ConstitutionProposal
This is the constitution of the University Radio York society. Any errors in the transcription should be reported to the last editor.
General
- The name of the organisation will be University Radio York, hereafter referred to as URY.
- All members of URY will abide by this constitution and by becoming members agree to do so.
- The purpose of URY is to provide a radio service to the students of the University of York; “run by students for students”.
- URY will pursue a policy of impartiality on all issues and will conduct its affairs without discrimination.
Membership
- Membership will be open to all members of the University of York, as defined by the Statutes of the University of York.
- Membership may only be obtained by subscription in the manner set down by the Students' Union.
- Non-members of the University of York are eligible to join for membership, at the discretion of a Station Meeting. Applicants may be required to attend that meeting at the discretion of the Station Manager.
- URY may choose at a Station Meeting to have non-fee paying Honorary members. The Honorary membership will last as long as the Station Meeting decides but shall not be shorter that the remainder of the academic year in which the Honorary membership is conferred.
- The Honorary President shall be an ex-officio Honorary Member.
- All presenters must sign a declaration on joining URY, stating that they have never been, nor have any intention of being, involved in pirate radio.
Honorary President
- URY will appoint an Honorary President, who must be a member of the University's staff.
- The appointment of an Honorary President will be approved at a URY Station Meeting, in consultation with the University authorities. The appointment will be confirmed at a meeting of the Audio-Visual Aids Committee.
- The Honorary President will hold URY's license, and should satisfy themselves that the requirements of the license are being adhered to.
- The Honorary President will be indemnified, out of URY's assets, against losses or liabilities which they may incur in or about the execution of their office or otherwise in relation thereto.
Officers
- The following teams will exist in URY:
- Management Team;
- Programming Team;
- Training Team;
- News Team;
- Music Team;
- Speech Team;
- Events Team;
- Production Team;
- Computing Team;
- Engineering Team;
- Business Team;
- Other Officers
- All posts will be open for election at the Annual General Meeting in the Autumn Term.
- All officers are accountable to station meetings and are required to send weekly reports of their URY related activities, and/or to attend all station meetings or send apologies. Officers failing to do so for 5 consecutive station meetings may be subject to a vote of no confidence by the Station Manager after consultation with a station meeting.
- Heads of Teams are responsible for deputising for subordinate positions in the cases that an officer is unable to fulfil their obligations for a short period of time, or, a position is unfilled. Should there be no head of team to fulfil these obligations, then control of the team passes to the Assistant Head of Team or the Station Manager.
- Ex-officers may apply to be kept on the officer email list at the discretion of the Station Manager. Only current York students may be on the officers email list.
- Heads of Teams includes any position that starts with "Head of", Programme Controller and Chief Engineer.
- Assistant Heads of Teams includes any position that prefixes the head of team name with "Assistant" and News Editor.
- Regular Officers includes Reporters (News and Sport), Speech Officer, Computing Officer and Engineering Officer.
Station Management
Station Manager
URY will be managed by the Station Manager, whose responsibilities will be:
- Co-ordination of URY's operational teams.
- Chairing of weekly station meetings.
- Management of URY's long term planning processes.
- Leadership of URY campaigns, events and activities.
- External representation of URY.
- Implementation of URY policy.
- Shall produce weekly on-air and off-air relevant information sheets for the studio and mailing lists
- Ensuring the Honorary President holds all necessary licenses for the station to operate.
- Ensures relevant licences are paid and adhered to.
- Shall co-ordinate all national, local and student union radio award entries.
Assistant Station Manager
- The station manager will be assisted by one of the officers in the capacity of ASM.
- The election of an officer to the position of ASM will take place after the AGM and will be subject to the usual election regulations as described in section 6.
- A specific duty of the ASM will be as acting Health and Safety Officer. It is their responsibility to ensure URY and its members follow the Code of Practice, and that YUSU are informed of procedures that require their involvement (as detailed in Code of Practice, as well as being in charge of Health and Safety documentation being up to date.
