A new member of the committee asks for a copy of the constitution so that they know what is expected of them:
- It is not necessary for members to have a copy as the secretary has a copy and will ensure everything is done in accordance with it
- Every committee member should have a copy of the hall's governing document and new members should receive one as a matter of course
- The constitution was only valid when it was written and over the years has become out of date and does not reflect how the hall is run now so a copy for each trustee is not appropriate
Does your hall committee have an over dependency on it's officers? Are the chair, secretary and treasurer the ones the others 'lean on'? Do these officers hold all the power and know what is best?
The non-officer committee members carry the same responsibilities as the officers and this is something often over looked. The secretary or chair having a copy and no one else seeing is totally unacceptable and option 1 can never be the right answer.
Even worse that option is option 3. In this situation the trustees are ignoring their trust deed and going that they think is best. Their way may, in reality, be better but it is against the Charities Act to act outside of the stipulations of your trust deed, whether you agree with them or not!
There is only one valid answer to this scenario, option 2. Please make sure all of your committee members have a copy of the trust deed and have read it and then make sure you abide by what it says.