OFFICERs'   HANDBOOK

21 December, 2006

Table of Contents.

• General Information
• Administrative Calendar
• Red River Valley Section Governance
• Executive Committee
• Officers of the Section.
• Chair
• Chair-Elect
• Corresponding Secretary
• Recording Secretary
• Treasurer
• Councilor
• Members - at - Large
• Standing Committees
• Chemical Education - Awards
• Membership
• Program and Publicity
• Nominating

General Information

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Administrative Calendar

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Red River Valley Section Governance

                         Membership
                             |
                             |
                          election
                             |
                             |
staggered three year terms   |             annual
    _________________________|_________________________________________
    |             |          |       |          |           |          |
Alternate      Councilor   Chair   Chair    Correspond   Record    Treasurer
Councilor                    |     Elect           Secretary
                             |
                             |
                       appoints chairs
                             |
        bylaw                |                ad hoc
          -------------------+------------------
          |                                    |
 Membership - Dues                       Nat Chem Week

 Chemical Education - Awards              News Letter

 Nominating Committee                      Web Master

 Program - Publicity                         USNCO
 

    Governance in the Red River Valley Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY is entrusted to the officers elected by the membership during our annual election. The Chair, as chief executive officer, has overall responsibility in promoting the will of the Section's membership within the confines of our charter. Aiding the Chair is the Executive Committee, which is comprised of elected officers, councilors, appointed chairs, and Members at large. Past officers should help and mentor the present officers if called upon to do so.

    Committee chairs are appointed by, and are accountable to, the Chair. The incoming Chair has the option of reappointing the present committee chairs. In addition to other officers and chairs which comprise a given committee, chairs are encouraged to appoint other members to their respective committees at their discretion. Doing so will enhance the pool of future officers.

For continuity, the nominating committee should consider members with past governance experience as these individuals, if interested, will be the future officers of the Section.

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Executive Committee :

    The executive committee meets monthly (except for December, January, June and July) to monitor and assess the progress of current activities. This could change if e-mail communication among members can facilitate interaction. The membership of the executive committee consists of the following elected positions.

V, Section 1.    The officers of the section shall be a:

• Chair,
• Chair-Elect,
• Corresponding Secretary,
• Recording Secretary,
• Treasurer.

V, Section 2.   The Section shall have Councilors and Alternate Councilors as provided in the Constitution and ByLaws of the SOCIETY.

V, Section 3.   The Executive Committee shall consist of

• the officers of the section,
• the immediate Past-Chair,
• the Councilors,
• the Alternate Councilors, and
• at least five and no more than eight Members-at-Large.

V, Section 4.   All officers, Councilors, Alternate Councilors, and other persons elected by the members, shall be chosen from the MEMBERS.

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Officer Responsibilities / Duties

CHAIR

VII, Section 2.   The Chair of the Section shall serve as Chair of the Executive Committee. As soon as possible after beginning her/his term of office, the Chair shall fill the vacancies on all standing and any special committees, subject to the approval of the Executive Committee.

VIII, Section 3.   The Chair and Chair-Elect shall serve as ex-officio members of the Program-Publicity Committee with the Chair-Elect serving as chair of the Committee. This Committee shall arrange the program and publicity for the regular meetings of the Section.

   The supervision, coordination, and overall direction of Section activities are the primary and ongoing functions of the Section's Chair. The Chair provides leadership for the Section's officers and committee chairs, while encouraging these persons to participate actively in both the decision-making process and in the day-to-day operation of the Section. From an abstract of the Resource Manual for Local Section Officers of the American Chemical Society we find the following responsibilities defined in addition/parallel to those stated above by the bylaws of the Section:

• Directs   Section activities.
• Presides   at all meetings of the Section.
• Presides   at all meetings of the Executive Committee of the Section.
• Ensures   the timely filing of the Local Section Annual Report.
• Arranges   meetings.
• Oversees   committees.
• Corresponds   with National ACS.
• Guides,  supervises, and assists committee chairs to carry out their committee assignments.
• Hosts   tour speaker.
• Makes   standing committee appointments.
• Motivates   members.
• Serves   as spokesperson for the Section.
• Updates   The Officers' Handbook. The Chair-Elect on assuming the Chair position will have received from the outgoing Chair the digital file (floppy disk or Web) of the Officer's Handbook. The minimum annual changes are pages ? and ??, which list respectively the members of the Executive Committee and the proposed Meeting Schedule.

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CHAIR -- ELECT

   The Chair-Elect serves as program chair and has the principal responsibility for arranging the details of the Section's meeting program for the year during which he or she will be chair. In addition, the chair-elect frequently serves as the host for Section speakers. The Chair-Elect is invited each year to attend a Local Section Leadership Conference which provides ideas about programs, resources, and activities available for Section leaders.

• Attends   the Local Section Leadership Conference.
• Serves   as chair for the Program - Publicity Committee.
• Selects   speakers for Section meetings, keeping in mind the varied interests of the members of the Section, as well as the appeal of the speaker for other science professionals and for the general public.
• Assists   the Chair.
• Writes   thank you letters to invited speakers following the visit.
• Provides   a calendar of Section meetings to the Secretary (Web Master), preferably early in the year for publicizing to the local membership.
• Prepares   to become Chair of the Section by working with the current Chair and officers to learn about the Section and members.

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SECRETARY

   The Secretary provides continuity and therefore may serve several consecutive terms.

The Corresponding Secretary shall have responsibility for:

• preparing   and distributing meeting notices for the Section,
• handling correspondence   for the Section,
• assuming   any other duties customary to the office of Secretary.

