Roles and Procedures

• Executive Head of the Board of Trustees

• Schedules and presides at all Board and General Meetings

• Creates an agenda for each of the following:

  • Board Meetings: Monthly or at minimum; July, November, February, May

  • Quarterly meetings; June, October, January, April

• Reviews / Approves Annual and Committee Budgets

• Calls special meetings when deemed necessary

Creating the Meeting Agenda

(Documents noted are found in the Lindenhurst Historical Society folder in the Google Drive)

The meeting agenda for each Board and General Meeting must contain the following categories and be created in collaboration with the board so reports are prepared, and additional topics raised. 

• Call to order

• Pledge of Allegiance

• Roll Call of Officers

• Reports:

  • • Recording Secretary

      • Minutes of the Meeting (require a motion to accept and second)

    • Treasurer:

      • Financial Report (require a motion to accept and second)

    • Correspondence Secretary

      • Correspondence Received / Sent

    • Historian 

      • Activities, Programs, Requests and Updates

• Old Business / New Business

  • • Museum Director 

      • House Museum, Old Village Hall Museum

        • Restoration Updates 

        • Reopening Dates

        • Upcoming Displays

    • Railroad Depot Site Manager

      • 1901 Railroad Depot Museum Anniversary Updates

      • Upcoming Displays

    • Membership Chair

      • Membership Totals

      • Activities to increase membership

  • Committee Chairs

    • Event Information and Updates

• Adjournment

• Refreshments

Request / Receive meeting content one – two weeks prior to the meeting being planned and continue to add until complete, but no later than 24 hours prior.  

Print agendas and send them electronically to the board so all are prepared to speak. Print agendas to share during meetings. 

Presiding over the meeting  

1. A sign in sheet should be provided by/to the Secretary of Membership prior to the meeting’s start to be circulated to all in attendance.  The completed sheet is to be copied and shared with the President and retained by both the President and the Secretary of Membership.  

2. The President calls the meeting to order, (Gavel provided) which triggers the Recording Secretary to capture the time, and the events of the meeting. 

3. Delegation to another Board member e.g. the Vice President, may be made to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 

4. The President begins with the Roll Call, and the Recording Secretary captures those in attendance and those excused.

5. The reading of the Officer Reports begins with first the Recording Secretary reading the Minutes of the last meeting. 

6. A motion must be made and a second received to be recorded in the current Minutes. 

7. The Treasurer is asked to offer the Society’s bank balances and future expenses of impact to the balance.  The Treasurer will submit the report to the President and retain a copy within their records. 

8. A motion must be made and a second received to be recorded in the current Minutes. 

9. Reports continue as listed in the agenda with each Officer and Site Managers updating all in attendance, all of which is recorded by the Secretary.  

10. Request updates from Committee chairs for events in progress.  

11. Make a request for additional announcements. 

12. Request a motion to adjourn the meeting and a second motion to close the meeting.

13. Invite the gathering to have refreshments.

14. The Recording Secretary captures the time of meeting closure into the Minutes.  A transcript of the minutes is shared with the President following the meeting and retained by the President and the Recording Secretary. 

Calling a Special Meeting

On occasion, there may be a need to request a special meeting outside of the standing meetings held.  This request will come from the President to members of the Board and may be relative to a request for more information on a specific area of the workings of the Lindenhurst Historical Society, to address an issue, regarding an opportunity that cannot wait for the next regular meeting, at the request of a Committee Chair, or by the Village of Lindenhurst, to name a few.  A majority of the board present shall constitute a quorum.

The President will be contacted / engaged to call the meeting requested and send an invitation to those needed in attendance.  Committee Chairs may call meetings regarding events already approved by the Board at a prior Board/General meeting, copying the President, who is  ex-officio member of all committees and Museum boards.  Minutes are required for Special Meetings.  

Reviews / Approves Annual and Committee Budgets 

(Documents noted are found in the Lindenhurst Historical Society folder in the Google Drive)

A necessary role of the President, shared primarily with the Treasurer, is the concern and maintenance of the funds necessary to keep the Society financially sound in order to remain in existence.   To that end, the creation of and adherence to an Annual budget is necessary.  