Treasurer
- Maintenance of URY's accounts in accordance with Section 8 of this constitution.
- Management of all of URY's finances.
- Liaison inside and outside the University on all financial matters.
- Collation of personal telephone bills.
Secretary
- Taking and publishing minutes of all station meetings and officers reports.
- Maintenance of the URY office.
- Maintains stationery levels.
- Replying to miscellaneous correspondence.
Programming Team
The officers in the Programming Team, and their respective responsibilities will be as follows:
Programme Controller
- Co-ordination of all presenters and programming team members.
- Scheduling of programming.
- Ensuring quality of programmes.
- Ensuring and verifying the logging of all output.
- Ensures presenter contracts are adhered to.
- Responsible for the upkeep of Studio 1.
- Plans and coordinates content for standard on air programming i.e. Woodstock Week / competitions
Assistant Programme Controller
- Assisting the Programme Controller in their duties, as directed by the Programme Controller.
Training Team
Head of Training
- Organises and is responsible for the training of new presenters and ensuring their continuing competence.
- Providing guidelines to the station on good presentation practice.
- Responsible for the continual training of presenters regarding new equipment and regulations.
- Coordinates the Training Team.
Assistant Head of Training
- Assisting the Training Manager in their duties as directed by the Head of Training.
News Team
The officers in the News Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of News and Sport
- Exercises control over all official campus, local, national and international news, sport, political and current affairs programming and manages the production of official URY news output.
- Coordinates News/Sport Editor(s) and Reporters.
- Responsible for overall production of weekly URY Newshour
- Must hold a weekly meeting to set news agenda for the week
- Responsible for the upkeep of Studio 2, and all URY News OB equipment/studio equipment.
- Responsible for URY's coverage of UGMs.
- Oversees URY News’ presence online.
News Editor
- Position can be held by two members.
- Support the production of content for weekly URY Newshour and all other news programming
- Co-ordinate news/sports reporters with the support of the Head of News
- Organise cover and arrange content for URY’s daily and hourly bulletins
- Must attend the weekly news agenda meeting and regularly contribute story ideas
- Should also attend UGMs and take an active role in all URY News events along with the Head of News.
- Responsible for URY News’ online presence.
Sport Editor
- Must produce a weekly sport programme and/or 10 minutes of sport for the URY News Hour
- Should collate the campus sport scores for the URY website and programmes.
- Coordinates the sport reporters to produce programme content.
Reporters (News and Sport)
- Responsible to URY News and Sport Editor(s) and the Head of News.
- Should attend the weekly news meeting.
- Should actively look for campus news and sports stories for the wider agenda.
Music Team
The officers in the Music Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Music
- Acquisition of musical material/equipment for URY's use.
- Purchasing of new music/equipment from Music Team budget.
- Liaison with Record Companies and promoters.
- Co-ordinating sessions, the reviewing of musical events (including coverage of), and interviews as necessary.
- Organising presenters for weekly music team shows.
- Assisting with the programming of Specialist Music shows.
- Co-ordinating the promotion of Music Team activities and Specialist Music shows on URY.
Assistant Head of Music
- Assists the Head of Music as directed by the Head of Music
Sessions Manager
- Organising and assisting with live sessions
- Uploading and maintaining live session archive on the URY Music Soundcloud and the Sessions section of the URY website.
Interviews Manager
- Organising and assisting with interviews
- Uploading and maintaining interviews on the URY Music Soundcloud and the Interviews section of the URY website.
Librarian
- Cataloguing of music material.
- Maintaining URY Record Store in Vanbrugh.
- Considers and proposes storage solutions for music stock in the URY Record Store
- Buying new music from the music team budget (only after consultation).
- Compiling the weekly Recommended Listening playlist and ensuring its distribution to all presenters.
Chart Supremo
- Presenting, or the arranging the presentation of the Chart Show.
