Nominating Committee: The Congregation’s Ultimate Power

Unitarian Universalists take democracy seriously: Our fifth principle is “the right of conscience and use of the democratic process within our congregations…” We exercise this most notably in electing certain members to represent us – e.g., Board of Trustees officers. And we are clear about which powers we delegate to the officers (with congregational oversight, of course), and which powers we reserves for ourselves.

Every year, we elect three members of the Nominating Committee to be responsible for developing a slate of officers for the next Annual Meeting. The congregation reserves the right to make additional nominations from the floor. The congregation does not give the Nominating Committee itself the power to name their own successors. This is the membership’s ultimate power to ensure that any voting member can serve.

So, who is on the Nominating Committee, and what do they do? The 6-member Nominating Committee has two separate groups; one is the three third-year Trustees of the Board (this year, Tanja Hodges, Sara Jones, and David Sharpe), people who were elected by the congregation three years prior; and three members elected by the congregation to serve a one-year term (currently David Barr, Bill Childers, and Lynn Wiley).

Each year, the Nominating Committee develops a list of voting members who they think would do a good job of representing the congregation in various positions. The Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Clerk, Board Trustees, and the Moderator may be the most obvious, but a position that has the potential to be critically important is service on the Mediation Committee (which fortunately has little to do most of the time). And the Trustees of the Trust Fund are elected to manage the considerable assets in our Trust Fund (usually with little fan-fare).

For the past few years, in addition to the positions listed above and in our Bylaws, the Nominating Committee has also nominated members to serve on next year’s Nominating Committee, all of whom were approved by the congregation. But this has been an expedience, and is not a power delegated to it. It is preferable for our membership to take the initiative, although the Nominating Committee can facilitate it.

So, please consider becoming a nominee for next year’s Nominating Committee. Also, talk with other members of the congregation about being a nominee. Notify the Nominating Committee (send an e-mail to David Sharpe at dmsharpe@siu.edu) that you will put your hat in the ring. Ask others to do the same. The Nominating Committee will verify that all nominees are current voting members, as required by the Bylaws. And the Nominating Committee will put all names received by this Monday, April 21st on the ballot for the Sunday, May 4th Annual Meeting.