Revised August 2022
The CMC Council is Club’s governing body. Article IV of the CMC bylaws: (http://www.carolinamountainclub.org/index.cfm/do/pages.view/id/40/page/By-Laws) details the Council’s membership and responsibilities. In addition to the responsibilities defined in the bylaws, the President is also responsible for ensuring that that this manual is kept up-to-date and that at least one physical (printed) copy be made of the entire manual.
Council members are elected for two-year terms and may not serve in the same position for more than four consecutive years. However, after four years in one position they may continue to serve on the Council in another position. They may also return to a previously held position after a two-year hiatus.
The current membership of the Council and their contact information is shown on the back page of each issue of Let’s Go, the Club’s quarterly print newsletter.
Typically, the Council holds five regular meetings per year:
- in January for a 5 to7 hour planning session, and
- once a quarter for 2 ½-3 hours to conduct the Club’s business.
The fourth quarter meeting is the only one that is time-constrained. At this meeting the Council must approve a budget for the next year and any proposed amendments to the club’s bylaws in time to be posted on the Club website two weeks before the Club’s annual meeting, which is typically held in early November.
Procedures for nominating Council members are detailed in Article VII of the bylaws. The Council should be informed of the slate of nominees developed by the Nominating Committee, but it does not approve the slate.
CMC’s President acts as the Council’s Chair and is responsible for obtaining a location for the meeting and developing an agenda. The President should solicit input from Council members on the agenda and send Council members a draft agenda. Council members should circulate meeting materials prior to each Council meeting.
Council meetings are conducted using a relaxed version of Roberts Rules of Order. Issues requiring decisions should be voted upon. After preliminary discussion, motions should be made and seconded, discussed further if necessary, then voted upon. As stated in the bylaws. “Efforts will be made to reach decision by consensus. Lacking consensus, decisions will be taken by majority vote.” Since the President is Chair of the Council, he/she should only vote to break a tie.
As indicated in the bylaws, any club member may attend the Council meeting, and the President may invite non-Club members to attend. Once approved, minutes of Council meetings will be posted on the Club’s website (http://www.carolinamountainclub.org/index.cfm/do/pages.view/id/114/page/Council-Minutes) and made available to all club members, who must login to access the minutes. As necessary, the Council will meet in executive session. Attendance at such sessions will be limited to Council members.
Council members will not be reimbursed for the attendance at Council meetings but may be reimbursed for expenses incurred as a result of other aspects of their roles. Rules and procedures for reimbursement of travel expenses are detailed in the Club’s policy on Reimbursement of Travel Expenses Other than for Trail Maintenance and Hike Leading (web link), which apply to all CMC members.
CMC Council members are required to sign the following conflict of interest statement annually.
By signing this statement, I pledge that I am not now knowingly using my position as a member of the Carolina Mountain Club Council to benefit myself, my family members, or my business, nor will I do so in the future. I will recuse myself from any discussion or vote that might compromise this pledge.
Council members present sign the statement at the January Planning Session. Others sign it as soon after the meeting as reasonable.
Attachments:
See Attachment 1 on the following page for the current slate of officers and council members.
See Attachment 2 for Secretary Role and Minutes (new 11.18 bcm)
See Attachment 3 for Nominating Committee (new 11.19 bcm)
Attachment 1: CMC Officers and Council Members (To be updated annually)
2019 CMC Officers
President Randy Fluharty
Vice-president Debby Jones
Secretary Kathy McAuley
Treasurer George Bauernfeind
Immediate Past President Barbara Morgan
2019 Council Members
Councilor for Conservation Michael Fisher
Councilor for
Education/Outreach Jan Onan
Councilor for Hiking Gregory Bechtel
Councilor for Membership Lynn Saul
Councilor for Trail Maintenance Ron Navik
Councilor for Communications Stuart English
Councilor for Technology Judy Magura
Councilor-at-Large Chris Koebelin
Councilor-at-Large Hugh Hensleigh
Attachment 2: Secretary Role and Minutes of Meetings (new, 11.18, bcm)
The Council Secretary is responsible for preparing minutes of all Council meetings and of the Annual Meeting. Council minutes are approved by Council at the subsequent Council meeting and the Annual Meeting minutes are approved by Membership at the subsequent Annual Meeting. Following the approval of each, they are posted on the Member website in a timely manner.
