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Statement of Purpose and Function
1.1. The Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps, hereafter referred to as BEMCo, is an association of the Brandeis University community dedicated to providing emergency medical care on the Brandeis University campus.
1.2. BEMCo, which will function in close cooperation with University Health Services (UHS) and Campus Police (CP), is sanctioned by the Brandeis University administration and supported by the Brandeis University Student Union.
1.3. Unless advance notice is given as described in the currently approved Operating Rules, or an emergency situation exists, BEMCo will provide emergency care twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week during the academic year.
1.4. Though the members of BEMCo are volunteers, they will still seek to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards.
Article Two
Membership
2.1. Membership shall be limited to members of the Brandeis University community and alumni in special circumstances as noted in Article VII Section A of the Operating Rules.
2.2. Membership shall be divided into two main categories: Active and Associate Members.
2.3. The definition of an Active Member shall be contained in the Operating Rules.
2.4. All Active Members must comply with BEMCo's Constitution, Medical Protocols, Operating Rules, and Administrative Policies as determined by UHS, CP, and BEMCo.
2.5. The Associate Membership shall consist of all members who are not currently Active Members.
2.6. Active Members may be identified by official BEMCo insignia. Only Active Members may wear this insignia.
2.7. Any member failing to comply with the above stated guidelines will have his/her status reviewed by the Director and the Operations Officer.
Article Three
Officers
3.1. Organization:
The hierarchical structure of BEMCo shall be as follows:
Director
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Administrator * Secretary * Treasurer* Training * Operations
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Appointed Officers
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Active Members
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Associate Members
3.2. Executive Board:
A. Director
1: Oversees day-to-day non-medical operations of BEMCo.
2: Serves as liaison to Brandeis University and the surrounding Waltham community.
3: Facilitates the activities of the other five officers.
4: Prepares a budget with the Treasurer, to be approved by the General Membership within three weeks of the beginning of each semester.
5: Votes last in all Executive Board decisions.
6: Presides over monthly meetings.
7: Nominates Appointed Officers as necessary.
8: Approves all public relations.
9: Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations
10: Is empowered to call General or Special Membership meetings whenever
B. Operations Officer
1: Oversees all medical operations of BEMCo. 2: Nominates, as necessary, Appointed Officers and holds regular meetings with them.
3: Is responsible for the maintenance of a monthly crew schedule.
4: Is responsible for ensuring that every attempt be made to answer calls for service.
5: Is responsible for providing the Executive Board and General Membership with timely reports and information on operational matters.
6: Renders whatever day to day decisions pertain to medical operations.
7: Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations.
8: Will assure the necessary skills of all members seeking active status or promotions in coordination with the Training Officer.
C. Administrative Officer
1: Nominates, as necessary, Appointed Officers and holds regular meetings with them.
2: Oversees day to day public relations efforts.
3: Oversees membership and recruitment.
4: Is responsible for providing the Executive Board and General Membership with timely reports and information on administrative matters.
5: Renders whatever day to day decisions pertain to administration.
6: Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations.
7: Presides, in the absence of the Director, over the General Meetings.
8: Assumes all non-medical duties of the Director in the event of his or her absence.
9: Oversees day-to-day P.R. efforts in conjunction with the Director.
D. Training Officer
1. Is responsible for training, continuing education, and the EMT class.
2. Orients new members, to be tested in conjunction with the Operations Officer
3. Renders day to day decisions regarding training
4. Provides skill checks of members for purposes of promotions and quality assurance.
5. Tests skills and knowledge of members seeking promotion in conjunction with the Operations Officer.
6. Nominates as necessary appointed officers.
7. Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations.
E. Treasurer
1: Maintains financial arrangements.
2: Prepares a budget with the Director to be approved by the General Membership within three (3) weeks of the beginning of each semester.
3: Oversees fund raising.
4: Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations.
F. Secretary
1: Calls meetings to order.
2: Maintains membership rosters for mail, phone, meeting attendance, eligibility to vote, and any other purpose deemed necessary.
3: Arranges for and notifies members of locations of all events (meetings, continuing education classes, etc.)
4: Handles all non-medical paperwork for officers.
5: Maintains minutes of all meetings and makes said minutes available to members within two (2) days of the meeting.
