Membership Policies

PRIVACY POLICY

Information Collected

When you complete a form on the website site, we collect the information you provide, which may include your name, company, professional title, address, phone number(s), and email address, as well as the IP address, operating system, and browser of the computer you are using. We maintain this information in a database and may augment it with information posted on public sites such as LinkedIn.

Nonmember Mailing Lists

If you subscribe to our public mailing list, we will not use your e-mail address, phone, or other contact information for any purpose other than to communicate with you. The only exception is if we are required to do so by law.

Member Mailing Lists

By submitting your contact information to ISCRA in the context of a membership application, or of an individual enrolling in ISCRA under a corporate membership, you are added to our mailing list. This policy also applies if we receive your contact information from you directly or from others.

We do not sell or rent our membership mailing list, make it available to other members, or provide it to sponsors or exhibitors at ISCRA meetings or events. We use your personal and company information only as outlined in this privacy policy, in order to communicate with you and to further the collaborative functions of ISCRA. Collaborative functions may include (but are not limited to) workgroup activities, technical demonstrations, events and meetings, participation in exhibitions, and marketing functions that help to communicate the activities of ISCRA and its membership to the broader municipal and technology communities. We may also disclose or retain your information if we are required to do so by law.

From time to time, we may identify opportunities for members to participate in activities, conferences, or events sponsored by ISCRA or partner organizations, which further the mission of ISCRA, and we will communicate these to you directly or through partner organizations. If we provide your contact information to a partner organization, its use will be limited to communicating with you for the purposes outlined in this paragraph. If you do not wish to receive such offers, please contact us and we will remove your name from this list.

Sharing of Member Contact Information

Except as specifically outlined in this Privacy Policy, and in instances where you give us explicit permission, we do not share your personal contact information with other members or with third parties. We may receive requests from members to contact you or your company, and we will, unless you request otherwise, forward such requests as we consider reasonable. We will not forward requests that we believe constitute advertising or mass solicitations by or on behalf of members.

Unless your company specifically request(s) otherwise, we may share your name and contact information with other registered individuals who work for your organization and who request a specific contact or a list of all ISCRA contacts. In this context, the word “organization” includes all affiliated companies who are using a single ISCRA membership.

Member Identity on ISCRA Public Web Site

ISCRA members will be identified by company, and company only, on the members list maintained on our website, unless you specifically request not to be listed, or unless you maintain your membership without a company name on record. If multiple individuals within a company each hold individual memberships, then the company will be listed unless all such individuals request not to be listed.

Member Identity in ISCRA External Communications

Any individual in an ISCRA voluntary leadership position (Board of Governors, Vendor Advisory Council, Municipal Advisors or Workgroup Chairs/Co chairs), is subject to their name, title and company being shared by ISCRA to the public. This information can be shared throughout ISCRA’s website, press release distribution, social media channels, event presentations and other marketing collateral.

ISCRA uses the logos of associations they actively collaborate with in presentations given to schools, prospective members and at other industry events.

All member entity names will be listed on ISCRA’s website throughout the span of their active membership. After a member joins ISCRA, ISCRA has the right to use their entity logo in emails to their membership database and on social media channels. Often times this will be to solicit
event sponsors and new members.

ISCRA will not publish to its members, or to the public, the contact information of any member, including phone numbers, email addresses or mailing addresses.

Member Identity on ISCRA Private Web Site

Member information, such as name, company, and mailing address (but not email address and phone number) are available to other members on the private, members-only portion of the ISCRA website. Members and affiliated individuals who participate in ISCRA collaborative bodies (including workgroups, committees, advisory boards, councils, and similar entities) are identifiable by name, company affiliation, telephone number, and email address to other participants in the same and related bodies, and to employees and contractors of ISCRA. With approval of ISCRA management or the leadership of a collaborative body, ISCRA may share the list of that body’s participating individuals and/or their contact information with other individuals, if the reason for doing so is to further the collaborative efforts of the body.

If You Attend an ISCRA Meeting or Event

ISCRA may disclose the names, job titles, and companies (but not contact information) of individuals who attend ISCRA events to other actual or prospective attendees and sponsors. Attendee names are not disclosed in any public facing documents or on any public website, but may be distributed privately or made available on a member-only website view.

Member Identity in ISCRA Workgroups

If you apply to participate in an ISCRA body (workgroup, committee, advisory board, council, or similar entity), your company name and the name(s) of individuals who will represent your company will be published on the members-only web site in accordance with the new member acquisition policy of such body.

If you are accepted to participate in a collaborative group, your company name may be used in ISCRA press releases and other communication materials, but unless we specifically ask your permission, we will include it only as one item in a list of all participating organizations. If you are accepted to participate in a collaborative body, any resume or biographical material that you submit, as well as your basic contact information, will be shared with other participants on the same group as indicated in the prior section, and may also be published in meeting notices or minutes that are available to all ISCRA members.

