Roles and Responsibilities

New members and even some longtime members of the Knights of Columbus are reluctant to participate fully in programs and activities of their council because they don't know enough about the way it operates. They were never told how meetings are conducted nor what the duties and responsibilities of the various officers and directors are.

Since a more informed member will most likely prove to be a more active and involved member, every new Knight should be introduced to council officers and Service Program directors as soon after his First Degree as possible, and a brief description of the office or position should be made at this time.

Below is a summary of the offices, both elected and appointed.

GRAND KNIGHT (updated)

The GK is ultimately responsible for the overall welfare of the Council. He must provide thoughtful and inspired leadership to the 14 other council officers, the Service Program directors, chairmen and members of the council. How he accomplishes this will be determined by his leadership/management style and by what each officer and director requires in the way of mentorship.

More specifically, his duties include:

-presiding over council meetings;

-acting as an ex officio member of all committees;

-appointing the membership and program directors and working with them on the selection of Service Program activities chairmen and membership recruitment and retention chairmen; -convening officers for a monthly meeting;

-overseeing the proper exemplification of the First Degree; and finally,

-making sure that all reports and reporting forms required by the state of Supreme Council offices are submitted on time.

Another area of the GK's duties is overseeing the important work of the council's admission committee. Immediately after entering upon his term of office, the GK must appoint an admissions committee composed of seven members. This committee will be chaired by the Chancellor. The GK monitors their work and makes sure their results are in line with the laws governing the actions of the committee.

The GK also interacts with the financial secretary and treasurer to ensure the council is meeting its financial obligations to the Supreme and state council and others. For instance, the GK countersigns all orders drawn and signed by the financial secretary and all checks drawn and signed by the treasurer. He also reads the vouchers from the financial secretary of moneys paid to the treasurer and from the treasurer of moneys deposited in the bank. In essence, the GK checks on the performance of the financial secretary and treasurer, working with them to help the council meet its financial obligations.

The GK is responsible for recommending a chaplain and appointing a lecturer.

The GK should appoint a committee (recommend Trustees) to review/audit all fundraising activities to ensure they are viable and productive to/for our cause.

In Council 7186, the GK duties also include:

•  Review/proof the monthly Newsletter. The Newsletter editor will fwd the Newsletter to the GK for review and further updating prior to it being sent out to the Council members and State officers. After the GK has reviewed he will return it via email to the editor who will then disseminate it electronically.

•  Maintain the Member List. This includes updating all contact information (phone numbers, addresses, etc) and Degree and billet status's within the Council. This list usually contains enough updated info to send out to the members once a month.

•  Determine Knight of the Month and Family of the Month awardees for the previous month in order to include in each month's Newsletter. The DGK should then submit the appropriate form to Supreme NLT the 15 th of each month for the prior month's awardees.

•  Assist Myles Owens with maintaining and selling KofC 7186 apparel. This includes bringing the boxes of this gear to each Knight's event so it is available to the Council members for purchase. The Treasurer will keep track of the money that is due Myles and send to him. This includes $5 fm each garment sold that is donated back to the Council by Myles.

•  Determine Knight of the Year, Family of the Year, and Golden Knight of the Year awardees for the annual Installation of Officers and Awards Dinner.

•  Award longevity certificates for Knights that have surpassed 5 year increments as members of the Knights of Columbus. I.e. 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, etc.

•  Recognize significant contributors to the Council, its activities and its successes during the prior year at the annual Awards Dinner. This can be done for some using the Certificate of Appreciation certificate and for others by just announcing their names.

DEPUTY GRAND KNIGHT

The deputy grand knight is the second in command in the local council. He assists the grand knight in the operation of council affairs and is responsible for any duties assigned to him by the grand knight. In the absence of the grand knight, the deputy grand knight presides at council meetings and functions as the grand knight would.

CHANCELLOR (updated)

The chancellor assists the grand knight and deputy grand knight in the execution of their duties and takes charge of the council during the incapacity or extended absence of both.

With the cooperation and support of the grand knight, the chancellor has the important duty of strengthening the members' interest in council activities.

The Chancellor sets up and runs the Admissions Committee. Members include the Trustees, DGK and 2 other Knights. GK and MD can attend, but participation should be limited. Number of Admissions Committee members participating should not be any more than candidates attending.

The Chancellor informs the DGK and GK which candidates attended the Admissions Committee mtg.

