SECRETARIAT

Union Secretary

Job Description

Secretariat AdvisoryMarch 28-30, 2011

SECRETARIAT

• Administrative

• Union Executive Committee

• Records Management

Union Secretariat Functions

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• Guardian, Interpreter and Document Overseer of and Receives and Processes Amendments for:–Union Working Policy– Church Manual – Bylaws–Model Constitution and Operating

Policy–Union Handbook

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• Other Duties– Local Fields Evaluation– Local Fields Secretary Seminars– Credentials and Licenses– Yearbook– Travel Authorization– Communication– Creation: Local Fields

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• Spiritual Leader– Adventist administrators are not secular

executives, they are spiritual leaders

• Co-Administrator and Manager of the Union– Responsible for all inter-union calls

Secretary’s Role

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• Have the Spirit of Team Work– The need for administrative team work

cannot be overemphasized• In the Spirit of Christ, seek administrative

consensus• Administrators should take time to prepare

their agenda. Each item should be pre-cooked. This is a cardinal principle

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• Elected Office

• Report to the Executive Committee of the constituency in which elected

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• Secretary’s Position in Relationship to Church Organizations

• GC Working Policy, pg 147, Article VI, Sec. 1 and 1—b; secretary shall be elected for each union and will be designated as union elected secretary.

Administration

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• (Cont’d)— b. The secretary, associated with the president as an executive officer, shall serve under the direction of the executive committee and shall act as vice-chair of the executive committee. The secretary shall report to the executive committee of the union conference after consultation with the president.

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• (Cont’d)—It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep the minutes of the union conference constituency meetings and of the executive committee meetings; to furnish copies of these minutes to all members of the executive committee and to the division officers. The secretary shall be responsible for providing information as may be requested by the president or by the executive committee; and shall perform such other duties as usually pertain to the office.

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– Secretary is the second office of the administrative unit

– Structural relationships among officers positions

– The Secretary, as a member of the administrative team participates in the administration of the organizational level on which he/she is serving

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– Government by means of a committee system• Authority of the officers

– The President is the first officer, and is also the Chairperson of the Executive Committee. The Secretary and Treasurer have in the statutes of origin of their authority, and are elected by the same body of delegates that elected the President, which whom they work under the authority of the Board.

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– The officers as a group, is the combined authority of the functions of the president, secretary and the treasurer

– The officers are not substitutes for the committee, but have important functions in the leadership of the same, and in supervising the fulfillment of the actions taken. The responsibilities include bringing recommendations and options to the Committee.

– The officers will act as administrators, and will execute the actions taken by the committee

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• The Secretary has a very important participation in the administrative decisions. Administrative decisions are taken by the three administrators: The President, Secretary and the Treasurer• The Secretary’s relationship to the

Administrative Team.– The Secretary is the chief advisor to the

president and the administrative team in matters of denominational policy, statistics, agenda gathering, planning, record keeping and overall administration

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– It is essential that the secretary and the president work in closest possible cooperation. The secretary is the right arm of the administration for the review, implementation and interpretation of the working policies of the organization. Functionally, the secretary is the second ranking member of the administration.

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• It is the responsibility of the secretary to participate fully in all the plans, projects and decisions of the administration. These in turn, are to be communicated to the workers and to the field as approved by the executive committee.

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• The secretary must strictly avoid making decisions without the knowledge and concurrence of the president.

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– The Secretary serves as Chairperson of the Committee in the absence of the president, unless an Interim President has been chosen

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– The Secretary and Presidents signatures are placed on all credentials and licenses voted by the assembly or Executive Committee

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–Maintains direct communication (e.g. union secretary communicates directly with conferences/mission secretary and with division secretary). Within each level of church structure there is horizontal communication (e.g. each officer, in a three- officer team, communicates directly with any other officer).

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GC Working Policy, Pg 145, Art V, Sec. 1• Membership of the Executive

Committee: The president, secretary, treasurer, vice president(s), the chief administrator of each union conference institution, and the presidents of constituent conferences/missions/fields, shall be members ex officio of the executive committee.

