Here are role descriptions for SKABC club officers. This draft document is only available to Exec members since it is still in development. The descriptions have been pulled together from various sources over the past several years. If you have additions or changes please submit them by email to webmanager2@skabc.org
President
This position is a director position as required by the the SKABC Constitution
Chair Annual Meetings, Executive Meetings, Club Meetings, and Extraordinary Meetings
Direct internal and external inquiries to the appropriate committee chair or Executive
Ensure that Club functions and actions are consistent with the constitution and bylaws
Receive and respond to communiques from the club members and outside parties
Establish Standing Committees or Special Committees as required
Ensure that signed waiver documents are maintained through the club website
Cause a review of official club policy documents in conjunction with the Secretary, Safety Officer, and the appropriate Executive or Committee Chair.
Be present at club functions to greet new members and be available to the membership for questions or discussion
Promote the association
Duties as noted in SKABC ByLaws
42 (1) The President presides at all meetings of the association and of the directors.
The president is chief executive officer of the Association and must supervise all other officers in the execution of their duties.
Functional Duties:
receive receive and respond to inquiries from within and outside of the Association
establish special committees as required to conduct club business
act as point of escalation when club activities or practices appear to conflict, and facilitate resolution that maintains overall association interests
Additional Notes
Initiate and manage strategic planning activities
Vice President
Assist the president as needed. This position is usually a director position, as the Vice-President needs to be able to act as proxy for President.
Secretary
- This position is a director position as required by the the SKABC Constitution
Attend Executive (Directors) and General meetings.
Ensure that minutes are kept (recorded, presented, amended, approved) of Exec (Directors) and General meetings. Minutes are to be kept digitally and in the Association's hard copy minutes book. (Believed to no longer exist /nh)
Post minutes to web site.
Maintain all official records and documents of the Association except those required to be kept by the Treasurer, President or the Membership Officer. All official documents are to be kept digitally and maintained on a a website accessible to other members of the executive or for approved minutes, to all members and are updated by the appropriate executive.
Issue notices of meetings of the Association and the Executives and prepare agendas for those meetings.
Perform actions necessary to maintain the good standing of the Association in compliance with statutes and other legal requirements.
Liaise with Association Standing Committees (Nominations Committee, Silver Paddle Award Committee)
Cause a review of official club policy documents in conjunction with the President, Safety Officer, and the appropriate Executive or Committee Chair.
Misc correspondence.
The secretary's duties are outlined in the SKABC Bylaws:
43. (1) The secretary must do the following:
(a) conduct the correspondence of the Association;
(b) issue notices of meetings of the Association and directors;
(c) keep minutes of all meetings of the Association and directors;
(d) have custody of all records and documents of the Association except those required to be kept by the treasurer;
(e) have custody of the common seal of the Association;
(f) maintain the register of members;
(g) perform in a timely manner all actions necessary to maintain the good standing of the Association in compliance with statutes and other legal requirements.
44. In the absence of the secretary from a meeting, the directors must appoint another person to act as secretary at the meeting.
5. (2) Each member shall inform the secretary in writing of his up-to-date address and e-mail address, if any, for the purposes of receiving notices from the Association.
7. A person ceases to be a member of the Association:
(a) By delivering his resignation in writing to the secretary of the Association or by mailing or delivering it to the address of the Association;
....
- duties as implemented in SKABC
Duty a) is usually minimal. Sometimes the Pres might act instead.
Duty b) should be done by the Sec but often is done by the Pres.
Duty c) should be done by the Sec, but could be delegated for some meetings.
Duty d) should be done by the Sec, and is important. I heard concern that there was a lot of stuff to be stored.
Duty (e) is irrelevant, as we have no seal.
Duty (f) is mostly delegated to a membership secretary, although the Secretary needs to have up to date information on membership at all times and especially if a General Meeting is called, so notices are sent out and voting members, and quorum etc can be determined for the meeting.
Duty g) should be minimal, being an online annual report and fee payment. I think the names and addresses of all Directors must be reported.
The unspoken duty of the secretary is to ensure that the bylaws are adhered to and minutes etc are taken correctly and stored correctly, with attention being paid to what is draft and what is approved. Ideally, the Sec is the parliamentarian for the Assn., even if the Assn has a relaxed, casual style.
If there are Constitutional or bylaw changes being considered, the Sec`s duties will increase and he or she he will be responsible for submitting them to Victoria, if passed.
