4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECTION CLERK

4-A. Additional Responsibilities for Coordinating Committee Clerks

Along with the responsibilities listed above and those in each section’s coordinating committee (CC) description in the Handbook, CC clerks:

  1. Are de facto members of Liaison Committee and Sessions Committee;
  2. Must submit proposed committee minutes, reports, etc., to the Yearly Meeting clerk well in advance of the next business session. Proposed minutes and reports included on the agenda (at the Yearly Meeting clerk’s discretion) should be distributed in advance of the business session by such means as InfoShare and Spark, and made available to attendees prior to the business session when the matter will be considered;
  3. Must make sure that each committee in the section has answered the accountability queries, meeting with each committee clerk to evaluate whether or not there is demonstrated spiritual life.

4-B. Proposed Minutes from Yearly Meeting Committees or Monthly Meetings

In general, two kinds of minutes will come to a coordinating committee in preparation for consideration by the Yearly Meeting. The first and most typical minutes are presented by a committee under the care of the CC. The second and less typical kind of minute is presented to the coordinating committee by a monthly meeting or regional meeting. In all cases, minutes brought before the CC should be considered along the lines of Section 3-F. Most especially, monthly meeting minutes must be endorsed by the appropriate quarterly or regional meeting before coming to the CC. Time constraints may sometimes complicate this proper process, in which case, the CC must carefully consider whether it is suitable for the monthly meeting’s minute to move forward without Regional consideration.

If a minute brought before the CC is approved by the CC, it is the CC clerk’s responsibility to make the Yearly Meeting clerk aware of the minute and request that it be included in the next Yearly Meeting business session agenda. Again, this inclusion is at the discretion of the Yearly Meeting clerk.

4-C. Section Budget

CC clerks must gather budget requests from all the committees and bodies under their care, and submit them in a timely manner to the Financial Services Committee. CC clerks should then attend Budget Saturday (typically in September) to speak to their section’s work and respond to questions regarding their budget lines.

4-D. Annual Review of All Committees under the CC’s Care

Coordinating committee clerks shall ensure that there is an annual review of all the committees under their care, working with the committee clerks and using the committee accountability queries found in section 3-L. This review can also be the basis for the committee’s required Advance Report. These queries focus on evaluating each committee’s work over the past year. The responses may indicate that a committee is lively and answering needs of the Monthly, Regional and Yearly Meetings. Responses may point to the need for the coordinating committee to help the committee better facilitate the work of the Spirit in the committee.

The responses may acknowledge the lack of life of the Spirit in the committee, which would point to the need to lay it down. After laboring with such a committee over its answers to the accountability queries, the coordinating committee is empowered to recommend the laying down of the committee, forwarding this request to the Yearly Meeting for discernment. If this committee’s work is truly needed, it will find new form as the Spirit leads.

Finally, the coordinating committee itself is required to answer the accountability queries and submit an Advance Report. The CC clerk should honor the same spirit-led evaluation of the coordinating committee that is asked of the committees under its care.