Union Executive Committee

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• (Cont’d)—The remaining membership shall include laypersons, departmental directors, pastors, or other denominational employee. The officers of the division and of the General Conference of SDAs are members ex officio of the union conference executive committee;

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• (Cont’d) however, their membership shall be in addition to the number detailed above. Any such officers exercising their voting rights at any one meeting shall not make up more than to percent of the committee membership present.

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GC Working Policy, pg. 146, Art V, Sec. 2• Delegated Authority: the executive

committee of this union conference is delegated the authority to act on behalf of the constituents between regular sessions, including the authority to elect or remove for cause, officers, directors of departments/services, board and committee members.

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GC Working Policy, pg. 146, Art V, Sec. 3Administrative Authority: the executive committee shall have full administrative authority.

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• Agenda Preparation: – All items for the agenda are routed through the

secretary’s office. The secretary (agenda coordinator) is responsible for gathering the information, and for the preparation and distribution of the agenda.

– Before each meeting, the secretary will contact each individual who has an item to present to make sure that he/she will be in attendance to care for the item.

General Secretariat Administration

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– The union officers review the proposed agenda and agree which items to list. (As a rule, items should not be listed unless the three officers have come to a consensus or have a solution for the proposed agenda item). The same procedure should be followed for the yearend union committee meetings.

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– Support Material for Agenda Items. Individuals who have recommendations on the agenda must prepare the support material. Only the item title is listed on the agenda, but the details are given on a separate sheet. Support material will be given to the secretary’s office for distribution at least a day before the Union Executive Committee meets.

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– Deadline. The deadline for agenda items shall be decided by the three division officers and notification of deadline be given by the union secretary.

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• Minutes: –Minutes should be prepared and distributed as

soon as possible after the union executive committee meeting.

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– Implementation of Actions. The three officers meet after the executive committee meeting to assign responsibility for implementing actions.

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– Distribution of Minutes. Copies of the Union Executive Committee minutes are furnished to the Division as follows:• One copy to the division president, secretary, and

treasurer.

• A complete set of minutes to Archives.

• Copies are distributed to members and others as authorized.

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• Officers’ Council – meets weekly – Union Secretary serves as secretary of the

Officers’ Council

– Prepares and distributes the minutes of the Officers’ Council.

– Prepares voted actions for recommendation to the proper committees.

– Keep “Official Minutes” of the Officers’ Council.

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• Administrative Committee (AdCom)– Serves as Secretary of the Union Administrative

Committee.– Prepares the agenda items recommended by the

officers.– Prepares the minutes for approval and final copies for

distribution.– Prepares correspondence and/or covering letter for

those actions voted by ADCOM.– Arranges for binding and preservation of the “Official

Minutes”.

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• Executive Committee (ExeCom)– Meets at least twice per year: Mid-year and Year-end

meetings and whenever necessary.– Receives agenda items and proposed recommendations

from ADCOM.– Edits wording of recommendations in action format with

proper titles.– Prepares the minutes for approval and final copies for

distribution.– Prepares correspondence and/or covering letter for those

actions voted by the ExeCom which he introduced.– Arranges for binding and preservation of the “Official

Minutes.”

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– Prime Time Week precedes Yearend Committee and Midyear Committee.

–Midyear Committee meets in May and Yearend Committee meets in November each year.

– Every five years, the Quinquennial Session convenes.

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• Departmental Council – meets weekly or whenever possible.– Serves as chairperson or vice-chairperson of weekly

Departmental Council.

– Department agenda such as request or funding requests should be channeled through Departmental Council.

– Recommends agenda to AdCom for approval according to the terms of reference.

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• Officers and Departmental Council – meets quarterly.– Serves as chairperson or vice-chairperson of

Officers and Departmental Council that meets four times annually at Prime Time.

– The council affords the opportunity for training, consultation, and planning.

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• Chairperson of the following Committees: (Example)– Buddhist Study

– Children’s/Family Ministries

– GC Session

– Graduate Board of Education

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• Member of the following Committees: (Example)– Audit Affairs

– Communication/PARL

– Financial Statement Review

– Retirement

– Etc.

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• Conference/Mission/Fields Evaluation – Conduct evaluations of conference/mission/fields.

The evaluations are conducted in conjunction with the other two officers.

– The evaluation should be conducted every three years.

