Monday, October 24, 2011

A life in the day of a Regional Secretary...

So, two years as the Regional Secretary in the East of England are nearly at an end. And, what, you may wonder, have I achieved in that time? Here's the list...
  • reconnected the Regional Executive to its Constitution
  • designed a framework for handling complaints for the Regional Party
  • written some election rules, plus guidance for the external returning officer
  • changed the term length of the Regional Executive
When put in written form, it doesn't feel like very much, perhaps because, unlike most Regional Secretaries, I don't have much to do. According to our Constitution;

3.7        The Secretary shall be responsible for

(a) arranging the meetings of the Regional Executive, and keeping minutes;
(b) receiving and distributing the minutes of the Regional Party’s committees, sub-committees and working groups;
(c) maintaining an up-to-date list of regional conference representatives and supervising the conduct of the Region’s internal elections; and
(d) for ensuring that the Region makes effective communications with Local Parties and other bodies within the Party.

Unfortunately, due to reasons that pre-date my election to the post, someone else does all of these things, and that someone is our Regional Administrator, Lorna. Lorna is, I have to admit, really good at these things. However, it doesn't actually leave me with a job.

And yes, spending the time on process has had its uses, but it isn't a role, and having been a Regional Secretary before, where I had to do all of the things listed above, I tend to feel a little adrift on a sea of ennui. So, it's time to go. It's been fun, and I still have a few things to do, including two elections to run, so I'll be busy enough over the coming weeks, but the future is a great big fish... or something like that.

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