Nominating Committee
A Nominating Committee, under the direction of a Nominating Committee Chairman, is created each year to make recommendations of candidates for Director to the Board of Directors of The Augustan Society, Inc.
The Nominating Committee Chairman is appointed by the President, and serves at his pleasure. Should the President fail to appoint someone by the date of the January Board meeting, the Board may elect a chairman who will then serve at their pleasure.
The desired minimum number of candidates is one more than the number of vacancies. This is the minimum that requires the membership to make a choice. Fewer than this gives the impression of a closed organization that does not value member involvement — something to be avoided.
The Nominating Committee Chairman may appoint such Society members in Good Standing as he sees fit, to serve at his pleasure, or he may conduct business as a committee of one. If there is more than one member, he will need to hold at least one meeting for the Committee to vote out their recommended slate. (Headquarters Staff will arrange for a teleconference if requested.) Any member in Good Standing may be nominated, save Directors continuing in office and members of Headquarters Staff.
While it is not required that candidates have and use email, that will greatly enhance their ability to serve effectively, and may be considered a requirement if the Nominating Committee so chooses. Residency in the United States cannot be made a requirement, but a willingness to participate in teleconferences at the usual time may be.
Potential candidates should be informed that they are standing for a working position, not a ceremonial honor. They should be informed of the Standing Rules concerning automatic resignations for non-participation.
The Nominating Committee must obtain the written agreement to stand for election and serve as a Director from each candidate, and this agreement must be submitted to Headquarters not later than the Agenda deadline for the June Board meeting. Such agreements may be withdrawn up to the time the ballots are printed, usually the last week of June.
The Nominating Committee will invite each candidate to submit a written Candidate Statement to be published with the Ballot. These must be delivered to Headquarters not later than 23 June. No extension to this deadline can be permitted. Candidate statements are not required, but have been found to be a large influence on the election of those not already on the Board.
Candidate Statements are limited to 100 words. Longer statements will be truncated at 100 words. Edited statements will be emailed to the candidates for possible revision. Candidates who do not have email, but who send a self-addressed stamped envelope with their statement will be mailed edited statements if a week remains before the deadline.
The report of the Nominating Committee must be submitted to the Board at the regular June meeting; this is to say that the report must be submitted to Headquarters not less than ten calendar days before the meeting. Submitting in earlier months is permitted and encouraged.
The Nominating Committee is not a standing committee, thus the Chairman will continue in office only until he tenders his final report, resigns, or is removed.
It is desirable that the Nominating Committee keep a file on members contacted. This will ease the task in successive years, and may well provide ideas for committee members or chairmen. Each outgoing Nominating Chairman is responsible for the transfer of this file to his successor (if the President has named one), or to Headquarters.
When the Nominating Committee us unable to present an adequate slate at the June Board Meeting, the Board may choose to hold the election at the Annual Meeting. While an effective tool that is in full compliance with the By-Laws, it is a rare Annual Meeting that musters a quorum, returning the problem to the Board at their next meeting. At that time the Board must direct Headquarters Staff to utter a ballot, even if it should not have a sufficient number of candidates. (Sufficient here meaning one more than the number of vacancies.)
If desired, the Board may vote (by a 4/5 majority) to reduce the number of Directors to eliminate or reduce this insufficiency. State law mandates a minimum of three Directors (which would oblige one to hold two titles, except President and Secretary may not be held by the same person). One would think that prudence would call for a minimum of five Directors so that all five senior offices might be filled by different people.
In the worst-case scenario, a write-in ballot must be sent, with no slate and the number of blanks equal to the number of vacancies. In a worse-than-worst case scenario, fewer individuals will receive votes than there are vacancies. In this situation, the Board may appoint additional members; and if fewer than a quorum, they must appoint additional members.
In the absolute-worst-of-all-cases scenario, they are unable to muster enough Directors to make a quorum possible. One would think the best answer in this situation would be to mail out a ballot to authorize the creation of an Executive Director, and to do so. Given that the Board could not make the appointment of an Executive Director without a quorum, it would be appropriate to place a name or names on the same ballot to permit the membership to select the Executive Director.
Let us hope we do not reach this point!
