LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — September 15, 2020, Page 6

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articles as finally adopted (and, in the case of the articles, when accepted by the State of Minnesota) with
the commission. The commission also looks forward to is review of a bylaw draft addressing the few
remaining issues.
51. Kansas District Bylaw Revision, Proposed (20-2945)
By an email of August 6, 2020, the President of the Kansas District forwarded a proposed revision of his
district’s bylaws for review. The following points were noted by the commission:
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Article II 5: District conventions are properly governed by the Constitution and Bylaws of the
Synod and of the district, by special rules adopted by the convention, and by parliamentary law.
How the “District Operations Manual” governs the convention is unclear, unless it contains special
rules adopted by or in the tradition of the convention itself. This may be worthy of clarification.
Article II 8: This paragraph needs to be modified to reflect Synod Bylaw 4.3.1. This could be
accomplished by adding a final sentence: “The region membership of an individual is determined
by the region of the congregation of which he or she is a member.” Likewise, in Article IV 1.
Article III 1 a: “voting congregation” would more clearly be stated “member congregation of the
district.”
Article III 2 a: The District Executive Staff, as staff of the district, are not permitted to be members
of the board (Synod Bylaw 1.5.1.1). They may be listed as advisors but not advisory members. A
member would have the right, for example, to be present for board executive sessions, which may
not be desired.
Article III 2 a, on “Electronic Meetings”: The district should reckon with the possibility of the
board needing a secret ballot (final phrase of Bylaw 1.5.3).
Article III 2 a, on “Actions Using Electronic Ballot”: Synod Bylaw 1.5.3 renders such decisions
subject to Synod Board of Directors policies, which require that all voting members of the board
cast a vote and that the result of the voting be unanimous. Whatever the law requires, this more
stringent requirement is binding on district boards of directors. The final phrase of this paragraph,
therefore, should not have been removed.
Article III 2 b, “VI. Executive Council” and “VII. Emergency meetings”: As a council is defined
as a strictly advisory body (Synod Bylaw 1.2.1 [g]), the executive “council” would better be named
the executive committee of the board, following the pattern of the Synod Board of Directors and
clarifying the applicability of Synod Bylaw 1.5.3.2 to this body, an important element of which—
that the committee may not overturn acts of the board—is omitted from the incomplete recitation
here.
Article IV 2 c: It is not as clear as with the district president and vice-presidents how the lay
members of the board are nominated. It is necessary to clarify how nominations for these (and other
offices, such as district secretary) are handled.
Article V 2 a: “advisory representative” should read “advisory delegate” (Const. Art. XII 10 b).
Article V 3: It appears that the bylaw revision as received includes text as struck out (the first
instance of “Congregation of a multi-congregation parish…” that is not included in the district
bylaws as presently adopted. This would need to be corrected before presentation to the convention,
lest confusion result.
With regard to the second paragraph of Article VII, the district is advised to take into account CCM
Op. 17-2863, which clarifies the proper use of the language incorporated here, which is that of
Bylaw 3.9.2.2.3 (b).
Article VIII: The commission notes a “District Operations Manual” which appears to have, at least
in part, the character of a board policy manual (as well as something to do with the conduct of a
convention, as noted above). The commission requests a copy for review. The commission is at a
loss to understand the final sentence, unless it means that the board may not adopt any policy that
is contrary to the adopted bylaws of the district. This is at least confusing and will require revision.

CCM Minutes – September 15, 2020 – Page 37