Please provide the following contact information:

First Name
Last Name
Middle Initial/Name
Title
Organization
Street Address
Address (cont.)
City
State/Province
Zip/Postal Code
Country
Work Phone
FAX
E-mail (Required)

Briefly list what contributions can believe you can make to the work of the committee?

Briefly list  in one paragraph your educational and professional accomplishments in masonry design or construction.

Briefly list in one paragraph your current and past service to TMS committees or committees of other organizations.

Voting members of the Masonry Standards Joint Committee are expected to attend two committee meetings per year, at the attendee's expense, as well as promptly considering and returning committee ballots.  These requirements do not apply to corresponding members.  As such, which type of membership would you like to apply for:

Voting Member Corresponding Member

Have you served on the Masonry Standards Joint Committee before?

Yes No

Have you worked on other codes and standards, or served in any capacity on any committees that do?

Other requests or Comments?

Productive Committees have interested and committed members who actively attend meetings and who participate in ballots and committee discussion. As such, we ask that if you would like to serve as a voting member of the committee, that you agree to actively and productively work to move the committee's work forward. This includes a commitment to try to attend committee meetings, participate in conference calls, consider carefully all ballot items, even when they may not be of direct interest to you, and to cast your vote in a timely and considerate fashion. 

The Masonry Standards Joint Committee, as a committee of The Masonry Society, operates under the Technical Committee Operations Manual (TCOM). That documents outlines typical committee operating procedures, expectations of committee members, rights of committee members, and process by which committees must operate in order to try to be respectful of all while forming consensus on issues. Committee members should review the TCOM to clearly understand their responsibilities and rights. You will want to specifically review sections 1.4.2, 1.5, 1.6.1, 1.6.2, and 1.6.3 - all of which as excerpted and shown below to assist you in the preparation of your application.

Attendance at committee meetings is essential so that you can actively and intelligently participate in committee discussion. While TMS rules only require voting members to attend one meeting every two years, the MSJC has expected voting members to try to commit to attending every meeting because of the importance of the provisions being developed and the critical nature of many of the issues under consideration. As such, if you do not believe you can routinely attend committee meetings, you are encouraged to consider corresponding membership instead of voting membership.

As a TMS committee, MSJC typically meets at TMS's Spring and Fall meetings. A tentative schedule of TMS's upcoming meetings is shown below to help you determine whether you can likely attend these meetings.

Please be advised that these dates and locations are tentative and could change.

1.4.2         Committee Members

Technical committee members are volunteers who offer their services to TMS and its technical committees.  Each prospective committee member, regardless of membership category, should complete a TMS Committee Application Form available from TMS Staff.

TMS membership, while encouraged, is not a requirement for technical committee membership.

1.4.2.1              Voting Members

Voting Members are selected by the Chair on the basis of technical expertise and experience.  A committee member’s professional affiliation may determine classification or voting interest, which shall be considered to achieve balance of interest on committees developing standards.

Voting Members vote on Committee ballots and have the right of the floor at Committee meetings. They are required to participate actively in Committee work through contributions of technical information, prompt reply to correspondence, return of committee ballots, and attendance at a minimum of one Committee meeting every two years. For standards developing committees, a voting member must attend a minimum of one committee meeting per year.

Proxy voting is not allowed.

1.4.2.2              Corresponding Members

TMS members (except those in the Student category) can be appointed by the Chair as Corresponding Members to a maximum of two technical committees.  Student members shall be a Corresponding Member of at most one technical committee. 

An applicant may be appointed as a Corresponding Member when appointment as a Voting Member would be precluded to preserve balance of voting interests or when a Committee document is being balloted.  Corresponding members will be terminated from all committees unless they maintain their TMS membership.

Corresponding Members do not have to attend meetings, but do have to participate in committee activities as follows:

a)      They regularly receive minutes, information on items being balloted, and correspondence distributed to Committee members.

b)      They have the privilege of the floor at Committee meetings, but no vote.

c)      They are permitted to express negative viewpoints, with reasons, on letter ballot items.  These negative viewpoints are not counted in the final ballot tally and do not affect the outcome of a ballot item, but shall be distributed to the Committee for consideration.

d)      They are not considered in determining the balance of voting interests on the Committee.

