Chapter Secretary

Secretary

Purpose of Position

The secretary has the overall responsibility of maintaining the records of the chapter or group, serving the quasi-legal role of advising the chapter or group on its formal responsibilities to the Club and to the membership, and helping to assure that those responsibilities are carried out. The secretary can function best in a close working relationship with the chair, including advising on meeting agendas and assisting with the conduct of executive committee meetings. This includes maintaining a basic familiarity with Robert’s Rules and/or other basic meeting operating procedures. Chapter secretaries should also work with the Council delegate to keep informed of national policies and changes that affect chapter operation, and inform the chairs and secretaries of groups and other entities in the chapter of policies and changes that affect their operation.

Responsibilities

Minutes:

• Record the minutes in an accurate, understandable manner, reflecting the essence of discussion. Motions are recorded verbatim, and results of votes are noted exactly. The wording of complex and/or critical motions should be read back to those present before the vote to assure they are recorded correctly and reflect the intent of the maker of the motion.
• Ideally, a preliminary draft of the minutes of each meeting should be sent to the chair within a week for review and correction. A revised draft should be sent to each executive committee member in advance of the next meeting, and formal approval of the previous meeting’s minutes should be an action item on each meeting’s agenda. After any additional corrections identified during the approval process are made, a correct copy should be filed, and a copy sent to the national office and to all chapter or group leaders who request them.

Bylaws:

• Maintain a copy of the Club, chapter and, if appropriate, group bylaws and have a copy of each available for reference at each meeting. Chapter secretaries should keep a file of the bylaws of each group and other entities in the chapter.
• Provide copies of the entity’s bylaws to executive committee members and others who request them.
• Have a firm understanding of the bylaws.

Elections:

• Work with the nominating and elections committees to assure the entity’s annual election and any special elections are carried out properly in the correct time frame and in accordance with the bylaws. The secretary has the ultimate responsibility for assuring that information in the ballot materials is correct.
• Receive and maintain secure the ballots returned in an election, delivering them to the elections committee for counting, and retaining them after counting until instructed to dispose of them by the executive committee.
• Inform the candidates in writing of the election results and work with the chair to inform the candidates and executive committee members of the results as soon as the elections committee determines the outcome of the election.

Correspondence:

• Correspond with national and local Sierra Club offices and other organizations as directed, keep executive committee and committee leader lists current.
• Provide information on the process for obtaining approval to use Sierra Club name and logo on products of any kind, advise others who are proposing to develop logo items, assure that approval is requested in a timely way before production is started.
• Sort and distribute incoming correspondence, and report on important correspondence at executive committee meetings.

Records:

• Maintain a permanent file of bylaws, minutes, policy resolutions, chapter or group papers, reports and correspondence, and pass the file on to your successor.

Maintain an inventory of chapter or group property.