The bylaws for a community land grant-merced are one of the most important living documents that they must have. The bylaws establish how a community land grant-merced will operate and are required by statute for those land grants that are political sub-divisions of the state. The bylaws are a living document because they can be amended or changed as needed so that the operating structure of a land grant-merced can adapt to changes that may occur over time. The bylaws provide governance procedures for the board of trustees related to areas such as voting membership, meeting requirements, election procedures and management of common lands. While state statute empowers land grant-merced board of trustees to “make all necessary and proper bylaws, rules and regulations. . .”(49-1-3A NMSA 1978), those bylaws, rules and regulations must be in accordance with all state and federal laws.
A sample set of bylaws, provided by the New Mexico Land Grant Council, may be viewed and downloaded by clicking on the link located to the below, entitled Sample Bylaws. These bylaws can be utilized as a template for creating new bylaws or amending existing bylaws. The sample bylaws have been drafted in accordance with all applicable state laws in existence as of July 2011.
Also as required by state law, all land grants-mercedes that are political sub-divisions of the state, must file a copy of their most current bylaws with the Secretary of State’s Office for inclusion in the Official Land Grant Registry. After the initial filing of bylaws in the Offical Land Grant Registry a land grant-merced board of trustees must re-file the bylaws any time they are changed. In addition to the bylaws those land grants, governed as political sub-divisions of the state, must also file a list of their current members of the board of trustees and must update the list after every election in which members of the board of trustees change.
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