- Compilation of weekly URY chart return sheets.
- Sending URY chart information to music contacts (both internal and external).
The Speech Team
The officers in the Speech Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Speech
- Responsible for the co-ordination of all officers within the Speech Team.
- Responsible for the production of comedy, drama and other speech-based entertainment for Sunday Speech programming.
- Responsible for the URY Speech online presence.
Assistant Head of Speech
- Assists the Head of Speech as directed by the Head of Speech.
Cinema and Theatre Liaison
- Responsible for contacting cinemas and theatres and obtaining information about press showings and other information i.e. screening/performance times, competitions.
- Responsible for keeping Cinema and Theatre contact details up to date and contacting promotion companies.
- Responsible for organising all Cinema and Theatre reviews.
Documentaries and Features Editor
- Responsible for production and broadcast of documentaries and other factual programmes, in association with the Head of Speech.
- Responsible for the production of other speech-based programmes as directed by the Head of Speech.
Speech Officer
- Duties given at the discretion of any of the previous members of the Speech Team, as detailed above.
Events Team
The officers in the Events Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Events
- Co-ordinates members of the Events Team
- Responsible for event organisation, i.e. the completion of YUSU Event Management Forms, supply of electricity and internet connection.
- At the discretion of Management and Programming, is responsible for on air content throughout events (campus-based and otherwise)
- Co-ordinates all non-broadcasting events including gigs, club nights, DJ sessions and any other external equipment usage, excluding external broadcasting events.
- Liaises with the Station Manager and all other relevant officers over each Event.
- Ensures that financial planning is comprehensive, adequate and checked with the Station Management.
Assistant Head of Events
- Assists the Events Manager in all Events, organisation of Events and preparation of Events.
Production Team
The officers in the Production Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Production
- Responsible for production of all jingles, idents, adverts and audio promotional material.
- Responsible for providing presenters with assistance recording jingles for shows.
- Responsible for providing radio edits of tracks requested by the Programming Team.
- Responsible for the organisation of production CDs and production music on the computer.
Assistant Head of Production
- Assists Head of Production as directed by the Head of Production.
Computing Team
All members of the Computing Team, unless explicitly stated below, have the following collective responsibilities that they must agree to in order to participate in the team:
- To respect the privacy of all users;
- To respect presenters and their shows, as well as campus services relying on URY’s broadcasting, and thus not to unduly disrupt URY’s output;
- To uphold the highest possible level of security for URY, including ensuring that any sensitive information created by or delegated to them is sufficiently secured;
- Not to abuse any privileges (including superuser/root access) granted to them either by virtue of their position or as extra privileges (see below).
The officers in the Computing Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Computing
- Maintenance and development of URY's computer systems;
- Handling (at the top/source level) and appropriate delegation of credentials (for example, passwords) for URY’s computer systems;
- Preparation and/or maintenance of contingency plans to allow for the continued operation of the team in emergencies, including the event of the Head of Computing being unavailable for prolonged periods of time (for instance, facilities to allow the Assistant Head of Computing to carry out Head of Computing duties whilst acting as such);
- Co-ordination with university IT services with regards to the security of URY servers;
- Co-ordination with heads of other teams, especially the Engineering Team, with respect to the optimal usage of computing services by teams and the optimal development of said services to satisfy teams’ needs;
- Management of the Internet audio stream from a software perspective;
- Maintenance to a usable standard of the station’s Internet connection and connectivity to Internet services used by URY teams (including but not limited to IRN and e-mail);
- Termination, without warning, of computer based services if they are deemed harmful to university interests. Termination of services critical to the running of the station and/or publicly consumed services is subject to the following terms and conditions:
- Any such action shall be performed only with the prior approval of the management;
- Any such action shall be explained at the next station meeting and reviewed.
