Annual Report 1998
Protocol for Council Action Using Listserve
This statement establishes the principles regarding use of the <98c>
listserve to include the entire Council in votes and other pressing
matters that have up to now -- under the limitations of communications
prior to electronic technologies -- gone for action to the Executive
Committee.
Article V, Section 3, of the Constitution states that the Executive Committee is “to transact necessary business in the interim between meetings of the Council”. Council agreed on June 1, 1998, that this language does not exclude Council from acting as a body during interims, via mail and e-mail votes, when possible, as has recently become the practice for ballots taken by regular mail and by FAX.
Matters that bind the organization as a whole to action or policy will be circulated to the entire Council, particularly when uncertainty or diverging perspectives make collective discussion productive. The Executive committee will routinely receive only questions requiring preliminary formulation or focusing, including preparation of agendas for Council meetings, beyond matters delegated to it by the Consitution. The president selects the method of Council communication and action on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the staffing requirements of each and other commitments at Headquarters that may influence the choice of medium.
Given the occasional urgency of matters arising in this context, if the momentary unavailability, or unresponsiveness, of members of Council fails to produce a quorum (one-half) voting within time limits stated in a request for action, the president may transfer the question to the Executive Committee for a decision by a simple majority.
As collective discussion constitues a primary reason for use of the electronic listserve, members of Council should circulate all substantive comments on points at issue to the entire membership of the listserve. They should, where software permits, avoid attaching strings of prior messages to their postings, copying and including only the text necessary to develop their points.
The <98c> list will include Association staff who participate ex officio in regular Council sessions, so as to facilitat their technical support of Council business proceeding electronically. Listserve discussions will constitute the official record of Council deliberations.
Approved July 1998
