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02. The Secretary

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The Secretary

The Role

The role of the Secretary at Greensborough Hockey Club is to be the primary contact for communications between the club and external parties.

  • act as the Public Officer
  • primary contact for communications with Hockey Victoria
  • control incoming and outgoing mail
  • manage and control all internal and external club correspondence
  • minute management meetings or delegations as required

Legislative responsibilities

The secretary will also act as the “public officer” of the club so generally becomes the clubs nominated secretary under the Incorporated Associations Act and as such is responsible for:

  • Notifying the relevant government body of their appointment
  • Lodging on behalf of the club all reports and notices as required by the Incorporated Associations Act.
  • Maintaining the club’s membership database

Meetings

  • In conjunction with the President, schedule all committee meetings and general meetings (including the annual general meeting) as early as possible
  • Prepare and circulate, at least 4 days prior to each committee meeting the agenda and supporting reports, including financial reports and any other information required to considered by the committee
  • Take the meeting Minutes of each committee and general meeting, circulating them within 4 days of the meeting to relevant people.
  • Prepare and circulate according to the Club Rules, the notice convening the annual general meeting, ensuring all members are invited.
  • If there are special resolutions to be considered at a general meeting, ensure the special notification requirements under the Club Rules are met.
  • Maintain the minute book of club committee and general meetings, ensuring the minutes of each meeting are signed by the President confirming they are a true and correct reflection of the meeting

Communication

  • Handle all general club correspondence, responding to any correspondence as required
  • Oversee and co-ordinate the club’s communication strategy, including its website, email newsletters and social media
  • Be the clubs point of contact for key stakeholders including, local council, local association and peak sports bodies.

Knowledge Management

  • Maintain a register of the latest version of all club documentation including but not limited to the Club Rules, all policies and procedures, by laws, position descriptions, subcommittee terms of reference, coach and player development plans etc.
  • Maintain a register of all marketing material relating to the club’s activities (letterhead, logos, posters, brochures etc.)
  • Ensure that all volunteers update their position descriptions and any operating manuals, policies and procedures and provide the secretary with the updated version prior to the Annual General Meeting.
  • Co-ordinate the induction training for the incoming committee, sub committees, coaches and volunteers.

Succession planning

A key responsibility of the club secretary is to ensure that at the end of their term a new secretary is able to be easily recruited.  An effective succession planning strategy is to appoint at least one but often multiple assistant secretaries who will be delegated tasks and responsibilities of the secretary.  The secretary will ensure that when delegating tasks to assistant secretaries that:

  • Expectations are clearly defined
  • The assistant secretaries have been adequately trained
  • The secretary provides continual monitoring and support

Requirements

The Secretary is expected to:

  • Act in the best interest of the members at all times
  • Attend all Committee members
  • Undertake the role in good faith and honesty
  • Hold or willing to apply for a current volunteer’s “working with children” check

If at any stage the Secretary becomes aware of a personal conflict of interest, real or perceived between themselves and the club, they should immediately notify the Club President of the conflict who will immediately inform all other committee members.

End of year hand over

Updating key documents

 At the end of each year a key activity of the Secretary will be to review and revise their position description to ensure it continues to reflect the requirements of the role.  The updated Position Description must be included in the club information register prior to the Annual General Meeting each year.

Induction of the incoming Secretary

An important responsibility of outgoing Secretary is to train, mentor and support incoming the incoming Secretary.