Duties of the Council Members of the Australian Mammal Society Inc.
and Council Appointees

The constitution of the Australian Mammal Society Inc. outlines the office-bearers and appointed members of the Council of the Society.  The office-bearers of the Society are the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Assistant Secretary/Newsletter Editor.  A further three or four people are elected as Ordinary Council Members which may fill the roles of Conservation Officer, Membership Secretary, Student Representative and Ordinary Member.  There are two appointed Council Members, the Editor of Australian Mammalogy and the Webmaster.  A Public Officer is appointed to fulfil incorporation responsibilities.  The Public Officer is not a member of Council.  The Society employs a Secretariat to assist with membership and financial matters.

President

1. Ensure that the goals of the Society are met.

2. Direct the business of the Council and Society meetings in a timely and efficient manner.

3. Act as a spokesperson for the Society.

4. Initiate business that is appropriate for action by the Society.

5. In these modern times receive many emails, which are answered or directed to the Secretary or other Council members.

Vice-President

1. Update the Duty statements and Regulations after consultation with the other Council members for handover to the new Council.
2. Carry out presidential duties in the absence of the President. 
3. Otherwise, the Vice-President does not have any specific duties but is given various jobs to do as they arise.
4. A Vice-President’s report is sometimes tabled at AGMs but this is not a requirement.

Treasurer

The Treasurer of the Society, or a Council-appointed delegate (e.g. the secretariat), must

1.      Collect and receive all amounts owing to the Society and make all payments authorised by the Society.

2.      Keep (and ensure the secretariat keeps) correct accounts and books showing the financial affairs of the Society with full details of all receipts and expenditure connected with the activities of the Society.

3.      Present quarterly financial reports, including Profit and Loss, and Balance Sheet to Council meetings (end March, June, September, December).

4.      Ensure that an auditor has been appointed (in consultation with Council) at each AGM.

5.      Ensure the auditor receives all of the Society’s financial transaction details (including a list of all accounts, books and records, usually via the secretariat) for preparation of the annual audit.

6.      Prepare and present an annual statement of accounts and the auditors report to the Society’s AGM.

7.      Ensure term deposits etc are rolled over to obtain maximum interest (taking into consideration the risk profile of the Society, ie invest in relatively conservative investments).

8.      Ensure the annual lodging fee is paid to the Registrar-General’s Office in the ACT. The Society is incorporated, and hence the Public Officer must present the auditor’s report to the Registrar-General’s Office in the ACT and pay an annual lodging fee.  This must be done within 6 months of the end of the Society’s financial year.  The Australian Mammal Society Incorporation Number is xxxxxxxx.

The following information relates to the Treasurer’s role.

1.      All cheques, drafts, bills of exchange, promissory notes and other negotiable instruments must be signed by two members of the Council (or employees of the Society, being members of the Council or employees authorised to do so by the Council).  This duty is normally delegated to the Treasurer and one of the President, Vice-President or Secretary.  These members need to be official signatories on the cheque account and provide their details to the bank.

2.      The financial year of AMS is May 1^st to April 30^th.

3.      The AMS Australian Business Number (ABN) is 37 728 182 200.

4.      The society is currently not registered for GST, and therefore no GST is charged on subscriptions.  The society pays GST on services that are supplied such as printing of journals and newsletters, secretariat services, and services provided for conferences.  However, because we are not registered for GST, we cannot claim these GST components back.  The advantages of not being registered for GST is that it reduces the cost for members and reduces the amount of paperwork that needs to be done.  Not-for-profit organisations such at the AMS do not have to register for GST if the annual turnover of the Society is below $100,000.  Thus the Council/Treasurer need to keep an eye on annual turnovers in case the $100,000 threshold is reached.

Secretary

1.      General

·         Receive AMS correspondence, reply as appropriate and archive into AMS records (note much of the incoming correspondence is by email via the AMS web page or President);

·         Keep hard copy records of correspondence, minutes, etc.

      2.   Council Meetings

·         Prepare agendas for Council meetings by liaison with other Council members, and circulate to all Council members prior to the meeting.

·         Prepare Secretary's report for each Council meeting covering incoming and outgoing correspondence, and other material as required.

·         Attend Council meetings or delegate another Council member to deliver report and take minutes of meetings.

·         Take minutes at Council meetings and distribute copies to other Council members, prior to the following Council meeting.

·         Prepare and archive minutes into AMS records.

3.   Annual General Meetings

·         Prepare agenda for Annual General Meeting by liaison with other Council members.

·         Prepare annual Secretary's report for delivery at Annual General Meeting.

·         Attend Annual General Meeting or delegate another Council member to take on duties at AGM.

·         Take minutes at Annual General Meetings.