You may request exceptions from these policies, but doing so may jeopardize your opportunity to participate in the workgroup. Please contact ISCRA to discuss your specific situation. ISCRA will provide notice by email to the member’s designated primary contact 30 days prior to the effective date of any changes to member policies. Members may terminate their membership due to the policy change and shall not be bound by any such policy change if the member terminates its membership prior to the effective date of such a policy change, but no refunds will be given.

WORKGROUP POLICY

By participating in a workgroup, or other group organized by ISCRA, you agree, individually and on behalf of your employer, to be bound by these policies.

Chartering a New Workgroup

Any ISCRA member in good standing, or any group of ISCRA members, may propose a new workgroup. New workgroup proposals may be submitted on the Workgroup Page of our website. If a workgroup proposal generates interest from other member participants, ISCRA staff will contact you and help you through the process of preparing an initial workgroup charter application. Upon completing your charter application, it will be submitted to a subcommittee of the ISCRA Board of Directors for review and approval.

Charter Development, Approval and Workgroup Governance

Initial discussions on a proposed workgroup are generally held with ISCRA staff and other interested members and prospective members. The goal of the discussions is to produce a formal proposed charter. ISCRA staff will help assess what may be needed to gain approval of the ISCRA board subcommittee. The board subcommittee may accept the proposal, decline it, defer it, or provide recommendations to refine it. Accepted proposals become chartered workgroups, and the subcommittee will decide with which strategy your workgroup will be associated.

The ISCRA board and subcommittees will prioritize proposed workgroup efforts according to available financial and management resources. The board may consider any factors it deems relevant in prioritizing proposed workgroups, including the breadth and magnitude of anticipated benefit, the level of interest expressed by existing members, the potential for rapid deliverable of meaningful results, and any available sponsorship funding.

Eligibility

Participation in ISCRA workgroups is open to any member with the following exceptions. Affiliate members other than media may participate on a non-voting basis, except that voting rights may be granted at the discretion of ISCRA to Association Partners whose specifications are being used by the workgroup. Media members may participate on a non-voting basis only if approved by a formal vote of the workgroup, which may attach restrictions on reporting in their discretion. ISCRA staff, consultants, and advisors may also participate on a non-voting basis.

Applicants’ ISCRA membership dues must be fully paid at the date of application, and other accounts with ISCRA (whether for the member company itself or for any of its current or former appointed or registered participants for ISCRA activities), must be no more than 30 days past due. Applications received from non-members and members whose dues are not current or whose other accounts are more than 30 days past due will not be considered to have been received until all amounts owed have been paid in full, and funds (or pending credit thereof) have been received and verified by ISCRA.

Individuals who are not current members of ISCRA may be eligible to participate in ISCRA workgroups on a limited basis. This policy is intended to allow a workgroup to enlist expert assistance, on a volunteer basis, without requiring that the volunteers pay membership dues. This option requires the approval of ISCRA management and a majority vote of the workgroup, which approval shall be for a term of no more than one year. Participation is usually on a non-voting and non-leadership basis. Approval may be revoked at any time by ISCRA or by majority vote of the workgroup and expired or expiring approvals may be reinstated or extended by the same process as initial approvals. ISCRA will generally not approve, and may revoke, non-member participation opportunities for companies that would expect to realize material commercial benefits, as a provider or consumer of technology products or services, from the workgroup’s output.

Applications to Participate in Workgroups

New Workgroups

An open sign-up will be announced when the workgroup has been chartered. Member companies identified on the charter for an approved workgroup are considered Charter Voting Members of the workgroup, provided that all applicable membership fees have been paid no later than the deadline date.

Existing Workgroups

Applications to join active, chartered workgroups are subject to the policies established by each workgroup. Applications to join workgroups currently in maintenance mode are also subject to such policies, but because maintenance workgroups may meet on an as-needed basis, their consideration may be delayed unless you make ISCRA aware of a particular issue you wish to raise that would cause the workgroup to schedule a meeting.

Most active workgroups welcome new participants who have a business interest in their efforts, but occasionally a workgroup may defer new applications until a future date to avoid the need to bring new participants up to speed mid-project. All workgroups retain the right, by majority vote, to reject any applicant for any reason.

An application form is submitted through your member account to participate in an existing workgroup, and in some cases, admission requires a majority vote of the current voting members of the workgroup.

