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ARCH Issues Committee Charter
(September 2004)
A.
Composition and Purpose
1. Creation: The ARCH
Board shall create within ARCH a standing Issues Committee (the IC) and
appoint its members.
2. Purpose: To assess
relevant community and policy issues and recommend to the ARCH Board
how, if at all, ARCH should treat those issues.
3. Members
a. Eligibility: The
IC shall include at least one ARCH Board member and as many other
members as the ARCH Board shall determine, with the total number of
voting members being an odd number. Membership shall be open to any
General Member Representative or Associate Member.
b. Qualifications: In
appointing members of the IC, the ARCH Board shall endeavor to ensure
the IC is reasonably representative of the community and is capable of
addressing issues in a politically nonpartisan, fair-minded, and
balanced manner.
c. Voting Rights:
Each IC member shall have one vote.
d. Term: IC members
shall serve for one-year terms unless removed for cause by the ARCH
Board. There shall be no limitation on reappointment.
4. Officers: The IC
shall annually elect a Chair and Vice Chair from among its members (no
limitation on reappointment). The principal duties of the Chair (or, in
his/her absence, the Vice Chair) shall be to call and run IC meetings;
draft meeting agendas; solicit input from and assign tasks to IC members
and collaborators; and represent the IC with the ARCH Board and external
organizations and persons.
B.
Dealing With Issues
Overview.
The IC shall be responsible for assessing relevant community and policy
issues at the direction of the ARCH Board, for recommending to the Board
how, if at all, ARCH should treat those issues, and for crafting any
written products or other deliverables resulting from this process that
the Board requests. The IC shall address issues in four phases. During
the first phase, Identification, the Board, on its on
initiative or in response to an IC proposal, shall determine if an issue
is both relevant to ARCH’s role and mandate and worthy of its
attention and resources. If so, the Board shall direct the IC to proceed
to the second phase, Assessment. During this phase, the IC
shall conduct sufficient research and analysis to determine how it
believes the Board should deal with the issue. In the third phase, Recommendation,
the IC shall recommend to the ARCH Board what if any course of action it
believes ARCH should undertake with respect to the issue. The Board may
then adopt, modify, or reject the recommendation. If the Board
determines that further action is warranted, it will direct the IC to
proceed to the fourth and final phase: Action. In this phase, the
IC shall perform or arrange or facilitate whatever actions the Board
directs with regard to the issue.
1. Phase I: Identification.
The Identification phase serves as a preliminary determination of
relevance and importance of an issue to ARCH and its General Members. As
this determination is often easy to reach, and as there may be a need
for timely action, the Identification phase may be conducted by
email or telephone or other means, without a formal meeting.
a. An issue will be deemed
appropriate for the Assessment phase only if it meets all of
the following criteria:
(1) The issue should be
essentially local in nature and have some direct impact on or
relevance to Reston and some or all of its residents.
(2) The issue should be of
general concern or interest to ARCH’s General Members.
(3) Devoting ARCH’s
attention and resources to the issue is likely to benefit its
General Members.
b. Any ARCH Member may
propose issues for ARCH to address. If the issue is proposed to the
ARCH Board, the Board may on its own determine that the issue meets
the criteria for ARCH involvement and direct the IC to proceed to the Assessment
phase, or it may forward the proposal to the IC for this judgment. If
the issue is proposed to the IC (or one of its members), or handed off
to the IC by the ARCH Board, the IC shall evaluate whether it appears
to meet the criteria for ARCH involvement, and, if a majority of the
IC members judges that it does, shall so inform the ARCH Board.
c. The Board may or may not
direct the IC to proceed to the Assessment phase. The IC shall
not proceed to the Assessment phase unless the Board has so
directed.
2. Phase II: Assessment.
Once directed to do so, the IC shall study the issue thoroughly,
performing such research and soliciting such internal or outside
guidance as may be appropriate, with the goal of recommending to the
ARCH Board how, if at all, ARCH should deal with that issue.
a The IC shall seek in good
faith to identify all of the material and relevant viewpoints
associated with that issue.
b. IC members shall strive
at all times to remain objective concerning the issue under study. IC
members, at their discretion, may recuse themselves on any issue.
c. At any time during the
process, the IC may seek guidance from the ARCH Board.
3. Phase III:
Recommendation. Once the IC has developed sufficient understanding
of an issue, it shall recommend to the ARCH Board what, if any, action
it believes ARCH should take with respect to that issue.
a. The IC decision-making
process shall be objective, transparent, and accountable.
b. IC decisions shall be
reached through a formal vote. If there is a consensus, there shall be
a single recommendation. Absent a consensus, minority views will be
presented, along with the majority or plurality view.
c. The IC shall present
recommendations to the Board in summary form, outlining the issue, the
key viewpoints concerning it, and the reasons why the IC recommends a
particular course of action. Supporting facts and reasoning will be
documented. If any follow-up steps would be needed to implement the
recommendations, an outline of those steps shall be presented along
with the recommendation.
d. The Board shall then
adopt, modify, or reject the proposed recommendation, or return it to
the IC for refinement.
4. Phase IV: Action.
The ARCH Board may direct the IC to take follow-up steps to implement a
recommendation it has adopted.
a. Following are examples of
actions the Board might decide to undertake in response to a
recommendation by the IC:
(1) No action at all.
(2) That ARCH serve solely
as a neutral educational resource for its Members on a particular
issue, providing Members with a description of the issue and of the
various viewpoints concerning it, with each viewpoint supported by
the essential arguments of its adherents.
(3) That ARCH sponsor a
"town meeting" or alternative public forum to facilitate
the presentation to ARCH Members of the various or competing
viewpoints on the issue.
(4) That the ARCH Board
adopt and publicize a certain position with respect to a particular
issue.
b. Depending on the action
decided upon by the ARCH Board, the role of the IC might be
negligible, tangential, or central. If a written product or other
deliverable is required, the IC would be responsible for drafting and
producing it, subject to the guidance and approval of the ARCH Board.
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