PACD REGIONS

REGION DIRECTOR
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Revised September 2007

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to serve as a guide for the PACD Region Director to assist in understanding their role and responsibilities in the association.

PACD Regions

The PACD Bylaws defines the PACD regions in Article VII as follows:

"The PACD shall consist of six regions with the following counties contained in each region:

a. North West - Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Venango, Warren
b. North Central Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union
c. North East - Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming
d. South West - Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, Westmoreland
e. South Central - Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, York
f. South East - Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia

Election

The election of the Region Director is defined in Article VIII, Section 1, of the PACD Bylaws as follows:

"Each PACD Region will elect a District Director in good standing to serve as Region Director. Each Conservation District in good standing in attendance at its respective PACD Region Meeting shall have one vote which shall be cast by a certified Voting Delegate of the Conservation District. If more than one candidate is seeking election, the election shall be by secret ballot. A candidate shall be elected by a simple majority.

The Region Director will serve a term of two years and may be re-elected. Elections will take place at the PACD Region Meeting after the PACD Annual Meeting in odd-numbered years."

Duties as Members of the Executive Board

Article V, Section 2 of the PACD Bylaws describes the duties of the Executive Board which includes the six Region Directors.

"The Duties of the Executive Board shall be:

a. To set policies, establish procedures, and make decisions as needed in order to act on the activities on behalf of the PACD between Executive Council meetings.
b. To approve payment for items not covered by the annual budget in emergency situations between Executive Council meetings.
c. To hire, fire, conduct the annual performance evaluation and establish the salary of the Executive Director.
d. With the assistance of PACD staff, to develop the annual budget to be presented at the appropriate Executive Council meeting to coincide with PACD's fiscal year and if not adopted there it must be presented and adopted at the next Executive Council meeting.
e. To appoint Chairmen and members of all permanent committees from the Conservation Districts in good standing.
f. To appoint such temporary committees for specific purposes as may be necessary. These committees shall be appointed from the membership.
g. To oversee the activities of all standing and temporary committees.
h. To appoint a person to serve until the next Executive Council meeting to fill a vacancy for Secretary, Treasurer or Second Vice President where he or she is unable or unwilling to continue their term.
i. To remove any member of the PACD when sufficient cause exists for such removal. The Executive Board may entertain charges against any member. A member may be represented by counsel upon any removal hearing which shall be convened by the Executive Board. In the event the Executive Board conducts a hearing to consider termination of a member, it shall adopt rules of hearing that it deems appropriate and that are in accordance with relevant provisions of Robert's Rules of Order, and it also may obtain advice from counsel. However, a hearing shall not be required in the case of termination for failure to pay dues or other amounts owed by a Conservation District."

Duties as Region Directors

Article VIII, Section 2, of the PACD Bylaws describes the purpose and duties of Region Directors:

"The purpose of the PACD Region Directors is to act as a liaison for communicating regional issues and policies of districts in a Region to the PACD Executive Board and to serve as an extension of the PACD to its members.

The duties and responsibilities of the Region Director shall be:

a. To attend all PACD Executive Council meetings and all meetings of the PACD Executive Board.
b. To attend the District Board meeting of one-half of the Conservation Districts in the Region during the first year of his/her term and the District Board meetings of the other one-half of the Conservation Districts during the second year of his/her term.
c. To preside over the PACD Region Meetings."

It is suggested that the Region Director contact each district in the region and ask that a copy of the minutes from the district's monthly board meeting be forwarded to them.

Region Meetings

One of the important duties outlined in the PACD Bylaws is to chair the PACD Region Meetings. The PACD Bylaws describes the region meetings in Article X, Section 3, as follows:

"Each PACD Region shall have at least two region meetings per year. The purposes of the Region meetings are the exchange of information, discussion of regional issues, leadership development and training, nomination of representatives to PACD committees and the election of a Region Director.

A simple majority of the Conservation Districts in good standing in the Region shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of conducting the business of the meeting."

Region Meeting Minutes

Minutes should be taken at all PACD Region Meetings. It is the responsibility of the Region Director to ensure that someone is appointed to record notes, type and forward those minutes to the Region Director. (In one region, this responsibility is rotated among the conservation district managers within the region).

