The Job of the Secretary at Trent Radio Prepared by Emily Addison and John K Muir January 2002 (with hope, most everything you will need to know!) from Trent Radio's By-Law No. 1 article 4.05 (The legal jazz about being secretary at Trent Radio): The Secretary shall be ex officio clerk of the Board of Directors. He shall attend all meetings of the Board of Directors and record all facts and minutes of all proceedings in the books kept for that purpose and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, a register of directors and a register of members except in circumstances where the provisions of Section 2.05 (2) of Article II apply showing the date of their elections or approval and of their respective retirements or removal. He shall give all notices required to be given to members and directors. He shall be the custodian of the seal of Trent Radio and of all books, papers, records, correspondence, contracts and other documents belonging to Trent Radio which he shall deliver up only when authorised by a resolution of the Board of Directs to do so and to such a person or person as may be named in the resolution, and he shall perform other such duties as may from time to time be determined by the Board of Directors. Comment relating to the role of Secretary: Remember that I am writing this document during a very good time for Trent Radio. However, there have been periods of disorganization and loss of direction. If you are Secretary during a time such as this (hopefully not!) then I would request that you do what is best to help pull the organization out of such a situation keeping in faith with the long-standing Aims and Objectives, etc. For example, our present General Manager does an excellent job of keeping all 'records, correspondence, etc...'. However, there may be a time when others are around Trent Radio when you will need to take on all of the secretary's roles in the by-laws that are assumed by others right now in order to help the organisation. Please also note that generally, in some organizations, the Secretary is also the Treasurer. However, Trent Radio has a history of hiring a competent bookkeeper with much experience in preparing financial statements. Therefore, you don't have to worry about this but it's an interesting fact of which you should be aware. The Secretary's Job (What really is it?) * You are one of 2-3 officers authorised by the Board who can sign cheques. Usually the General Manager signs cheques with one of these individuals every two weeks because he is looking after the finances. However, if needed, two designated officers can sign cheques as well. Note that the delegation of signing cheques can change from time to time and certainly year to year. In some years only one of the three other officers aside from the General Manager sign the cheques because of convenience. Other years, the responsibility is shared if that's what people want. Just remember if you sign cheques that you can and should ask questions and the General Manager will be willing to answer all questions. * Once in a while, depending on the Board, you might have to take on a few other responsibilities. When I was Secretary one year, I had to look after organising the meetings and making sure people showed up, got their reports in, etc. This is usually the job of the Chair and in that year the incumbent couldn't fulfil this part of the job. Remember its the job of everyone to ensure that the work gets done. You should not have to do this but be aware that you may have to. * You might be asked, or want to take on other one-time responsibilities during the year. This could be something like dealing with a concern related to Trent Radio, writing someone in the wider community with the letter being approved by the Board. Then again, others might head something up like this as well. These types of things aren't common. * The BIG thing is making sure that you maintain an updated minute book and that you write minutes on a regular basis. (see below) Minutes Their purpose: The minutes record the matters transacted and deliberations of the Board and Membership. They are very important as they provide the legal authority and framework for those who have been given responsibility to act The General Process: 1.Take notes at a meeting. * If you can't be there, have someone else to take the notes. * Get down the important stuff and the motions. Remember that you can always refer back to the agenda from that meeting to remember some of the order of business. 2.Type up the minutes. (see more below) * Ideally this should be done within a day after the meeting but just make sure that they are done and out at least a week before the next meeting. It shouldn't take you more than half an hour at the very most. * Check for corrections/additions with the General Manager and the President. They might remember a few other critical details. They might also catch grammatical errors, superfluous or incorrect information, etc. You might want to be responsible for getting the minutes back and then emailing them to all Board members. 3.At the next meeting... have the minutes signed by the President and yourself and then put the seal (kept in the minute book) over the two signatures. * Take the minutes (should be in the meeting package), punch holes in the documents and file them into the minute book in the right spot. Do make sure that the whole package gets into the minute binder. There's little point just putting in the minutes without the package because the minutes refer to important information in the meeting package. 4. At the end of the year * Move the minutes from one year earlier than yours into a file in the General Manager's office. Note: The General Manager is great at keeping the minutes and the minute book in his office. Again however - if there are darker times at Trent Radio - you make sure that the minutes are taken care of. They are QUITE important! Tips on writing minutes The minutes since 1993 are on the web and are visible to the general public. Access them by: http://www.trentu.ca/trentradio click on governance click on the Bodmin folder (near the bottom) The minutes go by year 00, 01, 02... 