The Secretary should take notes of the Planning Meeting and any other informal meetings of Council, but these are not approved by Council and are not published on the website. They are sent out to Council members.
Minutes of meetings are the official record of what occurred at the meeting and are the history of what occurred. They are extremely important, so they need to be as specific as possible in summarizing discussion and in recording decisions/votes made on issues. Often in the actual meeting discussion, the actual term is shortened, but in writing up the minutes, the full, correct term should be used. As an example, if the term “Forest Service Plan” is used and the proper term is “Nantahala and Pisgah Forests Plan Revision” then the proper term should be substituted in the minutes.
PROCESS:
- During a meeting, the Secretary will want to take notes on what is discussed and to gather copies (paper or electronic) of documents used in the meeting.
- Following the meeting, the Secretary writes up the initial draft of the minutes following the order items occurred on the Agenda. It is important to do the initial write-up while the meeting is fresh on the mind. It is suggested that a system be used for the computer file-name be used to make it easy to differentiate one set of minutes from another. Something like 2019 Council Minutes 2.5.19 is more beneficial than the filenames automatically generated by some word processing programs.
- The Secretary then sends the draft to the President (and possibly the Past-President and the Vice President) for their review. The President and Secretary work together to make any additions or corrections seen as needed.
- The Secretary then sends the revised version out to all Council members seeking further additions or corrections, and incorporates those into the document, which is then sent to the President.
- The minutes are sent out to Council prior to the next Council meeting. At that meeting, the President calls for additions and corrections, and once that is satisfied, calls for approval of the Minutes.
- Once approved, it is the responsibility of the Secretary (or designee) to post the minutes on the Club’s website.
Annual Meeting minutes are drafted and reviewed/revised in similar fashion, but do not require the approval of Council. They are shared with Membership prior to the Annual Meeting and approved by Membership. Only then are they posted on the Club’s website.
Attachment 3: CMC Nominations Committee (new 1.19, bcm)
The CMC Nominations Committee is composed of the immediate Past President (chair), at least two additional members who are not currently members of Council, and up to two sitting Council members who are not up for re-election. Should the Immediate Past President be unable or unwilling to chair the committee, the President will appoint a chair.
No later than August, the President should contact Council members who will complete their first two-year term by the end of the year as to whether they, if nominated, would agree to a second two-year term. In addition, the President should also ascertain whether any Councilors who are not reaching the end of their two-year term wish to be relieved of their duties before the upcoming year.
The Chair of the Nominations Committee then should consult outgoing Councilors to recommend potential nominees to be considered. In addition, the Nominating Committee can make its own recommendations. Contacting potential nominees to see if the individual would agree to be nominated may be done by the outgoing Councilor or by the Chair of the committee.
Work of the committee may be done face to face, via email, or a combination of both.
The nominating Committee will complete its work in time to publish the slate prior to the Annual Meeting per requirement in the By-laws.
Attachment 4:
CMC Council Conflict of Interest Statement
Applicable year ___________________
CMC Council members are required to sign the following conflict of interest statement annually.
By signing this statement I pledge that I am not now knowingly using my position as a member of the Carolina Mountain Club Council to benefit myself, my family members, or my business, nor will I do so in the future. I will recuse myself from any discussion or vote that might compromise this pledge.
Council members present sign the statement at the January Planning Session. Others sign it as soon after the meeting as reasonable.
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Printed Name
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Signature
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Position
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Date signed
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President
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Vice President
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Secretary
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Treasurer
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Past President
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Couns. for Communication
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Couns. for Conservation
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Couns. for Education, Community Outreach
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Couns. for Hiking
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Couns. for Membership
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Couns. for Trail Maintenance
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Couns. for Technology
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Counselor at Large
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Counselor at Large
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