As has been previously communicated, a task force appointed by the Board of Directors has been reviewing and making recommendations for revisions to the constitution of the Heartland Conference.

At its June 16 meeting, the Board voted to recommend the revisions for approval by the membership at the September 29-30 Annual Gathering. Formal vote will take place during the plenary on Saturday.

While a number of revisions have been made, almost all are editorial in nature that do not substantially alter the existing constitution. Information has been reorganized and in some cases updated to reflect current procedure. Provisions that were operational in nature and not specific to governance are being moved to the conference policies and procedures manual, where they will be further refined over the next year.

There are two substantial changes:

• The number of representatives to the Board from each Association shall be two with four additional members being selected on an at-large basis in an effort to provide better diversity and leadership talent.
•  A new standing committee of the Board, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, shall be created.

 Herein you should find:

• The resolution from the Board recommending the adoption of the substitute constitution.
• The document showing, in side-by-side form, the existing Constitution and the proposed Substitute Constitution, which should help in identifying changes.

These documents may be obtained in printed form by contacting the Heartland Conference Office at office@heartlanducc.org. 

We should note that the task force’s efforts amended the current constitution. Due to the number of edits which would involve a cumbersome legislative process for approval, the revisions are being presented as a Substitute Constitution.

There will be an information session during the Friday session of the Annual Gathering for discussion of the Substitute Constitution.

Finally, we wish to express appreciation to the task force for its diligent work, UCC General Counsel Heather Kimmel who was involved in the review, and those who participated in the vetting process and provided valuable input to the process.