How a "member" is determined pursuant to this section is not stated in the Bylaws. Local road runner clubs and their membership is addressed in Article IV, section A and simply requires that such clubs have no fewer than 10 individual members.

            However, the clear policy of the Bylaws is that the members of the RRCA, being local road runner clubs, allied organizations, event clubs, individual members, corporate members and umbrella organizations, collectively determine the dues that they will pay. Consequently, no increase in the dues is permissible without the concurrence of a majority of the member clubs.

            Historically, the RRCA has accepted, if not encouraged, family memberships in local road runner clubs. These typically result in a membership fee somewhat higher than an individual membership fee but result in only one copy of the club's newsletter and of Footnotes being sent to the family. Also historically, the RRCA has accepted a club's family membership as the equivalent of a "member" for billing purposes.

            Taking this analysis one step further, while typically a club's annual dues to the RRCA can be expected to fluctuate as its membership rises and falls, if, for the sake of argument a club's membership did not change from one year to the next, and there was no change in the dues structure approved by the membership at an annual meeting, then, in light of the policy that the members determine the dues they will pay, that club should expect to pay the same amount in dues to the RRCA in the subsequent year as it did in the previous year. If that club had one or more family members and each individual in those families were then assessed membership dues, when previously only the family membership unit had been so assessed, the change in policy, apparently approved at the October 2002 Board Meeting, would therefore appear to violate the Bylaws as it would represent an increase in dues without the approval of the RRCA membership.

            It could be said that the interpretation of the term "member" is simply an administrative as opposed to a legislative act and therefore requires no membership vote of approval. However, the fact that such a change in policy could result in a club with no change in actual membership paying higher fees in one year as opposed to another would clearly violate Article V, Section A, that provides that the amount of annual dues for local road runner clubs shall be determined by the RRCA membership. Such a club would have suffered an increase in dues with no concomitant increase in membership.

            Further, the course of dealing of the RRCA over the years has been to accept a family membership as the equivalent of a "member" within the meaning of the Bylaws, and hence for dues billing purposes. Therefore, the long usage of this policy may also estop the RRCA from changing the way dues are calculated without a vote of the membership.

As a result, the Legal Committee believes that the RRCA may have violated its own by-laws and policies, procedures and practice in regard to the new dues billing interpretation.  RRCA clubs may be within their legal rights to refuse to pay any increase in dues as a result.  If the RRCA were to take any action against such clubs to terminate membership status, or otherwise (action to collect dues), it may be subject to suit as Ms. Abegg has alleged in her letter.