- Delegation of extra privileges on URY computer systems to other members of URY. The term “extra privileges” in this section is to be understood as any device by which members may perform activities above and beyond those allowed to them by their officership, studio training status and similar criteria, explicit examples of which include superuser/sudo privileges, the ability to manipulate the scheduler without being a member of the Programming Team et cetera. Said delegation is subject to the following terms and conditions:
- Members of URY holding Computing Team officerships may be granted extra privileges at the discretion of the Head of Computing;
- Other members of URY may also be granted extra privileges, but only via mutual agreement of the Head of Computing and the management and with a clear mandate as to why the privileges are required having been agreed upon by all involved parties;
- Granted privileges are immediately, automatically revoked upon the ending of the grace period after the annual standing down of officers (irrespective of whether or not the affected member is an officer);
- Granted privileges are revocable without prior warning by the Head of Computing or station management for any reason (an appeal may be made to the revoking party).
The Head of Computing is automatically granted all privileges on URY owned and operated computer services (in technical terms, full root access) for the duration of their tenure.
Assistant Head of Computing
- Assist the Head of Computing as directed by the Head of Computing;
- Act as Head of Computing in emergencies should the Head of Computing be unavailable (including granting of privileges, but only under mutual agreement with the station management);
- Accept responsibilities delegated by the Head of Computing given mutual agreement with respect to the delegation and the understanding that both parties may be held responsible to some extent for any abuse of such.
Webmaster
- Maintain the URY website (including any member's area and alternate formats eg. mobile/print);
- Coordinate the design and evolution of the website with the station management and Business team.
The Webmaster is granted the privileges to edit, build and deploy the website for the duration of their tenure.
Computing Officer
Multiple instances of this officership can be created, each with a specialist role in the team's remit. These roles are decided upon by the head of team as required.
Engineering Team
The officers in the Engineering Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Chief Engineer
- Co-ordinates members of the Engineering team: including delegation of studio and OB procedures.
- Maintenance of URY's equipment, including transmitter and aerial mast.
- Development and procurement of new equipment.
- Upkeep of URY's fixtures and fittings.
- Ensuring all Outside Broadcasts and other events receive sufficient technical assistance, either by direct involvement or by assigning responsibility to the Outside Broadcast Officer.
- Ensuring all URY equipment has passed necessary tests (i.e. PAT testing).
Assistant Chief Engineer
- Assists the Chief Engineer as directed by the Chief Engineer.
Engineering Officer
- Assists Chief Engineer and Assistant Chief Engineer on Outside Broadcasts and other engineering projects as directed.
Business Team
The officers in the Business Team, and their respective responsibilities, will be as follows:
Head of Business
- Co-ordinates members of the Business team.
- Responsible for the acquisition of on-air and off-air sponsorship/advertising.
- Production, vetting and distribution of URY publicity.
- Promotion of URY to its listeners and working towards the enhancement of URY's profile within the University.
- Co-ordinates promotions and competitions.
Assistant Head of Business
- Assists Head of Business in their duties as directed by the Head of Business.
Other Officers
Digital Content Manager
- Responsible for the negotiation, upload and upkeep of online content (podcasts, photos and videos) to assist on-air programming.
- Consistent use of social media to extend the online presence of URY
- Shall coordinate with Station Management and the Programming Team to ensure a fair online representation of URY.
Social Secretary
- Organise and publicise regular URY socials to all members.
Officer Without Portfolio
- Shall not be a member of any team.
- Assists any team under the direction of Heads of Teams and Station Management.
- Shall polish the URY plaque.
URY Meetings
Station Meetings
- All URY members have the right to attend and vote at all URY Station Meetings, provided it does not contravene the YUSU Constitution.
- All Station Meetings will be open to all unless a motion is passed excluding non-members of URY.
- Station Meetings will be held weekly during term time.
- Emergency Station Meetings may be called by the Station Manager or Assistant Station Manager, giving 24 hours notice during which time details of the meeting must be given to all members via email or other suitable methods.
- An AGM will be held annually in Week 6 of the Autumn Term.
