoint a Director to oversee the
day to day operation of the museum and the fulfillment of the
aims and objectives of the museum project upon such terms and
conditions as may be deemed advisable by the Committee. The
Museum D~rector shall have a proper job description and terms of
employment and shall report to the Chairman of the Executive
Committee and be present at all meetings of the Committee
The Exeçutive Committee shall also appoint a Secretary and
Treasurer at its first meeting in each year and these officers
need not be members of the Executive Committee
5. OFFICERS - The Executive Committee shall appoint a Chairman
and Vice-Chairman from its members at its first meeting in each
year
to
Executive Committee will be persons who have a genuine inter-
est in the museum and will contribute to the advancement of its
aims and objectives
The functions of the General Advisory Committee shall be to
(a) advise the Executive Committee concerning the general
tives of the museum
objec-
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(h) In each year at the organizational meeting of the Executive
Committee or as soon thereafter as may be conveniently done the
Executive Committee shall appoint a representative committee of
citizens interested in the operation of the museum composed of
not less than fifteen nor more than fifty members to be known as
the Elgin County Pioneer Museum General Advisory Committee to
assist the Executive Committee and shall entrust to that Advisory
Committee responsibility for advising the Executive Committee on
matters concerning the fulfillment of the general objectives of
the museum
THE ELGIN COUNTY PIONEER MUSEUM GENERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
(g) To hold an annual meeting in January of each year and such
monthly meetings of the Executive Committee as may be necessary
to conduct the business of the museum. Special meetings may be
called by the Chairman at his discretion and must be called upon
the written petition of four members of the Committee. A major-
ity of the members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum at
any meeting of the Committee
(f) To proviqe such reports of its activities and finances as
may be requested from time to time for the information of the
County and City Councils in such form and detail as the Councils
may require
(e) To arrange for and appoint a Museum Curator-Director and to
authorize such other part time help as the Director may deem
necessary or expedient
(d) To cause to be taken such steps as may be necessary from
time to time to provide such monies as may be required to operate
and maintain the museum and its effects
(c) To establish and maintain a Museum Endowment Fund for
receipt and investment of endowment monies and to regulate
expenditure of the income from such funds
the
the
(b)
hours
To arrange schedules of admission fees
of operation of the museum
membership
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fees
(a) To arrange for proper care, maintenance and repair of museum
site, buildings and contents and to ensure that adequate insurance
protection is maintained upon all the property
and
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The Museum Director shall be responsible for the general operation
of. the museum and for the care and custody of all the property of
the museum as well as the development of plans and programs,
displays and publicity relating to the museum operation. The
Director will be present at meetings of the Executive Committee
and report to the Chairman as necessary. A precise description
of the authority and responsibilities of the Director will be
provided in a detailed job description
GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
7. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the receipts and
expenditures of the Executive Committee and shall receive and
deposit all funds received from the operation of the museum in a
bank account as designated by the Executive Committee. The
Treasurer will be responsible for the payment of all accounts as
authorized by the Committee and may ~aintain for purposes of con-
venience a petty cash account. The Treasurer will provide in
suitable form brief monthly statements to the Executive Committee
and provide accounts for audit by the Elgin County auditors when
so required
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(b) advise the Executive Committee on the planning, promotion
and publicity of the museum;
(c) actively pursue the goals of the museum through the planning
of fund raising activities and do such other things as ~ay be
deemed propitious for the promotion of the museum;
(d) furnish such reports and information on its activities to
the Executive Committee as the Executive Committee may from time
to time request.
(e) the General Advisory Committee shall not have any power to
spend or authorize the spending of funds nor incur any liability
on behalf of the museum.
10. To ensure that the General Advisory Committee is truly
representative of organizations and individuals interested in the
museum the Executive Committee shall consider composition of the
Committee with due regard to the following criteria:
(a) nominees from organizations interested in the welfare and
organization of the museum;
(b) individuals with special interest in the museum, but not
allied with any organization;
(c) population and geographical considerations;
(d) persons appointed to the General Advisory Committee may not
serve for more than six consecutive annual terms, but may be
eligible for re-appointment after an absence of one year:
11. Meetings' of the General Advisory Committee shall be held as
deemed necessary by the membership and shall be conducted by the
Chairman.
12. In the event a vote is to be taken on any matter before the
Committee, only those persons appointed by the Executive
Committee to be members of the Committee shall be entitled to
vote in respect to the question before the Committee.
13. Wherever the pronouns IIhe", II him II and IIhis" are used in this
by-law the pronouns "she" , 11 her II and "hers" may be substituted in
their place should the circumstances deem it necessary to render
the interpretation of the by-law logical and sensible.
14. Wherever the title uMuseum Di.reC'torll appears it shall be
deemed to read uMuseurn Curator-Director" where the position held
is such.
15. That By-Laws No. 1687 and 81-6 be and the same are hereby
repealed.
READ a first time this 20th day of May, 1987.
READ a second time this 20th day of May, 1987.
READ a third time and finally passed this 20th day of May 1987
~4~ - ,,/
G. C. Leverton, .
Clerk.
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