Creating the Annual Budget

Utilizing the reporting of the Treasurer of events from, at minimum, the year prior but ideally averaged over several years, the estimated number of expenditures should be available to carry to the year forward.  

Using these averages and adding estimated budgets for events planned in the year to come, the Board is tasked with creating a balanced budget to be maintained against funds available in accounts.  

Committees created to host an event must submit a budget for review and approval by the Board.  The Recording Secretary will capture this approval in Minutes and the Treasurer will  provide the Committee Chair with a written approval to be maintained with event documentation.   This document will be attached to the event profit/loss submission post the event. (Documents noted are found in the Lindenhurst Historical Society folder in the Google Drive) 

• Executive Vice-Head of the Board of Trustees

• Assists the President in their duties

• Performs all duties of the President in their absence

• Public Relations

• May be assigned  by the President to manage a facet of a meeting/program

Attending meetings in the President’s absence 

Should the Vice-President attend / hold a meeting in absence of the President, a debrief of the meeting should be offered to the President, should the Minutes not be immediately available, and any actions that may fall to the President be captured and shared. 

Public Relations

The Vice-President has responsibility for Public Relations.  In the 2024-2025 term, increased visibility of this role is desired.   

Publications

Will assist Committee Chairs and the President with the review of any printed materials intended to be shared publicly.  This will ensure the Vice-President is versed in all events being planned by the Society as the public relations person.   

Refreshments

The Vice President’s role will expand to be responsible for refreshments at each of the four general meetings where the entirety of the membership is invited to attend, and may engage other Board members to assist in provisions.  The Vice-President will be responsible for ensuring supplies are topped up when running low.

• Board Meetings should have water provided, at minimum. 

• General Meetings should have Coffee, Tea and a dessert.  Milk, Sugar/Sweetener and paper goods will be purchased and stored for use at these meetings.

• General Banking Responsibilities

  • With the Board manages signers on accounts

  • Maintains receipts and reimbursement of approved expenses 

  • Balances accounts against Bank Statements

  • Provides Monthly Account Reporting

  • Manages accurate records of balances and reports on them Monthly 

    • Manages Receivables and makes Deposits: 

      • 1. Dues

        2. Merchandise Sales

        3. Grants/Donations

    • Manages Payables:

      • 1. Memberships

        2. Subscriptions

        3. Event Fees

        4. Approved Reimbursements

  • Prepares the annual budget

  • Maintains Petty Cash box of $50.00

• Event Responsibilities 

  • Works closely with the Secretary of Membership and Committee Chairs

  • Records approved budgets for events

  • Provides Committee Chairs with written approval of budgets 

  • Maintains profit and loss records of events

  • During events:

    • • 1. Provides cash bank

        2. Counts funds with Committee Chair

        3. Prepares and Deposits monies

Managing Signers

At the beginning of the Lindenhurst Historical Society year, changes in officers must be a consideration of how it relates to the Society’s finances.  When a new Treasurer is appointed, the out-going Treasurer and those with signing authority on the accounts must ensure that the signers on the account are accurately updated and those who should no longer have authority to view or withdraw from the account are removed. 

Prior statements, the checkbook and associated receipts should be offered to the new Treasurer for filing and safekeeping.  

Managing Accounts 

As a critical role of the Board the outgoing and incoming Treasurer should meet to review the current financial health of the Society, expected incoming expenses and review the prior year’s budget in preparation for creation of the new budget with the President and Board. 

It is the responsibility of the Treasurer to obtain the monthly bank statement from the Correspondence Secretary.  Utilizing copies of receipts, and record of checks paid, the Treasurer is expected to balance the bank statement to the registry to ensure accounts remain in balance.  Whether a meeting is held in the month, or not, a record of the successful balance should be reported to the Board.  

Creating the Annual Budget

Utilizing the reporting of events from, at minimum, the year prior but ideally averaged over several years, determine and group estimates of potential expenditures that may be expected to carry to the year forward.  