6: Is empowered to call General or Special Membership Meetings whenever necessary.
7: Distributes, to all members eligible to vote, election packets containing the election statements of any candidates running for office who submit them.
8: Discusses his/her activities with the other officers and considers their recommendations.
9: Acts as non-voting counsel to the Executive Board and for the General Membership in all matters.
10: Acts as non-voting counsel to the general membership in all matters except the election of the promotions officer, elections officer, and Executive Board officers.
11: Assures that this Constitution, the Operating Rules, the Administrative Policies, and Robert's Rules of Order are enforced according to proper procedure.
12: Shall be consulted prior to disciplinary action that falls under violations of 5.1.D to 5.1.G.
13: Reviews the constitution before the first General Meeting of each year.
3.3. The term of office is one year. A member may not serve more than three consecutive terms in a given office.
3.4. Qualifications of Officers:
A. To run for a position on the Executive Board, a person must have been a member of BEMCo for at least one semester prior to the election.
B. The Director must be an active member for a time period equal to at least one semester.
C. The Operations Officer must be an active member for a time period equal to one semester. In addition, he or she must be a primary or have the necessary qualifications to be promoted to primary within two months of election. These qualifications will be verified by the promotions committee prior to the election.
D. The training officer shall have the outside EMS experience necessary to provide a broad base of training to the membership. In addition, if not already, the training officer will become an AHA certified CPR-instructor at the first available class after taking office. The cost of this course will be paid for by BEMCo for the training officer only. The qualifications of each nominated candidate will be verified by the Promotions Committee before the election.
E. If during time of office the Director or Operations Officer loses his/her EMT license, he/she shall be removed from their position
F. No member who has been impeached, suspended for a total of one semester or more, or expelled from the organization, may hold or run for any executive position.
3.5. Appointed Officers:
A. A member of the Executive Board may appoint an officer to assist him/her with the responsibilities of his/her position.
B. All nominations must be approved by a majority vote of the Executive Board.
C. The Operations Officer’s Appointed Officers shall be selected from the Active Membership.
D. The Administrator’s Appointed Officers shall be selected from the General Membership.
E. Each appointed officer is responsible for the execution of his/her tasks as defined by his/her supervising officer.
F. Appointed Officers may form committees of the General Membership as they see fit.
G. Appointed Officers may be removed by a majority vote of the Executive Board.
3.6. Voting Procedures:
A. In order to vote, a member must have attended a minimum of two General Meetings in the 12 months prior to the meeting at which the vote will be held.
B. For the purpose of voting in an election, reading of the minutes is not to be considered satisfactory attendance of a meeting.
C. Three choices will be given during a vote or election.
1: In favor
2: Opposed
3: Abstention
D. Abstentions will not count on either side, nor will they count to determine the total voting membership.
E. In the event that two candidates in any election obtain exactly fifty percent (50%) of all votes cast, they will each be allowed one minute to speak, and then the vote will be recast. After two consecutive tie votes, a tie-breaking decision will be made by the standing executive board.
A. Nominations for the Executive Board will be held at the General Meeting in March.
B. An electoral meeting will be held at a General Meeting within one month of the Nominations Meeting.
C. Any person nominated may, at either the nominations meeting or the election, respectfully decline a nomination and not run.
D. A person need not be present to be nominated. A candidate absent from the nominations meeting must submit a letter of acceptance to the Secretary within two (2) weeks or the nomination will be considered null and void.
E. In counting the votes for the offices of Director, Operations Officer, and Training Officer: votes of Active Members will hold twice the weight of the votes of Associate Members.
F. In counting votes for all other offices, the votes of all members will be given equal weight.
G. To be elected, a candidate must obtain over fifty percent (50%) of all votes cast. If this is not obtained on the first ballot, and three or more candidates are running, voting continues with the candidate having the least number of points dropped from the running.
H. In extenuating circumstances at elections, a simple majority vote may alter procedures for that vote. Unanimous consent of the current Executive Board present at the meeting is necessary for any changes to be considered.
I. Election for each office shall be chaired by an Elections Officer. This Elections Officer shall be nominated and elected by a majority at the Nominations Meeting held in March. This Officer must be an Active Member and may not be running for office in the upcoming elections.
