The Secretary is an elected officer position of the Society. Nomination and election rules are set out in the Bylaws. The Secretary is elected for a two-year term, repeatable consecutively unlimited times. Procedures for filling a vacancy are outlined in the Bylaws.
Function: As stipulated in the SPNHC Bylaws:
ARTICLE VI. OFFICERS
Section 1.
Executive Officers. The executive officers shall be the President, the Past President, the President-Elect, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Managing Editor of the Society’s publications. Executive officers are required to be Regular, Honorary, or Life Members in good standing.
Section 3.
The Secretary. The Secretary shall assist the President, shall answer all general correspondence directed to the Society, and shall be responsible for the minutes of all meetings of Council and the Business Meeting of the general membership.
ARTICLE VII. COUNCIL
Section 3.
Meetings. Between regular meetings of Council, the President or, on request, the Secretary, shall send to each Council Member pertinent information about matters of concern. Council may discuss and vote via appropriate communications medium on matters deemed by the President to require immediate action.
Duties
Answer all general correspondence directed to SPNHC and record the minutes of Council meetings and Business Meetings of the general membership.
Prepare the announcement of the Annual Business Meeting for distribution to the general membership.
Solicit and assemble the annual reports of SPNHC officers, committees and representatives into a document package for the Annual Business Meeting of the membership.
Prepare and distribute reports from special projects, etc., as required by the President.
Submit to the Archives all e-mail and print correspondence concerning Council business, including votes, on annual basis.
Maintain copies of all official Society minutes in secretary’s ‘Minute Book’ and electronically.
The Secretary is a member of the Bylaws Committee.
Calendar items
1 February: send to the Newsletter Editor the Notice of Annual Business Meeting (ABM) and the general agenda for publication. If the timing of Newsletter publication does not provide the appropriate notice period as stipulated in the Bylaws, the Secretary must send the notice out to all members individually
1 March: send out (or ask the President to send out) a reminder to all committee chairs and representatives that annual reports to the membership are due.
1 April: begin to compile reports, etc. into a documentation package for ABM. Work with President to finalize agendas for Council and ABM (see Appendices 1 and 2). The Council agenda tends to have an opening statement from the President, reports from each committee chair, any other new business, then old business (including motions to approve budgets as they may change during the meeting.)
30 April: send ABM documentation package to Local Organizing Committee for printing.
May/June: one week before the meeting send final version of ABM documentation package, incorporating any reports sent in late, to Local Organizing Committee or SPNHC webmaster for posting online. Prepare an attendance list of the names of Council (including incoming members invited to meeting), all committee chairs and representatives to circulate for signature at start of council meeting (Appendix 3).
At the Annual Meeting:
- Attend all meetings of the Executive Committee and Council.
- Record minutes for Council meeting and ABM.
- Report at Council on motions passed throughout the year since the last meeting. Be available for any ad hoc or planned special meetings, etc., that require minutes.
After the Annual Meeting:
- Produce and distribute minutes of ABM and Council meetings.
- Distribute Leadership Manual texts to all committee chairs for revision.
Reviewed by Linda S. Ford 14 May 2019
Bylaws text aligned by Laura Abraczinskas, April 2019
Appendices added by Cindy Opitz, February 2018
Revised by Andrew Bentley and Laura Abraczinskas, September 2017
Appendix 1. Example Council Agenda
Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Council Meeting Agenda
Call to Order
- Approval of Agenda
- Minutes Approval
–Minutes of [Prior Year] meeting of Council
–Minutes of business conducted by email since last meeting of Council on [Prior-Year Date, Location].
Motions:
“……” Passed [unanimously, or other vote results], [Date] - Report of the President
- Report of the Treasurer
- Reports of Standing Committees
- Archives
- Best Practices
- Bylaws
- Conference
- Conservation
- Elections
- Emerging Professionals
- Legislation and Regulations
- Long-Range Planning
- Membership
- Professional Development
- Publications
- Recognition and Grants
- Web
6. Reports of Sessional Committees
- International Relations
- US Federal Collections
7. Representative Reports (21)
Due to time constraints, please refer to the printed reports
8. New Business
a. [e.g. Next-Year Meeting Plans] (who)
b. [e.g. Year-After-That-Meeting Invitation] (who)
c. [e.g. Conference Committee: Beyond-That-Meeting Venues] (who)
d. [e.g. Managing Editor Updates] (who)
e. [e.g. New Initiatives] (who)
f. [e.g. Other New Business] (who)
g. [e.g. MOUs done]; [e.g. MOU in works]
9. Old Business
10. Announcements
11. Adjournment
Appendix 2. Example Notice of Annual Business Meeting & Agenda
Notice of [Year, 20__] Annual Business Meeting
[City, State/Country]
The __th Annual Business Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections will be held on [Day], [Date], [Time], at/in the [Building], [Street Address], [City, State/Country].
Please visit: [web address created for SPNHC meeting that year]
AGENDA
- Call to Order
- Agenda
- Minutes of the [Prior Year] Annual Business Meeting
- Report of the President
- Report of the Treasurer
- Reports of the Standing Committees
- Reports of the Sessional Committees
- Reports of Representatives
- New Business
a) Future Meetings
b) Awards and Recognition - Old Business
- Announcements
- Adjournment