Use these amounts and any newly submitted estimated budgets for events planned for the year and prepare a preliminary budget to be reviewed with the President and the Board. The Board will use this proposed budget to approve a balanced budget that accounts for funds remaining available in accounts.  

Working with the Society’s Grant Writer, be sure to include the dollar amounts and timing of Grant submissions and other potential funds expected to be received. 

Committee Budgets

Committees created to host an event must submit a budget for review and approval by the Board.  The Treasurer will capture the final decision of these expenses and return to the  Committee Chair written approval to be maintained with event documentation.  

The Treasurer will use this budget report to track receipts against the event and ensure the Chairperson remains aware of their balances.   This approved budget document will be attached to the event profit/loss page (tab 3 of the project plan) post the event. (See appendix for soft copies, also available at the link to the Lindenhurst Historical Society folder within the Google Drive)

Petty Cash

The amount of $50.00 in cash shall be maintained in a cash box to be used as a bank, or for approved incidentals.  Requests to reduce the Petty Cash ideally come from the Board and must be submitted along with receipts by the Treasurer for approval to withdraw funds to top off the $50.00. 

Participation in Events

In most events, there is likely to be a sale of merchandise or tickets that will require the ability to make change.  A ‘bank’ can be withdrawn from the operating account and added to the cash box to have enough cash on hand to manage the event.   

During the event, sales of Merchandise are captured on a Tally Sheet to assist in maintaining inventories. Additional funds should be separated into categories to record levels of success in event segments, e.g., 50/50, Basket Raffles, Merchandise, etc.   

At the end of the event, the ‘bank’ is separated from received funds to be redeposited into the account.  Petty Cash should be excluded from the count of profits as well to be left in the cash box.  

Funds raised are counted by the event Chair, or delegate, matched against the recorded breakdown of event segment and counted again by the Treasurer to ensure accuracy of the amount.  The funds and Tally sheet are offered to the Treasurer for deposit and the amount recorded on the profit/loss page of the project plan. 

Checks received should be copied prior to the deposit and saved with the Tally sheet and deposit slip.

• Captures and maintains meeting minutes

• Provides a transcription of minutes

• Reads out minutes from prior meeting and records the Motion and Second to accept

Capture of Meeting Minutes

The role of the Recording Secretary is critical in that this role maintains the capture of discussions and decisions made in current meetings that one day become our history.  

The Recording Secretary begins capturing minutes as soon as the President calls the meeting to order and is responsible to capture the time it occurs.  Following the agenda, recorded are the members of the Board present and excused.  

As reports are offered by other members of the Board, an overview of the discussion, along with key points are captured into the minutes.  The first of these reports is the responsibility of the Recording Secretary and is the reading of the minutes. 

Reading of the Minutes 

Following the capture of Board Members present, the Recording Secretary reads the minutes captured from the prior meeting.  Once completed, the President will ask for a motion to accept, which must be recorded as well as the person who seconds.  

Transcribing and Preserving Minutes

Minutes taken by the Recording Secretary are transcribed into a document to be shared with the Board at the following meeting, where the person who motions to accept them and the person who seconded are captured on the document and stored by both the President and the Recording Secretary.  

• Manages incoming correspondence sent to the Society

• Responds to mail received, following instruction from the Board

• Maintains subscriptions and membership to other organizations

• Submits request for subscription and membership dues to the Treasurer

Managing incoming correspondence

The address to which the mail is received for the Lindenhurst Historical Society is the address to our house museum located at 272 South Wellwood Ave., Lindenhurst, NY 11757.  It is the responsibility of the Correspondence Secretary to retrieve the mail from the box at minimum weekly to ensure we can be timely in potential responses. 

Mail received is opened and shared with the board during meetings.  Items requiring payment must be presented and the agreement by the majority of the Board to send the funds received.  

Approved payments are requested from the Treasurer by the Corresponding Secretary to obtain payment.  If electronic payment is made, the Treasurer must still be notified so that the amount and Payee can be recorded and the electronic debit to the account be matched in an upcoming statement. 