- The quorum for Station Meetings will be 10 URY members, including at least one officer (excluding the Chair of the meeting).
- Station Meetings may be chaired by any officer, at the discretion of the Station Manager.
- The agenda of Station Meetings will be decided by the chair, but must include the ratification of the minutes of the previous meeting and officers' reports.
- Motions at a Station Meeting may be passed by a Simple Majority Vote (SMV, see Appendix 1).
- During debate, the following calls from the floor are allowed:
- Challenge to the quorum. This will result in an immediate count of those present, and the meeting will be closed if inquorate.
- Challenge to the chair. This will result in the challenger being asked to put their reasons to the meeting. The chair may reply to the challenge. The meeting will then reach a decision by means of a SMV. If the challenge is upheld, the chair is passed to the successor as defined in point 11 below, for the remainder of the meeting or until such time as a subsequent challenge to the chair is upheld.
- Move to a bar. This will result in a vote being held on whether or not to move to a bar, the vote being a SMV. If the motion is passed the meeting will be adjourned while all members proceed to the nearest college bar with instructions to purchase one pint (or appropriate legal measure) of any liquid provided by the licensee for consumption on or off the premises. The meeting will recommence when 75% of those who have proceeded to the bar have returned, subject to a quorum count.
- The order of succession of officer succession at station meetings is as follows:
- Station Manager
- Assistant Station Manager
- Programme Controller
- Head of News
- Head of Music
- Head of Speech
- Head of Business
- Head of Production
- Chief Engineer
- Head of Computing
- Assistant Programme Controller
- Head of Training
- Head of Events
- Assistant Head of News
- Assistant Head of Music
- Assistant Head of Speech
- Assistant Head of Business
- Treasurer
- Counter-proposals and amendments may be voted on at the discretion of the chair.
- Advisory Committees, when appointed are required to present to a Station Meeting. See Appendix 14 for details.
Team Meetings
- Each operational team of URY will meet at least three times per term with details publicised in advance.
- Team meetings will be chaired by the Head of Team. Meeting procedure will be at the discretion of the chair.
Elections
- Elections may be held at a Station Meeting.
- All members of URY are entitled to stand for any officership, but no person may hold more than one officership. The only exception to this is the Assistant Station Manager who must already hold an officership. Note the positions of SM and ASM, PC and ASM or APC and ASM cannot be held by the same person. Should any officer cease to be a member of URY, their position will become vacant and an election held.
- If only one nomination is received for a post, a SMV will be held on whether or not the candidate should hold the post.
- If more than one nomination is received for a post, the Alternative Voting Method (AVM) (see Appendix 1) will be used and the voters will be allowed to vote for Re-open Nominations (RON).
- The chair of the meeting, or another officer nominated by the chair, will act as returning officer for the election. No returning officer may stand or vote for an election which they are overseeing.
- Application for any officership must reach the Station Manager in writing, 48 hours before the start of the meeting at which the election is to take place.
- Each candidate must be nominated by one proposer and at least one seconder. All URY members, with the exception of the returning officer, may either propose or second any one candidate for each post.
- Absentee voting in elections will not be permitted.
- A motion of no confidence in any officer may be served by any URY member.
- The motion must be submitted to the Station Manager at least 24 hours before the meeting at which the motion is to be discussed.
- The vote will be a SMV by secret ballot and the officer concerned must be invited to the meeting.
- If the motion is passed the post will be available for election at the following meeting.
- The no-confidenced officer may re-stand.
- An officer may resign at any time by written notification to the Station Manager. The resignation will be immediately announced and an election called. The election must not occur within 7 days of the announcement.
- When one member in a jointly-held officership resigns, or is no-confidenced, all members holding that post will relinquish their duties, and an election for the post will be held.
- Candidates should attend their elections, except at the discretion of a Station Meeting.
- In the event of a candidate NOT attending their elections, their nomination must be received by the SM at least 48hrs before the meeting their election is due to take place in. The SM must then request written questions from the membership to be submitted 24hrs before the election. Answers to questions will be read out at the election.
