Executive Committee Roles

Every year, the membership elects people to the executive committee. All positions end after 1 year, and all members may run for any position. If you are considering running please reach our to the executive. Often times people are concerned that they don't want to run against someone who is doing their job well and is happy in their position. You can ask Shawn the president if there is a space for you. But there are also non-voting jobs where you can attend meetings, give your input and volunteer for jobs at the meetings but not run in an election.

The committee used to meet monthly for ~90 minutes, but has meet less often since 2018, and rarely at all since the COVID-19 Pandemic. Though we should start having more regular meetings.

Voting officers of the executive committee are (as per Article 5, Section 1 of the COHA constitution) :

• the President
• Vice-President
• Secretary
• Membership Director
• Treasurer.

There are also non-voting members:

• meetings greeters
• social media managers
• information minister (propaganda).

Information on all of these roles below. All roles are volunteer roles.

President

The president's role is to make sure COHA continues to have meetings and make progress to it's objective.

Article 5, Section 2 of the COHA constitution:
The President chairs Executive Committee and General meetings, supervises the General and Business Affairs of COHA, and makes public statements consistent with the Objectives of COHA.

Vice-President

Article 5, Section 3 of the COHA constitution:
The Vice-President chairs meetings and fulfils all such other duties in the absence of the President.

Secretary

Article 5, Section 4 of the COHA constitution:
The Secretary, both corresponding and recording, prepares together with the President an agenda for meetings, both Executive and General. The Secretary keeps minutes of these meetings and presents same to members in attendance. The Secretary is responsible for filing all correspondence, minutes of Meetings, and Documents of COHA for future references.

The secretary has 4 jobs:

1. At every executive meeting, take minutes, and send them to the rest of the executive. Traditionally they are email them out, or saved to the cloud (Zoho Work Drive or Google Docs).
2. At every yearly AGM record the minutes from the AGM. The president usually prepares the agenda, and the secretary fills in who motioned and seconded what.
3. Fill out a Notice of Change and send that to the government at the start of the year. (Say who joined the executive, and who has left. Shawn has done this for nearly 15 years, even when he wasn't on the executive, and he will probably just keep doing it.)
4. Work with the treasurer to make sure the Annual Return is sent to CRA at the start of the year.

Membership Director

Article 5, Section 5 of the COHA constitution: Section 5 : The Membership Director is responsible for sending notices to Members, enforcing membership rules, carrying out membership drives, and shall keep a Member Register of all paid up members.

The membership director often works as a greeter with the treasurer, and work to make sure members are informed of their membership dues.

Treasurer

Article 5, Section 6 of the COHA constitution:
The Treasurer is responsible for collection of Membership Dues, recording same, issuing receipts, paying invoices after approval by the Executive Committee. The Treasurer shall keep accurate Financial Records. The Treasurer shall prepare an Annual Financial Statement to be presented at the Annual General Meeting.

The Treasurer is a combination of the bookkeeper and has signing authority over the bank account. They are responsible to managing the money, keeping track of the money, and making an end of year summary of the financial situation of COHA. The President and Vice-President will often assist new treasurers to help get them up to speed on their job.

• Petty Cash: The treasurer is responsible for the petty case. It must be at every meeting to collect money, the opening and closing balance must be recorded, and every transaction that occurs. Occasionally the petty cash surplus should be deposited to the bank account.
• Cheques: the treasurer is responsible for collecting and depositing cheques, as well as writing cheques for presenter honorariums ($50 local, $100 if more than 50km away) and any other payments or reimbursements.
• We typically don’t issue receipts since we are no longer tax-deductible.
• General Ledger: As of 2018, all financial documents are keep as a Google Drive Sheets spreadsheet. We track all money coming in and leaving our control, including the bank account, petty cash, cheques and donations we manage for charity.
• And of year summary: At the end of the year we finalize the general ledger and make a summary of how much we spent and provide a snapshot and estimate for the rest of the year at the AGM, usually in December.
• Often the treasurer works as a greeter with the membership secretary.

Non-voting volunteers

Other jobs, who may join executive committee meetings:

COHA Information Minister (Propaganda)

Someone who can write up the copy for monthly meetings, newsletter, etc. May include sending out emails and/or social media.

Social Media Manager

Includes some or all of the following: manage Facebook, Meetup and send email newsletters.

Greeters

• Rotating people to take names at the door and lead presentation room setup and take down. (You can usually just suggest what needs doing and people will help move chairs and tables.)
• Often this role is filled by the membership secretary and treasurer.