
Contrary to the beliefs of some members of the club, the club is not run by the President, but by the committee, as shown in the club constitution under section 22. Club Management, which states "The Club shall be managed by the Club committee" (as well as section 16. Powers of the committee which states "the committee: a. is to control and manage the affairs of the Club).
The President has no more importance or power than any other committee members - they all just have different roles - with one exception which will be described below. All committee members have equal standing - they each have one vote at meetings and each vote is equal. In addition, the President has no emergency powers - there are none mentioned in the constitution, job description or standing resolutions.
The role of the President in the current club constitution is in Section 19 (1) which states "The President shall direct the general functioning of the Club and shall preside at all meetings of the Club." On the club website on the "Job Descriptions - President" page - this is echoed by the first duties mentioned which are to "Oversee the general running of the Club" and to "Chair committee meetings and general meetings".
When Karen Davis - our longest serving President and the author of the job description - was asked what this rather general description actually meant, she replied that it basically meant that the President should make sure that everyone on the committee and all the appointees were doing their jobs i.e. the program was being produced by the coordinators, meetings were happening on schedule, the secretary was producing the minutes, the minutes were being added to the website, memberships were being updated and fees were being collected by the treasurer etc.
There are also a few administrative tasks assigned to the role of President. The President shall always be a member of any sub-committees that the committee creates. The President is one of three signatories when cheque transactions need to be made, or when direct debit to payee accounts are needed. The President also keeps track of awards and club badges, and presents them when appropriate, and organises or delegates the organisation of leader training every two years. The President is also required to check the welfare of club members who are ill or injured that they are aware of.
The only time the President has more power than anyone else in the club is when they are presiding at a committee or general meeting and a vote is tied. Then - and only then - do they have more power, in the form of the additional deciding or casting vote. Even then, this power does not necessarily go to the President, as the President may be absent from the meeting or may have delegated the role of presiding officer. In these cases the additional power is in the hands of the presiding officer, which will be another committee member at a committee meeting, or any member of the club at a general meeting!
As all the above shows, the role of President is fairly simple - and arguably much easier than other office-bearer positions like Secretary, Treasurer and Website Administrator. So when the current President steps down voluntarily - or is forced to step down by the limit of three consecutive years as specified by the 2023 constitution - there is really no reason for anyone not to consider taking on the role!
|




|