The Office-Bearers — The Secretary

The secretary is the chief executive and record-keeper of a co-operative society, and in the working of most societies he is the busiest of the office-bearers. He is appointed by the managing committee — in a small society usually an honorary secretary from among the committee members, and in a larger society sometimes a paid full-time secretary — and he functions as the link between the members, the committee, the office-bearers, and outside authorities. If the chairman is the head of the society, the secretary is very much its hands: he puts the society's decisions into effect and keeps its affairs in order.

The secretary's duties are wide and mostly of an administrative and record-keeping nature. He convenes the meetings of the managing committee and the general body as directed by the chairman or the committee, prepares and issues the notices and the agenda of these meetings, attends them, and records their proceedings by writing up the minutes accurately in the minute book. He maintains all the statutory books and records of the society — the register of members, the share register, the books of account, and the other registers required by the Act and Rules — and keeps them up to date. He conducts the correspondence of the society, dealing with members, the Registrar, banks, and other parties, and preserves the society's documents and files safely. …