Community Council Task Forces

When a concern arises in Community Council that is best dealt with by a small group of people, including members of Community Council, as well as members of the Hampshire Community at large a task force is typically created. Students, Staff, Faculty, etc, can serve, as well as anyone affected by the topic at hand. Task forces are usually established to research, discuss, and ultimately report back on the issues at hand. The task force recommendations are not decisive (unless so motioned and approved in Community Council) but instead are suggestions that are brought back to Community Council, often for eventual voting. The task force when motioned for and created is assigned a temporary chair to arrange the first meeting of the Task Force. At the first meeting the task force can decide whether to allow the temporary chair to remain the chair of the Task Force until it is dissolved or on the contrary can choose to elect a different chair as the body that plans to serve on the Task Force till it is dissolved.

To form a Task Force, it first must be motioned for in Community Council, typically after a discrepancy arises. A simple majority vote creates the Force. Then a temporary chair is elected or appointed (depending on the wishes of the current Community Council). Certain things are to be made explicit in the creation of any task force: * What specific questions the task force is to address * The time frame within which they must complete their research, and to what date Community Council can logically suggest a presentation by the task force. * The Temporary Chair

In addition, other governance bodies and administrative offices should be informed of the formation of task forces. A call for membership should be released to the Hampshire Community if the Task of the Task force, or any of the consequent questions it must answer are of any concern to the community at large. Information on the task force meetings should be made available through both the intranet and perhaps signs if so deemed necessary.

At the end of any task force, or at any point during which it is deemed appropriate, the task force is to present to Community Council what information they have come across and in turn what recommendations they propose. Usually the chair of the committee will type up a specific packet of information including but not limited too, "Background on the problem," "When the Task Force Was Created." "Purpose(s) of the Task Force." "Recommendations of the Task Force." "Any Further work that may be necessary." Also if there is any part of the Task Force that is limited by time constraints it should be so noted in the presentation.

Example of a Task Force Presentation - Please note it is typically MUCH more extensive then this, and the timeline would include all the dates of the meeting and what was generally discussed at each meeting.

Task Force: Bylaws Task Force When: Fall of 2008 Members: Leanna Pohevitz, Alex Torpey, Sam Light, Emily Ryan, Wes Ringel, Dylan Holmes Background: Typically with each new Community Council the Bylaws have been a point of contention. For that reason, this task force was called into committee to fully edit the bylaws both for grammatical and spelling errors as well as for logistical and ideological constraints. Purpose: The purpose of this Task Force is to revise the Community Council Bylaws to strengthen the processes that run Community Council as a governance body. Timeline: September 12th 2008:....  September 20th 2008:....   October 28th 2008:.... Task Force adjourns to make recommendations to Community Council Recommendations: Vote for the Community Council Officers within Community Council as they are the officers of Council and not officers of the Student body.