The Duties and role of Council members
Through involvement
all members have the opportunity to |
What is a Committee?
A committee is usually made up of the following
officers: a chairperson, secretary, treasurer and public relations officer.
Their task is to organize the running of the group and are elected by all
the members.
The Diocesan Youth Officer is also a member of the council and in addition
to the chairperson, each parish in the Diocese is entitled to two reps aged
15-26 . The Council additionally can have 4 Co opted members who are people
whom the council think would be good on the committee.
The Chairperson:
The chairpersons duties are to " Call
meetings,
" Decide on the Agenda (i.e. a list of items to be decided at the meeting)
" Sign the minutes,
" Chair or manage the meeting
" Organize action to follow decisions," Close the Meeting
The Secretary
The secretaries duties are to " Draw
up the agenda together with the chairperson, " Notify the members
of the next meeting
" Keep a record of members present," Read out any apologies of those
absent
" Distribute the minutes of the previous meeting," Relate any correspondence
received
" Keep a written record of the main points of the meeting (the written
record is called the minutes)
" Deal with all correspondences
The Treasurer
" Keep the accounts
(a written record of income and itemized spending)
" Pay petty cash to Secretary (i.e. cost of printing/postage etc.)
" Keep a record of income and expenditure
" Receive the income from any events and lodge it in the Youth Council
Bank account
" Make sure that two signatures (treasurer & Chairperson) are on
every cheque and on the accounts
" Pay the bills, when passed by the group
" Present the accounts to the group
The Public Relations Officer (s)
" Write reports for
the Diocesan Magazine, " Give the PRO's report to the group
" Have photographs taken for publicity,
" Keep a record of publicity
" Organize publicity and public relations for events," Advise group to thank people who have helped
" Inform and meet guests
The Individual Members
" Attend the meetings," Give their Opinions," Listen to others," Act on decisions taken
Things to remember:
When you are electing a chairperson, a treasurer, a secretary or a PRO remember to vote for somebody you think would be really good at the job. A chairperson should be a good listener, a treasurer should be careful with money and a secretary should be good at writing. SO DON'T just vote for your friends
2 Holding a meeting
All meetings have a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning a meeting
The chairperson goes through the following
routine
Declares the Meeting open with prayer
Asks for any apologies
Asks the Secretary to read distribute minutes of previous meeting
Asks the group to adopt the minutes (which may be proposed and seconded.
The Chairperson then signs the minute book.
Matters arising from Minutes are discussed.
The Chairperson asks the Secretary to read out any Correspondence
The Chairperson then asks for the Treasurers and PRO reports
The chairperson then passes to the main items on the agenda
Ending a Meeting
A meeting should not take much more than 1
hour.
Once the main issues on the agenda have been discussed, the last items should
be "Future events and any other business, to allow members to bring
up any point not on the agenda. The Chairperson then suggests to the members
a date, time and place for the next meeting and the meeting is closed with
prayer.
Some Rules of Procedure
The Chairperson keeps
order throughout the meeting. He or she does this by insisting that the
discussion takes place "through the chair" (i.e. Everyone speaks
as if they were speaking to the chairperson)
Making sure that all speakers are not interrupted until they have finished
what they have to say
Making Sure that the discussion keeps to the point to be decided and doesn't
become just a general conversation
Deciding when enough has been said on a particular point, that decisions are
made and that arrangements are made for action to be taken
Making sure that, during the meeting, all the topics on the agenda are discussed although some may be postponed until the next meeting of time is precious! The chairperson must allow enough time for discussions to take place and not get side tracked or bogged down!
Arriving at decisions
After all points of view have been expressed on an issue, the group usually arrives at a decision by consensus. When there is no consensus the Chairperson can take a vote by a show of hands. The decision must be clear and understood by the members
Setting up a working group.
Meetings exist to make decisions; but to put
decisions into practice it is best to set up a small working group drawn from
the members. One of them should be responsible for reporting back top the
next meeting.
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