LCMS Commission on Constitutional Matters — Minutes St. Louis, Missouri — August 23-24, 1971, Page 3

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17. Chairman of Council of Administrators: Since Resolution 4-39 had suggested that the First Vice
Chairman be named chairman of the Council of Administrators, since the original recommendation of the
ad hoc committee had called for the President to be named as chairman of the Council, and since neither
recommendation had been adopted by the convention,leaving the chairman of the Council therefore
unnamed, the commission ruled that the Board of Directors should be advised to name the chairman of
the Council of Administrators for the next two years until the convention can act. Prevallet reported that
Floor Committee #4 was unaware of the basic philosophy involved in the ad hoc committee's
recommendation and had merely suggested that the First Vice President be the chairman in order to
relieve the President of some responsibilities (Ag. 264).
18. President, Bylaw 2.27b: Since 4-39 never came to the floor of the convention, the paragraph stating
that the President would "ordinarily" exercise certain supervision through the Administrative Officer was
not adopted, but since the companion wording "as he directs" had been adopted in Resolution 4-38 for the
regulation governing the office of Administrative Officer, the commission resolved to insert into 2.27b
the word "ordinarily" (Agenda 264).
19. Boards, Commissions, Councils (Bylaws 2.02, 2.03 2 05): The convention adopted Resolutions 5-28
and 5-29 declining to change the appointing procedures for the Commission on Constitutional Matters
and the Synodical Service Commission. In spite of the fact that both resolutions gave "approval" to the
recommendations of the ad hoc committee regarding the appointment procedures for various boards and
commissions, the commission concluded that since these two resolutions had not addressed themselves to
the ad hoc committee's recommendation and in their titles had concerned themselves only with the two
commissions referred to, and since Resolution 4-40, which did address itself to the ad hoc committee's
recommendation, never came up for action on the part of the convention, the commission had no authority
at the present time to change the Handbook regulations regarding the boards, commissions, and councils
listed under Bylaws 2.03, 2.04, and 2.05 except as specifically provided for in other resolutions of the
convention (e.g., the Board for Church Extension, the Board for Higher Education). The secretary will
therefore carefully revise the present lists on pages 39 and 40 in the light of specific resolutions of the
convention (Ag. 264, 269, 270).
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20. Synodical Service Commission (Res. 5-29 and 4-45): Since the pertinent resolution did not come up
for action by the convention also in this case, the commission resolved to leave Bylaw 2.103 unchanged.
The commission took up other significant bylaw changes voted by the Milwaukee convention (Ag. 263)
and focused especially on the following items in the list:
21. Board for Higher Education: In Resolution 4-35 the Milwaukee convention resolved that the BHE
should be an elective board beginning with the New Orleans convention. The question therefore arises
whether those who are to be appointed at this time should be appointed for a two year or a four year term.
The commission ruled that those appointed at this time should be appointed for two years and that the
entire board should be elected in New Orleans with approximately one-half elected for two years and the
other half for four years.
22. Church Extension Fund: In Resolution 4-34 the convention decided that the Board for the Church
Extension Fund should hereafter be appointed. However, by that time the convention had already elected
men to the Board. The commission ruled that those so elected should continue to serve a full term.
23. Tenure and Termination (Res. 4-29): It is apparent that this resolution is prompting questions
especially among staff and board members. Since the last resolved of the resolution gives to the
individual boards and commissions the authority to set a schedule for review and since it would be well to
answer in advance some of the perplexing questions as well as to strive for some degree of uniformity, the