Bylaws of the Harrisburg Area Dental Society

Chapter I     Membership

Section 10. The members of this Society shall be classified as follows:  All classes will follow the currently approved ADA classifications.

Section 20. ACTIVE MEMBERS.  A dentist licensed to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a PDA member, whose professional address is in or nearby to the 5^th District of the PDA and who, if needed has been given permission by their local Dental Society, has properly applied for HADS membership.  A member in good standing of this Society shall be considered as an Active Member of this Society and shall be entitled to admission to any general meetings of this Society, and shall be eligible for election or appointment to any office, committee or board or similar position in the Society.

Section 30. LIFE MEMBERS. An Active Member of this Society, upon election to Life Membership by the American Dental Association, shall automatically become a Life Member in good standing of this Society. This member shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of an Active Member.

Section 40. STUDENT ADA MEMBERS.  Shall be entitled to admission to any Scientific session of this society with the same considerations as accorded to Active Members of this Society.

Section 50. HONORARY MEMBERS.  Shall be individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the Art and Science of Dentistry. They shall be elected by a three-fourth (3/4) affirmative vote of the members present at any regular meeting, provided this nomination shall have been initiated the written request often (10) Active members of the Society and approved by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.

Section 60. RETIRED MEMBERS.  Shall be active members of this Society who have been elected to retired membership in the American Dental Society.

Section 70. AFFILIATE MEMBERS.  Are dentists who are members in good standing of any other PDA dental society, applied for affiliate membership to HADS and who shall enjoy all of the rights and obligations of active membership in this Society, with the following exceptions:

1) They shall not be entitled to vote nor hold elective office;

2) They are not eligible to participate in insurance plans.

Section 80. "GOOD STANDING" DEFINED.   A member of this Society whose dues for the current year have been paid, and who is not under final sentence of suspension or expulsion shall be in "Good Standing".  A member who is under a disciplinary sentence of suspension shall be designed as a "member in good standing temporarily under suspension" until his/her disciplinary sentence has been served. Further, a member under disciplinary sentence of suspension shall not be privileged to hold any office in this Society, to vote, or participate in the election of Society officials.

Chapter II     Officers

Section 10.   The elective officers of this Society shall be a President, a President-Elect, a Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.

Section 20.  Only an Active or Life member in "good standing" of this Society shall be eligible to serve as an elective officer.

Section 30.   A Nominating Committee as provided in Chapter III of these Bylaws shall select nominees for the election of officers.

Section 40.  ELECTION.  The elective officers shall be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Society.  Unless the provisions described in Section 90 of this chapter are enacted, the office of President will not be voted upon, and the President-Elect shall become the President for the following year.   The officers to be elected annually will be the President-Elect, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. 

Section 50.  INSTALLATION. The officers elected at the designated Annual Meeting of this Society shall be installed at the appropriate meeting as determined by the Executive Committee. Installation shall be no later than the next general meeting of HADS.

Section 60.  TENURE OF OFFICE. The elective officers shall serve for a term of one (1) year or until their successors are elected and installed.  The office of Treasurer and Secretary are considered to be 2-year terms of office that are elected/re-elected annually.  The two-year time frames shall alternate years. 

Section 70.  VACANCIES.  In the event the office of President becomes vacant, the President-Elect shall become President for the unexpired portion of the term, after which the President-Elect shall then serve the full term for which originally elected.  In the event both the offices of President and President-Elect become vacant, the Vice-President shall become President for the unexpired portion of the term.  In the event the office of President-Elect becomes vacant, the office of President for the ensuing year shall be filled at the next Annual Meeting of the Society in the same manner as that provided for the nomination and election of elective officers, except that the ballot shall read "President for the Ensuing Year".  A vacancy in the office of Vice-president, Secretary or Treasurer shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.

Section 80. DUTIES.

A.  PRESIDENT. The president shall preside at all regular meetings of this Society and of the Executive Committee. He/she shall perform all duties that pertain to the office of President. He/she shall serve as the official representative of this Society in its contacts with governmental, civic, business and professional organizations for the purpose of advancing the objectives and policies of the Society. The President shall appoint all committees not otherwise provided for in the Bylaws. He/she shall serve as an ex-officio member of all committees.

B.  PRESIDENT-ELECT. The duties of the President-Elect shall be to assist the President as requested. In the absence of the President the President-Elect shall preside at all meetings.

