Constitution of Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee For Peace And Reconciliation

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 

The Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee for Peace and Reconciliation aims to promote peace and reconciliation in the world by:

• Building on the reputation of Coventry as a City of Peace and Reconciliation.
• Organising annual peace events such as the August Hiroshima Remembrance Service and the Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture.
• Deploring violence and calling for peaceful resolution.
• Organising occasional conferences on specific issues.
• Communicating about their activities via press releases and online media such as the website CoventryCityOfPeace.uk, www.facebook.com/coventrycityofpeace, twitter.com/CovCityOfPeace.
• Promoting literature, exhibitions, videos, films, talks and discussion to educate the public about peace and reconciliation.
• Exchanging and sharing information amongst groups represented on the committee and others.
• Building links with appropriate organisations in the city such as the Lord Mayor, the Lord Mayor’s Office, the City Communications Team, the Reconciliation Ministry of the Coventry Cathedral, Coventry University, Warwick University and the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations.
• Developing new initiatives as appropriate.
• Encouraging peace programmes within schools.
• Providing focus on the work of UN agencies related to peace and UN peacekeeping.
• Publishing an annual report outlining the activities of the Committee.
• Creating an annual action plan for how the Committee will achieve its aims in the coming year.

MEMBERSHIP 

• Membership of the Committee shall only be open to members who are actively committed to promoting peace and reconciliation and agree with the aims and objectives of the Committee.
• Membership shall consist of existing members as at 1 January 2018. 
• The Committee may invite people to become members of the committee provided that they first demonstrate a commitment to the committee by attending at least two out of three consecutive meetings. 
• People wishing to be considered for membership should write to the Chair of the Committee and after the agreement of the Chair and Committee must demonstrate a commitment to the Committee by attending at least two out of three consecutive committee meetings. 
• Membership of the Committee shall normally lapse if a member fails to attend 6 meetings of the Committee without good cause or if the member ceases to be committed to the aims and objectives of the Committee. The Chair may write to the member to establish if there is such good cause. 

OFFICERS AND ELECTIONS 

• The Lord Mayor of the City of Coventry is the President of the Committee for his/her year of office. 
• The Officers of the Committee shall comprise the Chair, Deputy-Chair, Secretary and the Treasurer. These Officers shall be elected on an annual basis at the first meeting of each calendar year. The Treasurer shall produce a financial statement for approval at that meeting.

MEETINGS 

• The Committee shall normally meet at least 6 times per year. 
• The Chair shall chair the meetings and the Secretary shall take minutes of the meeting. In case of the Chair being unavailable the Deputy-Chair will chair the meeting.
• The meeting or part of it may be open to the public at the discretion of the Chair. The Chair shall be guided in his /her discretion by the aims and objectives of the Committee. 
• Decisions will be taken by simple majority of members present at a meeting. 

FINANCE

• Members of the Committee have a responsibility to act within a framework of financial solvency. They must not agree to any contract without the approval of the Committee. 
• If any member or members do make such an agreement then the liability will fall upon the member(s) who took on the liability and not on the Committee.
• If the Committee is wound up and has a financial liability, liability will fall upon the whole Committee provided the liability has been approved as stipulated above.
• If the Committee is wound up and has a financial surplus, and if the surplus is the result of donations, then donors will be reimbursed from that surplus in proportion to their donations.
• If after such reimbursement the Committee still has a surplus, it will be given to a charity that supports the Committee’s aims.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION 

Any amendments to the Constitution of the Lord Mayor’s Peace Committee can be made by two thirds of the membership of the Committee present at a meeting provided that at least 7 members are present and provided that the proposed amendment has been circulated in advance in writing at least fourteen days before the meeting.