- At an election the constitutional role of the officer being elected shall be read out and the nominee must accept that role to continue the election.
- Only one instance of each Head of Team may exist at any time, held by one person.
- For each Assistant Head of Team position, it is possible for either:
- One instance to exist, jointly held by up to two members; or
- Two instances to exist, each held by a single member.
- There is no limit to the number of instances of Regular Officers with Teams.
Constitutional Amendments
- The constitution may be amended at any Station Meeting.
- The text of the amendment must be displayed prominently in URY for 48 hours before the meeting at which it is to be discussed. All members should be notified by the Station Manager.
- A two-thirds majority of those voting is required to amend the constitution.
- Any amendment passed will be handed by the Station Manager to the President of the Students' Union (SU) within seven days of the meeting at which it was passed. If the SU Executive committee refuses to ratify any section of the amendment that section will be declared null and void.
Finance
- The funds will be banked in the name of York University Students Union
- The signatories to the accounts will be the Treasurer, the Station Manager and the Assistant Station Manager.
- All mandates pertaining to the banked funds of URY will be signed by the Treasurer and either the Station Manager or the Assistant Station Manager.
- The financial year will end on the 31st July. At the end of the financial year, the accounts will be audited.
- The Treasurer will be required to keep the accounts in a manner approved by the SU. The accounts will be available for inspection by any member of the SU Executive Committee or URY or other body with good reason to inspect them within a period of 24 hours of such a request being received by the Treasurer.
- The Treasurer will be required to submit a detailed account of the next year's expenditure to the SU Finance Committee within the time specified by the SU Treasurer.
- No funds received by URY for URY operations will be donated to any other cause or organisation.
- No URY member will claim or receive payment from whatever source, for work performed during the execution of their duties or through use of URY facilities without first having sought the approval of a Station Meeting.
- Every officer is entitled to be indemnified out of the assets of URY against all losses or liability which they may incur in or about the execution of their post, or otherwise in relation thereto.
- All officers are, however, liable for the consequences, financial or otherwise, arising from any negligent act, or any act outside their duties, as defined by the constitution and Station Meetings.
Broadcasting Policy
- Any officer can make a request for broadcasting to cease to the following people, and it must be confirmed by them:
- Station Manager
- Assistant Station Manager
- Honorary President
Broadcasting may recommence when the person who initiated the cessation gives their consent, and has consulted the above.
- A decision to deny the use of URY facilities to any member may be made at a Station Meeting. That person must be informed when such a motion is to be discussed, and invited to the relevant meeting. The Station Manager, Assistant Station Manager, Programme Controller and Assistant Programme Controller may deny the use of facilities temporarily until the next station meeting.
- Presenters may not express racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise offensive sentiments while on air.
- All advertisements broadcast by URY will comply with the “Code of Advertising Standards and Practice”, published by the Ofcom.
- No advertisement broadcast by URY may be racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise offensive.
- All presenters must sign Presenter's Contracts before going on air
- Presenters must log themselves and guests into SiS and sign the advertisement schedule (if applicable) each show. Failure to do so will result in a warning from the Program Controller. After 3 warnings the Programme Controller will remove that show from the schedule for the remainder of that term at his discretion.
- The News Team will be entitled to at least a minute daily news programme and a 60 minute weekly news programme, to be scheduled jointly by the Programming and News teams. In the event of a breach of broadcast policy the shows may be suspended by the programme controller.
- The Music Team will be entitled to at least a minute weekly music programme, to be scheduled jointly by the Programming and Music teams. In the event of a breach of broadcast policy the show may be suspended by the Programme Controller.
- The Speech Team will be entitled to at least a minute weekly speech programme, to be scheduled jointly by the Programming and Speech teams. In the event of a breach of broadcast policy the shows may be suspended by the Programme Controller.
