Dear Friends,

Enclosed are a number of By-Law revisions that you will be asked to vote on at the Annual Meeting on October 3rd. These changes have been recommended by the various committees and word-smithed by the By-Law Committee and are now recommended to you by the Board. I urge you to consider these proposals, discuss them with your Officers and Trustees, and cast your vote approving these changes.

I also urge you to carefully consider the qualifications of the various candidates running for elective office. They all must be thanked and admired for their willingness to stand for election, and to serve if elected. This is a great slate of candidates.

The year that is closing has had a number of highlights. Paramount in my mind was the hiring of Carol Eldridge as General Manager. She has performed very well and has been a pleasure to work with. If I am only remembered as the Commodore who hired Carol, I will be very proud.

With lots of good work by Carol and the rest of the staff we are almost certain to close our fiscal year in the black, and slightly better than budget. This makes two years in a row with positive fiscal results and that has not happened for a number of years. I would like to point out one area of fiscal performance that demonstrates the competency of our management staff. The Combined Restaurant and Beverage revenues have ran significantly under budget all year yet Chef Daniel, Carol, et al. controlled expenses to the point that at August 31st our combined net income is $8,000 better than budget.

I would be very crass indeed if I did not give credit to all the Committee Chairs and others who produced a realistic budget for the 2007/2008 year and then stuck to it. They did the heavy lifting and the Commodore was just along for the ride.

We also had a number of very successful cruises, races and parties throughout the year. The Fleet Captains and committee people all did yeoman duty and I know everyone who participated in these events joins me in thanking them for all their effort on the yachting and partying side.

Kudos to those, young and not so young, people who sailed under our burgee around the world. There were lots of great results leading to a very proud Commodore and membership.

At this writing, we do not have the 2008/2009 Budget completed. We plan to finalize our budget work at our September 24th Board meeting. Barring a huge surprise(s) the final product will be a balanced budget incorporating a $3.00 to $5.00 Active dues increase with a proportionate increase for other classes and for moorage.

Obviously this budget presumes that the Membership will approve the proposed increase in the dues cap. If the cap is not increased, which would effectively limit any dues increase to $1.00; we would almost certainly be facing a deficit for the 2008/2009 year.

I know I speak for the entire Board when I say how much we respect and appreciate the tremendous effort put into the budgeting process by Dick Haelsig and the Finance Committee.

I will send out another letter on September 25th to those who are registered for the Annual Meeting giving the terms of the budget which will also be available online.

I will close by saying thanks to all of the Officers, Trustees, Committee Chairs and members who have given so much effort to make this the BGDYCITWWW. And one final thank you to the SYC members for allowing me the great privilege of serving as your Commodore.

Gratefully,

Jack Sullivan
Commodore

2008 Annual Meeting Notice

The 2008 Annual Meeting of the membership of Seattle Yacht Club will be held at the Portage Bay Clubhouse on Friday, October 3, 2008. The purpose of the meeting will be to elect officers and trustees from the list of nominations as provided for in Article 4, consider proposed amendments to the By-Laws, and to consider such other business as may properly come before the meeting.

Reservations for the Annual Meeting dinner are required, and should be made immediately through the club's front desk by calling (206) 325-1000.

Pursuant to by-law Article 12, Section 12.4 on page 46 of the 2008 yearbook, the ballot box will be open until 5:00 p.m. October 3, 2008. Absentee ballots are available at the front desk beginning September 2, 2008, but must be returned, per the by-laws, and in the ballot box by the foregoing deadline. As required by the by-laws, the absentee ballots provide for voting only on the election of officers and trustees and not on any other issue.

Sincerely,

Robert A. McConnell
Secretary

Dear Seattle Yacht Club Member:

Absentee ballots are now available. Members cannot request absentee ballots by telephone.

Voting members can request absentee ballots in person, by US Mail, by fax to (206) 324-8784, or via e-mail at sycfroff@seattleyachtclub.org. All requests for absentee ballots must include the following items:

If any of the above items are missing, the requester will receive notification asking them to make another request with all items completed. Incomplete requests will cause delay for the person trying to obtain an absentee ballot.

The main reason we require a current mailing address with each request is that the front desk personnel only have access to the current SYC Yearbook, which is almost one year out of date by the time of the Annual Meeting.

Sincerely,

Robert A. McConnell
Secretary

The following proposed amendments to the By-Laws have been approved by the Board of Trustees and are now submitted to a vote of the Membership. Changes and new language set forth below in bold.
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Proposed Amendment 1
Amendment

SECTION 12.2
Special meeting of the members of the Club may be called by the Commodore or by the Board of Trustees by giving to the members entitled to vote five ten (510) days written notice, by mail, directed to their last known address and stating the object of the meeting.

Proposed Amendment 2
Removal and Amendment

SECTION 4.4
The appointive committees of the Club shall be the Active Intermediate Committee, Advisory Committee, Amateur Radio Group Committee, . . .

SECTION 4.54
The appointive officers and committees shall be appointed by the Commodore subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees. Except as otherwise provided in these By-Laws, the term of all appointive committees and officers shall be for one (1) year, commencing the day after the Annual meeting. No person shall serve as the chairman of any one committee for more than two (2) consecutive one-year terms. The Standing Committees of the Club shall be those listed in Article 7 of the By-Laws.

Proposed Amendment 3
New Section

SECTION 7.xx SUMA
The Suma Committee shall have charge of maintaining the sister club relationship between the Suma Yacht Club of Kobe, Japan and the Seattle Yacht Club.

Proposed Amendment 4
New Section

SECTION 7.xx RECORDS MANAGEMENT
The Records Management Committee shall be responsible for creating Club record management policy. This Committee shall facilitate and mentor for all Club Committees in the preservation of historical, critical, current, and ongoing documents in digital format including but not limited to minutes, photos, drawings and publications.

Proposed Amendment 5
Amendment

SECTION 7.13 HISTORICAL
The Historical Committee shall be responsible for maintaining a record and history of the activities of the club. The Committee shall consist of three (3) or more members. The Historical Society of Seattle and King County is authorized as a depository and a curator of materials and documents for the benefit of the club.

Proposed Amendment 6
Amendment

SECTION 3.3
(a) The Board of Trustees shall have the power to fix entrance fees, dues, and a minimum food charge for each class of the classes of membership subject to the limitations contained in the definition of each class of membership, and provided that in no event can the monthly dues for any class of membership be fixed at an amount in excess of one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00) one hundred forty-five dollars ($145.00) and in no event can the monthly food charge for any class of membership be fixed at an amount in excess of twenty dollars ($20.00) (such food charge to be billed quarterly) or be charged to a member less than thirty (30) years of age.

Proposed Amendment 7
Amendment

SECTION 3.1
. . .
(b) HONORARY LIFE: Elected by the membership by unanimous a 95% vote of all present at any regular meeting . . .

Proposed Amendment 8
Amendment

SECTION 5.1
The office of Honorary Life Commodore shall be the highest office of honor that can be conferred upon a member of this Club for loyal and faithful service. . . . The members at such Annual meeting may by unanimous a 95% vote elect such member to this office.

Proposed Amendment 9
Removal and New Section

SECTION 9.2
The Board of Trustees shall have authority to borrow money for Club purposes including the power of mortgaging or pledging the assets of the Club for such purposes. Provided, however, that the Board of Trustees shall not so borrow or so pledge or mortgage any of the Club’s assets or commit to installments on a contract of purchase or lease option for any obligation in excess of the aggregate sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) unless such action be authorized by a majority vote of the members voting at any Annual or Special meeting of the membership.

SECTION 9.2