J. No member of the Executive Board may nominate any candidate or second any nomination.
K. No money may be spent in seeking an office. Candidates may, if they choose, submit a printed statement or web page (of a length to be determined by the Secretary) to the Secretary one (1) week prior to elections.
L. At elections, each candidate is entitled to a maximum of three (3) minutes to speak to the voters. Time shall be monitored by the Elections Officer. Any candidate not present for elections may submit a full policy paper, to be read by the Elections Officer during this time in elections.
M. After all speeches for a given position have been made, a question and answer period will be offered. Questions are to be posed as general questions to all those running for that position. Questions directed towards a particular candidate shall not be allowed a response. Each candidate may have up to one (1) minute to answer each question.
N. Elections will be held in the following order:
1: Director
2: Operations Officer
3: Administrative Officer
4: Training Officer
5: Treasurer
6: Secretary
O. Voting shall be done by secret ballot, and will be counted by the Elections Officer. In addition, each candidate running for that position may appoint a witness.
P. Each candidate running for a position must have been nominated at the nomination meeting for the position. Dropping down to the next ballot is not permitted. Candidates may be nominated for any number of positions.
Q. Should a candidate be unopposed, a motion may be made for a vote of acclamation. If seconded, a voice vote run by the chair may be held.
R. Absentee ballots must be submitted in person to the Elections Officer prior to the elections meeting.
3.8. Election of Promotions Officer:
A. Every year at the BEMCo Executive Board election, nominations for a Promotions Officer will be held. Elections for this position will be held at the following General Meeting..
B. It is strongly recommended that the candidates for Promotions Officer not plan on going up for promotion during the course of their term..
C. In the event that the Promotions Officer does go up for promotion while in office, he/she must give notice to the corps via email 7 days before the general meeting in the month prior to his/her promotion. At that general meeting, emergency elections will be held in which nominations are taken, speeches given, and votes cast. Voting procedures shall follow section 3.6..
Transferal of duties will take place at the General Meeting following elections. However, until the end of the Spring Semester, both Executive Boards shall work together so as to ensure a smooth transfer of command.
3.10 Executive Board Member Resignation
A. In the event that the Training Officer, Administrator, Secretary, or Treasurer resigns, an emergency election will be held within one week of the officer’s resignation. The emergency election will take place at a specially planned general meeting, and interested parties will be nominated, speeches given, and a vote held. For voting procedures, see Section 3.6..
B. In the event of the Director’s resignation, the Administrator will assume all duties of the Director immediately, and an emergency election held within one week for the position of Administrator. The emergency election procedure will be the same as above in 3.10A.
C. In the event of the Operations Officer’s resignation, a Supervisor will immediately assume all duties of the Operations Officer until an emergency election is held. The same stipulations will apply in the emergency election for the new Operations Officer as stated in Section 3.4C, and the election protocols as stated in 3.10A.
Article Four
Meetings
4.1. General Meetings:
A. General Meetings shall be held monthly. The date, time, and location of the meeting will be arranged by the Secretary at least one (1) week prior to the meeting. At the beginning of the academic year, the Executive Board will decide on the actual day and time of all General Meetings, which will be used for the year, provided that a location can be found for that time.
B. Meetings shall adhere to Robert's Rules of Order as determined by the Secretary.
4.2. Executive Board meetings:
A. The Executive Board will meet at least biweekly during the academic year. The actual day and time will be determined by the Executive Board at the beginning of each semester.
B. Upon consultation with the appropriate Executive Board member, time will be provided during a meeting for a member to raise issues before the entire executive board.
C. The minutes of the Executive Board meetings will be available to all of the voting membership.
4.3. Missed General Meetings:
A. All officers and Active Members are required to attend.
B. In order to be excused, members must notify the Secretary prior to the General Meeting and that member must read and sign the minutes from the missed meeting within four (4) days of that meeting.
C. Unexcused absence from any three (3) General Meetings in any one (1) academic year will result in an Active Members' status being changed to Associate, and may result in suspension or expulsion from BEMCo.
4.4. A quorum is necessary for any meeting of the General Membership of BEMCo. It shall consist of at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the total voting membership.
