Description of Position: Southwest Representative

Area of Representation

The Southwest Area Representative is elected to represent and serve Chapter members in the counties of Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Dolores, Fremont, Hinsdale, , La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, and San Miguel. Only chapter members in these counties may vote for the Southwest Area Representative.

Eligibility

Area representatives shall be members whose address of record is within the district represented.

Election and Term of Office

All area representatives are elected to a two-year term. The Southwest representative’s term begins November 1st of even numbered years. The election process for area representatives shall be coordinated with the election of Chapter officers, as outlined in Article 12 of the Bylaws.

Duties

The Southwest Area Representative shall perform the following duties as specified in the bylaws:

1.Act as liaison between the members of the district and the Executive Committee and represent the interests and concerns of the district to the Executive Committee.

2.Each Representative shall assist the President in planning and presenting Chapter programs which represent or are based on planning activities or problems in his or her district and/or is presented by resource persons from that district. The program, if at all possible, shall be presented at a Chapter meeting held in that district (for programs presented by Area Representatives) or at a time convenient to other public officials (for programs presented by the Public Official Representative).

3.Coordinate and promote informal and formal meetings of the Chapter members from his or her district to discuss topics related to APA, the Chapter, or other planning activities.

Regional Members

A database of all chapter members is maintained and updated quarterly. The Administrator will provide each area representative with a copy of this database for the region represented so that area representative may contact chapter members for regional events or other chapter functions. Membership information is to be used for no other reason. Area representative may not lend their region’s mailing list or email list to an outside organization without the Vice President for Communications’ consent.

Regional Events

With each annual budget, there is one budgetary line item for Regional Events. Each district is entitled to 1/6 of the budgeted amount to be used for district functions as the representative sees appropriate. (The Metro Denver area is considered 1 region even though there are two representatives.) APA Colorado is exempt from Colorado sales tax. Before the function, the representative should provide the vendor with a copy of the chapter’s tax-exempt certificate (acquired from the Administrator). The Administrator will keep track of how much each district has spent.

If a district has used its allocated funds and money remains in the Regional Events budget, s/he may petition the board at a regular board meeting for reallocation. Factors to be considered during reallocation include: whether all districts have had the opportunity to utilize Regional Event funds, the amount requested in relation to the time remaining in the calendar year, the number of chapter members the function is likely to attract.

The district may seek sponsors to offset the cost of regional events. Checks should be made to “APA Colorado” and submitted to the Administrator for deposit. The Administrator will send an acknowledgement of the donation to the sponsor.

The representative may submit an invoice to the Administrator or may seek reimbursement for the function. For any reimbursement, the representative must provide the Administrator with a written request including the purpose of the reimbursement, the name and mailing address of the person to be reimbursed, the amount to be reimbursed, and the receipt (or a copy of the receipt).

Area representatives may seek the Administrator’s assistance in helping to organize regional events.