BICO GENERAL MEETING MINUTES - October 2, 2006

Thanks to Bob Burchard for hosting the meeting. Below are the minutes from this meeting. Important news about the BICO election are below.

NEXT BICO MEETING –
MONDAY EVENING, January 8th at Bob Burchard's home at 7:30 pm.

We hope that you can attend.

Sincerely,
Jeannie Iacovazzi, Treasurer

General BICO News

The Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer positions are available. Terms will be for two years and are renewable. Elections will be held via e-mail since there will be no December meeting due to the holiday season. The following representatives from each of the four teams comprise the Election Committee:

Please e-mail all Election Committee members above if you wish for your nomination to count for any of the three available positions. If you choose to nominate someone, please check with that person first to see if he/she is interested in being nominated for the position before you make contact with the Election Committee Members. Self-nominations are acceptable. The deadline for responding with nominations is next Friday,October 20th.

Please read the following excerpt from the BICO Bylaws regarding elections if you are interested in either running for office or voting in the election. The officer positions are listed below the bylaws portion.

Recruitment and Election
I. Elected Officers
a. Includes: Chair, Vice Chair, and Treasurer.
b. Terms will be for two years and are renewable.
c. An attempt will be made to hold elections every two years at the last meeting of the calendar year.
d. An Election Committee will present a slate of candidates to be considered for elected positions for that year. An Election Committee is comprised of one representative selected by each team. The slate of elected candidates shall only include those BICO members who have been with BICO for a minimum of six months.
e. All certified leaders and active volunteers will be eligible to vote in elections.
f. The candidate receiving the simple majority of votes (either delivered via e-mail, USPS mail, or in person) will be elected to the position. There must be a quorum of two-thirds of certified leaders and volunteers.
g. The Chair, Vice Chair and Team Leaders must be certified leaders.
h. Training of newly elected officers will take place immediately after the election with their terms beginning at the first meeting of the new calendar year.

II. BICO LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
A. Positions and Duties
1. Chair (elected): The Chair may delegate any of the following duties,
but is responsible for their oversight. Duties include:
a. Setting BICO goals in consultation with the BICO Steering Committee.
b. Establishing and maintaining partnerships with Baltimore City
agencies/organizations.
c. Ensuring there is adequate funding to support all BICO's activities.
d. Preparing necessary annual and terminal reports to National ICO,
Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club, foundations, and other donors with
the assistance of the Treasurer and others.
e. Setting the agenda of bimonthly leadership meetings and presiding
over them.
f. Consulting with the Steering Committee prior to making necessary
decisions between bimonthly meetings.
g. Maintaining communication with Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club,
Greater Baltimore and Howard County Sierra Club locals, organizations,
foundations and other funding sources as well as leaders, volunteers and
guests.

2. Vice Chair (elected): The Vice Chair assists the Chair in carrying
out his/her responsibilities, communicates regularly with the Chair, and
assumes BICO leadership responsibilities in the Chair_s absence. Other
duties include:
a) Assuring the program of all outings is in agreement with BICO's
goals.
b) Assuring that a team of leaders, adequate in number, is committed to
each partnership and screened in accordance with National ICO policy.
c) Collecting BICO outing reports for insurance information and
reimbursements.
d) Collecting all accident reports and sending them to the appropriate
people.
e) Coordinating and maintaining the BICO outings schedule.
f) Assuring that minutes are taken at each meeting and distributing to
all BICO Certified Leaders, Volunteers, and Guests.
g) Arranging the transportation needs for the organization.
h) Maintaining a historical record of outings (outing reports) and other
organization materials including meeting minutes.

3. Treasurer (elected): The duties of the Treasurer include:
a. Contacting the Sierra Club Foundation to request advances.
b. Submitting quarterly insurance reports and payments to National ICO.
c. Maintaining accounts of all BICO expenses and income.
d. Filing annual reports with National ICO, the Maryland Sierra Club
chapter and the Chapter Outings Committee.
e. Preparing financial information for grant proposal budgets and
reports.
f. Preparing annual budgets and presenting them to the BICO membership.
g. Making the accounts available to members of the Steering Committee.