Article Five
Disciplinary Actions
5.1. Violations of this constitution, the Operating Rules, the Administrative Policies, or the Medical Protocols may result in disciplinary action. Infractions will be dealt with in one of the following ways at the recommendation of the Executive Board officer under whose responsibility the infraction falls depending upon nature of the infraction:
A. No action: a discussion of the incident with the concerned parties without any official record of the infraction.
B. Verbal warning: a discussion of the incident, a verbal notification to the concerned party of his/her verbal warning, and a one sentence statement placed in the member's file stating that he/she received a verbal warning. (i.e. "On 9/14/92, John Doe was verbally warned about an incident involving radio protocol.")
C. Written warning: Same as above, but a full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
D. Probation: A member on probation, upon any further incident, will immediately be subject to an action from 5.1.E to 5.1.H. The length of probation will be determined by the Executive Board. Full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
E. Reduction of present rank: time length to be determined by the Executive Board. Full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
F. Suspension of Active Membership: time length to be determined by the Executive Board. Full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
G. Suspension of BEMCo membership: time length to be determined by the Executive Board. Full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
H. Expulsion. Full documentation of the incident will be placed in the member's file.
5.2. Any disciplinary action from 5.1.D to 5.1.H must be voted upon by the entire Executive Board.
5.3. The member is to be notified in writing of any disciplinary action between 5.1.D and 5.1.H taking place.
5.4. A member will be notified and given one week after notification to sign and date any documents concerning disciplinary action to be placed in his/her file. If after one week the member has neglected to sign these documents, the Executive Board member issuing the disciplinary action will have a witness sign and date the documents.
5.5. Executive Board members will only discuss disciplinary actions with the remainder of the Executive Board and the parties involved with the infraction.
5.6. Disciplinary actions may result from, but are not limited to, any of the following actions:
A. Any Associate Member identifying him/herself as an Active Member.
B. Any Active Member identifying him/herself as a rank that he/she is not.
C. Active Member or officer absent, without approval, from two (2) or more general meetings in one (1) semester.
D. Theft or willful destruction of BEMCo equipment or the BEMCo office.
E. Willful misuse of radios.
5.7. Expulsion from membership may result should any of the following occur:
A. Being under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances while on active duty shift.
B. Willful negligence or medical malpractice.
C. Willful misrepresentation of BEMCo.
5.8. Procedure for appeal:
The member may appeal the decision of the Executive Board to the following, in order, upon consultation with the Secretary:
A. Executive Board
B. General Membership
5.9. Should it be deemed necessary, further notification of disciplinary action and the causes surrounding it will be made to campus, local, state, or federal officials.
5.10. A member brought up on disciplinary charges must be notified in writing that such charges have been brought up against him/her prior to the Executive Board meeting when an action will be taken.
5.11. A member brought up on disciplinary charges must also be invited to be heard by the Executive Board prior to any disciplinary action being taken.
Article Six
Amendments
6.1. Procedure for amendments to the Constitution and BEMCo Administrative Policies:
A. Proposed amendments must be signed and dated by three (3) members and submitted to the Secretary at least one (1) week prior to a General Meeting. Proposed Amendments will be posted online within one (1) day prior to the General Meeting. Hard copies will also be made available at the General Meeting. Proposed amendments will be voted on at the General Meeting unless rescinded by the author(s). Changes to a proposed amendment may be made at the meeting with the consent of the author(s) and the proposed amendment is then to be voted upon.
B. To be accepted 25 % of the active membership must be present at the General Meeting, and the amendment must receive at least a two thirds (2/3) vote.
6.2. Procedure for amendments to the BEMCo Operating Rules:
A. Proposed amendments must be signed and dated by three (3) members and submitted to the Secretary at least one (1) week prior to a General Meeting. Proposed Amendments will be posted online within one (1) day prior to the General Meeting. Hard copies will also be made available at the General Meeting. Proposed amendments will be voted on at the General Meeting unless rescinded by the author(s). Changes to a proposed amendment may be made at the meeting with the consent of the author(s) and the proposed amendment is then to be voted upon.
B. To be accepted 25 % of the active membership must be present at the General Meeting, and the amendment must receive at least a two thirds (2/3) vote.
C. The Primary Corps may veto any amendment to the Operating Procedures within one week of the General Meeting at which the amendment was passed. In order to veto the amendment, 75% of the Primary Corps must vote to veto, and notify the general membership via email of their reasons for vetoing the amendment.