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this page APGO Council & You: What A Councilor Does and Why You Should Be One By Andrea Waldie, P. Geo.APGO Executive Director & Registrar  Elections at not-for-profit associations differ considerably from public elections. The fact that APGO has a new Vice President and a returning Councilor-at-Large, both by acclamation, is not unusual for a not-for-profit association according to the Canadian Society of Association Executives. It is preferable to have an election situation for open Council positions, with several candidates for each seat, in order to give members choice and ensure the representation they desire is present on Council. Unfortunately, members of not-for-profit associations often do not step forward and present themselves as nominees for election. This is often due to a lack of understanding of what is involved in being a Council member.For your consideration in future elections, the following will describe what is involved in being a Council member. Council meets seven times in a year, unless an emergency meeting is called. Of those seven meetings, two meetings (the outgoing and incoming Council meetings) are just a couple of hours long. The other five meetings are full day meetings, usually held in the boardroom at the offices of one of the Councilors. The meetings may be attended by teleconference, but personal attendance is encouraged and all travel expenses are covered by the APGO. Being a Council member requires a commitment to attending the meetings (if at all possible), as well as a commitment to reading all materials posted to the extranet site prior to the meeting and arriving at the meeting prepared to discuss that material. Councilors discuss and make decisions on issues such as: inter-association mobility topics, the APGO budget, APGO by-laws, APGO regulation, and APGO priorities, amongst many, many other issues. The issues and discussions are always engaging and the end result helps guide the profession of geoscience in Ontario. Councilors also volunteer their time on other APGO committees and sub-committees such as governance, registration, enforcement & compliance, discipline, environment, and geology among others. Councilors often act as a link between the APGO committees and Council, assisting in the decision making processes of each and facilitating the flow of information between the two groups. Notwithstanding the importance of these duties, the most important and most rewarding aspect is the representation of our members. Councilors are encouraged to make themselves available to hear and communicate issues from our members to Council and vice versa. Regional councilors have the pleasure of presenting the APGO to the universities in their area, assisted by the representatives at large or members of the Executive committee. Councilors also visit the "chat rooms" on the website to keep abreast of issues and to provide Council feedback to the participants. Being a Councilor is a rewarding experience. Council is composed of individuals from all disciplines of geoscience and from the public, all of whom are dedicated to improving professional geoscience on behalf of both the public and APGO members. To work with them, for me, is an honour. I invite you, the next time that "Call for APGO Nominees" comes through your door, to participate in the APGO election process by seeking a nomination for a position on the APGO Council. Your views, ideals and considered opinion would be most welcome. |
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more information on APGO, please contact info@apgo.net
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