Bylaws

CONSTITUTION of the INFORMS SECTION ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS

ARTICLE 1 -- Name

This organization shall be named the INFORMS Section on Telecommunications, which herein will be abbreviated as "the Section".

ARTICLE 2 -- Purposes

The purposes of this Section shall be to promote the development and application of Operations Research methods, techniques and tools to the solution of problems in the telecommunications area, and to encourage the exchange of information among practitioners and scholars in the telecommunications area.

ARTICLE 3 -- Membership

The term "member of INFORMS" is defined to be a Member (which, for clarity, shall be referred to as "Full Member" herein). A member of INFORMS may become a Section Member by paying the Section dues for INFORMS members. A person who is a not a member of INFORMS may become a Section member by paying the special fee for non-members of INFORMS. All members of the Section shall have equal rights and privileges, except that only members of INFORMS may hold elective positions, as specified in Article 6, Section 7.

ARTICLE 4 -- Officers

1. The officers of the Section shall be a Chair, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, a Secretary and a Treasurer. 2. The Chair shall be the chief administrative officer of the Section and shall be responsible for the development and execution of the Section's program. He/she shall (a) call and organize meetings of the Section, (b) appoint ad hoc committees as required,(c) manage the affairs of the section between meetings, and (d) preside at Section Council meetings and Section membership meetings. 3. The Vice Chair / Chair-Elect shall be the principal assistant administrative officer of the Section and shall act as Chair in the absence of the Chair. He/she shall have such other duties as the Chair or the Council shall assign to him/her and normally will chair a planning committee to develop the Section's program and required budget for the coming year. He/she shall become the Chair of the Section for the year after his/her term of office as Vice Chair / Chair-Elect. 4. The Secretary shall conduct the correspondence of the Section, keep the minutes and records of the Section, maintain contact with INFORMS, receive reports of activities from those Section Committees that may be established, conduct the election of officers and Members-of-Council for the Section, make arrangements for the regular meetings of the Council and the membership meetings of the Section, and make arrangements for the orderly transfer of all section records to the secretary succeeding him/her. 5. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the administration and disbursement of the Section funds as directed by the Section Council, prepare and distribute reports of the financial condition of the Section, help prepare the annual budget of the Section for submission to INFORMS, make arrangements for the orderly transfer of all the Section's financial records to the Treasurer succeeding him/her, and perform other duties usual to the office of an organization's Treasurer. 6. Any Section member accepting nomination for elective office in the Section is understood to have agreed to perform the duties of that office if elected, and in particular to have agreed to attend the annual regular Section meetings during his/her tenure, except as his/her attendance is prevented by unusual circumstances. If a Section elected official must miss a meeting or be temporarily unable to carry out his/her responsibilities, he/she shall advise the Chair and shall make other arrangements for the discharge of his/her responsibilities.

ARTICLE 5 -- Council

1. The Section Council shall be the governing body of the Section and shall guide the officers in the administration of the Section's business. The Council shall consist of the elected officers indicated in Article 4, Section 1, the Most-Recent-Past-Chair, six Members-of-Council that represent the varied interests of the Section members, and possibly additional nonvoting Members-of-Council, as specified in Article 5, Section 2. 2. The Council may add additional nonvoting members to the Council, up to a maximum of five. The purpose of this provision is to allow representation on the Council of individuals engaged in important Section activities such as editors of newsletters, associate editors of INFORMS journals, editors of Section journals, representatives from allied societies, and representatives from the INFORMS newsletter. 3. Section Council meetings shall be held at least once each year, normally during the annual meeting of the Institute. These meetings can be held in conjunction with the annual membership meeting. Their purpose is to develop and implement service programs and to provide policy guidance for the Section officers. All Section Council meetings shall be open to all Section members. A majority of the voting Council members shall constitute a quorum. In special circumstances an electronic mail ballot can be used to vote on a Council action. In this case, a majority of the voting members of the Council must vote in order for the election to be valid. 4. Council vacancies that occur between elections shall be filled as follows: A vacancy in the office of the Chair shall be filled by the Vice Chair / Chair-Elect and upon the completion of this term he/she shall continue as Chair so as to complete the term for which he/she was elected; a vacancy in the office of Secretary or Treasurer shall be filled on an acting basis by a majority vote of the Council; other vacancies shall remain until the next Section election. If the term of a vacant Council position does not expire at the next election following the time of vacancy, then a person elected to fill that position shall serve to the end of the original term of that position. All officials elected by the Council shall serve only until the next Section election. 5. A Council vacancy (Member-of-Council or officer) occurs by either resignation or removal of a person from his/her position by the Council. Removal of a person from his/her position by the Council may occur only for the following reasons:>

1. inability of that person to perform the duties of the position, for example, death, prolonged sickness, or lack of communications with the Section for a prolonged period of his/her term
2. demonstrated and chronic failure of that person to perform the duties of his/her position. Removal of a person from his/her position requires an affirmative vote for removal of at least two thirds of the voting members of the Council, excluding the position in question

ARTICLE 6 -- Election and Tenure of Section Officials

1. Each election shall elect one Vice Chair / Chair-Elect to serve a term of two years as Vice Chair / Chair-Elect, followed by two years as Chair, followed by two years as Most-Recent-Past-Chair (a total of six years); three Members-of-Council to serve terms of four years each; one Secretary to serve a term of two years; one Treasurer to serve a term of two years; and other officials as may be required by vacancies that have occurred since the previous election. 2. The Vice Chair / Chair-Elect shall succeed to the Chair at the completion of his/her term. The Chair shall succeed to the position of Most-Recent-Past-Chair upon completion of his/her term. 3. No officer or Member-of-Council, other than Secretary or Treasurer, who has served a full term, as described in Article 6, Section 1 shall be eligible for consecutive election to the same office. A Secretary or Treasurer may be re-elected to the same office twice following his or her election to that office. 4. The election process shall be guided by the following schedule: for years N = 2002, 2004, etc., (every two years)

