No person who is not an incorporator shall become a member of a telephone cooperative unless such person agrees to use telephone service furnished by the cooperative when such telephone service is available through its facilities. The bylaws of the telephone cooperative may provide for any or all of the following matters:

(1) the requirement of membership in the telephone cooperative or ownership of shares;

(2) the method, time, and manner of permitting members to withdraw or to transfer shares;

(3) the manner of assignment and transfer of the interest of members and of the shares (if any) and conditions upon which membership of any member shall cease;

(4) the automatic suspension of the rights of a member when he ceases to be eligible for membership in the telephone cooperative and the mode, manner, and effect of expulsion of a member;

(5) the manner of determining the value of a member's interest and provision for the purchase of that interest by the telephone cooperative upon the death, withdrawal, or other termination of the member's membership;

(6) the property rights of members upon dissolution;

(7) the time, place, and manner of calling and conducting its meetings;

(8) the rights of members to vote by proxy and the condition, manner, form, and effect of such votes;

(9) the number of directors constituting a quorum;

(10) the qualifications, compensation, duties, and terms of officers and directors, the time of their election, and the mode and manner of giving notice thereof;

(11) the mode, method, and manner of determining the members' patronage capital and of crediting the members' patronage capital to the members' accounts, together with the mode, time, manner, and priority of retiring or otherwise making provisions for payment of such patronage capital credits;

(12) any other provisions that may be necessary, convenient, or appropriate to accomplish the purpose for which the telephone cooperative is organized.

Provided, however, that any bylaw provisions in conflict with the provisions of this chapter are of no force or effect.

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 392, Section 1.