Logging of Output
- All broadcast output, including sustaining services, must be logged in accordance with the Ofcom guidelines.
- The Programme Controller and Chief Engineer must separately check, weekly during term time and monthly during the holidays, that both audio loggers are working.
- An authorised officer must check that both audio loggers are working after doing work in the TX cupboard. Authorised officers are those in the Computing and Engineering teams.
Lending of Equipment
- Equipment may be leant out for non-URY use, and URY facilities may be used for non-URY purposes at the discretion of the Station Manager, Assistant Station Manager or Chief Engineer, with the permission of the latter. URY reserves the right to refuse to lending of equipment or use of facilities.
- A nominal charge may be made for this service, made on a case-by-case basis.
- All borrowed equipment is to be returned as soon as possible.
- Any damaged or faulty equipment must be taken to the Chief Engineer, and repair costs may be applicable to those that have borrowed the equipment.
- All music owned by URY is not for the personal use of URY members, and all laws and statutes relating to the copying and distribution of said music must be obeyed.
Provision of DJ Services
- Requests received to URY for the provision of DJs can be accepted at the discretion of the Station Manager, Assistant Station Manager with consultation of Head of Music and Chief Engineer.
- Guide pricing for colleges and societies are as follows:
- £50 per night (regardless of quantity of DJs used)
- Management can exempt the fee at their discretion i.e. for YUSU, or other large campus events.
Appendix A: Voting Methods
Simple Majority Voting
- The chair will ask those in favour of the motion under discussion to indicate the same, either by raising a hand or by marking a secret ballot, at the chair's discretion.
- The chair will then ask those against the motion to indicate the same by the same method.
- Each member present may vote only once. The chair may not vote.
- Absentee voting will be allowed (except in elections), provided that the vote is handed to the chair in a sealed envelope, and is opened after the votes of those present have been counted.
- The motion will be carried if the number of votes in favour of the motion exceeds the number of votes against.
- In the case of a tie, the chair has the casting vote.
- Votes of no confidence in officers must be held by secret ballot.
Alternative Voting Method
- This voting method is applicable only to elections where more than one candidate is standing.
- “Candidate”, will be defined as any member or group of members standing jointly; the vote to Reopen Nominations (RON) will also be treated as a candidate.
- A list of candidates will be displayed to the meeting.
- Each member present, with the exception of the returning officer, will receive a ballot paper upon which they will indicate their first preference.
- The ballot papers will be collected and counted.
- If any candidate has won greater than half the number of votes cast, he/she will be elected.
- If no candidate has won greater than half the number of votes cast, the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated, and the election will be repeated for the remaining candidates. This procedure will be repeated until a candidate has won greater than half the number of votes cast, at which point they will be elected. N.B. RON will be treated exactly as any other candidate.
- In the event of RON being elected, another election for the post in question will be called for the next Station Meeting.
- If the election is to fill two, or more, identical posts, the election will proceed as above until one of the candidates is elected. The election will continue with all remaining candidates standing until a second candidate has won greater than half the number of votes cast. The election will continue in this manner until all posts have been filled or all candidates have been elected or discarded.
Appendix B: Advisory Committee
- The purpose of the advisory committee will be to advise the Station Meeting on a particular issue.
- The membership and the size of the membership of the advisory committee will be at the discretion of the Station Meeting and will contain members of the relevant teams plus other members of URY that wish to be involved. Where necessary voting will take place using AVM for the members of the teams and then for other members.
- The advisory committee will then select a chair. This should be a head of team from one of the relevant teams or an officer from one of the relevant teams but may be passed on to any member of the advisory committee.
- The quorum of the meeting will be four.
- Meetings of the advisory committee will be called by the chair.
- Meeting procedure will be at the discretion of the chair.
- The committee shall report to the station Meeting and seek its approval before any of its proposals are acted upon.
Appendix C: Presenters Contract
- [Copy of Presenters Contract available from Programme Controller]
[[See the Contract here]]