Our department operates under the following:

Membership in this corporation shall be governed by NYS Article 14 Special Not-for-Profit Corporations Section 1402 (b) (3) Fire corporations.

Eligible persons may be elected as members pursuant to the by-laws of the fire corporation, but the election of a member must be approved by the town board of each town which consented to the formation of the fire corporation.  Such a person shall be a resident of the territory specified in the certificate of incorporation or of territory outside such boundaries which is afforded fire protection by the fire corporation etc.

My question:

Can a volunteer fire department in the State of NY set a distance in their by laws outside of the above statement?  

Example: Residents can be recruited from a 1 mile buffer zone outside of the territory specified in the certificate of incorporation.

If this is not legal what are the ramifications?

I have a question about where FD members may live with respect to the fire district lines.

Our depart. is in NYS & 100% vol. a 501 c 3 corporation.  The by-law statement reads, “The applicant must be a resident in the Chili Fire Protection District or live within a reasonable distance thereof where this Corporation is primarily empowered to operate.”

The question is what is a reasonable distance thereof and is this even a correct legal statement?  Some members seem to think that 3 or 4 miles outside of the Fire District is acceptable.

Thanks,

Ted R. Kolb

I have a question about by laws. Four years ago I moved withing my township that has four volunteer fire departments. When doing this I tried to transfer rather then resign and join another department. I was told by both fire chiefs that the bylaws did not outline this so it would not be possible. 

I just read in the bylaws  of the department I went to that members can transfer to other departments inside the township. 

With this being written should they also have it written the other way for a process to receive a transfer from the other departments in the township?