The secretary’s job in a motor club
The secretary keeps the club’s records straight and its correspondence answered. In most motor clubs that means handling new member applications, keeping the member list current, sending notices, taking minutes and being the first point of contact for anyone who writes to the club.
In a club recognised for the Conditional Registration Scheme, the secretary may also be an elected official. The Code defines that as the president or secretary, elected to the role by a vote of the club’s financial members. Some Scheme notices to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles can only come from an elected official, so a secretary in a recognised club has duties the club cannot hand to just anyone.
New members, from form to welcome
A new member application usually lands with the secretary first. MemberCrew records the applicant as a member with the status Pending, meaning they are awaiting approval, and they stay there until the club’s registrar or an admin approves them.
Approval is a short checklist. It records the date the application was received, whether the member is joining for 1, 2 or 3 years and whether they take the magazine, then shows how long they will be covered and the dues before anything is confirmed. Approving raises the member’s dues invoice at the same time, so the treasurer does not need a separate note to know someone has joined.
The five member statuses tell the secretary where everyone stands:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | Applied, awaiting approval |
| Active | A current member |
| Resigned | Has left the club |
| Expelled | Removed under the club’s rules |
| Deceased | Has died; their record is kept |
A resigned or deceased member’s record does not vanish. That matters, because the club may still need it: for a member with a Scheme vehicle, the Code requires records to be kept for five years (clause 2.39). The memberships and renewals feature covers types and statuses in more detail.
The lists everyone asks you for
Somebody always needs a list: members for the AGM, addresses for the magazine, phone numbers for the ride leader, who is new this year. In a spreadsheet club, the secretary builds each one by hand and hopes the copy is current.
MemberCrew works from one record per member, and every figure on the committee overview is a live count from that record. Reports come from the same data, so the list for the magazine and the list for the AGM agree with each other. Each one can be filtered and sorted on screen, printed, or downloaded as a CSV file, and every list shows member numbers.
| The list you are asked for | The report in MemberCrew |
|---|---|
| Addresses for the magazine mailout | Magazine list |
| Email and phone numbers | Contact list |
| Members the club has no way to reach | Members we cannot contact |
| Who has reached 10, 20, 30 or 40 years | Long-service awards |
| Who can vote at the AGM | Voting-eligible members |
| Who is new this year | New members |
The members we cannot contact report is worth running before any big notice, so you can chase missing details before the AGM papers go out. The reports and exports feature lists the rest.
Notices and correspondence
A secretary’s notices go out several times a year: renewals, the AGM, changes to the constitution, event reminders. Email to members from MemberCrew is coming soon.
Until it arrives, the secretary downloads a current contact list and sends notices the way the club does now. Event notices are the exception: each event in MemberCrew can have a public page, so a secretary can share one link instead of retyping the details for the newsletter, the noticeboard and the email.
Minutes and the five-year rule
The secretary takes the minutes, and in a recognised club those minutes are Scheme records. The Code lists “membership records, minutes of meetings etc.” among the documents clubs must keep for five years from the date of the document (clause 2.39), and the Department may audit them (clause 2.40).
Minutes matter even earlier for a club seeking recognition. The application needs comprehensive minutes for at least the past 12 months, showing who attended and what was discussed (the Code, clause 2.3).
MemberCrew does not store minutes, so keep them where your club keeps them now. What it does keep is the other half of the record: the membership, vehicle and log book history the minutes refer to, with every change recorded in the activity log.
When the Code needs an elected official
A secretary who is an elected official can act for the club on several Scheme matters:
- Nominating authorised persons. Nominations go to the Registrar in writing, from an elected official, with the club’s name and the nominee’s full name, address and SA client or licence number (the Code, clause 2.9).
- Reporting an authorised person leaving. If an authorised person leaves the club or resigns the role, an elected official notifies the Registrar in writing within 14 days, and the club returns their certificate within 14 days (clauses 2.13 and 2.14).
- Keeping MR334 booklets. An elected official or authorised person keeps the club’s booklets, records the stock received and monitors their use (clause 2.24).
- Reporting spoiled forms. A lost, destroyed or incorrectly completed MR334 is reported in writing with its sequence number and the reason, signed by an authorised person (clause 2.26).
The president shares these duties. Our page for presidents covers the same notices from the other side, including what happens if an authorised person needs to step aside.
When you hand the job on
Secretaries change at the AGM, and a lot of club knowledge can leave with them. In MemberCrew, the new secretary gets their own login with the access their role allows, and the outgoing secretary’s role can be changed or removed. The records stay where they were, and the activity log shows who changed what and when.
The committee handover checklist covers everything else that should change hands, including MR334 booklets and any notices to the Registrar still in progress.