States Environmental Results Program Consortium
“States ERP Consortium”
CHARTER
Revised
May 16, 2007
Purpose
This
Charter addresses the mission, goals, form and function of the States ERP
Consortium. The
States ERP Consortium was formed in 2006 to provide a means of networking,
coordinating, developing policy, educating and communicating to related
environmental stakeholders in order to effectively use ERP tools at the state
agency level. The Charter was developed by founding group members and
ratified by membership at the November 15, 2006 meeting. The Steering
Committee and Charter help the States ERP Consortium to select its leadership,
identify issues, focus resources, and resolve disagreements over States ERP
Consortium policy or direction of work.
The States ERP Consortium is also a
Forum of the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS). The Forum’s ECOS
co-chair is the Chair of the ECOS Cross-Media Committee and the non-ECOS
co-chair is the Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office
of Environmental Policy Innovation in the Office of Policy, Economics and
Innovation‘s National Center for Environmental Innovation.
Mission
The Mission
of the States ERP Consortium is to collaborate in promoting the use of ERP
approaches for effective and efficient environmental protection and improvement.
Goals
The primary Goals of the States ERP Consortium are to:
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Share information and tools among states to help
with ERP implementation;
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Expand support for ERP within states and EPA;
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Report
and communicate ERP results key audiences;
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Identify potential new applications for ERP;
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Identify strategies to accelerate and achieve economies of
scale in automating ERPs.
General Membership
Any person who participates in ERP
program development or is otherwise a stakeholder in a state’s or EPA’s ERP
program may become a general member of the States ERP Consortium.
Membership duties consist of maintaining accurate contact data for the network,
consistent participation in meetings or conference calls and Work Groups, and
providing periodic updates on the general member’s ERP projects.
Membership benefits include connection to the States ERP Consortium network via
e-mail lists and other means, direct access to member state experiences, tools,
and materials, and influence over national policy development in regard to ERP
programs.
Business
States ERP Consortium
business may be conducted either through meetings, Work Group or general
monthly telephone conference calls, or Steering Committee telephone conference
calls. Any issue affecting the States ERP Consortium, its positions or
activities may be voted on in one of these settings if a majority of the
members of the group meeting are present, and if none of those present request
a delay in voting until the next meeting of that group. No issue may be
delayed past the next meeting of that group without concurrence of a majority
of those present.
The leader of a meeting
or conference call will ask for agenda items from participants at the end of
each meeting and one week in advance of the next meeting if there is available
time on the agenda for more items. Members are also encouraged to send
future agenda items to the leader at any time. Each agenda item will
include the goal for the topic and what is needed: decisions; information
sharing or briefing (one way); discussion (two way); or problem solving.
Time will be allocated to the topic and a responsible person identified.
Agenda items and attachments for any meeting or conference call should be sent
to applicable group members two weeks prior to the meeting if a decision by the
group is needed at the next meeting or call, or 5 days before the meeting or
call if a decision is not needed.
The States ERP Consortium may from
time to time adopt procedures to facilitate the efficient and transparent
operations of the Consortium. Procedures adopted by a majority vote of Steering
Committee members will be designated with an effective date, be made
attachments to the charter and will remain in effect until revised or
terminated by a subsequent majority vote of the steering committee.
The States ERP Consortium, its
Steering Committee and its Work Groups will strive to build consensus during
discussions to the extent that time allows. However, if procedures
relating to decision-making are followed as required elsewhere in this Charter,
the vote of the majority will prevail.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will be
comprised of the Chair, the Vice-Chair, and one representative from each state
active in ERP, and one representative from EPA. The Chair and Vice-Chair
serve as their states’ representatives on the Steering Committee. The
Steering Committee’s primary functions are to select the Chair and Vice-Chair,
to vote on fiscal issues affecting States ERP Consortium membership, to decide
policy issues which cannot be resolved by other means, and to amend this
Charter as necessary. Should their absence from a voting meeting or
conference call be unavoidable, state and EPA representatives are responsible
for providing and preparing an alternate, or for giving the Chair or Vice-Chair
their proxy in writing or via e-mail in advance. Key partner-members such
as EPA may be added to the Steering Committee as voting organizations by the
Steering Committee following discussion by the general membership.
Any member, whether general or
Steering Committee, who feels they may have a conflict of interest or may
conflict with other parts of their organization in the course of a discussion
or vote on any funding, policy, position, action, or other issue being
considered by the Consortium may recuse themselves from such discussions or
votes. Any recusal will be documented.
Steering
Committee Representatives
A state with an ERP program and EPA
shall have one vote each. Any States ERP Consortium general member may be
selected as their state’s or EPA’s voting representative on the States ERP
Consortium Steering Committee. The States ERP Consortium general members
from each state, from EPA, or from other organizations the Steering Committee
may designate shall select one representative using the method of their choice,
but the States ERP Consortium Chair shall ensure that representatives are
selected in a timely manner, and may intervene to settle intrastate or
intra-EPA disputes over selection. State or EPA representatives will
serve on the Steering Committee for a period determined by that state’s or
EPA’s general membership. The representative must attend every conference
call of the Steering Committee, or must notify the Chair of her/his impending
absence and arrange for a designee to attend. Failure by a representative to
participate, to notify in advance of absence, or to arrange for participation
by a designee will result in a call from the Chair to resolve any issues in
order to ensure representation of ERP states and EPA. Only the
representative or in their absence, a designee or proxy, shall be allowed to
vote on issues before the Steering Committee.
