The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 11 : Corporations, Partnerships and Associations

Chapter 007 : Cooperatives

Subchapter 002 : THE COOPERATIVE MARKETING ACT

• § 1001. Contents of bylaws

  Each association may provide in its bylaws for any or all of the following matters:

  (1) The time, place, and manner of calling and conducting its meetings.

  (2) The number of stockholders or members constituting a quorum.

  (3) The number of directors constituting a quorum.

  (4) The qualifications, compensation, duties, and term of office of directors and officers; the time of their election; and the mode and manner of giving notice thereof.

  (5) Reasonable penalties for violations of the bylaws.

  (6) The amount of entrance, organization, and membership fees, if any; the manner of collecting the same; and the purposes for which they may be used.

  (7) The amount which each member or stockholder shall be required to pay annually or from time to time, if at all, to carry on the business of the association; the charges, if any, to be paid by each member or stockholder for services rendered by the association to him and the time of payment and manner of collection; and the marketing contract between the association and its members or stockholders, which every member or stockholder may be required to sign.

  (8) The number and qualification of members or stockholders of the association and the conditions precedent to membership or ownership of common stock; the method, time, and manner of permitting members to withdraw or the holders of common stock to transfer their stock; the manner of assignment and transfer of the interest of members and of the shares of common stock; the conditions upon which and time when a membership shall cease; the automatic suspension of the rights of a member when he ceases to be eligible to membership; the manner and effect of the expulsion of a member; the manner of determining the value of a member’s interest and provision for its purchase by the association upon the death or withdrawal of a member or stockholder, or upon the expulsion of a member or forfeiture of his or her membership, or, at the option of the association, the purchase at a price fixed by conclusive appraisal by a board of appraisers. But in no case shall it be provided that the value or price of the stock shall be determined by any board on which the association shall have any greater voice than the member or his or her representative.

  (9) The basis of voting by the members or stockholders, especially whether votes of all members shall be equal, or in proportion to the land area leased or used by each member for production of the products handled by the association, or in proportion to the quantity of such products delivered by or handled for each member or stockholder, or such other basis as may be determined. Unless otherwise provided, no member or stockholder shall be entitled to more than one vote regardless of the number of shares of common stock owned by him or her.

  (10) In the case of a consumer’s or railroad cooperative, the method of distributing among members or stockholders and patrons, both members and nonmembers, the net savings derived from the excess of total income over operating expenses. Provision may be made for the accumulation of reserve funds out of net savings.