A. The name of this organization is Painted Hills Genealogy Society, hereinafter referred to as "PHGS".

B. PHGS is a public charity non-profit organization.

C. PHGS is founded for the purpose of educating the general public about genealogy and providing genealogical facts that help them trace their historical roots in the multi-county area served by PHGS.

D.  The address of PHGS is: 3198 Ridge Road Ext, Freedom PA, 15042

E. The URL for PHGS's Internet website is: https://www.paintedhills.org/
 

A. PHGS is founded for the purpose of educating the general public about genealogy and providing genealogical facts that help them trace their historical roots in the multi-county area served by PHGS. Specific activities include:

1. Collect, compile, record, index, preserve, and store genealogical and historical records on the Internet.
2. Provide community and national service to members seeking such information.
3. Aid members in establishing their genealogical history.
4. Educate readers in methods of family research and sources for data via links on our website.

B. The counties originally represented by PHGS are Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Steuben counties in the state of New York, and McKean and Potter counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As other counties are added, their names will be added to this paragraph.

• Livingston, added April, 2015
  
  
  

1. No part of the net income or earnings of PHGS shall accrue to the benefit of any individual member or be distributed among its members or officers.

2. Funds shall be used exclusively for activities consistent with the stated purpose of the organization, as determined by the President within the provisions of these bylaws. 

1. All members are nonvoting members. Individual membership is open to all persons regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or other areas of human difference.

2. Membership dues shall be five dollars ($5.00) per year. Lifetime memberships are available for seventy-five dollars ($75.00) and may be paid in three installments of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), the first $25.00 installment to be received within 30 days of application for membership. The other 2 installments of $25.00 each must be received prior to the end of the first year.
All dues, once received by PHGS, are non-refundable.

 

The Painted Hills Genealogy Society fiscal year shall be the calendar year from January 1 to December 31, inclusive.
 
 

A. Officers:

1. President
2. Vice-President
3. Secretary
4. Treasurer

B. Staff:

1. Webmaster

C. If an Advisory Board is deemed useful, members shall be appointed and removed at the sole discretion of the President.
 
 

A. The President shall be chief executive of PHGS and shall perform the following duties:

1. Appoint a Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
   
2. Appoint and remove staff and any committees that may be useful.
   
3. Supervise all Society functions.
   
4. Serve as ex-officio member of all active committees.

B. The Vice-President shall assume the duties of the President when the President is absent or unable to fulfill the responsibilities of that office.

C. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all official Society functions, and discharge such other duties as may be assigned by the President.

D. The Treasurer shall receive all monetary dues, donations, or other funds of PHGS, maintain a proper accounting thereof, and disburse such funds as ordered by PHGS.

F. The Surname and Member Coordinator shall:

1. Attend to correspondence requesting information from all members.
2. Be responsible for maintaining and updating PHGS's members and surnames web pages
3. Correspond with and help those potential new members who are having trouble with the registration process.

H. The Webmaster shall have charge of all databases and information on PHGS's web pages, and will perform the following:

1. Maintain Domain name registration and interface with our web hosting company.
2. Maintain back-ups of all Society web pages.
3. Mark all web pages with the logo and background colors, as property of PHGS.
      
   
   
   

A. Meetings will be held as needed via email or other electronic means.

B. The principal business of PHGS will be transacted on the Internet at the following URL: http://www.paintedhills.org

A. PHGS, its President, and its members shall assume no responsibility for errors of fact or opinion in contributed material. Errors of fact will be corrected when proof is provided.

B. PHGS will not publish otherwise unpublished facts about living individuals such as birth, marriage, or state of residency without their permission.
The removal of these facts is the responsibility of the contributor.

3. PHGS is not responsible for loss of material due to server crashes or other circumstances beyond the control of PHGS.
 

1. PHGS owns the copyright to all web pages containing Society-compiled information.

2. Member-contributed material copyrights reside solely with the creator and/or the contributor of those materials.

3. Copyright to queries and any other submitted data resides with the submitter. The submission of queries and other data to PHGS implies that PHGS may continue to post the material until PHGS deems it appropriate to remove said material.

4. Copyright to data contributed to any special project resides with the contributor. PHGS, as a non-profit organization, shall have permanent use of the data conditional upon the non-profit nature of PHGS and will become invalid if PHGS should ever cease to be non-profit.
 

Upon dissolution of PHGS, and after paying, or making provisions for the payment, of all liabilities of PHGS, the assets of PHGS shall be disposed of as follows:

1. All monies shall be distributed to the Historical Society of each of PHGS's counties as defined in Article II, paragraph B of these bylaws.

2. All remaining property such as books, records, computers, printers, and office supplies, shall be distributed to all Historical Societies within the Painted Hills area as defined in Article II, paragraph B of the bylaws. 

3. No monies or property of PHGS shall be distributed to members, officers, or any individual.