   It is suggested that the Corresponding Secretary be associated with preparation   and distribution of the Section news letter in addition to processing notices of meetings.

manage   the election process by preparing, mailing, and delivering the ballots to the Tellers { bylaw VI, Section 4 }.

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The Recording Secretary shall have responsibility for:

• maintaining   and updating the permanent records of the Section,
• recording   the minutes of Executive Committee and general business meetings,
• reading   minutes of previous meetings at business meetings as required,
• sending   copies of minutes of meetings to the Section Web manager for purposes of posting the records for the Section,
• assisting   the Corresponding Secretary in any manner necessary to the accomplishment of the objectives of the Section.

   In contradiction to the bylaws of the Section, the Recording Secretary has become the one who

• maintains and updates the permanent records of the Section.

     A most essential responsibility is maintaining the membership list.   On a bimonthly basis, the Recording Secretary receives a Section Membership Roster from the ACS National office which includes a complete list of members' names and addresses as well as separate addenda files detailing address changes, new members, and other Section roster amendments to the previous edition. Recent experience with the data files supplied has demonstrated the need to affect major revisions to format and often content before the information can be integrated with existing Section data files.

• certifies   to the ACS Executive Director on or before 1 December the names and terms of office of all Section Councilors [ACS ByLaw III, Section(a-4 and e-2)], New Officers and Committee Chairs.

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TREASURER

  A new Handbook for ACS Local Section Treasurers should be available in the Fall of 2000 from National ACS. The Treasurer

• maintains   the financial records accounting for all Section money.
• prepares   periodic and annual reports on the Section's fiscal condition.
• files   the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 and all other necessary IRS forms.
• receives and disburses   the operating funds of the Section.
• requests   Local Section dues collection by National ACS.
• requests   the annual allocation of the members' national dues from National ACS for the operation of the Local Section.
• serves   on Investment Committee.

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COUNCILOR and ALTERNATE

• attends   the National ACS meeting.
• represents   the views of the Local Section.
• has the opportunity to   serve   on National ACS Committees.
• reports   on activities of National ACS at the Local Section monthly Executive Committee meeting, typically done at the first meeting immediately following the National meeting.
• ensures   that the Local Section follows National ACS Guidelines.
• gives guidance to the Local Section Chair and Executive Committee.
• regularly attends the Local Section meetings.

   Section officers should ensure that all candidates for councilor seats can and will attend most, if not all, of the Council meetings during their three year terns of office. To help achieve a high level of councilor attendance at Council meetings, National ACS provides partial reimbursement to sections to support councilor travel to National meetings. Details are sent with each Council agenda.

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MEMBER - at - LARGE

   The Executive committee shall include at least five and no more than eight Members-at-Large. A member at large shall represent the general membership. As such, Members-at-large shall bring before the Executive Committee such items of concern to members of the Section as shall have been brought to their attention, as well as have a working knowledge of the National and Local Section ByLaws, so that they may act as counsel to the Executive Committee. The member-at-large can also be a committee chair.

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STANDING COMMITTEES

VIII, Section 1.   There shall be the following standing committees:

• Membership - Dues
• Chemical Education - Awards
• Program - Publicity
• Nominating Committee

VIII, Section 2.   The above committees, except the Membership-Dues Committee, shall each consist of four members and each member shall serve for a period of two years. Each committee should be constituted so that half the members retire each year. In selecting members for the above committees, consideration shall be given to the various geographical areas included in the Section.

   We invite the current and future chairs of these bylaw designated committees to enter a brief overview of their interpretation of the committee charge.

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Chemical Education - Awards

VIII, Section 5.   The Chemical Education-Awards Committee shall be responsible for arranging the educational activities of the Section and for making nominations for   awards   to be given by the Section.

• outstanding high school teacher award
• 50 year members
• Recognition of Distinguished Science by a Member of the Section
• National Chemistry Week
• News Letter
• United States Chemistry Olympiad
• State and Regional Science and Engineering Fairs
• Web site.

   Although listed here, the latter six activitiess have recently been propogated via ad hoc committee or individual action.   Unification as subcommittee functions under this committee seems more appropriate.

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MEMBERSHIP - DUES

VIII, Section 4.   The Membership-Dues Committee shall consist of the Treasurer and past-Treasurer as ex-officio members and one member from each institution not represented by the two ex-officio members. The Membership-Dues Committee shall be responsible for soliciting new members and collecting dues for the Section.

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PROGRAM -- PUBLICITY

VIII, Section 3.   The Chair and Chair-Elect shall serve as ex-officio members of the Program-Publicity Committee with the Chair-Elect serving as chair of the Committee. This Committee shall arrange the program and publicity for the regular meetings of the Section.

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NOMINATING

VI, Section 4.   A Nominating Committee of four members consisting primarily of recent past-chairs shall be appointed by the Chair. This committee shall prepare a slate of nominees consisting of at least one candidate for each office and a short biographical sketch for each candidate. This list shall be included in the notice for the October meeting which notice shall be sent to all members not later than one week before the meeting. At the October meeting, additional nominations may be made from the floor. Nominations from the floor must be supported by two seconds. Ballots shall be mailed to all members not later than two weeks after the October meeting. The ballot shall include a short biographical sketch for each candidate. Deadline for receipt of returned ballots shall be one-half hour after the November meeting has been called to order. The election ballots shall be counted by three tellers appointed by the Chair, and the results shall be announced before adjournment of the November meeting. Election shall be determined by a plurality of the ballots cast. In case of ties, election shall be determined by secret ballot of the members present at the meeting.

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. What Section Committee based activities have I missed? .