Treasurer
This position is a director position as required by the the SKABC Constitution
Duties as noted in SKABC ByLaws
Prepare annual financial statements for presentation at the AGM
Maintain all financial records of the Association
Prepare annual budget
Filing annual report as per Societies Act
Maintain bank accounts of the Association
Cause financial audits as required
Notes;
- In 2011 the Secretary took over the Societies Act annual report filing (previously listed under Secretary's duties)
- Financial audits, if required, are expensive and should called for by decision of the President or Directors only if irregularities are suspected. A financial overview is part of our standing policies - another club member with financial background is invited to peruse all of the Treasurer's records to see if in her/his opinion the procedures are adequate and business-like.
In 2017 a second position was added as bookkeeper / assistant Treasurer -does monthly bank reconciliation, reports from Quicken, financial statements.
Regular Duties;
Preparation of financial reports for each Exec meeting, including;
Bank reconciliation
Stripe or Paypal account reconciliation, setup, transfers, disputes
Issuing cheques or electronic transfers to reimburse claimed expenses
Depositing funds in the bank accounts
Managing bank funds and term deposits
Preparation of reports for financial statements
Maintain complete paper trail for all transactions
Monitor expenses compared to budget and report any issues
Annual duties:
“Consent to act as director” form – get signatures and personal information from all directors - also required by PayPal from 2019.
Update signing officers at the bank as needed -usually after the AGM- first pass motion to authorize the singing officers and revoke all others, then submit to bank, then significant coordination required for each new signing officer to report in person to bank with ID
Prepare the budget, with input from the rest of the Exec, at or near the beginning of the financial year
Review insurance policy with the Executive, and negotiate changes as required, ensure continuity of coverage, request certificates or other documents to prove insurance coverage for facility rentals
Pay meeting place rental fees
Financial report for AGM
Co-ordinate the financial review
Duties to get started;
Receive all records, account information, passwords from outgoing Treasurer
Become a signing officer for the bank accounts
Obtain a “deposit only” atm card, bank card
Get set up as new account owner with the club's payment gateway - this is not straightforward with Paypal. We are switching to Stripe in 2019 to hopefully make this a simpler process.
Software used;
Quicken 2009 for accounting (owned by skabc)
Excel spreadsheet for financial reports and Stripe or Paypal reports downloads
Programs
The Programs Coordinator will be referred to as “Programs” in this description.
Functional duties:
1. With input from others, both club members and sources outside of SKABC, Programs sets the content and books presenters for the monthly general meetings in Sept, October, January to June.
2. July and August general meeting dates may be scheduled outdoor events and may include paddles, skill practices and/or picnics.
3. Presentations should be relevant to the activity of sea kayaking and can include information on safety and skills, trip presentations, environmental issues, and so forth.
4. Topics should be of interest to a large proportion of the membership.
5. Programs introduces and thanks the presenter (s).
6. A small token of appreciation such as a card or very modest gift may be given to the presenter.
7. At the discretion of Programs, the club may reimburse the presenter for travel or other expenses incurred for the purpose of the presentation to SKABC.
8. The Board/Executive sets an annual budget with input from Programs
9. A description of each month's topic is provided by Programs for the website and club emails.
10. This can be a shared position. One representative of Programs should be present at monthly Executive meetings, held each month except for December and July.
Membership
Oversee the online registration process
Send out welcome letters
Provide periodic reports to executive
Attend club meetings to answer questions and hand out nametags
Attend executive meetings
Maintain and cause yearly review of membership forms, waiver forms, and association information documents.
Respond to occasional inquiries from prospective members
Coordinate and/or lead initiatives to address membership concerns, and identify opportunities to promote the club.
Social Committee
- Organize three annual social events for club members. Typically these events include a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and Christmas Party. Tasks include booking facilities, recruiting volunteers to assist, and organizing refreshments. Prepare budget and record expenses.
- Coordinate with the Trips Committee to organize the annual Spring Fling, a social event combined with a day paddle which is open to the public. Prepare budget and record expenses.
- Promote announcements at monthly meetings, and coordinate website and email newsletter write-ups with the Communications Officer and Web Committee.
- Shop for and provide snacks for the monthly club meetings.
- Attend monthly executive meetings.
Library Committee Head
The librarian arrives early and brings the books from their storage location to the meeting and returns them later, tracks books out and in, updates the records as books/DVDs are added. They select books and DVDs add them to the Library. The librarian will periodically cull out of date books and arrange for their sale or donation. They report to the executive periodically as to the state of the library.
Webmanager
Update the website with the latest information on club activities. Back up website and install security updates. Renew hosting and domain name annually. Manage email forwarding for the executive through the hosting interface.