Chair
The Chair’s term of office shall be
one year, and may be longer if approved by the Steering Committee. With
the exception of the first Chair, the Chair shall be the previous Vice-Chair
and shall have served on the Steering Committee for at least one year as a
state representative. This post requires a commitment on the part of the
individual involved to coordinate and set agendas for monthly conference calls,
oversee annual representative selections or replacements as necessary, approve
Work Group membership and action plans, and represent the States ERP Consortium
in different activities and capacities that may include: coordinating with
USEPA, ECOS and other partners, and acting as a liaison and advocate for the
States ERP Consortium in general. The Chair shall assume office on March
1. Should the Chair leave office during his/her designated term, the
Vice-Chair shall assume office for the remainder of the term or if that is not
possible, an interim Chair shall be selected by a majority of the Steering
Committee for the remainder of the term. At least 3 months prior to the
end of an outgoing Chair’s term, the Chair shall solicit nominations for a new
Vice Chair from the general membership and prepare a slate of qualified
candidates for the Steering Committee to act on prior to the end of that term.
Vice-Chair
The Vice-Chair shall be selected by
the Steering Committee for a one-year term or longer, and with the exception of
the first Vice-Chair, shall have served on the Steering Committee for at least
one year as a state representative. The Vice-Chair shall provide support
and backup for all Chair activities as needed, and will be responsible for
keeping the activity of all Work Groups on track with Consortium
deadlines. The Vice-Chair shall assume office on March 1. The
Vice-Chair automatically rotates into the Chair position upon expiration of the
Chair’s term of office or should the Chair be unable to fulfill his/her
term. Should the Vice-Chair be unable to fulfill his/her duties or term,
the Steering Committee will determine how to fill the position.
Work Groups
Based on the suggestion of
individual general members, discussion of the general membership, and the
approval by a majority of the Steering Committee, various Work Groups may be
formed to address specific issues or objectives. The Chair is responsible
for soliciting interest in participating in Work Groups among the
membership. Any general member may volunteer or nominate other general
members for Work Group membership. Work Group members must commit to
serve for at least six months, and shall participate in meetings and conference
calls and accept assignments as necessary to complete Work Group tasks.
In general, members should not volunteer or be nominated unless they are able
to contribute at least 6 hours a month to the Work Group. The Chair and
Vice-Chair will confirm Work Group members in line with this expectation.
Work Group members shall set up precise action plans and timelines for their
activity, and schedule discussions and work so goals are achieved in timely
fashion. Action plans shall be approved by the Chair and Steering
Committee. The Chair and the Steering Committee will balance the number
and scope of Work Groups with the capacity of membership to complete action
plans within the time allotted. The Work Group is solely responsible for
selecting its leadership, whose functions will be convening, documenting,
planning, keeping Work Group activities on time and on track with Work Group
action plans, and reporting on progress to the Steering Committee and the
general membership.
Amending the Charter
The
Steering Committee may amend the Charter by a vote of the majority of its
members, after providing to the general membership at least one month’s notice
and opportunity to register comments. The Steering Committee will vote on
proposed changes only after considering and documenting the consideration of
all membership comments on the proposed amendment.
CHARTER
ATTACHMENT 1
Approved by Steering Committee: May 16, 2007
Procedure
for Reaching Decisions on Consortium Products, Positions, Issues, Or Other
Situations
Whenever a Work Group chair, with the support of the Work
Group’s membership believes that a product, position, issue or other situation
requires final decision-making by the Consortium, that Work Group chair may request
a vote of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee may delegate
decision-making on products or issues to a Work Group by formal action.
In general, however, the Steering Committee should decide whether to make
public statements of Consortium positions on issues.
As an
alternative pathway, if any general Consortium member believes that a product,
position, issue or other situation requires final decision-making by the
Consortium, the member may request that any two Steering Committee representatives
move for a vote of the full Steering Committee to approve the product. If
any two Steering Committee representatives decide to move for a vote of the
full Steering Committee, they may do so by sending an email to all Steering
Committee representatives asking the Steering Committee representatives to vote
on the matter with a cc: to all Consortium members for their information.
A decision
is reached when a majority of the formally-designated Steering Committee
representatives vote for the same outcome. Votes may occur at a regular
monthly Consortium call; on a conference call or meeting on a date which is
determined by the Chair and/or Vice Chair to be timely to the issue and which
maximizes the number of Steering Committee representatives able to participate,
or; via e-mail. A majority of Steering Committee representatives – each
voting for the same outcome – is therefore required at a meeting or conference
call in order to conclude decision-making. Only a majority of those
present is required to approve decision-making via e-mail.