President

Coastguard provides a number of resources to assist volunteers who take on the challenge of leading their unit as President. First and foremost is a job description for the role - see job description

We have a guideline on the responsibilities of the board in managing the unit.

Unit Operating Plan
A unit needs to have a written operating plan which the President puts together with the units board team. [|See guide to writing the plan.] There is also a template which outlines the topics that should be included in your operating plan. For help with writing your plan you can ask the Regional Manager to come to your planing session.

You should be aware of the developed by the Coastguard New Zealand board and the developed by the Southern Region board. Your operating plan is you writing down what you are planning on doing to achieve the goals in the national and regional strategies.

Unit Constitution
You should be aware of some key things in your units constitution. You can find your constitution on the register of incorporated societies. (note that the copy that is held here is considered to be the actual constitution, any changes you make are not legally binding until they are registered with here, contact your regional manager for advice on this)

Unit Membership
The unit constitution sets out the details about membership of your unit. It is helpful to have a unit membership policy or procedure. We have a guideline to help with this or ask the Regional Manager to draft one for you. See Unit Membership Guide

Unit Board
Who can be elected to the units board of management and how you need to go about this are set out in your units constitution. The board should meet regularly and minutes of the meeting should be kept including the decisions made and the actions to be taken by board members before the next meeting. Include these action points as the matters arising for your next meeting.

Annual General Meeting
Every unit is required to hold an annual general meeting once a year. The requirements for this are also in your units Constitution. This will include the time frame for giving notification to your unit members of the date, time and place of the AGM.

We have a section on Unit Management which has information to help you manage your unit. See Unit Management Back to Volunteer Roles