Secretary

Jobs completed by the Secretary include:

1. Taking Minutes at Council and Executive Meetings.
2. Taking Minutes at Annual General Meetings - although the Constitution allows for someone else to be appointed (and BCA has paid them for this in the past)
3. Updating BCA Documentation on Website.
4. Updating Manual of Operations.
5. Handling general queries (mostly by e-mail, and generally only one per month)
6. Preparing Agendas for Council & Executive meetings
7. Requesting, collating and distributing Reports for Council & Executive meetings.
8. Maintaining, Distributing & Checking up on Action Log from Council Meetings.
9. Assisting new members of BCA Council to “find their feet”.
10. Attend Executive & Council Meetings.
11. Ensure venue is booked for Executive & Council Meetings.
12. Providing Members with notification of AGMs.
13. Collating Proposals for AGM Posts.
14. Dealing with Constitutional Amendment ballots, as and when they may be necessary.
15. Forwarding Special Committee Minutes to Council Members.

Section 9 of the Constitution deals with this. It is very clear, but here are some additional points that may prove useful:

1. If being proposed by Council, amendments should be agreed by the March meeting at the very latest.
2. If any ordinary member makes a proposed amendment, and this is subsequently supported at the AGM, then a Ballot has to be carried out. This is expensive and it is worth considering adding other worthwhile amendments at the same time. These need to be agreed at or before the March Council Meeting, to follow the correct approval process.
3. Check the final document very carefully before submitting it - small typos could result in the Ballot's validity being called into question.
4. It makes sense to send Individual Members and Group Members different coloured ballot papers, so there could be no confusion.
5. Group Members include Regional Councils and Constituent Bodies, each of whom should receive a Ballot Paper.
6. Only paid-up members can vote, so Associate Members should not receive ballot papers.
7. The Constitution requires that the end of the ballot be 30 days after it is posted out. Since the closing date has to be put on the Ballot Papers before they are even printed, this is pretty much impossible. A best estimate is all that can be sensibly given. It is probably best practice to give members slightly more, rather than slightly less time.
8. Only original Ballot Papers should be accepted in the vote unless prior approval had been given for a specific Individual or Group by the Secretary. This minimises potential for fraud while also saving the Secretary from posting out replacement Ballot Papers if they were lost, or the member wishes to keep them for archiving purposes.