RECORDER (updated)

The recorder functions in much the same way that court reporter or a secretary does. He is responsible for keeping a true record of all the actions of the council and maintains all correspondence of the council. He should use the "Recorder's Minute Book" (#1403, available from the Supreme Council Supply Department) to record the minutes of all council meetings.

The Recorder keeps the minutes of the meeting and the historical records for the Council. He is elected by the Council members. In the absence of the Grand Knight, Deputy Grand Knight, and Chancellor the Recorder will run the meeting. Also, he is responsible for the correspondence of the Council as directed by the Grand Knight. The Recorder's jewel is Crossed Quill Pens suspended from a white over yellow ribbon. The Quill pens are symbolic of his record keeping functions of the Scribe.

• Records all proceedings at meetings
• Ensure all motions, and their disposition, are recorded properly

TREASURER (updated)

•  The treasurer is the custodian of all council funds . This includes all funds collected from any source.

•  The treasurer receives all monies form the Financial Secretary of the council. The treasurer issues a receipt to the Financial Secretary for all funds collected. The treasurer is also responsible for depositing all money in the proper council accounts, and providing the Grand Knight a voucher or receipt of deposit for each transaction.

•  The treasurer is responsible for issuing payments to the Supreme Council on all assessments made by it to the council and for all orders of the council. Payments shall be made out to “Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council”.

•  The treasurer is responsible for issuing payments drawn on him which are signed by the Financial Secretary and countersigned by the Grand Knight. These requests are done in the form of Warrant Vouchers, which are initiated by the Financial Secretary.

•  The treasurer is responsible for keeping accurate records and accounts of the monies in the general expense fund of the council and the money in any special funds established by the council. He must be able to provide up-to-date records on these accounts to the Grand Knight, Financial Secretary or Board of Trustees.

•  The treasurer, with the help of other officers of the council , prepares an annual operating budget. This budget normally compares current year expenses with the upcoming year's projections. This budget is voted on by the council.

•  Finally, the treasurer must be audited semi-annually by the Board of Trustees. The treasurer shall provide all financial records of expenses and income during the period.

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ADVOCATE

The advocate is the legal representative of the council and should serve as the council's attorney in case of trial and investigation of any matter of interest to the council. The advocate need not be a member of the legal profession; however, he should be thoroughly familiar with all of the laws of the Order as stated in the "Charter, Constitution and Laws" and with the council by-laws. When a by-law is to be revised, the advocate serves as chairman of the revision committee.

WARDEN

The warden is responsible for supervising and maintaining most council property, except that which belongs to the financial secretary.

He sets up the council chambers for meetings and degrees and appoints and supervises guards for ceremonial exemplifications. The warden should also oversee the inside and outside guards and make sure they are fulfilling the duties assigned to them.

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE GUARDS

The inside guard attends the inner door of the council chamber, checking on paid up membership cards before allowing entrance. The outside guard tends the outer door of the council home, admitting all visitors to the inner door.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The board of trustees consists of the grand knight and three other members. Trustees supervise all financial business of the council. They serve as auditors for the semiannual audits and oversee the work of the financial secretary and treasurer. The grand knight is the chairman of the board. Trustees are elected for a term of three years, two years and one year. At each regular election, only the position of three-year trustee Will be voted upon, and the current three year and two year trustees move on to become two and one year trustees, respectively.

CHAPLAIN

The priest chosen to serve the council as chaplain will primarily act as spiritual advisor to the brother knights and families of that council. Since he will more than likely have a full-time ministry demanding the major part of his time and effort, no specific duties with regards to running the council have been assigned to him. The chaplain should serve as an advisor to the church activities director and members of that committee.

FINANCIAL SECRETARY

The financial secretary is a special office because it is not an elected one, but rather appointed by the supreme knight for a period of three years. Basically, the financial secretary's duties revolve around two key areas of council activities: financial records and membership records.

The financial secretary collects and receives all moneys that come into the council from any source. He then turns that money over to the treasurer for deposit in the council account. The financial secretary will collect money, in the form of dues, from members. He sends out billing notices before the start of the billing period and initiates retention measures to prevent members from being suspended for nonpayment of dues.

The compilation of membership records is another of the financial secretary's important roles. He must ensure that new members sign the constitutional roll of membership at the time of their First Degree. The financial secretary also applies to the Supreme Council office for honorary and honorary life membership cards for qualified members.

The financial secretary has several other responsibilities which include: handling supply orders for members with the Supreme Council Supply Department; filing the "Report of Officers" form with the Supreme Council office; and reporting all membership/insurance transactions to the Supreme Council office in a timely and correct manner.

