We are just getting our chess club going in Alaska, and we are laying some foundational rules for our club. One of the questions we had was about age requirements for officers of the club, e.g., the president, treasurer, etc.
Does an officer of the club need to be an adult, or do you have any guidance on that?
How will the club be structured? That is to say, will it just be a bunch of guys hanging out in Fairbanks playing chess, or do you plan to collect dues/entry fees and pay prizes? If the latter, do you plan to have a club banking account or run everything privately through the accounts of the de facto club owner? Do you plan to become some sort of legal organization (partnership, corporation) in the state of Alaska?
Depending on the answers, your bank and/or the state may have guidelines or rules. I see no restriction, especially if you’re not attempting to become the State Chapter Affiliate, from the U.S. Chess point of view.
I would suggest avoiding age requirements unless state law requires it (which is possible, I do not know much about Alaska law outside of dynasty trusts and the state constitution, but unlikely). There are some young people who are very competent and there are some old people who are very incompetent. It is better to make decisions about maturity on a case by case basis when electing or appointing people rather than establish an inflexible, arbitrary standard.
As for qualifications generally, I would suggest requiring officers to be members of the club (dues paying if applicable) and leave it at that. The quality of the people you will have to choose from for officers will vary over time and so the qualifications you can expect will be more some times and less in others. When you find that less is needed, it will be much more helpful and efficient if you do not have to amend your bylaws to elect the best people you can at the moment.
I would also suggest that you be careful about centralizing power in only a few officers, especially as the club grows. If you have a few people doing all the work and those few people die or move away, the club collapses. You need executive leadership but you also want to keep as many people involved as possible and as much as possible (membership meetings and committees are ways to do that). That way, when the leaders leave, far less is lost and it is more likely that the club will survive. Of course, how far you can go on this angle depends on how many people you have that are willing to be actively involved but it is good to write bylaws with it in mind.