Rotary is governed by a Board of Directors lead by a President. Every three years, Rotary meets in a forum called the Council on Legislation. The last Council of Legislation forum was April 11-15, 2016. There were many changes to Rotary policies and rules during this Council making the most progessive Council in Rotary's history. Two key Enactments are noted below:
 
16-21 Flexibility in Meetings/Attendance – Amended. Passed 392 to 82.
 
Current club constitution Article 6 provides clubs meet once a week. Article 9 regarding attendance provides members must attend unless they make up fourteen days before or after, attend a service project or a board meeting. Article 9 provides for termination if member doesn’t attend or make up fifty percent of meetings or attend thirty percent of meetings at their own club or misses four consecutive meetings. The above requirements will remain in the standard club constitution and can be followed by clubs if desired. The new enactment provides that club bylaws may alter these provisions. For example, to determine when and how often a club meets, except it must meet two times per month (there is no definition of “meeting”); Club's may set their own attendance requirements like volounteer time in lieu of meeting attendance; and the club may modify or eliminate termination policies for non-attendance.
 
The reason that this Enactment came forward was due to Rotary trying to be relevant in today's society. The world has changed over the last 50-60 years. Businesses are no longer as supportive as they used to be of employees taking almost 1.5-2 hours of their day for a Rotary meeting. The people that can, usually have to make up the time by working longer hours, which impacts family time. Our Club lost 10 of the new members inducted last year because of these reasons. Quoting from RI President, John Germ in the Rotarian Magazine July, 2016 edition: "Our Clubs have always been organized around a meal...that system served us well. But society has changed. How do we accommodate a 30 year old businessperson raising a family? Well, for one thing, we could pay less attention to attendance. My question isn't How many meetings did you make? It's How are you making a difference in the Community?".  
 
 
16-36 Kinds of Membership –Amended. Passed 386 to 75.
 
Currently there are two kinds of membership: active and honorary. That will remain in the standard club constitution and can be followed by clubs. Alternatively, this enactment provides that club bylaws may have provisions not in accordance with the constitutional documents. That is, clubs may have alternative forms of memberships such as corporate, associate, family, etc. They may amend or eliminate rules for transferring Rotarians, Honourary members, holders of public office, dual membership.
 
 
Clubs around the world are implementing the new forms of Membership and are attracting good quality members. Having alternative forms of Membership will allow for a more dynamic Club and help the Club grow. Also, flexibility in Attendance requirements is needed due to our changing Society. Do not want to be the last Club to make these changes? We need to innovate in order to build a Club for the next 100 years of Service.  
 
Please refer to the Club's website to view a Powerpoint presentation of the highlight of the Council of Legislation