Responsibilities of Chairs

Committee chairs have the following responsibilities:

• In conjunction with the Executive Officer, ensure timely advice is provided to members regarding meeting times, dates and venues.
• Actively contribute to the agenda and/or background papers.
• Reject late papers where there is insufficient time for the members to adequately review the paper prior to the meeting.
• In conjunction with the Executive Officer, ensure timely provision of agenda and papers to Committee members (5 working days prior).
• In conjunction with the Executive Officer, control the volume of papers submitted to the Committee.
• Ensure that the Committee is operating within its objectives/terms of reference; within its delegations; and in accordance with University policy and legislation.
• Conduct meetings in a timely manner (ie. meetings to commence and end on time).
• Maintain order and focus on meeting priorities.
• Lead and encourage relevant discussion on items.
• Ensure discussion is conducted in a relevant and timely manner.
• Ensure there is agreement on future actions to be taken. This may take the form of a vote where deemed necessary.
• Manage and appropriately deal with any grievances and complaints arising from or between members.
• Behave professionally not use inflammatory language or engage in bullying, inappropriate or intimidating behaviour.
• At each meeting there are certain procedural matters that the Chair is responsible for:
• • Check that a quorum is present.
  • Declare the meeting open.
  • Welcome any new members.
  • List/call for apologies.
  • Request that Committee members declare any possible conflicts of interest.
  • Request that Committee members approve the Agenda. Ask if there are any additional items to be starred (if the starring system is being used).
  • Request that Committee members confirm the minutes from the previous meeting.
  • Ensure any formal resolutions are appropriately debated and approved*(see note below regarding motions).
  • Close the meeting and note when the next meeting is scheduled.
• After each meeting the draft minutes provided by the Executive Officer should be cleared in a timely manner to facilitate the distribution of action correspondence.