The Administrative Council (AC) is the primary advisory group to the SCLS staff and the SCLS Board. Three standing committees, one each for delivery, the integrated library system, and technology, will be elected, will meet regularly, and will communicate activities to the Administrative Council. The decisions of the Integrated Library System Committee are not subject to approval by the Administrative Council. Sub-committees or work groups may be appointed by the Administrative Council as the need arises or at the request of the System Director. The charge of the AC shall be:
- Determines the course of action and oversight of "big pictures" issues that affect all members.
- Determines course of action concerning issues brought from other committees and staff.
- Receives reports of action items and decisions from committees (DC, TC, IC, subcommittees and workgroups).
- Creates ad-hoc working groups for issues not covered by other committees. Participation on working groups will not be limited to committee/council members.
- Makes planning recommendations for areas not covered by existing committees.
- Recommends annual budget, annual plan and service priorities, and fee allocations to the SCLS Board.
- Evaluates SCLS governance structure.
Meetings:
Meetings of the AC shall be held on a regular monthly basis and additional meetings may be held at the call of the SCLS Director, the Chair of the AC, or the President of the SCLS Board. Working groups may be appointed by AC Chair as the need arises or at the request of the SCLS Director. AC representatives may attend meetings by videoconference or other electronic means as approved by the group. A quorum of at least a majority of the representatives will be required at each meeting.
One meeting per year will be designated as the All-Directors meeting for the purpose of approving the budget, plan and service priorities.
Any member library staff can attend any meeting of the AC to address the council. They can also ask their representative, the SCLS Director, or the Chair to add an item to the agenda.
Representation:
There will be 10 library members of the AC with a total of 13 votes. 8 members will be elected as representatives of a cluster of libraries (with Madison’s director or designee representing 3 clusters and Dane County Library Service’s director or designee representing 2 clusters.) All members must be directors or their designees, and a library (not an individual) is elected as the representative. AC representatives will serve two-year terms with 50% of seats open for election in any given year.
The SCLS Director, the Technology Services Coordinator, the Consulting Services Coordinator, and the Delivery Coordinator will serve as non-voting members of the AC. Other SCLS staff may attend meetings as appropriate.
Elections:
Elections will occur annually beginning in September. Candidates can be nominated by any library in their cluster (for cluster representatives), by any library in the represented clusters or can be self-nominated. Each library will have one vote in the election, cast by the director or his or her designee. Elections for cluster representatives will be completed no later than November 1st. New members of the AC will be seated in January.
If a majority of the members of a cluster believe that one of their elected representatives has not represented them adequately, they may submit a recall petition to the SCLS Director. To be valid, the recall petition must contain the library names and directors’ signatures of at least 51% of the members of the cluster and must identify the name of the person whose removal is being sought. Only one recall petition may be filed during each two year term and only after the representative has held that seat for at least six months. At-large representatives cannot be recalled.
The SCLS Director, upon receipt of such a petition, shall immediately notify the subject of the recall, and, within 20 days time, initiate a special election. Candidates for the seat can be nominated by any library in the cluster. Unless the representative sought to be recalled resigns within that time period, his/her name shall automatically be placed on the ballot. The election shall be concluded within 30 days of its initiation. The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of the position until the recall election has been completed. If the incumbent is re-elected, he/she shall continue in the office for the remainder of the unexpired term; if another nominee is elected, that individual will serve the remainder of the unexpired term.
If a representative resigns during their term, an election will occur immediately for the seat, according to the process used for annual elections. The newly elected representative will serve the remainder of the unexpired term. Resignation from the director position at the elected library will constitute resignation from the Administrative Council.
Leadership:
Officers for the AC shall be chair and vice-chair, who shall be elected for one-year terms by the AC from within its membership. SCLS staff will serve as secretary to the AC.
A nominations committee consisting of three AC members serving in the subsequent year and the SCLS Director shall be appointed by the chair of the AC in December. A slate of candidates will be created and elections for officers will be held at the January meeting of each year.
Voting:
Motions will be approved by majority vote of those present with each cluster representative having one vote per cluster, (with Madison's director or designee representing 3 clusters and Dane County Library Service's director or designee representing 2 cluster) with the exception of the All-Directors meeting, in which the number of votes for each representative will be weighted as determined by the AC.