Social club commitee - advice on election of officers

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Gixxerman

Guru
Location
Market Rasen
I am on the commitee of my local social club (working man's club in old speak).
This years AGM is coming up in a few weeks time.
At last years AGM, we struggled to elect officers, namely the Tresurer and Secretary.
With elected a Chairperson with no problems. However, no one was prepared to take on the roles of Secratary and Treasurer.
In the end one person offered to take on both Secretary and Treasurer roles as there was no one else.
To be fair over the last year, he has done a good job. This was certainly helped by the fact that he worked part-time and also lived in the flat above the club, so he was on hand at short notice.
Unfortunately, he has now got a full-time job and as such he feels that he can no longer give the roles the time they require and he stated that he will not be standing again this year.
In addition, the Chairperson also resigned mid-way through the year due to personal reasons and we had to elected a temporary Chairperson. However, he has also stated that he would not be standing for Chairperson this year.

So that leaves us with a problem.
I would like to be in a position to offer my services, but I work long hours and my work is about an hour's drive from my home town where the club is based.
We have one nominee for the Chairperson role, who IMHO is a good choice for the role.
I have been asked to take the Secretary role. Having looked at the duties, I am confident that I have the skills required, but not sure that I will have necessary time. Does anyone have any idea as to the ammount of time this role will require? Will my not being available at short notice be an issue?

We have one interested party for Treasurer. However, the person is quite young (19) and was dismissed from his last job in a newsagent for suspected theft. This means that he obviously cannot get a reference from his former employer. The current Secretary / Treasurer believes that he would be capable of doing the job. However, the current commitee as very nervous and do not want him to have the role. In addition, the current commitee believe that the current Secretary / Treasurer's endorsment of the nominee should be treated with caution as he seems not to be that bothered who takes the role as long as it isn't him, as he has made it quite clear that he has had enough of doing it. So what happens at the AGM if the nominee puts himself forward for Treasurer and only gets a minority vote in his favour and there are no other nominees? (this being what the concensus of opinion believe will be the case). Will he be elected? If he is not elected and we have no Treasurer what happens then?

If I decide that I cannot perform that Secretary role and there are no other offers, what happens then? (another likely scenario)

I have to say that the current morale of the club and the commitee is very low, and interest from members to help is very hard to find. There is a core of individuals (commitee members, bar staff etc.) who try their best, but are limited in what roles they can perform due to lack of skills and time they can offer. I really fear for the future of the club. It would be a very sad affair should it have to fold, as it is reasonably financially sound, and has a quite large member list (about 350). It is also from where I play my league snooker and pool. If it closes, then it is most likely that we would have nowhere for the snooker and pool teams to play in the town.

I have took it on myself to serve notice of the AGM as the current secretary doesn't seem to be interested in doing it himself. In that notice, I have stated that we are looking for people to take the roles of Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer hoping that I can stimulate the current membership to help us out and maybe find suitable candidates. However, I do not hold out much hope based on last years AGM, where many members where very critical of the way the club was run and the people running it, but not prepared to offer their services to help.

Any help and advice would be most appreciated.
 
Seems to be a problem in a lot of clubs of all types. I was and still am the type of person who does not want to volunteer for this type of role, anything for a quiet life. I think a lot of people are like that. However I have done it when directly approached by members of the committee. ( entertainments committee for 2 years based on the fact they thought I could probably organise a piss up in a brewery) I think you need to get amongst your 350 members and select likely candidates and butter them up a bit, take a direct approach to individuals. People can react quite well to a bit of encouragement. If members are un-willing to do their bit then the club deserves to die I'm afraid.
 
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