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• Conference/Mission/Field Secretaries Seminar– Conduct seminars for secretaries of the

conference/mission/fields.

– Agenda including the importance of membership transfer, membership audit, and statistical report.

– Prepare materials, handouts and supplies.

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• The Union Secretary is:– Responsible for informing attendees of the Midyear

Committee/Yearend Committee.– Responsible for gathering and preparing agenda and

recommendations for Midyear Committee/ Yearend Committee.

– Responsible for distributing minutes of Midyear Committee/ Yearend Committee as soon as meetings are adjourned so division officers can bring the minutes with them when they leave after the meetings. The distribution of minutes should be done both electronically and in hard copy.

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• Establishes a records center in a fire-proof vault to store and protect vital documents. The records center stores non-current documents designated for short-term or permanent storage.

• Implements the records retention schedule of the General Conference Archives.

Records Retention and Archives

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• Pays special attention to the permanent preservation of vital records such as articles of incorporation, constitutions and bylaws, board minutes, property records, and other legal documents.

• Other responsibilities in the management of records retention and archives are outlined in Records Management Manual.

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• Serves as the designated officer to care for missionaries, both interdivision and intradivision.

• Processes calls and prepares documentation for intradivision employees as recommended by institutions and for interdivision employees as required by the division

Intra Union Missionaries

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• Processes annual leaves, and permanent returns for intradivision employees.

• Records annual leaves, and permanent returns for interdivision employees.

• Communicates with conference/mission/field Secretary for all matters dealing with intradivision and interdivision personnel.

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• Prepares names for credentials and licenses to be approved by Executive Committee.

• Updates list of credentials and licenses upon expiration. (During quinquennial session).

• Issues credential cards after approval.

Credentials and Licenses

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• Issues a union directory twice a year – April and October

Directory (Division/Union/Conf/ Miss/Institutions)

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• Updates, revises, prints, and distributes union working policy.

Working Policy

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• Quarterly Statistical Report– Gathers data from conference/mission/fields,

verifies and submits to the GC Statistics Office quarterly.

– Distributes quarterly statistical reports

Statistical Reports

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• Annual Statistical Report– Gathers data, (from conference/mission/field)

verifies and submits it to the GC Statistics Office on the 1st quarter of the following year.

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• Denominational Workers– An annual report that goes with reporting of the

Annual Statistical Report.

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• Countries Where SDA Work Is Established – Division Statistics Office requests this yearly but

separate from the Annual Statistical Report. A form is sent by the division to update each year.

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• Language, Published and Oral Languages and Dialects Used by SDAs– Division Statistics Office sends a list to be updated

each year.

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• Broadcast Ministries– *Radio used – each week

– *TV used – each week

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• Membership Quotas– Division Statistics Office sends a “Membership

Basis for Per Capita Calculations” list which provides the June 30 (of the previous year) membership figures for each union. The request is for us to provide the breakdown of the membership figures for each union field. An annual request.

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• Distribution of GC Annual Statistical Report– Division sends copies of the GC Annual Statistical

Report for distribution to the field.

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• Sends out SDA Yearbook run-outs for the coming year’s edition to the missions/conferences/institutions.

• Processes and updates Yearbook run-outs and submits to the GC Yearbook Editor.

Yearbook

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• The following year’s itineraries and authorized meetings for all officers & associates, directors and associates are compiled for Yearend Committee agenda and voted at Yearend meeting.

• Itineraries/authorized meetings lists are first discussed at in-house Executive Committee before included in the Yearend Committee agenda.

Annual Itineraries/Authorized Meetings

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• Processes travel outside the union territory by union personnel.

• Travel outside the union are included in AdCom agenda for approval.

Travel Authorization

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*Processes requests for conference status and creation of new fields.

Conference Status Procedure

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• Communication Through Correspondence: Prompt and careful attention should be given to the matter of correspondence which comes to the union secretary. Response should be made to all letters even if it consists of a short paragraph acknowledging the receipt of the letter. Make letters short, concise, and to the point. Copies should be used when a number of people should receive the same information, including union departmental directors who may be concerned. Letters which come to the union secretary that should be handled by the president, the treasurer, or a departmental director should be passed along promptly.

Communication