·         Prepare and archive minutes into AMS records and for inclusion in newsletter.

      4.   Archive Council and AGM minutes and correspondence to Australian Academy of Science.

Assistant Secretary / Newsletter Editor

      1.   Council meetings and Annual General Meetings

In the absence of the Secretary, take minutes of AMS Council meetings and AGMs and perform other duties of the Secretary as required. 

      2.   Newsletter

·         Solicit written articles and other material from AMS members and from a variety of sources that is likely to be of interest to the Society’s members.

·         Review the AMS Council’s correspondence of with external bodies that may be of interest to members, for inclusion in the Newsletter.

·         Collate and format this information to compile two AMS Newsletters per year.

·         Newsletters are published in April and October of each year.

·         Abstracts from the Annual Scientific Meeting (usually held June/July) are published in the October edition for the benefit of members unable to attend the conference.

·         Newsletters are generally produced in two-column format in Microsoft Word, and then converted to Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format.

·         The pdf document is used for printing purposes, and for uploading onto the AMS website for access by members. 

·         This pdf document is sent to the Society’s secretariat, who organises printing and distribution to all members.

·         A hard copy of the Newsletter is currently posted to all members.  There has been discussion on the option of electronically distributing the Newsletter.  This has not yet taken place, but may become more acceptable in the future.

      3.   Items for inclusion in the Newsletter are:

·         Title page with AMS logo and the title Newsletter of the Australian Mammal Society Inc. (NB where ever the words the Australian Mammal Society are used they have to be followed by the word Inc.);

·         ISSN Number (ISSN 0262621213);

·         Council members and their positions;

·         Table of Contents;

·         Minutes of Annual General Meeting (October issue);

·         Annual financial audit and statement (October issue);

·         Abstracts from the previous AMS Scientific Meeting (usually in October issue);

·         Articles and photographs from AMS Scientific Meeting and associated trips;

·         AMS Annual Scientific Meeting limericks, highlighting the winner;

·         Winners of AMS awards including: Bolliger, Lyne, Presidential Post Doctoral, Scruffy, and occasional awards (Troughton, Honorary Life memberships).

·         Occasional articles, e.g. students seeking internships, state roundup of research, special articles and member notices.

Membership Officer

1. Oversee the activities of the Secretariat in relation to membership issue (see below for the Secretariat duties).
2. Notify the Secretariat of any new Life Members and the death of ordinary and Life Members.
3. Receive new member applications.  Present these to Council for approval and then send application form and payment to the Secretariat.  If new members do not or cannot supply referees on their application form ask them to send a brief description of their interest or involvement with mammalogy for approval by Council.
4. Send introductory letter to new members (although if a batch job, could send signed letters to the Secretariat who will post them out with fee receipts).  A copy of this letter template is attached to the Regulations document.
5. Keep a copy of new members’ application forms and regularly check that they have been added to the membership list and their details are correct.
6. Provide Newsletter Editor with name, and state in which they live, of new members accepted since last Newsletter.
7. Send a copy of the membership list to the Public Officer (twice a year is probably sufficient).  It is a requirement of our incorporation that the Public Officer has a copy of the current membership list.
8. Keep a copy of all change of address details before forwarding to the Secretariat so they can be checked – useful for tracking down problems.
9. Request a copy of the financial and unfinancial members’ list on a regular basis and check all new members and address details have been dealt with. Take a count of membership numbers to each Council meeting so that a running tally can be recorded in the minutes and any big deviations noted.
10. Keep a check on the renewal form that is sent out each November.  Make sure it clearly indicates how much each person owes (especially for members that are already one year in arrears and are about to be dropped off the membership list).
11. Note that as per the decision made at the 2004 AGM, the cost of membership will rise each year by an amount equivalent to the CPI (Consumer Price Index), rounded up to the nearest dollar.  Ensure that the Secretariat is aware of this and factors it into the membership renewal form before sending it out in November.
12. Review the Family registration category every couple of years to see not being abused.  Family membership enables two (or more?) people that live at the same address to receive a reduced membership fee and receive only one copy of the journal and newsletter. 
13. Keep the membership application form up-to-date (including the CPI increase each year) and forward to the Webmaster to be placed on the website.
14. Arrange the postage of back issues of the journal upon request.  The Secretariat will be able to send recent back issues if they have them in stock.  Spare copies of old journals are stored by the Editor who will send them out when requested.  Back issues of journals are supplied free to financial members upon request providing they cover postage.
15. Some correspondence regarding requests for back issues and change of address will be sent direct to the Secretariat, while others are sent to the Membership Secretary and must be forwarded to the Secretariat.
16. The Secretariat should notify the Membership Secretary of returned mail they receive – attempt to find a new address for lost members.  It is useful to ask other Council members, check recent conference proceedings for attendants’ contact details, perform web searches, phone previous places of employment or ask at the Annual General Meetings.
17. Once a year send out a ‘testing’ email to all members that have provided email addresses, in order to keep track of, and correct, incorrect email addresses.
18. Scientific Meeting related duties. 