Maintaining Subscriptions

It’s important to remain a presence in the community and in the activities of other historical societies to remain engaged and educated in how our organization can benefit.  As such, the need to subscribe to and remain members of other organizations is important.

However, more than being engaged in name only we need to assess memberships and subscriptions to ensure that we are still benefiting from taking part.  To that end, the Corresponding Secretary will research each of our current subscriptions to learn and inform the Board of the benefits available to us.  This information will then be used to encourage participation by members of the Board and Trustees to be a presence of the Lindenhurst Historical Society at events. 

• Manages registration of annual and lifetime membership

• Collects membership applications and dues

• Submits details of registration and payment to the Treasurer

• Reports membership numbers in Board and General Meetings

• Maintains a current list of active Members

• Removes members from the active list as needed

• Provides a member list to the President, Board and Committee Chairs when requested 

Managing Annual and Lifetime Memberships

During events and meetings, the opportunity to have new members join the Society is presented through the availability of applications.  Applications received should be received by the Membership Secretary along with the registration fee, so that it can be recorded as either an annual membership, or a lifetime membership.  Once recorded, registration fees are to be given to the Treasurer, along with the member’s name and registration level for deposit and recording. 

Maintaining the Membership

As new members join the Society, they are added to the electronic membership list, capturing the member  name, address, email, phone number, year of joining and membership level.  

Likewise, if there is reason to remove a member e.g., non-renewal of an annual membership, a move, or the death of a member, the Membership Secretary will make updates to the list, by moving those members to a separate tab labeled inactive and capturing the reason for inactivity. 

The Membership Secretary may engage the Correspondence Secretary to assist with sending communications to non-renewed annual membership to have them renewed, following approval by the Board to expense postage. 

Reporting Membership

A report of the membership will be prepared and presented to the Board of Directors during the General Meeting and captured by the Recording Secretary in the minutes of the meeting. 

Committee chairs may request a copy of the active list of members to solicit participation in an upcoming event. 

• Attends General meetings

• May be asked to donate meeting refreshments by the Vice-President

• May attend Board meetings

• Is a positive voice promoting the Lindenhurst Historical Society

• Promotes fund-raising events

• May participate in event committees

• May assist in event set up

• Should aspire to take on a future role on the Board

Attending Meetings

The Trustee is expected to attend the quarterly General meeting of the Society.  They are sworn in with the Board at the last General meeting of the year and introduced and counted in the Role Call at each meeting in the year ahead.  This visibility to the extended membership is intentional as a visible and welcome extension of the board. 

Though not seated with the Board at the General meeting, during roll call, the Trustee should ensure they are visible to all gathered by raising their hand and verbally announcing themselves as present.  Attendance is recorded by the Recording Secretary. 

Participation in Events

Active participation of the Trustee in fundraising events held by the Society and in promoting the value of preserving our history is a welcome and needed voice in the community. 

The Trustee is also welcome to be a part of an event committee, or a committee chair themselves.  Note: As a chair they are expected to present ideas for events to the board, prepare a project plan, and an estimated budget to obtain approval to promote the event.  Additional expectation will be to submit regular updates of an approved event and to remain within the budget approved and submitted to the chair by the Treasurer. 

Aspiration to the Board

Trustees should either aspire to be part of a future board if never having served or find others to perform the role of Trustee in vacancies or with interest in taking a future board role.

Board members have been provided with a 1-inch binder, and Trustees with a folder,  containing the Lindenhurst Historical Society formation forms, constitution, by-laws and contact information for the Board, as well as the Manual Procedure for all roles that make up the Board, and the Trustee.   It is up to the Society members to keep their materials up to date.   

Information recommended to be updated and maintained is the following: 

• Meeting schedules, agendas, notes and minutes 

• Notes of other meetings/committee discussions

• Listed dates of upcoming events and the committee chair’s name

• A master document and a few blank copies of documents frequently used in your role.