Delegation and task sharing

This guide is for committee members who want to know which jobs the law ties to one person and which can be shared.

How clubs do it

1. The committee records each task in the minutes, for example: "The committee resolved that [name] will manage [task] until [date or event]."
2. A report-back item goes on the next meeting agenda.
3. At the start of each year, the committee goes through the list and confirms who is doing what.

This is how many clubs keep track of shared work. If a task is missed, the minutes show the committee was managing it.

Jobs the president holds

These come from the Model Rules. A club on its own constitution may set them out differently.

• Chairs committee meetings (r.23(8)). If there is no president, or the president is not there within 10 minutes of the start time, the members present may choose one of themselves to chair (r.23(9)).
• Chairs general meetings (r.37(3)(a)). The chairperson of a general meeting has the casting vote (r.38(2)).
• As chairperson, signs the confirmed minutes (rr.26(2), 41(2)).
• For a small association, the president or the treasurer signs the verification statement (Act s.59AB).

Signing a document is not the same as writing it. The secretary writes the minutes and the treasurer prepares the financial statements.

Jobs the secretary holds

• Under Act s.69A, the secretary calls meetings with the president, keeps the minutes, keeps copies of correspondence and other documents, and maintains the register of members.
• The secretary gives at least 14 days notice of a general meeting (r.35(2)). Notice of a committee meeting is given in the way the committee decides (r.23(3), (4)).
• The secretary tells the Office of Fair Trading of a change of president, secretary or treasurer within 1 month (Act s.68).

Others can help. A member can take rough notes at a meeting or draft a notice while the secretary produces the formal version. More in Secretary: Records & Meetings.

Jobs the treasurer leads

Keeping financial records (Act s.59) and preparing the annual financial statements (s.59A) are committee obligations. The treasurer leads the work, and other members can help with the bookkeeping. If the annual return is not lodged, s.59BA makes the secretary, the president and the treasurer each liable.

Jobs for the whole committee

Under Model Rule 13 the committee keeps the register of members, and under r.47 it looks after the safe custody of the club's books and documents. The secretary usually does this work. A committee that knows a job is not being done and does nothing shares the responsibility. The four officer duties are in Committee: Shared Legal Duties.

Jobs anyone can take on

The Act and the Model Rules give these jobs to no named officer:

• grounds and equipment rosters
• the club email inbox and messages to members
• come-and-try days, events and competitions
• the website and social media
• contact with CAQ and other bodies
• grant applications and letters

Taking on one of these does not carry the legal duties of a named office. The member has taken on the work, and the committee can follow it up.

Sub-committees

Under Model Rule 27, the committee may appoint a sub-committee of members, such as grounds, social or coaching, to help run the club. A sub-committee member who is not on the management committee cannot vote at management committee meetings.

Some matters stay with the members. Changing the club's rules needs a special resolution at a general meeting (Act s.48).

Sharing tasks or sharing authority

The jobs the Model Rules give the president personally are few: chairing meetings and signing confirmed minutes. There are two ways of sharing the rest:

• Handing out tasks ("you look after the social media"). Decisions still come back to the president or the committee.
• Handing out authority. A minute gives a person or sub-committee the power to decide, for example "the social sub-committee may spend up to $500 on events". The $500 is an example only, not a rule or a suggested limit.

The minutes are what record the authority.

Where this comes from

1. Model Rules r.23 (Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999, sch. 4): chairing and calling committee meetings
2. Model Rules r.26 and r.41: minutes
3. Model Rules r.35, r.37, r.38: general meetings
4. Model Rules r.13, r.27, r.47: register, sub-committees, custody of documents
5. Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Qld), s.69A and s.68: the secretary
6. Act, s.59, s.59A, s.59AB, s.59BA: money and the annual return
7. Act, s.48: changing the rules