Intellectual Property

All workgroup participants agree that they will not make contributions of intellectual property to which they knowingly do not have the right and authorization to contribute. The owner of any contributed intellectual property retains all ownership rights. The Contributor agrees to disclose (in advance of, or at the time of, the contribution) any possible restrictions on the use or modification of contributed intellectual property, as well as any expectations of royalties. Such disclosure shall be made in writing to the workgroup chair or co-chairs, to the workgroup facilitator assigned by ISCRA to the effort, and to ISCRA’s Chief Executive Officer. It shall also be included on the first page, or the first page after the title page, of any documents or artifacts submitted. If posted on ISCRA’s website, it shall also be included in the document description (header).
In the absence of such written disclosure, it is understood that ISCRA, its members, and the general public may use or modify the contributed property in any way authorized by ISCRA, and that no royalties may be assessed by the contributor. The form of the disclosure must be substantially as follows:

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CLAIM

By providing this document to ISCRA, I certify that I and/or [XYZ company] own or have the right to use any intellectual property contained within and that I am empowered to, and do, grant the rights to use and/or distribute and/or modify the information as presented, subject only to any limitations listed below. Additionally, neither I nor my company will seek any royalties or impose restrictions on such use, except to the extent that we have listed the specific intellectual property(ies), and the rights retained or restrictions imposed, below.

Limitations and reserved rights:

(list here, or state “None”)

Without limitation, this section applies to contributions made (a) by posting to the ISCRA website or any website managed by ISCRA; (b) by electronic dissemination using workgroup mailing lists; (c) by electronic or non-electronic dissemination to individual workgroup members, if those members could reasonably interpret said dissemination to be related to the workgroup effort; (d) by presentation before a meeting of the workgroup or other ISCRA members, whether or not physically distributed; and (e) by requesting that ISCRA staff or other ISCRA members or workgroup participants effect the contribution on behalf of the Contributor.

Self-Governance

Each workgroup, ,  or formal group organized by ISCRA members may set policies, which must be nondiscriminatory within any class of ISCRA members, for qualification of new members, disqualification of existing members, provisional memberships, and similar items. Such policies may be established in the workgroup charter or by vote of the workgroup members. In the absence of workgroup-specific policies, ISCRA may establish default policies, which shall be applied to all subsequently chartered or re-chartered workgroups unless and until they establish different policies.

Ongoing Participation Requirements

Workgroups, s, s or formal groups organized by ISCRA members, may establish policies to remove members automatically based on failure to actively participate over an extended period. They may opt to remove a member from the roster after four months of non-activity (attendance and voting), provided that the workgroup or  has met for a minimum of three times in the four-month period. Once removed, a member must reapply as a new applicant unless the workgroup or  provides an alternative procedure. Workgroups and s may also establish policies that revoke voting privileges based on repeated failures to vote; if they do so, they must also provide a means for regaining voting membership status. ISCRA may also remove workgroup members who fail to pay ongoing membership or  participation fees, or to pay other amounts due to ISCRA.

Participation Details:

One company, one vote: small municipalities, small companies and vendors have equal voice to their largest competitors, ensuring that no one company can dominate decisions. Regular participation is required to retain your voting rights.

ISCRA members may sign up for any new workgroup at launch (instructions provided with launch announcement).

Members can also elect to join an existing workgroup through their user profile. There is no cost to join workgroups, but certain other groups may charge a fee in addition to ISCRA membership fees.

A fee may be charged for face-to-face workgroup meetings to cover the cost of holding the meeting. If a face-to-face meeting is held in conjunction with an ISCRA conference, no additional fee beyond the conference registration fee will be charged to attend the face-to-face workgroup meeting. When held in conjunction with an ISCRA conference, workgroup members may normally choose to attend the face-to-face workgroup meeting(s) only at no charge. There may be exceptions for certain group or workgroup meetings.

Nonmembers of ISCRA may participate in pre-chartered workgroups by teleconference only. Once the workgroup is chartered, only ISCRA members can continue participating, unless approved by ISCRA Staff and the workgroup, as outlined in the eligibility Section above. To get on the mailing list for a prospective or pre-chartered workgroup, visit the Workgroup page and contact ISCRA staff.

Voting Policies

To ensure consistent application of the “one company, one vote” policy, the following rules cover situations where multiple individuals at one company might otherwise be eligible to vote. In this section, “corporate ISCRA member” refers to the company holding a corporate membership with ISCRA, except for and also to any other affiliated companies that are covered by that membership (meaning that ISCRA’s membership policies permit them to use the membership, and they have explicitly or implicitly elected to do so rather than to hold a separate membership).

For each workgroup of which they are a member, corporate ISCRA members may designate one person as the voting representative. In case of disagreement as to who should be the voting representative, the designated primary contact of the ISCRA membership will decide. A designated voting member may only vote on behalf of his/her employer OR, if he or she has been designated as a third-party voter by a member, may ONLY vote on behalf of that member. In other words, if you are covered by multiple memberships, you cannot vote twice. If you hold an individual ISCRA membership and are (or become) employed by a company that holds a corporate ISCRA membership, then you may only vote on behalf of your employer, and only if you are designated to vote on your employer’s behalf. For example, if you have an individual membership at one municipal company or as a consultant, and you become employed by a corporate ISCRA member while your individual membership is still active, then your individual membership will lose its voting rights in all workgroups unless and until you terminate your employment.