C.  VICE-PRESIDENT. The duties of the Vice-President shall be to assist the President as requested. In the absence of the President and The President-Elect he/she shall preside at the meetings.

D.  SECRETARY.  The Secretary shall keep records of all proceedings of the Society and of such committee meetings as the President may direct. He/she shall serve as an ex-officio member of all committees. He/she shall keep a record of all active members of the society.

E.  TREASURER.  The Treasurer shall receive and keep record of all monies belonging to the Society and shall pay out same, subject to the direction of the Executive Committee. The Treasurer shall arrange for a public accountant to audit the books at the end of each year and provide the Auditing Committee with a copy of the auditor's report.

Section 90 - Removal from Office

A) Any member in good standing may petition the Executive Committee to remove any officer from his/her office.  Reasons shall be stated in a professional manner to the Executive Committee.

B) The Executive member shall consider the petition for removal and must notify said officer in writing  and give said officer an opportunity to respond in writing but no more than 2 weeks total time.  Failure to respond in the prescribed time frame shall be considered the officer's response.    The petitioning member's name will remain sealed to the general membership so as to not create a bias

C) The Executive Committee will consider the petition and the officers response and vote upon the petition.   A super majority of 75% of the Executive Committee members present shall be required to forward the petition for removal to the general membership for final consideration and adjudication.  The officer being voted upon will not have a vote in the Exective Committee vote regarding the petition. 

D) A simple majority of the members present at the General Membership meeting shall be required to either carry or defeat the petition to remove said officer from office..

E) Removal from office will be effective immediately upon the vote of the general membership, if carried.

F) Due to the potentially expedient nature this section usage may entail, the presiding officer of the General membership meeting shall have the right, if deemed necessary, to suspend the General meeting, convene a limited Executive Committee meeting in order to forward such a petition, adjourn the Executive Committee and immediately reconvene the General membership meeting to vote upon the removal petition, if deemed so necessary by the current HADS President.

Chapter III     Committees

SECTION 10. An Executive Committee consisting of the President, President-Elect, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer, and nine or more additional members who shall be appointed annually by the President.

The President will serve as Chairperson and convene the Committee in advance of regular meetings of this Society. This Committee shall act on and administrate all business matters pertaining to this Society.   All business must be presented to the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee has the authority to either act upon, reject or refer to a regular meeting, all matters of business pertaining to this Society. Excepting matters of new business and all other business not governed by existing Society policies, principles and guidelines, these must be referred to the Society as a whole at a regular meeting.  A quorum for the Executive committee shall be considered 4 or more members.

Section 20. An Auditing Committee consisting of two (2) members, preferably a past treasurer and one other active member, shall be appointed annually by the President to review the report of the Public accountant and to report the results of same by the April meeting.

Section 30. The Public Relations Committee consists of three (3) members who shall be appointed annually by the President to study and recommend public relations programs; disseminate, under the direction of the Executive Committee, information concerning the activities of this Society; and to cooperate with civic or other professional groups in public health matters.

Section 40.  The CE Program Committee consisting of three (3) members. The term of each member of this committee will be three (3) years with the beginning terms being one, two and three year’s duration.  Once established, one new committee member will be appointed annually by the President.  In the event of a vacancy, additional committee members may be appointed as required; these additional appointees will complete the remaining term obligation as the one whom they are replacing.  The duties will be to plan a program of scientific and social activities for the Society. The dates, place and all arrangements for the regular meetings will be made by the Program Committee. The Chairperson shall keep attendance for each scientific meeting only and forward a record to the Secretary for placement in the permanent files of the Society.

Section 50.    A Nominating Committee consisting of four (4) members shall be established annually by the President.  The President shall appoint three members of this committee, who shall be the Immediate Past President, and two other Past Presidents. The Immediate Past-President shall serve as Chairperson.  The final member of this committee shall be nominated and elected by the membership at the general  meeting following the election of the new HADS officers.

This committee shall:

a) Meet before the end of August of each year to prepare a slate of nominees for the elective offices of the Fifth District Dental Society as appropriate.  Also prepare a slate of delegates and alternate delegates for the Fifth District delegation to the Annual Session of The Pennsylvania Dental Association.   Present this slate of nominees to the membership for approval at the next General meeting. Additional nominations may be made from the floor.

b) Prepare a slate of nominess for the positions of Delegate and Alternate Delegates for the 5th district delegation to the Annual House of Delegates meeting of the PDA. This slate shall be presented to the general membership for election in a timely fashion based upon PDA promulgated house of delegate deadlines.  Nominations for delegate or alternate can be made from the floor at the general meeting which holds the election. 

c) Prepare a slate of nominees each of the elective offices of this Society and present this nomination report at the general membership meeting immediately preceding the designated HADS annual meeting. There is no debate, discussion or additons taken at this time.

d) Additional nominations for officers may be made from the Floor at the Annual Meeting when officers are elected by the Membership. The candidates for office are fully debated as needed at this meeting.

