Kiwiburn’s Chair, Treasurer and Community Facilitator resigned last week.
We wanted to share a short update about how we’ll be managing the recently vacated Chair role, and to clear up confusion about what that role actually involves.
Over time, the Chair role has ended up carrying a mix of responsibilities that are easier to understand if they’re separated out, rather than treated as a single, all-encompassing leadership position.
The chair position has two distinct roles of Chair and Site Ops Facilitator. We’ll discuss the roles separately below.
First, there are responsibilities connected to the oversight or support of specific team functions or activities. These arise when individuals step in to help where capacity is needed and may be undertaken in a variety of roles, or simply as community members contributing time and effort. These responsibilities are not inherent to the Chair role and continue to need experienced volunteer support. To be clear, this is the Site Ops facilitator side of the role, which includes facilitating the Depot, lost property, Site Office, Site management, event ops, Sustainability, Hunterville community engagement and much more.
Second, there is the role of the Chair in relation to meetings and representation. This includes the procedural task of chairing meetings, as well as supporting good process by ensuring fair participation, surfacing relevant perspectives, and helping ExCom work effectively together. It has also traditionally included aspects of representing the Society externally, alongside other roles and contributors involved in those relationships.
Lastly, there are governance responsibilities. These are held collectively by our Facilitators (committee members) as a whole. Decisions are made together, through established processes and appropriate consultation, rather than by any one role or individual.
For the interim period, we’ll be rotating the meeting-chair function among the other Committee members. This includes:
- facilitating meetings and keeping discussion on track
- supporting fair participation and sound decision-making
- confirming quorum, motions, and resolutions
All other functional responsibilities and governance work will continue with the support of remaining committee members and their teams, as they do now.
We hope this helps clarify how leadership and governance works under the current constitution. Our focus is on keeping things steady and transparent, supporting our volunteers, and staying centered on delivering a great event together in 2027.
Of course, no one volunteers for thanks or appreciation, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t say a massive thank you to the outgoing team members. So we would like to thank the Chair, Treasurer and Community Facilitator for their commitment, mahi, time and effort they put into their roles. Each of them have put in countless hours for the love of Kiwiburn and the community. Kiwiburn wouldn’t have been the same without them, particularly the outgoing chair. So please send them your love, appreciation and thank them if and when you see them.
We also want to take a moment to thank some other ExCom members who recently stepped down. Julia, the Communications Facilitator, Bex, the Theme Camps Facilitator, and Luke, the Services Facilitator. We are incredibly thankful and grateful for their mahi over the past few years. If you see them around the Paddock, give them a hug and say thanks!
Finally, keep an eye on the EFP and our website for vacant roles as they are opened up for applications.
As always, thank you for your care, your questions, and the many ways you contribute to this community.
Image Credit: fra.gmentz
