Bylaws
Fairfield Co-operative Farm Association Statutes.
Legalized in Wayne County Court, 30 April, 1921.
This company is
set up for 20 years, and can be renewed. The company is known
as Fairfield Co-operative Farm Association.
This company
aims to engage in agriculture in all its various branches,
including the
dairy industry, keeping and selling all of the products, set
up offices and shops in the
wholesale and retail trade for the United States of America
and abroad. Said business
and operations could be substantially run on a cooperative
basis; [this would include
the right to] buy, sell, own, lease, improve, develop and in
every way necessary for
construction of houses, mills, and other types of buildings,
whether industrial buildings
or whatever else is needed and normal to the movement of
goods, including all kinds
of movable and immovable property, and the right to engage in
foreign trade.
The company
will be headquartered in Wayne County, Georgia, and [retains]
the right
to establish a national branch, with offices and storage
rooms, when and where the
said company considers as the best, and particularly in New
York State.
Capital of that
company is going to be one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000.00),
divided by the nominal value of $500.00 [in legal shares], the
said capital to increase
from time to time into any amount, which does not increase by
more than $300,000.00.
The said shares may be sold or divided into several cash
payments as agreed. Any
accountability for owners [will not exceed] what they have to
pay for the ordered shares.
The company
will have the right to adopt and put into force the rules and
regulations,
operating [practices], file lawsuits, arrange mortgages and
other debt certificates and
anything else which is common or necessary for, or happens to
come to the task of this
company and [such] laws for providing or will in the future be
granted.
Code
Section 1. Units are sold by the Board only to able-bodied men of
legal age, but not more
than 50 years old, [who are] Finnish speaking
people. Individual shares are sold to only
one person in a single portion, and that person has
only one vote in cooperative matters.
Section 2.
Only persons approved by the Board may have shares, but it is the
privilege of
the shareholder to redeem and resell [the share] at its
existing value.
Section 3.
Cooperative members have the right to represent [other members] by
proxy at
general meetings, but [are limited to representing] only
two other unit holders.
Chapter 2: Meetings
Section 1.
The cooperative’s annual meeting will be held at Fairfield, in
Wayne County,
Georgia. The Executive Board will inform members [about the
meeting] 15 days prior to
the meeting.
Section 2.
Cooperative meetings are legal when they are in accordance with
the rules
notified and two-thirds of the members are represented.
Section 3. Annual and semi-annual conference is [for]:
Discussion about the legality of the meeting.
Selection of two proxy inspectors who work as election inspectors.
“Select two the minutes.”
Reading of the minutes of the last meeting.
Reading of
Executive Board actions and the cooperative financial report,
and
consultation about the auditors’ opinion.
Discussion of
the operational and financial reports, reports of issues and
account
for the issue of freedom of the Executive Board.
Selection of the Executive Board.
Choosing four
auditors, two of whom are permanent, and two deputy
inspectors.
The auditor must be included when making inventories at
year-end.
Hearing different opinions of the Committee.
Dealing with unfinished business.
Taking up new things.
Section 4.
Additional meetings can be held if the Executive Board believe
that they are
necessary, or if one-third of the members present a written
request.
The
Management Board shall send the notice of the meeting no later
than three days
from when the request is submitted to it.
An extraordinary meeting shall be announced in the same way as an annual meeting.
Chapter 3: Board of Directors
Section 1.
The Cooperative is managed by a Board composed of nine members and
three
deputies. A quorum of the Executive Board is 6 members
present. Executive Board
candidates are selected by participants in the cooperative,
and can be replaced by votes
of the members.
Section 2. The Executive Board shall:
Manage carefully the cooperative rules and decisions.
Distinguish
between the cooperative and non-employed persons and the
business
manager, determining their salaries. Also, ensure that the
cooperative members fulfill
their obligations to the cooperative mission.
Prepare the
cooperative yearly and half-yearly report on the meeting of
the cooperative
activities.
Supervise the
cooperative movement manager and personnel, provided that the
cooperative is not involved in debt, except with Executive
Board approval.
Require that
the cooperative manager and treasurer guarantee the faith of
the
cooperative’s assets, to provide periodic cash checks, take
care of the cooperative
equipment, monitor its goods and assets, and file a report
about these matters near the
end of each financial year.
Distribute the cooperative profit yields in the prescribed manner.
Section 3.
The Board shall meet at least once a week and more frequently if
cooperative
issues require it.
Section 4.
The manager and the treasurer are listed under the cooperative
name. The
supervisor either directly or through an agent represents
the cooperative in legal matters.
Section 5.
The Board has no right to take up new issues without the
permission of the
cooperative.
Section 6.
The Executive Board is accountable at the general meeting of the
cooperative
for responsible asset management, all for one and one for
all.
Section 7.
The Executive Board should have accounts ready for the auditors
within 15
days after the audit, and will [present these] before the
last day of January and July.
Chapter 4: Managers
Section 1.
The cooperative movement business manager is selected by the Board
of
Directors, and he is accountable to the Executive Board.
For times when there is no
business manager, the Executive Board is responsible for
the functions of the manager.
Section 2. Business Managers are required to:
Manage
cooperative matters carefully, to oversee the work, and keep
the
cooperative movement in good order.
Ask the executive Board in all matters of opinion.
Be certain that
his records are accurate and keep account of yields over a
specified
time.
Present once a
month to the Executive Board the cooperative’s revenue,
expenditures,
and general operating status.
Be present at
Board Meetings, at which he has the right to speak but not to
[“aanestysoikeutta” vote??].
Chapter 5: Operating Profit
Section 1.
The Executive Board of the cooperative shares the operating profit
of the
cooperative is accordance with the instructions in the meeting as
follows:
25% of the
profits are transferred to the reserve fund until it is large
enough, as
determined by the general meeting.
The rest of the profit will be split equally by the Executive Board for all unit holders.
Chapter 6: Specific Legislative Instruments
Section 1.
Permanent cooperative members are employed and unauthorized
persons are
not to be employed without special permission from the
Board.
Section 2. All officer elections will take place on closed tickets [secret ballots].
Section 3.
Cooperative auditors will audit the accounts more frequently than
once every
financial year. Audits should be done carefully and the
inspectors are accountable for their
work.
Section 4. A
general meeting may be canceled by a member of the general Board
or by
the entire Board.
Section 5.
The general meeting fixes the amount of wages. All cooperative
members have
the same salary. This applies to any kind of work.
Section 6. Members who sell their stake [in the cooperative] lose all rights to the cooperative.
Section 7.
If a member of the cooperative is injured or made ill (except for
venereal diseases),
the cooperative is responsible for [that person’s] care and
family responsibilities.
Section 8.
After being a member of the cooperative for five years, once
capable people [who
are afflicted] with illness or old age, are entitled to a
share with sufficient income, in the event
that the person is unable to fulfill his duty to the
cooperative. In such cases, the matter will
be determined by the general meeting.
Section 9.
Changes to these rules can be made at all general meetings by a
quorum of a
majority of the members.
Translation by
Professor Marshall Bowen