St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Congregation Council Nomination Process Policies
Adopted by Council: December 13, 2004


1.0 Policies Regarding Nominating Committee:

1.1 There should be a Nominating Committee.

1.2 The general role of the Nominating Committee is to oversee and educate the
congregation about the process, schedule, and policies regarding filling vacancies on
the congregation council.

The Nominating Committee shall identify and publish the length of term(s) available
for each council position available to be filled.

The Nominating Committee shall publish the names of Nominating Committee
members to whom a person may submit their name for nomination (either another
congregational member or themselves). The Nominating Committee shall publish a deadline by which names of nominees are to be submitted to the Nominating Committee:

The Nominating Committee shall publish the deadline dates consistent with this
policy six weeks prior to the election (about mid-April of each year).

  • Once the published deadline is reached for names of nominees to be forwarded to the Nominating Committee the following steps shall be taken by the Nominating Committee:

  • call all nominees whose names have been received by the deadline to let them know they were nominated,

  • invite everyone nominated to a question/answer forum with the entire Nominating Committee to outline duties and identify areas of interest (by four weeks prior to election),

  • check to see if nominees accept the nomination (by three weeks prior to election), and

  • to offer additional one-on-one discussions with nominees, if requested by any nominee.

Anyone interested in being nominated after the cut-off date still can meet on a
scheduled basis with the Nominating Committee up to three weeks before the election, schedules permitting.

Anyone who agrees to be a nominee shall have their name provided to the
congregation by the Nominating Committee.

Summary biographical information from nominees shall be due three weeks prior to
the election and subsequently published by the Nominating Committee for the benefit of congregation members.

If there are no nominees for a given opening, the Nominating Committee shall
report same back to the congregation. If the congregation cannot provide nominees,
the responsibility shall go back to the Nominating Committee who shall actively
recruit nominees for given opening(s).

1.11 There shall be no screening of nominees by the Nominating Committee.

1.12 The Nominating Committee shall be responsible for preparing the election ballots
and including the names of nominees (who accept nomination) received by the published deadlines referenced in Sections 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 above.

2.0 Policies Regarding Council Nominees:

2.1 Elected council members will serve as a liaison to a specific board based on the
openings available.

2.2 There will be no guarantee as to which board elected council members will
represent.

2.3 Elected council members will not be required to take on role of board chair.

2.4 Elected council members will be specifically cautioned not to assume the role of
board chair.

2.5 There will be a published deadline by which congregation members will be asked to
submit their own name or the name of another congregation member to any member
of the Nominating Committee as a nominee.

2.6 Nominations will continue to be accepted from the floor during the annual
congregation meeting to elect new council members.

2.7 Any nominee, including from the floor at the election, can speak prior to the vote up
to a maximum of three minutes.

2.8 The nominee(s) receiving the most votes shall fill open Congregation Council
positions in descending order from full three-year terms to progressively shorter
terms as listed and numbered sequentially on the election ballets. For example,
assuming there are three open positions: the nominee with the most votes shall fill
the first three-year term listed on the ballet, the nominee with the second most votes
shall fill the second three-year term listed on the ballet, the nominee with the third
most votes shall fill the third two-year term listed on the ballet. Refer to Attachment
#1 for a sample election ballet.

3.0 Composition of the Nominating Committee:

3.1 There shall be three total members on the Nominating Committee.
3.2 Members of the Nominating Committee should continue to be elected by the
congregation at the annual meeting in January of each year.
No member of the Nominating Committee is eligible as a nominee for a council
position. If a member of the Nominating Committee is nominated for council, they
shall decline the nomination.
There shall not be three members of council nor three non-council members on the
Nominating Committee.

4.0 Membership of the Nominating Committee:

4.1 Congregation Representative
A member of the Nominating Committee shall be a member of the congregation who is willing to serve, who shall not seek to be elected to the council, and is not a current or outgoing member of the council.

4.2 Open Representative
A member of the Nominating Committee shall be any member of the congregation who is willing to serve and who shall not seek to be elected to the council. This person may or may not be a current or outgoing member of the council.

4.3 Council Representative
A member of the Nominating Committee shall be a council member who is willing to serve and who shall not be up for election. An outgoing council member is preferred to fill this position, but a non-outgoing council member may fill this position if an outgoing council member is not available or not willing to serve on the Nominating Committee.

All three members of the Nominating Committee shall have equal status.

5.0 Determination of Nominees for Nominating Committee

The ballot shall contain blank lines for the congregation representative and the open
representative under 4.1 and 4.2 above respectively.

Prior to the annual congregation meeting in January, the council shall provide the name(s) of council representative(s) under 4.3 above that are willing to serve on the Nominating Committee and are not up for election. Their name(s) will be included on the ballet. There may be more than one nominee for position 4.3.

Nominations for positions 4.1 and 4.2 above shall be provided from the floor during the annual congregation meeting in January. There may be more than one nominee for both positions 4.1 and 4.2 above.

The congregation shall vote for one person to fill position 4.1. The congregation shall vote for one person to fill position 4.2. The congregation shall vote for one person to fill position 4.3.

The person receiving the most votes for position 4.1 shall be installed as the congregation representative.

The person receiving the most votes for position 4.2 shall be installed as the open representative.

The person receiving the most votes for position 4.3 shall be installed as the council representative.

The relevant policies regarding election of members to the Nominating Committee shall be included on the election ballot.



Attachment #1

SAMPLE BALLOT
Election of Members to Nominating Committee
Congregation Representative

________________________________________
(write in the name of one of the nominees to vote)

Open Representative

________________________________________
(write in the name of one of the nominees to vote)

Council Representative

The council has forwarded the following name(s) to be included on this ballot for consideration to be elected as a member of the Nominating Committee:

Ms. Jones ______
Mr. Smith ______
(choose one of the above nominees to vote)

(Attach pertinent policies to ballot)

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SAMPLE BALLOT
Election of Members to Congregation Council

Three Open Council Positions: Nominees:

#1 Three-year term Sally
#2 Three-year term Roger
#3 Two-year term Alice
Bob
Carol
(Write-in) ________
Instructions:
Please vote for three people by marking the boxes. Voting for more than three people shall invalidate this entire ballet. The three nominees receiving the most votes shall fill the open council positions listed above in descending order.