Procedures and Rules

IV. PRESIDENT

Function:

1. The President serves as chief executive officer of the Network and of the Council.

Appointments and Assignments:

1. The President is responsible for the following:

a) Appointing the chairs of all committees except the Awards and Honors, and Nominations and Elections Committees, and the Budget Committee;

b) Appointing the members of all committees except the Awards and Honors and Nominations and Elections Committees, and the Budget Committee, or arranging for their appointment by the Committee Chairs;

c) Assigning Committee Liaison responsibilities to the Directors;

d) Appointing the Conveners of Interest Groups or arranging for appointment from among the membership of the Group, with the approval of Council;

e) Appointing liaisons to other organizations, agencies, and to meetings of other associations;

f) Appointing the President-Elect or other Councillor as alternate in performance of presidential duties when necessary;

g) Appointing a parliamentarian to advise the Chair on correct parliamentary procedure during Council meetings and Network business meetings.
Duties:

1. Among the duties of the President are:
a) To recommend to the Council measures considered desirable to further the objectives and broaden the effectiveness of the Network;

b) To call and schedule at least one membership business meeting of the Network biennially in conjunction with the biennial conference of the Network;

c) To set the agendas for all Council meetings and all membership business meetings;

d) To preside at all meetings of the Council and the membership;

e) To arrange for a mail, telephone or electronic vote of the Council on any question requiring action of the entire Council that cannot await a regular or special meeting, provided that all Council members have consented to voting by such means, and that a two-thirds seven members) affirmative vote of all Council members with voting privileges is received for a measure to pass;

f) With the Secretary/Treasurer, to sign all contracts and legal documents, unless otherwise determined by the Council, and to serve on the Budget Committee;

g) To notify individuals of their designation as Honorary Members of the Network and to make the public announcement of this honor and all awards given by the Network;

h) To notify successful candidates for Network office and announce the election results.

i) To conduct a survey of the Membership every year by early September with results distributed by November. Consult with the Heads of Committees, Interest Groups, Program Planner, as well as the Council to gather questions for the survey. Include questions related to the Action Plan.

j) To remind the Committee Heads and IG conveners that USAIN has a paid subscription to a survey tool and that they may conduct surveys as needed of the membership. If they need to survey outside the membership, they must first submit their survey instrument to the Council for review.

k) Annually, to prepare certificates or letters of appreciation for Chairs of Committees and, during conference years, Interest Group Conveners.

l) The President, together with the Chair of Communications and Web Site Coordinator, will re-evaluate the web hosting agreement to determine if it is still satisfactory for all. This shall be done by June 1st every three years, e.g., 2010, 2013, 2016.

m) The President shall appoint a Director to take the leadership in revising the Action Plan every 3 years (e.g., 2010, 2013). See item F.

n) In July of the year prior to a conference year send an announcement to the USAIN -L Listserv to request submission of proposals to host the conference to be held 3 years in the future (e.g. July 2009 call was made for the Spring 2012 conference -- site selected was announced at 2010 conference).
Reports and Records:

1. The President is responsible for the following:
a) Preparing an Annual Report of Network activities for submission to the Council and the membership;

b) Assuring that the Secretary/Treasurer has prepared the minutes of Council and membership meetings and submitted them in accordance with Network guidelines;

c) Preparing appropriate news or activity items for dissemination on USAIN-L, and/or the USAIN web site including the minutes of Council and membership meetings.

d) At the beginning of his/her term, the President will prepare a welcome statement that will appear on the USAIN web site.
Special Expenditures Funding

1. Funding requests for special expenditures must be submitted in writing to the USAIN President. The President will then provide copies to the Council, along with a timeline for the decision making process. The council may ask for additional information or documentation, in order to make a final decision. Standing committees and task forces are encouraged to use the existing procedures and rules regarding budgets and expenditures, and rely on these special procedures sparingly.

2. All unbudgeted expenditures greater than $200 must be presented to and approved by the Council. All expenditures over $5000 must go through a bid process. As a rule there should be 3 bids presented to the Council at one of the bi-annual Board of Directors meetings. However, there may be some special circumstances in which fewer than three bids will be feasible. These would be in cases that, because of the nature of the project, there may not be a large group of expertise to choose from to satisfy the requirement of three bids. In such cases the "Sole source justification concept" will be considered. The project director will be responsible for managing the bidding process.

3. The President has the discretionary authority to approve unbudgeted expenditures of less than $500, up to 2 times in his or her term without the approval of the Council. The total of these expenditures may not exceed $1,000.

4. All unbudgeted funding requests for any amount must meet the criteria below and be in the form outlined or they will not be considered.

CRITERIA
a) Criteria for funding must fit in one or more of the following categories. Funding will be used:

i. To further the work of USAIN
ii. For a special project requested by any USAIN member
iii. To encourage participation in USAIN
iv. To benefit a charity, cause, or to further agriculture related or library work.

FUNDING REQUEST FORMAT
a) All requests for funding must be in writing and must include the following:

i. Title of Project or Initiative
ii. Amount requested
iii. Date of request
iv. Date or duration of project or initiative
v. Member name and contact information
vi. Criteria category with explanation/description
vii. Date needed by
viii. Date used by
ix. Rationale for the special funding request and expected outcome of the
project

b) If funding is approved, there should be progress reports on achievement, preferably every three months. A final report of how much money was spent and an accounting of the expenditure of funds must be provided to the Council within 4 weeks of the completion of the project. The Council has the right to cancel the project if there are major problems.
SUGGESTED PROCEDURES FOR DRAWING UP A CONTRACT WITH A CONSULTANT
a) In general the project director is responsible for setting up a contract and having a discussion with the person who will be doing the actual work. Once the project director (and perhaps the Council if that is necessary) has created an RFP with the guidelines and expectations, the potential consultant would be able to respond. The consultant may be the best person to actually draw up the contract. The contract would include a statement in advance of what the research will entail, the expected deliverables and outcome, the responsibilities on each side, the due dates or a time-line, and the penalties for not producing. In addition, there should be an escape clause, including any disclaimers, disclosures and limitations on the part of the consultant. The contract would also include the amount of money and how it is paid, e.g. in installments, at the end, or when a time line is met. This serves as a protection for the consultant.

b) Once the contract is drawn up, the Council will vote on whether or not to accept the proposal.
Action Plan

1. Under the guidance of the President the Council reviews and revises the Action Plan every three years (e.g. 2010, 2013, 2016).
a) A review committee is appointed by the President 12 months prior to the termination of the current Action Plan.

b) Questions related to the Action Plan should be incorporated into the membership survey conducted in the preceding year.

c) Comments and suggestions will be solicited from the membership through USAIN-L and/or mail surveys.

d) A draft revision is submitted to the membership for comment by April 1 of the revision year.

e) The Executive Council votes on the Action Plan by May 1 of the revision year.

f) The revised Action Plan takes effect on June 1 of the revision year.
2. Action plans will have a designation of responsibility and a timeline assigned by the Executive Council.

3. An annual report of progress toward completion of Action Plans will be prepared by those designated responsible and submitted to the Executive Council.

4. An annual summary of accomplishments will be compiled by the Executive Council with input (statistical if appropriate) from the annual reports and from participant surveys.

5. The Action Plan is posted on the USAIN website. The membership is advised of the location via email.

6. A paper and electronic copy of each final version of the Action Plan will be given to the Archivist.