Updating the UMRA Bylaws
The UMRA Bylaws were last updated in May 2023. In response to updates proposed by Eric Hockert, then Nominating Committee chair, and by Ron Matross, Membership and Communication Committee chair, an ad hoc committee was convened by President Diane Young in the fall of 2025 to review and discuss the proposed updates. Jane Glazebrook chaired the committee. Other committee members included Julie Sweitzer, Bill Donohue, Brad Clary, Nevin Young, Ron Matross, and Eric Hockert.
The proposed changes from the Nominating Committee had resulted from procedures put in place during COVID—procedures for an efficient, online voting process that enables voting by the entire UMRA membership. Clarification on the intention of some existing wording was also needed.
The proposed changes from the Membership and Communication Committee included expanded eligibility for membership in UMRA that the board had voted into practice over time. The goals of including these updates in the bylaws were to make it easier for the committee chair to respond to membership applications, and to decrease the time between when someone applied for membership and received a response, sometimes taking as long as several months.
The ad hoc committee reviewed and discussed the proposed changes to the bylaws and drafted language for consideration by the board. These proposed updates to the bylaws were approved by the board at its November 2025 meeting. The next step is for the UMRA membership to vote approval of these updates.
Please read the Proposed Bylaws Revisions. Note: Deleted wording is crossed out. New wording is in blue.
Approval of these bylaws updates will be on this year’s election ballot, with the election to be held online from May 11 to May 17. You will be asked to approve all of the updates with your vote. If approved, these updates to the bylaws will take effect at the close of voting on Sunday, May 18, and will be reported to the board at its meeting on Monday, May 18, and at UMRA’s 2026 Annual Meeting and Luncheon Forum on Tuesday, May 19.
Thank you for your attention to this important process.
—Diane Young, president
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