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99. The Annual General Meetings are there also. You will initially be interested in files that have 'min' at the end of them. * There has been a very consistent manner for writing minutes from November 1998 to November 2001. I suggest that you follow these as a template to make your job very easy. It will also result in excellent minutes for Trent Radio. * Use one of the minutes of the website as a template, copying and pasting it into a word processor. Change details as you need to (like the date) and add differences etc. It is actually really helpful if you do this because there is then a consistent look to the minutes and they will be easier to read for people looking back through various years. Below is an example of what a typical meeting might look like. The first/last meeting of a board would look different from other meetings. There are also other differences that happen during the year like reports from the Program Director, special resolutions like you see in this one, etc. Things to watch out for: * The top (and much else) can always look the same. If there were people away, you would have a R E G R E T S line as well as a P R E S E N T one. * Make sure you get the phrasing for motions correctly. Were presented, discussion ensued. "UPON A MOTION...". Note that you can put unanimous if everyone agreed but I haven't always done so. Motions are always made for the minutes, committee reports, and the operations report as well as sometimes other details. * The Chair's opening remarks aren't usually typed up in the meeting package so it's important to get down a little information about this. * Committee reports are supposed to be typed and included in the package. This way you can just say the title of the committee and then 'see attached'. However, sometimes there are important details that a person speaks about which they didn't include in their report or maybe they didn't submit a written report. In that case you would type a little note like below for Publicity. * The operations report will usually include the financial statements and a written/verbal report from the General Manager. It will also sometimes include a report from the Programme Coordinator or the Summer Programme Coordinator. * Keep the minutes to two pages at the very most but they shouldn't be that long! * GOOD LUCK! Sample minutes Trent Radio BoD Meeting 22 March 2001 MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING held at Trent Radio House, 715 George St. N., Peterborough, Ontario on 22 March 2001 at 8pm. P R E S E N T: Emily Addison, Glen Caradus, Al Kirkcaldy, Darryl Leroux, Reuben Maan, Neal Simard and Miriam Stucky. Also Present: John K. Muir, General Manager Notice of this meeting having been made to all the Directors, and all of the Directors being present in person, the meeting was declared duly constituted and called to order at 8:05 p.m., with Emily Addison acting as Chair and Secretary. The minutes of the previous board meeting were presented. UPON A MOTION duly made, seconded and carried unanimously, the minutes of the previous Board of Directors' meeting, held on 25 February 2001, were approved unanimously. Chair's Opening Remarks: Greg Conchelos was thanked for organising a wonderful Trent Radio social at the Peterborough Arms, held on 15 March 2001. It was noted that Emily Addison, Greg Brophy, Paul Cleveland, John K. Muir, Nick Sawatzky and Barb Woolner organised an Occupation Broadcast during the early morning hours of 28 February 2001. It was also noted that letters were sent to both Barb Bell and Barb Holtmann to thank them for their organisation of the Radio Marathon held in December 2000. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Publicity: Reuben Maan presented a verbal report which included the presentation of the new and excellent "Trout Rodeo". Reuben, Miriam Stucky and John Hennessey were all thanked for their hard work put into creating the newsletter. A request for "pdf" files of the newsletter pages was made in order to publish "Trout Rodeo" on the Web. The increased content of the current issue was a welcome enhancement and should serve as a guide for future publications. An on-air PSA was discussed as being one way in which future submissions could be solicited. Sponsorship and Earned Revenue: Al Kirkcaldy presented his report (see attached). Ways and Means: Emily Addison presented her report (see attached). UPON A MOTION duly made, seconded and carried, the committee reports were accepted. OPERATIONS REPORT: The General Manager presented the financial statements prepared by the Bookkeeper for the period ending 28 February 2001. The General Manager's report was presented (see attached). The transmitter has been fixed, with the original problem being corrected. Both John Muir and John Matthews were gratefully thanked (and congratulated!) for repairing the transmitter. It was noted that Trent Radio is in a much better financial situation at the end of the first six months of the fiscal year than at the same time during the previous fiscal year. The HRDC grant for summer job funding will be completed and submitted by the end of March. The President and the General Manager may arrange to meet with the local MP concerning their grant. Hiring will occur in April. UPON A MOTION duly made, seconded and carried unanimously, the Operations report, including the financial statements and the General Manager's report, was approved. Director availability was discussed. Two Board members may not be returning after the summer. It was decided that vacancies on the Board will be dealt with as they arise. Glen Caradus left at this time due to prior engagements. Trent Radio's position on the evolving changes at Trent University was discussed. UPON A MOTION duly made, seconded and carried unanimously, it was resolved that; Whereas the support of the Peterborough and area community is the life blood of Trent University; and, Whereas Trent University grew out of the sweat of the Peterborough community, and, Whereas Trent Radio supports community accountability, Trent Radio continues to encourage the Trent University Board of Governors and its staff to reconsider their approach to decision making, in the light of their responsibilities to the wider Peterborough community and Trent University's tradition of a downtown presence. The next board meeting will be held Thursday 26 April 2001, 8pm at Trent Radio house. There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned. __________________________ _____________________________ Emily Addison, President Neal Simard, Secretary