Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria
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Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria |
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Adopted at the Annual Meeting, Hobart, 1980.
Amended at the Annual Meeting, Canberra, 1981.
Further amended as proposed at the Annual Meeting, Adelaide, 1993.
Adopted at the Annual Meeting, Sydney, 1994 (?)
In the following clauses the following words shall have the following meaning:
"Herbarium" means a permanent scientific institution for the acquisition, development and management of collections of preserved plant specimens and associated information for reference and research by its own staff and others.
"Head" means the administrative head responsible for and involved in the day-to-day administration of an herbarium.
The role of the Council shall be to promote all matters of interest to herbaria in Australia and to increase cooperation and understanding between them.
Membership shall be the Heads of:
and the Council Member representing one of the constituent collections of the National Collection of Fungi (including BRIP, DAR and VPRI) to be nominated by the Heads of the National Collections of Fungi.
The Council member of an herbarium may appoint or nominate as deputy a member of staff or fellow council member to represent him or her at any meeting where the member is unable to be present. Such a representative shall have the rights of the council member whom he or she represents.
The Council may change the constitution if the motion proposing a change is:
(2) such a motion is approved by three quarters of those members or their deputies present at the annual meeting.
The Executive shall compromise the Chairperson and two other members. The term of office shall be one year.
The Chairperson may be re-elected for up to three years.
The Immediate Past Chairman shall ex officio be one of the three members for up to one year immediately after vacating the Chair.
Only members of Council may serve on the Executive. They are, however, elected to the Executive in their personal capacity; membership does not devolve on to their successor should they cease to be head of their institution.
The election shall be by secret ballot. The Chairperson shall be elected first, and then the two (one if there is an Immediate Past Chairperson) other members. Members shall write on their voting slips for other members of the Executive up to as many times as there are positions to be filled. The successful candidate or candidates shall be those with the largest number of votes.
Should a vacancy on the Executive occur between meetings, the Chairperson or, if this is not possible, another member of the Executive acting in consultation with the third member shall, as soon as possible, call for written nominations allowing two weeks from the date of circulation of the call for nominations until the closing date. Voting papers shall then be distributed, again allowing two weeks from the date of distribution until the closing date for receipt of votes.
The Executive shall take up duties on the 1st of January following the annual meeting.
The Executive shall deal with those matters referred to it by a Council Meeting and shall have the power to act on such matters which it considers are of such significance that delay in action would not be in the best interests of the Council.
An annual meeting shall be held not more than fifteen months after the previous annual meeting and preferably near the beginning of October each year.
Whereas annual meetings shall normally be rotated annually between member institutions in the following sequence: CANB, BRI, MEL, PERTH, AD, NSW, DNA, and HO, Council, or, under circumstances so dictating, the Executive may select an institution other than as determined by this sequence.
No business shall be transacted at any Council Meeting unless a quorum of seven is present.
The Chairperson of the Council shall preside at every Council Meeting and shall have one vote. In the event of a tied vote, the motion shall be lost. In the event of the Chairperson's absence from any business session during the Meeting those present shall elect one of their number to preside at that session.
At any Council Meeting a resolution put to the vote shall be decided on a show of hands, unless a poll is demanded by the Chairperson or at least two members.
At the annual meeting the Council may appoint committees to investigate and report on such matters as directed.
The Executive may set up and form committees at times other than annual meetings.
The Executive of the Council may invite such persons as it chooses to attend meetings as observers.
The Chairperson shall notify all members of the Council, in writing, of the agenda, any notices of motion, and place of any Council Meeting. The fact that any item does not appear on the notice paper for the meeting shall not, however, prevent that matter being discussed at the Council Meeting. Items may be added to the agenda at any time up to and during the meeting with the consent of the Chairperson.
Resolutions of the Council shall not be binding on members of the Council, nor upon the institutions they represent.