Merit Advisory Council GuidelinesRevised February 2010The Merit Board has established the Advisory Council in order to advance Merit's relationship with K-12 schools, libraries, community colleges, and other Member communities to better meet our common objectives in advancing the use of networking for education in Michigan. The Council's Charter is to:
I. Representation Representatives are elected by current Merit Members in each of the categories listed below, with the representatives for a category coming from that category.
The "single organization" clause in the K-12 and library descriptions is intended as a way of insuring input from individual schools rather than just ISDs, REMCs, or regional Hubs, or from individual libraries rather than just library cooperatives. Those eligible would be organizations that are directly attached Merit Members or Full-service, Second-site Members (those who pay the additional Full Support Fee per year to have direct contact with Merit even though they are Members of a group Member). If a group Member, such as a regional Hub, contains organizations that are in more than one of the categories above, that Member must itself decide in which category it belongs. In general, throughout the discussions of representation there is a desire to be somewhat flexible about how the representation is handled, because the structure of Members is both complex and changing. In the event that a position is vacated and there is no alternate available or willing to fill that position, or in the event that an alternate position becomes vacant, an ad hoc committee will be formed, made up of:
II. Meetings The Advisory Council will meet twice a year at times set by the Council. The Council will also provide an opportunity for Member input at the Merit Member Conference.III. Merit Board Relationship with the Advisory Council The Board may select non-voting liaisons to attend Advisory Council meetings. These are to be people from member institutions, but need not be the Board representative. They would also be expected to attend Merit Board meetings, in keeping with their role as liaisons. The Chair of the Advisory Council, or designee, is to attend all Merit Board meetings as a non-voting representative of the Advisory Council. Topics arising from the Advisory Council are to be included where appropriate on the Merit Board agenda. When the Merit Board meets in Executive Session, the Advisory Council Chair is not included.IV. Merit Staff Relationship with the Advisory Council Merit's President may select two non-voting liaisons to the Advisory Council from Merit staff. More are encouraged, with this to be decided in collaboration with the Advisory Council Chair.V. Election of Advisory Council Representatives Council elections will be held annually in April. New Council members will take their seats at the Spring Council meeting.At the fall meeting the Council Chair will appoint a nominating committee to develop the slate of candidates put forth to the membership for election. The nominating committee shall include the vice-chair, a Merit staff member and at least one additional Council member. The slate must include at least two candidates per open seat. If the nominee is not the Member administrative contact as defined by the Merit database, then the nominee will need authorization from the Member administrative contact stating that they can run under their organization name. The Nominating Committee will email the slate of candidates to the full Council no later than the 15th of March. Council will vote via email to accept or reject the ballot. Merit will distribute the ballot by email and via the web to all qualified Members. Members must vote by the deadline indicated on the ballot. Merit staff will put in place the necessary controls to insure each Member votes only once, and in the appropriate category. The chair of the Nominating Committee, in conjunction with Merit staff, will count the votes and announce the results of the election to the Council chair. In the event of a tie, both parties will be notified by the Election Committee Chair and will be asked to attend the upcoming Advisory Council meeting. A random process agreed upon by all three parties at the meeting will determine the outcome. In the event that both parties are not available to attend the meeting then the Election Committee and the Election Committee Chair can use another random process, which may include electronic means for determining the winner. The Council will review and modify these procedures on an as needed basis. VI. Term of Advisory Council Representatives The Advisory Council representatives will serve a 3-yr term.VII. Selection of Advisory Council Chair The Advisory Council will elect a vice-chair/chair annually at its spring meeting. The elected chair position, not the vice-chair, can be an Advisory Council Alternate Member.VIII. Staff Support for the Advisory Council Merit staff will provide support to the Advisory Council for setting meeting dates, doing minutes, and other basic needs for its operation, as determined in collaboration between the Advisory Council Chair and Merit staff.IX. Merit Board Re-Authorization of Charter At its June 2002 meeting, The Merit Board of Directors re-authorized the charter of the Merit Advisory Council for an indefinite period of time. Previously, the Council had a charter which needed to be reviewed every two years.X. Commentary The Advisory Council is encouraged to focus on substantive issues rather than devoting major time to organizational structure, creation of By-Laws, or various process-oriented issues. |