Processes

Meetings

The Annual Meeting of the ARE ST (planned on a weekend between October 15th and October 31st) shall be for the (s)election*  of officers, Administrative Group Leads, & Lead Liaisons (1 laity, 1 clergy), delivering Administrative reports, as well as any other necessary business and policy making.

Incoming and Renewing Team Leads will be affirmed at this time. Once established, each non-Administrative Team selects their own Team Leads, as appropriate for their needs and preferences. These Team Leads will also be affirmed, if desired.

* Elections are in October. Terms begin on July 1. Please see Terms/Tenure and Leadership Transitions (below) for details.

Monthly ST meetings will be held for reporting, organizing, and decision making.  All SC meetings are considered open and may be attended by any member of ARE. Individual teams hold meetings as needed. These may be open or closed, per preference.

Special ST meetings may be called at any time by consent of twenty-five percent (25%) of ST members in good standing.

Reasonable notice to all ST members must be given for all meetings. A minimum of two weeks notice, but no more than 60 days notice shall be provided for all meetings. E-mail or other electronic means, letter, or phone, shall be considered reasonable methods of notification. In the case of a "special" meeting called in an emergency, forty-eight (48) hours notice shall be considered reasonable.

Decision making

Quorum:  A quorum is required for any decision or adoption of proposals by the ST.  At any ST meeting, the attendance of at least seven members or twenty-five percent (25%) of the SC, whichever is higher, not including a facilitator, shall constitute a quorum.

When a quorum is present at any meeting, a consensus, using Formal Consensus (as defined in On Conflict and Consensus by C.T. Lawrence Butler and Amy Rothstein) shall decide any question, excepting a contested election for an officer which shall be decided by using the MBC or another Inclusive Voting Procedure as outlined in (s)Election of Officers (below). For more information, see Consensus Decision Making.

Addition of Members to the Steering Team

If an ARE member who has been engaging consistently in ARE Team activities wishes to become a member of the Steering Team and/or a Team Lead (if the position is open):

1. The person will ask two (2) current ST members to act as their sponsors.
   
   
2. The sponsors will review and discuss the ST's practices with the applicant, and together with the applicant, create any plans necessary to assist with the applicant's successful engagement.
   
   
3. The sponsors will send a written request to the ST ( theTeam(at)uuare.org ), indicating their desire to have the applicant considered for admittance to the ST.
   
   
4. The Organizing Team will send notice of the application to all current ST members, asking for any concerns to be raised by reply to all ST members. The discussion may happen over email, and/or at the next meeting of the ST, as deemed appropriate.   Should a ST member have concerns of a sensitive or confidential nature, they may communicate privately with a member of the Administrative Group and/or the Internal Life & Support Team to discuss how to best proceed in raising those concerns.
   
   
5. ST members will be given a period of two weeks for deliberation.
   
   
6. If, at the end of the two week period, no concerns were raised, or all raised concerns were resolved, the Organizing Team shall petition the ST to certify, affirm, and welcome the new ST member immediately preceding the next monthly ST meeting.
   
   
7. The Organizing Team shall enter the new ST member’s information into the ST database.
   
   
8. The Organizing Team shall announce the certification of the ST member in their report.
   
   
9. A ST member’s tenure begins immediately after affirmation of the ST, and lasts the duration of one year.  Every ST member’s tenure is renewed annually by consensus of the ST.

(s)Election of Officers, Administrative Group & Team Leads

Election of Officers, Administrative Group Leads, and Lead Liaisons shall be by Formal Consensus of the ST whenever possible.  When contested elections are held, the voting method to be used shall be the Modified Borda Count (MBC)
or another Inclusive Voting Procedure as defined by the de Borda Institute (www.deborda.org) such as the ST shall designate.

Terms/Tenure

Administrative Group, Lead Liaison, and Officer terms are for two years, beginning July 1st after their election and ending June 30th.*  

* Elections are in October; Terms begin on July 1. Please see Leadership Transitions (below) for details.

Renewal

Any or all of the officers, administrators, and leads may be (s)elected for renewal terms by the consent of the ST. Renewal terms are for one year.Resignation: A Steering Team member and/or officer may resign at any time for any reason. Resignations must be received in writing.

Termination

Any ST member’s tenure may be terminated for cause by consent of the ST. The ST member to be terminated must be given 30 day’s written or electronic notice and provided an opportunity to be heard at the meeting considering their termination. Provided a quorum is present, a consensus in favor of the ST member's removal shall terminate their tenure,Vacancies: If the position of any Officer or Administrative Group Lead becomes vacant, the ST may (s)elect a successor, who shall serve the remainder of the term.

Leadership Transitions

Officers, Administrative Group Leads, and Lead Liaisons are (s)elected at the annual ARE conference (currently in October). Terms begin on July 1st.  In the interim time, outgoing Leads and other Team members are responsible for preparing the newly elected Leads to assume their roles. Incoming Leads will “shadow” their predecessors, whenever feasible, to build necessary relationships and ensure smooth transitions.

Once roles are assumed, outgoing Leads will remain available for consult until the next annual meeting, whenever possible.

For all other Teams within the ARE Leadership Collective, Team Leads are chosen by the teams themselves, and transitions are negotiated internally, as per their needs and capacity.