If you and one or more other persons in your company (or in the same group of related companies) holds an individual ISCRA membership, and if the company (and any affiliate) holds no corporate membership, then each individual member is entitled to vote, but if multiple such individuals vote on the same matter, each vote will count fractionally based on the number of such individuals voting.

Miscellaneous

By participating in a workgroup, you agree that workgroup meetings may be recorded for the benefit of members unable to attend, or to assist ISCRA staff in preparing minutes. If the recording is to be made available to other members, then notice of the intent to record a meeting will be provided in a notification of the meeting to members by e-mail at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. As a convenience, it will also be announced by the facilitator at the start of the meeting, but if you arrive late, you may not hear this announcement. Access to recorded meetings may only be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis to all members of the workgroup or to all members of ISCRA.

Issues or objections to the chartering or workgroup formation process will be settled by the governing ISCRA Board subcommittee. The subcommittee is authorized to speak on behalf of the ISCRA board and membership.

ISCRA will provide notice by email to the member’s designated primary contact 30 days prior to the effective date of any changes to member policies. Members may terminate their membership due to the policy change, and shall not be bound by any such policy change if the member terminates its membership prior to the effective date of such policy change, but no refunds will be given.

EVENT POLICY

1. Event registration payments are due in full prior to the beginning of an event. Admittance to an event may be denied if the registration payment is outstanding.

2. Early, discounted registration rates are offered for most ISCRA events. To receive this rate, the payment must be received by ISCRA before the date the rate increases, or the attendee will be charged the current (higher) rate.

3. ISCRA reserves the right to waive registration fees for any individual in its sole discretion.

4. Workgroup Chairs or other members are eligible for a registration discount when attending an event where they are leading a Workgroup or a special related session. Discounts may not apply during other co-produced events.

5. Only registered attendees may be present in official meeting spaces. Attendees must wear their conference badge at all times. Badges may not be shared or transferred without permission.

6. Members may not schedule events that compete with ISCRA events. Specifically, members agree that they will not solicit any individuals or companies who are registered for any ISCRA events, to attend any non-ISCRA event that is scheduled concurrently with any ISCRA meeting session or event and within a radius of 45 miles, without the advance written permission of ISCRA. Members agree that monetary damages alone may not be sufficient to compensate ISCRA for the impact of competing events, and further agree that ISCRA shall be entitled to injunctive relief to prevent such competing events from proceeding.

7. Refund policies for ISCRA events are stated on the event website. Typically, event registrations will be refundable through a certain date, less a nominal cancellation fee. After this date, ISCRA allows substitutions from the same company.

8. In the event of serious illness or death in the immediate family, ISCRA will, upon request, provide a credit to be applied to a future ISCRA Event. Credits are non transferable and are valid for two years. If the credit exceeds the cost of the new registration, any excess value will be forfeited. To use the credit, ISCRA membership requirements must be met.

9. By attending at ISCRA event, you give permission to ISCRA to use any photograph or video taken during the event for promotional purposes.

10. All attendees agree to abide by the ISCRA Code of Conduct at all ISCRA events.

11. ISCRA will provide notice by email to the member’s designated primary contact 30 days prior to the effective date of any changes to member policies. Members may terminate their membership due to the policy change, and shall not be bound by any such policy change if the member terminates its membership prior to the effective date of such a policy change, but no refunds will be given.

ISCRA Code of Conduct

ISCRA officers and its members must take precautions to ensure that we do not engage in activities which can be interpreted as violating existing anti-trust or anti-competitive agreements in The United States. For any activity which is deemed to unreasonably restrain trade, the association and its members may be subject to legal penalties, regardless of otherwise beneficial objectives.

To ensure that we conduct all meetings and gatherings in strict compliance to any such laws and agreements, the ISCRA Code of Conduct is to be distributed and/or read aloud at all such gatherings.

There will be no discussion of rates, surcharges, conditions, terms or prices of services, allocating or sharing of customers, or refusing to deal with a particular supplier or class of suppliers. Neither serious nor flippant remarks will be permitted.

Because the members of the organization are expected to behave professionally at all times, which includes acting in accordance with all applicable laws, negative, disparaging or discrediting comments regarding other members, corporations or competitors, or their goods or services, will not be tolerated.

ISCRA may not issue recommendation on any of the above subjects or distribute to its members any publications concerning such matters. No discussions which directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices may take place. Standards or certification requirements for membership must give equal conditions to all similar parties.

All ISCRA related meetings shall be conducted in accordance with a previously prepared and distributed agenda.

Actions inconsistent with the above terms will be considered violations of this Code of Conduct. The Board of Directors reserves the right to take whatever actions it deems necessary to ensure compliance with this Code.