1. By end of June in year N-1, a Nominating Committee shall be formed and solicitations for at-large nominations made.
2. By the end of September in year N-1, the Nominating Committee shall forward a final slate and candidate position statements to the Secretary.
3. By the end of February in year N, the election ballot with candidate position statements shall be distributed to the Section membership.
4. By the end of March in year N (or within one month after the ballot is distributed), the Election shall be closed and the official counting take place.
5. Immediately after the spring INFORMS Practice meeting in even years, the most recently elected officers and Members-of-Council shall take office.

5. The election Nominating Committee shall be composed of the current Chair, who shall serve as Committee Chair, and two Section members. The Nominating Committee Chair will forward a slate of candidates to the Secretary, consisting of at least one member of the Section as candidate for each position of Vice Chair / Chair-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Member-of-Council that becomes available by normal expiration of term or previous vacancy. The Nominating Committee Chair or duly appointed representative, shall solicit at-large nominations according to the election schedule given in Article 6, Section 4 by electronic mail . At-large nominations must be endorsed by at least three Section members and received by the Secretary by the date specified in the election schedule given in Article 6, Section 4. Endorsements via electronic mail are acceptable. 6. Each nominee for Member-of-Council or officer of the Section must be both a Section member and member of INFORMS. 7. The Secretary shall forward official ballots to the Section membership. Nominees for each office shall be listed alphabetically on the ballot (and so noted) with no indication as to those nominated by the Nominating Committee and those nominated at-large. Ballots shall be issued by one of the following media: a) letter mail ballot; b) electronic mail ballot; c) web-based ballot d) a combination of letter mail and electronic mail or web-based ballot. Mechanisms for voting by either written or electronic media are to be adopted at the discretion of the Council, but must meet the following criteria to be valid:

1. Anonymity of the marking of the ballots to all but the official tellers, as specified in Article 6, Section 10, must be maintained.
2. Procedures to validate the authenticity and uniqueness of the ballots must be provided.
3. Means to vote must be extended to all Section members. For example, if electronic mail media is used, then those members with no electronic mail must be accommodated.

8. All candidates for office must supply position statements that are to be distributed with the election ballots. At the discretion of the Council, it is recommended that a maximum be imposed on the length of the position statements. 9. The Secretary of the Section shall appoint one or more tellers, preferably from the INFORMS Business Office, to receive written, web-based and/or electronic mail ballots. Tellers may not be Section officers or candidates for office. The election results will be based on a plurality of ballots. In case of ties, the outgoing Council will decide the outcome by majority vote of all voting members.

ARTICLE 7 -- Section Committees

The Section Chair with the approval of the Section Council, shall establish committees as required and shall appoint qualified chairpersons to head these committees. In all cases, the terms of the chairpersons and the committee memberships shall cease upon the completion of the term of the Chair who appointed them.

ARTICLE 8 -- Responsibility to the Society

1. The Section shall operate in accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws of INFORMS. Each year, normally at the annual INFORMS meeting, a Section report will be submitted to INFORMS setting forth the significant accomplishments and activities of the Section during the previous year and outlining a rationale for the budget projections for the following year. Additional reports shall be submitted to INFORMS upon request by the Institute. 2. In the event of dissolution of the Section, its assets shall become the property of INFORMS.

ARTICLE 9 -- Amendments

1. Proposed amendments to this Constitution may be initiated either by action of the Section Council or by a petition to the Chair endorsed by 5% of the membership or 15 members of the Section, whichever is smaller. Endorsements by electronic mail are acceptable. The Secretary shall distribute copies of the proposed change to all members of the Section not less than three weeks before an annual membership meeting. An open discussion of the proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be carried out at the following membership meeting of the Section. 2. Not more than two months after the discussion of the proposed amendment, the Secretary shall distribute to all members copies of the proposed amendment along with ballot forms by electronic mail, web based, or written form. No ballot shall be counted unless marked by a Section member to indicate his/her choice, returned to the official tellers bearing the voter's name, and received by the tellers no later than a date to be specified upon the ballot form -- a date not earlier than six weeks from the date of mailing the ballot forms to the Section membership. 3. The adoption of the proposed amendment shall require an affirmative vote by at least two-thirds of the members voting, as tallied by tellers appointed by the Chair. The tellers shall report the tally to the Chair within one week of the date specified for receipt of the ballots. The results of the balloting shall be announced to the membership via electronic media by the Secretary. 4. If approved by the Section membership, the proposed amendment to the Constitution shall become effective upon the approval by the Society.

ARTICLE 10 -- Meetings

1. The annual membership meeting of the Section shall be held when practical at the time and place of the annual meeting of INFORMS. The place and time for this meeting shall be announced in the INFORMS Meeting Program. The quorum for action at the membership meetings shall be 5% of the membership or 15 members of the Section, whichever is smaller. 2. Council meetings of the Section may be held whenever the need arises. All Council members must be given a reasonable opportunity to attend. 3. The Section officers shall meet on call of the Chair. 4. Robert's Rules of Order shall govern all Council and Section membership meetings except in those cases where they are inconsistent with this Constitution.