MCIT Board Modifies Program Bylaws

The MCIT Board of Directors approved changes to the MCIT Bylaws recommended by the Governance Committee at its Sept. 19 meeting. The changes are summarized below and are representative of the Board’s commitment to improving clarity, maintaining MCIT’s financial stability and staying current with legal changes and members’ operations.

All Bylaws changes were effective Sept. 19, with the 2025 board member election subject to the change in board composition.

Members are encouraged to read and be familiar with all of the terms of the Bylaws that govern membership in MCIT. A copy of the Bylaws are distributed to members annually with the renewal materials. Members will receive this mailing in December.

The last time the Bylaws were modified was in 2023.

Section 5.3—Membership Renewal: Clarifies that the annual renewal notice provided to members in August is an estimate of each member’s contribution for the approaching plan year given information available at that time.

Section 5.4—Membership Withdrawal:

• Increases the contribution threshold that allows members to withdraw from MCIT at the start of the next plan year from $10,000 to $15,000
• Extends the period of time in which a withdrawing member can be considered for return membership from one year to two years after the effective date of withdrawal

Section 5.2—Membership Participation Requirements and Section 5.4—Membership Withdrawal:

• Clarifies that membership in MCIT requires full participation in both the workers’ compensation and the property casualty divisions
• Clarifies that any deviation from this requirement will be a board decision

Section 7.3—Board Size and Composition: Requires that two seats on the board be held at all times by county auditors, auditor-treasurers or, newly added, other similar principal financial officers, rather than just one and as many as three. These changes recognize:

• The value that auditors and auditors/treasurers bring to the board
• That several member counties have shifted the management of their financial matters to staff other than an auditor or auditor-treasurer.

This change then requires six elected commissioner seats and one appointed administrator or coordinator.

Section 10.1—Obligations of Members: Modifies consequences of violating item G. Members not complying with Section 10.1 of the Bylaws may be determined by the Board not to be in “good standing” and subject to action as outlined in Section 10.2. Item G under Obligations of Members precludes members from:

• Confessing judgement or liability to others
• Assigning benefits payable under the Coverage Document to others, including the act of entering into a Miller Shugart type agreement

Because of the potential severity of consequence to MCIT and the membership arising from a member’s violation of item G, a provision was added to this section that states the board will as a matter of course vote on loss of membership for that member and requiring reimbursement to MCIT for any amount agreed upon through the violation.