Delegates to the 132nd Covenant Annual Meeting, to be held June 22-24 in Detroit, will vote on the following amendments to the Covenant Bylaws.
Board of Nominations
An amendment to Section 10.5 reduces the size of the Board of Nominations from thirteen elected members to eleven elected members. The proposed bylaw reads:
“b. The Board of Nominations shall have eleven elected members and the ex-officio members identified in these Bylaws. Each member of the Board of Nominations serves all ECC congregations.
ii. At least four of the elected members of the Board of Nominations shall be female. At least four of the elected members of the Board of Nominations shall be male.”
Board of Trustees of North Park University
Amendments to Section 12.3 increase the number of appointed trustees to North Park University’s board, and, therefore, the size of the entire board, which is made up of elected, appointed, and ex-officio members. Currently the size of the total board is 31 to 36 members, of which up to 9 are appointed. The amendment calls for increasing the board to 34 to 39 members, of which up to 12 would be appointed.
The proposed amended Section 12.3 reads as follows:
“b. The Board of Trustees shall consist of thirty-four to thirty-nine members, comprised of elected members, appointed members, and ex-officio members (defined below). Each member of the Board of Trustees shall be a member in good standing of a member congregation of the ECC or another Christian church as further set forth below. Each member of the Board of Trustees serves all ECC congregations.
i. Elected Members.
(1) Candidates for the Board of Trustees to be elected by the Annual Meeting shall be slated according to the procedures of the Board of Nominations and elected by the Annual Meeting. The Board of Trustees may recommend candidates to the Board of Nominations.
(2) At least three elected members shall meet the criteria of the ECC policy on ethnic representation.
(3) At least 20 percent of the elected members shall be clergy and at least 20 percent shall be lay.
(4) At least nine of the elected members shall be female. At least nine of the elected members shall be male.
(5) Each elected member shall be a member in good standing of a member congregation of the ECC.
(6) An elected member may not be elected for consecutive five-year terms.
ii. Appointed Members. Up to twelve persons shall be recommended by the Board of Trustees and appointed by the Executive Board for terms of five years. Each appointed member shall be a member in good standing of a Christian church and shall be in harmony with the mission of North Park University. Appointed members are not required to be members of ECC congregations. An appointed member may be suspended or removed for cause only if such action is recommended by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the other members of the Board of Trustees and approved by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of all the members of the Executive Board.Cause for suspension or removal is failure to perform duties, malfeasance, misfeasance, immorality, indiscretion, unethical behavior, doctrinal error, breach of fiduciary duty owed to the ECC, breach of a duty of confidentiality owed to the ECC, or breach of a duty of loyalty owed to the ECC.”
