A. The RPG Executive Committee
(RPG Excomm) consists of two types of members.
One type is the “Elected Excomm Member” and the other type of member is
the “Activist Excomm Member.”
B. Both the Elected Excomm
members and the Activist Excomm members form the RPG Executive Committee.
II.
Definition of the Activist Excomm Member of the River Prairie Group.
A. Activist Excomm Members are
activists who currently function as standing committee chairs and/or a standing
committee coordinators. Some examples of
these standing committee chairs and coordinators are listed below. These chairs and coordinators may be shared
by more than one person. In that case
they would become co-chairs or co-coordinators.
All chairs and coordinators refer to only the River Prairie Group and DO
NOT refer to any other group or to the chapter or national levels. Please not that all the other groups,
chapter, and national may have similar positions at their level within the
Sierra Club. Also, there is no real distinction
between the term “chair” and “coordinator.”
Both terms hold the same level of distinction and responsibilities. Please note that this list is dynamic and is
changing all the time depending on the needs of the group. New types of chairs and coordinators may be
added and old ones deleted as time passes.
Basically, if anybody holds a title of “chair” or “coordinator,” then
that person falls within the parameters listed here. Also, some positions do not have the title of
“chair” or “coordinator like “beat writer” or “editor.” These titles also fall within the same parameters
listed here.
1. Conservation Chair.
2. Political Chair.
3. Lobby Chair.
4. Bluestem Network
Coordinator.
5. Outings Chair.
6. Membership Chair.
7. Chapter Delegate.
8. Hotline Chair.
9. DuPage Sierran Newsletter
Editor.
10. Computer Committee Chair.
11. Outings Liaison Chair.
12. Volunteer Coordinator.
13. GRLS Coordinator.
14. Muir User Chair.
15. DuPage Issue Coordinator.
16. Fundraising Chair.
17. DuPage Sierran Beat
Writer(s).
18. Outings Secretary.
19. Phone Tree Coordinator.
20. Program Chair.
21. Social Committee Chair.
22. Courtesy and Assistant
Courtesy Chairs.
23. Publicity Coordinator.
24. River Monitoring Chair.
25. River Monitoring Technical
Advisor.
26. Welcome Wagon Team Members.
27. Webmaster and Assistant
Webmasters.
28. Training Coordinator.
29. Additional positions as
approved by the elected excomm members.
B. In addition to the chairs,
coordinators, editor, and beat writers, any volunteer activist who takes on
tasks for the group and reports regularly back to the RPG Excomm (either by
attending meetings or sending an email report to the executive chair), is also
an “Activist Excomm Member.”
III.
Responsibilities of the Activist Excomm Members of the RPG Group.
A. Attend the RPG Excomm
meetings. If unable to attend the RPG
Excomm meetings, then send an email report prior to the meeting to the current
executive chair. This report will be included
in the minutes and/or read (time permitting) at the meeting.
B. Remain active with the
group. If the Activist Excomm Member can
no longer perform his/her volunteer responsibilities, then the Activist Excomm
Member needs to report to the current executive chair that he/she no longer is
an active member of the executive committee.
C. It is strongly suggested
that Activist Excomm Members join the RPG listserv. It would be expected that Activist Excomm
Members make an attempt to understand how the group functions and gain a basic
working knowledge of the various activities of the group.
D. Activist Excomm Members are
expected to give their input on the decision-making activities of the
group. This responsibility can be
accomplished over the group listserv with comments, attending the RPG Excomm
members and contributing their input, and/or conducting the group executive
chair with his/her input.
E. Activist Excomm Members may
make motions and second motions at the RPG Excomm meetings. Activist Excomm Members are encouraged to
discuss and contribute their input at the RPG Excomm meetings. However, as per the Group by-laws, only the
Elected Excomm Members may vote on motions.
The RPG Excomm meetings and procedures are conducted so that all members
of the RPG Excomm (Elected and Activist) FIRST discuss and debate motions, then
after the discussion period has concluded the Elected Excomm Members take a
vote. However, numerous policy decisions
made by the RPG Excomm do not require a formal vote by the Elected Excomm Members. In these situations, a consensus of opinion
from the entire group (both Elected and Activist Excomm Members) decides the
policy.
IV.
Definition of the Elected Excomm members of the River Prairie Group.
A. Much of the responsibilities
and duties of the Elected Excomm members are governed by the group’s
by-laws. The national Sierra Club wrote
the group by-laws. All the group by-laws
throughout the country are approximately 95% identical.
B. The River Prairie Group has
SEVEN Elected Excomm Members. Each
Elected Excomm Member serves for a two-year term. In even years, four Elected Excomm Members
are elected and in odd years, three Elected Excomm Members are elected. Elections are held in the fall of each year.
C. The offices of the Elected
Excomm Members are the following:
1. Executive Chair.
2. Executive Vice-Chair.
3. Treasurer.
4. Secretary.
5. Three Elected Excomm Members
At-Large.
D. After the results of the
fall election are reported at the next Excomm Meeting, the Elected Excomm
Members formally vote to elect the following four offices: Executive Chair,
Executive Vice-Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary.
All four office holders must also be Elected Excomm Members. Please note that during the fall elections,
all candidates run just for the Elected Excomm and NOT for specific offices of
the Elected Excomm.