·         If registration for non-members at the Scientific Meeting is set at a higher rate than for members, a list of members should be forwarded to the Scientific Meeting organisers prior to them receiving registrations, so that they can check the membership status of registrants.

Take to the Scientific Meeting:

·         Up-to-date membership lists, showing financial and unfinancial status.

·         A receipt book and membership application forms.  Keep membership registration money separate from the Scientific Meeting money.

·         A list of lost members to find contact details for.

After the conference (preferably within one month – this is very important)

·         Send all application forms and money onto the Secretariat.  Let the Secretariat know that new members have already received a receipt.  Send introductory letters to new members.

Conservation Officer

1.      Monitor conservation and land management issues to identify opportunities for AMS input to the planning process for issues of national significance to the conservation of Australian mammals.

2.      Prepare letters and submissions to appropriate agencies to encourage adequate consideration of the conservation needs of Australian mammals.

3.      Report on matters of national significance for mammal conservation via the Newsletter and Annual General Meeting.

Student Representative

The primary role of the student representative is to communicate and represent the interests of students to the Council.  In addition, other duties maybe assigned from time to time.  Duties include:

·         liase with students about relevant society issues

·         organise student events at the Scientific Meeting

·         meet with and induct students, especially those new to the society

·         keep information on students awards up to date, and communicate these changes where ever possible to student members

·         promote society membership to students whenever possible

·         receive and process student feedback.  With respect to feedback from the Scientific Meeting, distribute and collect student questionnaires at each Scientific Meeting and compile this information for the attention of the Council, other society members and the organisers of the next Scientific Meeting.

·         organise social events (where and when appropriate).

Ordinary Member

The Ordinary Member has no fixed duties but assists the Council as requested.

Editor of Australian Mammalogy

The role of the Editor is to compile the Society’s journal, Australian Mammalogy.  The details of this role will be handed directly from one Editor to the next.

Webmaster

The role of the Webmaster is to maintain the Australian Mammal Society website.  The website address is: www.australianmammals.org.au.

The website must include the following information, updated at least quarterly:

·         Current membership of Council

·         Constitution

·         Details of forth-coming Annual General Meeting and Scientific Meeting

·         Location and dates of meetings two years hence

·         Downloadable membership form and contact details for Membership Officer

·         Adopted policy statements

·         A Members Only page that contains

·         Newsletter – past and current issues

·         Australian Mammalogy – past and current issues

·         Minutes of Council meetings

·         Current membership list with contact details

·         Award guidelines and information.

Additional information might include:

·         Links with other websites

·         Other societies

·         Books, software etc

·         Mammal literature databases

·         Current research projects

·         News from Around the Traps

·         List of Australian mammals, including common and scientific names.

Any material sent to the Webmaster for inclusion on the webpage needs to be approved by the Council first.  All material sent to the Webmaster from the Council for inclusion on the webpage should state clearly if it is to go onto the public domain or the Members Only page.

Public Officer

The role of the Public Officer is to fulfil our obligations under the Associations Incorporation Act of the ACT.  The Public Officer needs to be over 18 years of age and reside in the ACT.  They are to lodge the annual audited financial statement of the Society and pay the annual lodging fee.

The current Public Officer is Dr. Linda Broom.
               Dr. Linda Broome,
               Senior Threatened Species Officer
               Department of Environment and Conservation, 
               P.O. Box 2115
               Queanbeyan NSW 2620 Australia.
               Telephone: 02 6298 9719
               Facsimile: 02 6299 4281
               linda.broome@npws.nsw.gov.au

The Secretariat

The Society employs a Secretariat to manage the finances and membership of the Society under the direction of the Treasurer and Membership Secretary.

The current Secretariat is Convention Associates, contact details:

            Mick Gould

            Convention Associates

            13 Jeffrey St,

Mt Waverley, VIC 3149

Phone: (03) 9887 8003

Email: convention@optusnet.com.au

Services required from the Secretariat:

1. Managing accounts, funds (including investments as directed).
2. Provision of financial statements (quarterly, including YTD) including Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statements to Council via Treasurer.
3. Receive and prepare cheques for payment of bills and supply to Council (via Treasurer) for signatures and mailing.
4. Receive and bank Scientific Meeting registration fees.
5. Manage printing, collation, stapling and mail-out of newsletter, and mail-out of journal.
6. Manage the membership list of the Society: