English Country Dance Committee (ECDC) Structure and Responsibilities
ECDC Structure
The ECDC shall consist of five members, who are charged with overseeing the weekly FSGW English dance and all related special events.
All members of the ECDC must be current FSGW members in good standing and regular attendees of the weekly English dance. ECDC members shall include a balance of various components of the ECD community, including at least one non-caller/non-musician.
Two of five members shall have designated roles:
— Chairperson- Bottom line person, in charge of seeing that things are getting done.
- Liaison between ECD group and FSGW Dance Chair and Board.
— Finance person
- Budgeting and accounting for ECD events.
- Financial reporting to the FSGW Dance Chair and FSGW bookkeeper.
ECDC Responsibilities
- All five members shall work together to accomplish needed tasks, or delegate tasks to individuals or subcommittees- The division of responsibilities will be decided by the then existing ECDC, including which members fill the 2 designated roles.
- Possible subcommittees may include but not be limited to:
- Publicity
- Development
- Caller and Musician scheduling and development
- Door and sound
- Special events
- Balls - New Years and Spring
- Follow up on events and processes to investigate possible improvements.
- Record current policies and procedures, and formulate new ones or revise as needed.
ECDC Meetings
The ECDC must have at least two meetings per year, with the time and place announced in advance at a weekly English dance. These meetings shall be open to any interested FSGW member. However, the ECDC will have the option to go into closed session to discuss delicate matters. In addition, the ECDC shall make at least one presentation a year at a weekly dance, announced in advance, to inform the community of any important business and its current activities.
ECDC Rotation/Term Limits
Each member of the ECDC will serve for a year-long term, with a maximum of three consecutive one-year terms. After they serve three or more consecutive years, if no candidate is found to fill their spot and the ECDC member due to rotate off is willing, she/he may serve another one-year term. For continuity, it is recommended that no more than two members (three at the very most) rotate off the ECDC in one year.
If an ECDC member resigns in mid-year, the remaining members may appoint a nominating committee (NC) to fill the vacant position, or they may choose to leave that position open until the next yearly rotation. If more than one ECDC position becomes vacant in mid-year, a NC must be appointed to fill the open positions. It shall be allowable to re-activate the previous yearly NC for this purpose, all or in part.
In order to start this rotation and open up places for new ECDC members, the current organizers (as of 3/26/2014) will rotate off thusly: two in 2014, two in 2015, and the final current member in 2016.
The FSGW bylaws govern this group; our internal governance procedures and activities must comply with those bylaws.
To regularly attend the FSGW weekly English dance means at least 12 times per year.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE (NC)
In order to facilitate the process of bringing members of the FSGW English dance community onto the ECDC, a nominating committee shall be formed. Each year the ECDC shall appoint a nominating committee, which will be charged with assembling a slate of ECDC members, both incoming and ongoing, for ratification by the FSGW ECD community. Upon completing this task, the NC will disband.
- The NC will be comprised of three FSGW members in good standing who regularly attend the FSGW weekly English dance.
- One member shall be a person about to rotate off the ECDC, or who has done so within the past two years.
- The other two members should be representative of the diversity within the FSGW ECD community. No NC member may serve in 2 successive years.
- One member, designated by the ECDC, is the chairperson, serving as point person to communicate with the current ECDC. The NC members may determine additional roles as needed.
- The NC will present a slate of five proposed ECDC members, both incoming and ongoing, to be ratified at a weekly English dance, either the last dance in April or the first dance in May. Those in attendance at that dance, who are FSGW members in good standing and regularly attend the weekly dance, may participate in ratification. There is no quorum required for ratification.
- Starting six to eight weeks before the ratification date for the ECDC slate, the NC shall make announcements at the FSGW weekly English dance for four consecutive weeks. These announcements will serve to canvass the membership for potential nominees for the ECDC.
- After compiling a list of people interested in serving on the ECDC, the NC will interview the interested people and the current ECDC. The NC will then meet to decide whom to recommend to fill the open position(s) on the ECDC. These recommendations, along with the ongoing members, will comprise the slate presented to the FSGW ECD community for ratification.
- The proposed ECDC slate shall be released to the FSGW ECD community at least 7 days before ratification, and ideally announced at the preceding dance.
- The NC will strive for a slate that broadly represents the dance community, with a mix of dancers, callers, and musicians.
- If any ECDC position cannot be filled by this process, then the ongoing ECDC members shall continue, and the FSGW dance chair may fill open positions.
This structure was enacted on March 26, 2014