Operation LAMB Chairman

The LAMB chairman coordinates the yearly Tootsie Roll drive to benefit mentally retarted. This includes ordering supplies, scheduling collection weekends and signing-up volunteers. Probably the most rewarding aspect of this job is presiding over the LAMB Awards Ceremony, where the actual donations are presented to local teachers and representatives from support agencies and we get to hear first-hand how the donations are used.

Directors (Community, Church, Council, Youth, Family, MEMBERSHIP)

Each director oversees the programs related to their area of responsibility. Directors usually have a committee made up of other members to help plan activities and sign-up other members to help as needed. This is where most of the work of the council is accomplished. Some example programs under each director are summarized below.

Community programs inlcude Habitate for Humaity, Blood Drives, Adopt-A-Highway.

Church programs include Seminarian support, Rosary devotions, Jesse Tree.

Council programs include fund raisers, Knight of the Month awards.

Youth programs include Free Throw competition, Read-A-Thon, Poster contests.

Family programs inlclude Baby-sitting Service, pot-luck dinners, baseball/hockey/etc games.

Membership programs include Admission and Information nights and hold degrees.

Membership Director (updated)

MD role is to oversee the recruiting and membership effort of the Council. MD is not responsible for admissions or retention, unless otherwise directed by the GK.

MD reports directly to the DGK, but should keep the GK in the loop on activities as well as info on email.

Members of the Council collect info cards and Form 100s from prospective candidates and forward them to me. This occurs anytime throughout the fraternal year, not just during membership drives. MD forwards these to the Chancellor once he has contacted the candidate.

MD calls each candidate and is responsible for getting them to the pre-scheduled Admissions Committee and, in conjunction with the Chancellor, to their first degree. Once the MD has contacted the candidate and talked to them (using a script as a guide) about the Knights, MD gives them the date of the Admissions Committee meeting and tells them someone from the Admissions Committee will be calling them to reconfirm. In other words, the MD is the candidate's first mentor until the DGK has assigned the mentor.

MD provides the DGK an update on the status of each candidate before the next officer's meeting, which he should attend.

DGK assigns a mentor to each new Knight before they receive their 1st degree. That mentor should accompany the candidate to the 1 st , 2nds and 3 rd Degrees AND remain in touch with the Knight to retain their interest in our Council, the Knights, and participating. The DGK will divide up all our 1st and 2nd degree Knights among officers, directors, and trustees as mentors.

The DGK forwards the names of the mentor as they are assigned to the MD, but this is for information only as the DGK is responsible for running the mentor program.

As MD learns of 2nd and 3rd degrees offered, he emails invitations to the 1st and 2nd Degree Knights asking them to take advantage of this opportunity and to RSVP him. If I don't hear back from them within a week, a phone tree should be initiated and phone calls made to each invited Knight.

As the Degree approaches, MD keeps the GK and DGK informed of any Knights planning to make their 2nd or 3rd degrees.

MD notifies the sponsoring Council of how many Knights will be taking the Degree from our Council before the deadline.

At a minimum, and where possible, the GK, the DGK, the Chancellor, Mentors, and MD will attend any degree which 7186 Knights are participating in.

The GK will notify the Insurance Field Agent of any new Knights to the Order.

LECTURER

The lecturer is responsible for providing suitable educational and entertaining programs for the council. He is responsible for presenting the "Good of the Order" section at council meetings. The lecturer must be knowledgeable of all aspects of co u ncil programming in order to provide members with informative and entertaining programs.

News Letter Editor

The newsletter editor publishes a monthly mailing (e-mail or standard mail) to all members. Information contained should include articles from officers and directors, any members who wish to publish articles, and other topics of interest to members.

Web Page Maintainer

The web page maintainer is someone who has the desire and knowledge required for the upkeep of a web page. Most of the information will be provided, such as the newsletter or upcoming events, but some creativity is also required to design an interesting and useful web page.

Scrapbook/Historian

The historian keeps a record of council activities over the course of a fraternal year using pictures and journaling. Scrapbooks are submitted for judging at the end of the year and various awards are presented.

Retention Chairman

The retention chairman heads a committee whose aim is to get and keep members involved. This is a very important office as an active membership is key to the growth and future success of the organization. The responsibilities of this committee start immediately after a new member takes the first degree to insure they do not fall to the wayside. If members fall in arrears then it is the responsibility of this committee to personally contact and encourage this member to reestablish their relationship with the council.