Section 60.   A National Children’s Dental Health Month (NCDHM) Committee consisting of two (2) members appointed one per year for a  2-year term.  When initially established, there will be 2 appointments, thereafter, once established only one new committee member will be appointed annually, This committee will oversee school assignments, report to the District NCDHM chairperson and coordinate sponsored activities. 

Section 70.   A Membership Committee consisting of three (3) members shall be appointed annually by the President to contact prospective members and acquaint them with the privileges and responsibilities of membership.

Section 80.   A Patient Relations/ Peer Review Committee consistingof three (3) members shall be appointed by the President.  Beginning in 1976, the term of each member of this Committee will be for three (3) years, each with the beginning terms being of one, two, and three years' duration. Once established, one committee member will be appointed Annually by the President. This Committee shall receive, investigate, and where possible, adjust complaints made by the public against members of the Society.  Fees may be imposed upon Non-HADS memberdentists who choose to use this service.   Any fees imposed upon dentists will be In accordance with the currently established policies and procedures of the Executive Committee.

Section 90.    A Finance Committee consisting of three (3) or more members, one of whom will be the President-Elect, who will serve as Chairperson. The Secretary, Treasurer, and the member designated by the President-Elect to be this committee’s Chairperson, shall be appointed annually by the President. The Finance Committee will develop the annual budget and Present it at the Annual Meeting for approval by the membership.

Section 100.  An Ethics Committee consisting of three (3) members shall be appointed by the President. Beginning in 1976, the term of each member of the Ethics Committee will be for three (3) years, each with the beginning terms being of one, two, and three years' duration. Once established, one committee member will be appointed annually by The President. The duties and responsibilities of the Ethics Committee shall be as set forth in this Society's Code of Ethics.

Section 110.  Other committees may be appointed by the President for the purpose of performing any duties not otherwise assigned by these Bylaws.

Chapter IV     Membership Procedures

Section 10. This Society shall receive all applications for membership from dentists, whose professional addresses are within the area under its jurisdiction (as well as those dentists that have properly applied to transfer of local society affiliation) and shall approve or disapprove these applications, which recommendation shall then be forwarded to the Secretary of the Fifth District Dental Society of the PDA for final acceptance or rejection.

Section 20. Candidates for membership shall make an application in writing, on a form approved by the Society, and list his/her date of Graduation and Dental School. All new members shall be announced at the next regular meeting. It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary for HADS to give the name(s) of the new member(s), whether present or not, to the officer who will be running the business meeting. The name(s) shall also appear in the general meeting minutes.

Chapter V         Dues

Section 10. The annual local society dues shall be determined by the membership of the Society at a regular meeting and shall be changed only by the adoption by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the members present and voting of a resolution presented in writing at a previous regular meeting.

Section 20.   Any member who fails to pay their dues by the 31^st of March shall be considered delinquent by this Society.  Per ADA bylaws, a member suspended for Non-payment of dues shall be restored to full membership upon payment of current dues.

Section 30. Dues structures will parallel the Pennsylvania Dental Association in category and description.

Section 40. All PDA delegates and alternates shall, per PDA bylaws, pay their dues in full by 01 January of the year in which they are to serve as a delegate or alternate. If they do not pay in a timely manner, then The Executive Committee can, by simple majority, designate a replacement representative without the approval of the general membership.

Chapter VI     General Membership Meetings

Section 10.   A quorum for any regular or special meeting of this Society shall be one twentieth (1/20) of the number of active members in "good standing" as outlined in Chapter 1 of these bylaws.

Section 20.  The rules containd withiin the most current edition of Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure shall govern the deliberations of this Society in all cases in which they do not conflict with these by-laws.

Adopted  December 1966

Amended  January 1990

Amended  November1990

Amended  November 21, 1991

Amended  December    1991

Amended  January 1, 1994

Amended  November 8, 2002

Amended  December 13, 2002

Amended November 17, 2006

Amended October 10, 2008