Policies and Procedures

General Information

This document contains a mixture of both global and departmental policies and procedures. Not all of the “unwritten” policies and procedures have made their way into this document, and each department may have some of their own policies that are not yet recorded. This is a living document and shall change from year to year as needs and goals change.

Policies are organized by Department and not by Executive Team member. The addendum has some sample forms and a few policy explanations.

Policies (Additions, Deletions, and Modifications): Any ConCom member of the current Norwescon may request a policy change. The ConCom member must present a proposal in writing to their Exec Team member and the Chair. It shall be reviewed and voted on by the Exec Team.

Definitions

Throughout this document the following definitions are used.

• Chair = Chair of Norwescon
• ConCom = Convention Committee
• Exec Team = Executive Team
• Vice-Chair = Vice-Chair of Norwescon
• GoH = Guest of Honor
• Volunteer = a convention member who volunteers time at the convention
• ConCom Member, Staff Member = a volunteer who meets the criteria for a staff membership and who has registered as staff for the current year
• Exec Team Member, Exec = a ConCom Member who is a director appointed by the Chair and Vice-Chair.

Stages and Structure

Norwescon consists of three stages: planning (the time prior to the convention), the convention itself, and post-con (the time between the end of the convention and the election of new officers).

POLICY: Contract Signing Authority: The Chair, Vice-Chair, Business Director, and Convention Services Director shall be designated to the hotel as the only persons who have signing authority to the hotel contract during the convention. Additional people may be named at the discretion of the Chair.

Starting and Ending Periods for Convention: The actual starting time of the convention shall be the Wednesday prior to the published date of the convention at noon or hotel move-in time, whichever comes first. The closing time for the convention is on the Monday following the published dates of the convention when moving out of the hotel and the storage of all Norwescon properties has been completed.

POST-CON TURNOVER

POLICY: E-Mail Turnover: The incoming Chair and Vice-Chair must review the convention’s email routing upon election and adjust accordingly.

POLICY: Mailbox Turnover: After the announcement of the newly elected officers, the Secretary must ensure that someone continues to pick up the mail or accept all forwards from the mailbox during the summer months. If immediate arrangements for mail handling cannot be made, the keys to the mailbox shall be turned over to either the newly elected Chair or Vice-Chair and the mail forwarding address shall be updated as soon as possible.

POLICY: Voicemail Turnover: The incoming Chair and Vice-Chair must make sure that the Google voicemail transcription email forwarding is adjusted accordingly as soon as possible after the election.

POLICY: Document Turnover: After new Execs are appointed, any outgoing Exec shall turn over all documents to either their replacement or to the incoming Chair and Vice-Chair.

POLICY: Web Password Turnover: The Publications Director or their designee shall maintain a list of the login and password information for all online accounts and services (website, e-newsletter, social media sites, etc.). This list will be provided to the Chair and Vice-Chair as soon as possible after the election.

POLICY: Bank Accounts Turnover: The bank accounts shall be turned over to the new Business Director as soon as possible after the new Business Director has been appointed. The outgoing Business Director shall have full access to the accounts until the books are closed for the convention year.

POLICY: Purchase Card Turnover: All Purchase cards shall be turned over to the new Business Director as soon as they have been appointed. The cards shall be reviewed and reissued at the discretion of the Business Director.

POLICY: Computer Codes and Passwords Turnover: A copy of all computer codes and passwords for Norwescon-owned computers shall be submitted to the Business Director and the Vice-Chair to ensure that the convention shall have access to all convention-owned data. This list shall be updated and given to the Vice-Chair and Business Director by the last regularly scheduled ConCom meeting before the convention.

POLICY: Storage Unit Access Codes and Keys Turnover: A copy of all necessary access codes and keys shall be kept by the Business Department so that the Business Department may maintain storage unit access for Norwescon if needed during the year and in the event of turnover of the personnel in charge of the storage units.

Timeline

The timeline is maintained at the discretion of the Chair and Vice-Chair, who may delegate the responsibility as appropriate.

The timeline shall be ready by the first general ConCom meeting in September.

The timeline shall be available online and updated as needed.

Exec Team and ConCom Voting

POLICY: Voting by Proxy for Exec Team: The Chair and Vice-Chair have no proxy vote. Any other Exec Team member may send a proxy to a meeting to vote on their behalf.

POLICY: Voting by Proxy for Convention Committee: There is no proxy voting in the general ConCom meetings. All items that come to a vote, other than elections, are on a majority vote of the ConCom members present (see Chair - Elections).

POLICY: Ties for Convention Committee Votes: In the case of a tie, a revote will be taken. If there is still a tie, the Executive Team shall vote on the issue.

POLICY: Ties for Executive Team Votes: In the case of a tie, a revote will be taken. If there is still a tie, the Chair shall make the final decision.

POLICY: Executive Team voting by Email: Any member of the current Exec Team can propose a motion for voting by email.

PROCEDURE: The exec proposing the motion must send an email to norwescon-exec@googlegroups.com. The subject line must start with the word “MOTION”. The body of the email must include the specific wording of the motion and include either the necessary information for the motion to be evaluated or a link to where the necessary information can be found on the Google Docs storage site.

The Exec Team may then respond to the motion, whereupon there may be discussion, revisions, or questions. If there are significant changes, the motion should be resubmitted. If there is not significant discussion, another Exec may second the motion.

The Chair or Vice-Chair decides when to move the motion to a vote. A new email is started with the word “VOTE” beginning subject line. The body of the message shall include: the person who proposed the motion, the person who seconded the motion, and the exact wording of the motion. It shall also include the start and end time of voting, which shall be no more than 72 hours or until all members have voted.

Whenever possible, voting should not occur ONLY over the course of a weekend, and courtesy should be given to known vacations, unless the matter is urgent.

When the voting period has elapsed or all votes have been cast the motion is evaluated. If quorum is met, the votes cast determine the outcome. If quorum is not met, the motion fails. A new motion can be made on the same subject but must begin the process from the beginning to be considered.

As further defined under Secretary: Minutes Preparation, meeting minutes approval votes may be called by the Secretary without requiring a second.