When completed, the minutes should be forwarded to PACD to post on the PACD web site. Regions should approve the minutes of the preceding meeting at the next meeting.

Planning and Coordinating Region Meetings

Planning and coordination is important for a successful region meeting. Over the past several years, the PACD Region Directors and DEP Field Representatives have been working together to plan and coordinate the Region Meetings. The DEP Field Representatives are extremely helpful and play an integral role in the planning and coordination of region meetings. The DEP Field Representatives will help coordinate the logistics of meeting and will ensure that notice of region meetings and agenda are sent to all district directors and conservation district offices in the region. Where the DEP Field Representative is unable to send a meeting notice and agenda to each director, the PACD Executive Director should be informed so that PACD can assist in this process.

Meetings between the DEP Field Representatives and PACD Region Directors at PACD statewide meetings have greatly assisted in the region meeting planning process. One of the roles of these meetings has been to facilitate the planning and coordination of future meetings.

Some of the ways in which these meetings can assist in the planning and coordination of region meetings include:

• reviewing and brainstorming possible agenda items for future region meetings;
  
• identifying training programs from the Leadership Development Committee that are available; and
  
• coordinating dates for region meetings in concert with the DEP Field Representatives, PACD Executive Director and other regions (to avoid conflicting dates and potential travel problems for presenters).

Some other factors that need to be considered when planning a region meeting include:

• local and/or regional specific issues for the agenda;
  
• logistics of the meeting (date, time, place of meeting, and whether the meeting room has a cost);
  
• whether the members want the meetings to vary from location to location or if they want to come to the same location;
  
• will coffee be provided upon arrival;
  
• will lunch be incorporated into the meeting; and
  
• how will payment for food and beverages be collected and paid (PACD can assist with payment for coffee, collecting money, providing receipts and writing a single check but the Executive Director needs to know ahead of time so she can bring the proper checks and receipts, etc.).

Communication

One of the main reasons that this position was created was to facilitate communication between the PACD Executive Board, Executive Director, and the PACD members. Since the association is made up of county members throughout the entire state, it is difficult for the officers and staff of the association to visit each conservation district on a regular basis.
Some of the ways in which a Region Director can help facilitate communication is through the following methods:

• ask that each district in your region send you a copy of the minutes from the district's monthly board meeting;
  
• attend Executive Board meetings at PACD statewide meetings and participate in monthly Executive Board conference calls to share information and report results from attending local board meetings with the officers, Executive Director and other Region Directors;
  
• attend the meetings between the DEP Field Representatives and Region Directors at PACD state wide meetings;
  
• forward pertinent correspondence to PACD President and/or Executive Director;
  
• report problems, concerns, issues, etc. as soon as possible to PACD President and/or Executive Director;
  
• maintain regular contact with DEP Field Representative;
  
• provide contact information and e-mail (if available) to PACD Executive Director; and
  
• participate on the PACD Director's e-mail list serve.

Policy Development

As the PACD grows in size and complexity, the way the association operates will also change. Limited time of district directors and tight conservation district budgets has caused PACD members to graduate toward attendance at PACD region meetings over state wide PACD meetings. The members have also identified the potential to develop PACD policy at the local and regional level to bring forward to the state level. It appears that policy development will become a more important role for the PACD regions and thus, the PACD region director will have an integral role in assisting members to formulate future PACD policy.

A policy development process is currently in place that allows policy to develop through the region, although its use has been limited. The PACD Region Director can facilitate policy development by encouraging and assisting local conservation districts to draft and introduce policy statements at the PACD region meetings. Policy developed and approved at a PACD region meeting can then be brought forward to the Operations Committee and then the PACD Executive Council.. It is important for the Region Director to ensure that someone representing the region is assigned to present the resolution to the PACD Operations Committee. (The PACD policy development process is available on the association's web site at www.pacd.org).

Other

Some other responsibilities of the region director are to:

• be familiar with the PACD Bylaws and operations of the association;
  
• submit travel expenses to PACD on a monthly basis (a PACD expense form is available for your use);
  
• contact the PACD Executive Director or President with questions; and
  
• help mentor and recruit one or two director(s) from the region for your potential future replacement.