V.
Responsibilities of the Elected Excomm Members of the River Prairie
Group.
A. Attend the meetings of the
RPG Excomm.
B. Develop a working knowledge
of how the group, chapter, and national levels of the Sierra Club function.
C. Develop a working knowledge
of all the activities of the River Prairie Group.
D.
E. Develop a working
understanding of the finances of the group and be able to vote on treasurer’s
reports and budget with an understanding of how these votes will impact all the
various activities of the group.
F. Be able to vote on all
proposals presented to the Executive Committee with an understanding of how
these votes will impact the various activities of the group.
G. Develop a working
understanding of the major conservation campaigns of the River Prairie Group,
the Illinois Chapter, and the National Sierra Club.
H. Be willing to make your
address, email, and phone number public for the group web page and other
publications. Elected Excomm Members
need to be accessible to the group membership for contacting purposes.
I.
Take on a MAJOR work responsibility of the group. All Elected Excomm Members need to do more
than just vote and attend the RPG Excomm Meetings. Consider becoming one of the chairs or
coordinator of one of the standing committees of the River Prairie Group, or
becoming an assistant chair/coordinator or co-chair/coordinator. All Elected Excomm Members are expected to
help out with the daily running, maintenance, and operation of the group.
J. Report to the group
executive chair when you are unable to vote and attend RPG Excomm Meetings.
VI.
Election Procedures of the Elected Excomm Members.
A. The Elected Excomm Members
appoint a Nominating Committee each winter.
One member of the Nominating Committee must be an elected Excomm Member.
B. The Nominating Committee
recommends a slate of candidates to the Elected Excomm Members each
spring. The Elected Excomm Members must
officially vote upon this slate of nominations.
C. Below are the some timelines
for this nomination process.
1. Elected Excomm Members
select a Nominating Committee at the April Excomm Meeting.
2. Nominating Committee reports
to the Elected Excomm Members at the June Excomm Meeting. The Elected Excomm Members vote on the slate
submitted by the Nominating Committee at the June Excomm Meeting.
3. Candidates submit a
candidate’s statement to be placed on the group web page by August 1. Candidates submit a picture and candidate
statement by the group webmaster (August 1).
The group webmaster will have all pictures and candidate statements on
the group web page by Sept 1. Candidates
would also submit by August a shorter statement (50 to 75 words) to the group
newsletter. No pictures would be place
in the group newsletter. Thus, a longer
candidate statement with a photo would appear on the group web page and a
condensed (shorter) candidate statement without a picture would appear in the
newsletter.
4. The Newsletter Editor would
design the official ballot in the group newsletter by the August 1 copy
deadline. The ballot would list all the
names of the candidates and direct members to view the group web page for a
picture and the expanded candidate statement.
This newsletter would be distributed to our members by Oct. 1. There would also be a ballot printed on the
group web page with directions on how to vote.
RPG members would have to print the ballot from the group web page and
mail it to the group membership for group membership verification. All ballots (printed from the group web page
and clipped from the group newsletter) would be mailed to the group membership
chair to check for RPG membership. Only
members of the RPG group could vote in the elections. Ballots sent to the group membership chair
that are clearly not members of the RPG would not be counted. Only those ballots that were postmarked by
December 15 would be counted.
5. The group membership chair
would check the ballots for RPG membership and then hand them over to the Elections
Committee. The RPG Ex Comm approves the
appointment of the Elections Committee to oversea the election and to count the
ballots. The Elections Committee would
report the results of the election at the first RPG Excomm Meeting after Jan.
1.
6. Once the results have been
reported to the RPG Excomm Meeting after Jan. 1, then those members who have
been elected would officially join the Elected Excomm Members.
VII.
How to Become Nominated to stand for Election for the RPG Excomm.
A. The Nominating Committee would
consider the following factors when making recommendations for nominations to
the Elected Excomm.
1. Potential candidates would
be able to demonstrate an understanding of the major conservation campaigns of
the River Prairie Group.
2. Potential candidates should
have attended at least three RPG Excomm meetings prior to nomination.
3. Potential candidates need to
be a member of the River Prairie Group.
4. Potential candidates need to
have taken on at least one or more short term projects designated by the RPG
Excomm and to show a willingness to help with the work of the RPG Excomm.
5. The Nominating Committee
would also look to determine if potential candidates have joined any of the
subcommittees of the RPG and are making a contribution to the work and goals of
these subcommittees (For example: outings, lobbying, Bluestem, River
Monitoring, Political, DuPage Issues, programs, newsletter, etc.).
6. Potential candidates would
be able to demonstrate an understanding of the structure of River Prairie Group
and a working knowledge of how the Chapter and National Sierra Club operates.
7. Potential Candidates would
demonstrate a willingness to become a team member of the RPG Excomm and be able
to work collaboratively and cooperatively with other team members in reaching
consensus on group decisions.
8. Potential Candidates would
be willing to write a candidate statement for publication.
9. Potential Candidates would
be willing to attend the RPG Excomm meetings (six a year), special Excomm
meetings, and stay in contact with the group executive chair and other Elected
Comm Members for discussions and oversight responsibilities.
10.
Potential Candidates would be willing to join all the listservs that are owned
by the RPG and participate in the discussions and oversight responsiblities
that occur with the use of these group listservs.