Coordinate a Web Committee and develop the website and assist Executive in using the website collaboratively. Train Communications Officer to use email functions and templates within WordPress. Assist Executive officers in posting events and news updates. Monitor Membership renewal functionality in coordination with the Membership Officer. Oversee member forums.
Requires intermediate/advanced skills in WordPress.
Communications
Coordination of the avenues of communication to members (email, social media, website, etc.). Sends out periodic News Updates by email using a WordPress template. Sends out reminders of monthly meetings. Usually is a member of the web committee.
Safety Officer
Promote safe kayaking practices in the Association. Oversee safety procedures for SKABC. Cause review official club policy documents in conjunction with the Secretary and appropriate Executive Chair. Maintain record of Incident Reports. Produce or locate safety articles find safety products present safety products at club meetings. Talk about safety issues at club meetings. Encourage safety related training activities.
Training Officer
SKABC’s vision for training is to have an effective, consistent and leading edge training system that puts safety first and foremost and ensures enjoyment for all levels while caring for the planet.
SKABC has nine core courses developed by the club and offered each year. Also, members volunteer to deliver specialty topic sessions and from time to time we make arrangements for courses with external providers.
While club members provide the instruction and coordinate individual courses, the training coordinator oversees the budget and the planning, scheduling and booking of courses for the season. Course related responsibilities include ensuring courses are posted on the website and regularly updated during the busy months, identifying qualified instructors, providing the lead instructor with originals of course handouts, ensuring the course coordinator has the necessary information to handle registrations, collecting participant and instructor feedback, approving expenses and monitoring the training budget.
In addition to the monthly club and executive meetings, the time commitment is heaviest from March through early June when most courses are running and may require 2-4 hours each month. The majority of scheduling and bookings is normally completed in January and early February and takes 5-10 hours over that period depending on the courses and options available. During the rest of the year, some off season courses may be offered but the work involved is limited.
Trips Officer
- Oversee the Trip Planning Committee which schedules club trips for the paddling season
- Identify qualified trip leaders and encourage them to lead club trips
- Organize a trip planning meeting ahead of the paddling season
- Ensure trips are posted on the website and regularly updated during the busy months
- Cause annual review of trip policies in the SKABC Policies and Procedures Handbook, and also the trips guidelines posted on the website. Revise as needed in conjunction with the President, Safety Officer and appropriate Executive.
- Attend monthly Club Executive meetings and report periodically.
Conservation, Parks, and Marine Trails Officer
Promotes SKABC's conservation goals. Flows information from outside groups to members via our website, newsletter, and club meetings.
The club's conservation goals are to:
- Promote sound ecological practices by our members and awareness of the impact of our activities on our surroundings.
- Provide information to members to enhance their appreciation of the marine environment.
- Provide input to governments when they formulate environmental, legal or other policies that affect access to or the ecological sustainability of the marine environment.
- Advocate for the protection of existing marine protected areas and for the creation of additional protected areas to ensure the sustainability of BC's unique marine ecosystems
As an open-ended position I have chosen to flow information from the many conservation & marine park groups to members via our web site. I have put myself on the participation lists of relevant groups such as the Georgia Strait Alliance, Nature Conversancy, Shore Line Cleanup, the Vancouver Aquarium, as well as municipal, provincial and federal groups such as the National Marine Conservation Area group, Gulf Islands National Park, the provincial BC Marine Trails Network group, and the district of North Vancouver with the Indian Arm Provincial Park Draft Management Plan in conjunction with the Tsleil-Waututh Band.
Time demands can be flexible but have included, generally, the monthly SKABC executive meetings, and monthly meetings with at least one of the relevant groups such as the BC Marine Trails Team in Nanaimo. One has to be open to about 10-20 emails per month which require some action.
In general it is a wonderful volunteer job which allows one to interface with all members of SKABC and with a wide group of ecology/conservancy-minded groups in BC.
Howe Sound Steward
Coordinates efforts to maintain 6 campsites in Howe Sound. Manages annual budget for maintenance and recommends improvements.
Outreach and Promotions
Coordinates club participation in outside events such as MEC Club Night, Paddlefest, Reel Paddling Film Festival and Big Brothers and Big Sisters paddle. Initiates getting an event on the club calendar, getting a committee together, and publicizing it to make it happen.
Member at Large
Attends Executive meetings and assists Executive with projects when needed.
Director at Large
Serves as a Director. Usually a past executive officer and long-time club member. Attends Executive meetings and assists Executive with projects when needed.
Past President
Previous year's president serving as a mentor on the Executive Committee.