1.4.2.3              Consulting Members

A Consulting Member is appointed by the Chair because of special expertise or long-time association with the Committee or its work.  A Consulting Member is not required to attend meetings or to participate by correspondence.  Consulting Members are advised of committee activities and are welcome to attend meetings, but have no vote.

1.5    Appointments

Chairs of technical committees shall appoint members of their committees.

After the Chair reviews a proposed committee member’s TMS Committee Application Form, the original should be sent to TMS Staff with appointment recommendations, and a copy kept for the Chair’s files.

Formal appointment is made by the Committee Chair and is confirmed in a letter or e-mail from TMS Staff.  Committee members are appointed for unspecified terms.

A candidate for Voting Membership may be rejected to maintain balance of interest or committee size at a level consistent with effective operation, or at the discretion of the Committee Chair.  Among the factors that a Chair can consider is whether the addition of a new Voting Member would significantly delay an ongoing balloting process.  An applicant whose request for membership is denied has the right to appeal to TMS-TAC.   Appeal should be made in writing to the TMS Executive Director and will be forwarded to TMS-TAC.  The applicant shall be permitted to appear in person at the TMS-TAC meeting where the appeal is considered.

Appointment of more than one Voting Member from the same place of employment is discouraged, and requests for such appointment shall be justified.

1.6    Selection of Members

1.6.1Qualifications

Members should have the technical expertise, skills, time and facilities necessary to contribute to the Committee’s work.

1.6.2Meetings

Committee meetings are generally held at the TMS meetings and other times convenient to the Committee.  At these meetings, committees make most of their major decisions, work out many problems, and accomplish much of their work.

1.6.3Balance of Interest

                    Requirements for Balance of interests are mandatory for Committees producing mandatory-language documents.  Balance of interests is desirable but not mandatory for Subcommittees producing or having jurisdiction over mandatory-language documents, and for other technical committees.

1.6.3.1              Classification

A Voting Member of a Committee that prepares or has jurisdiction over mandatory-language documents shall be classified as Producer, User, or General Interest.   Classification of committee members by organizational and technical interest is needed to ensure fairness and balance among affected interests.  Such classification may be the same or different on different committees.  Classification shall be related to the mission of the Committee.

1.6.3.2              Producer Interest

A producer interest is an organization, trade association, or individual that produces, markets, or sells materials, products, or systems covered in the committee mission.

1.6.3.3              Producer

A voting member who represents a producer interest shall be classified as a Producer.

1.6.3.4              User Interest

                    A user interest is an organization, association, or individual that purchases or uses materials, products, or systems covered in the committee mission.

1.6.3.5              User

A Voting Member who represents a user interest shall be classified as a User, provided that the member could not also be classified as a Producer.  For example, a design engineer who is a member of a committee writing a design guide would be classified as a User, but would be classified as General Interest on a committee dealing with masonry materials.

1.6.3.6              General Interest

A voting member who is not classified as Producer or User (for example, an employee of a government agency or a university), shall be classified General Interest.

1.6.3.7              Consultants

A consultant retained by a producer interest or by a user interest under an indefinite continuous arrangement that includes representing the organization on a TMS committee shall be classified Producer or User respectively.  Consultants representing themselves or an employer not classified as a Producer or User Interest shall be classified as General Interest.

1.6.3.8              Balance of Interests

Balance of interests in a committee that prepares or has jurisdiction over documents requiring standardization requires that:

a)    the combined number of voting members classified as User and General Interest shall equal or exceed the number of voting members classified as Producer; and

b)    each Producer Interest shall have no more than one voting member.

Balance of interest is required for the committee to ballot any action. Committees seeking exceptions to the requirements of this section may request reconsideration by TMS-TAC.  Committees preparing non-mandatory documents, such as guides and reports, are not required to conform to the requirements of this section, but should have broad-based membership, to ensure balanced coverage of the subject. 

1.6.3.10           Voting Member Termination to Achieve Balance

To achieve balance, the Chair may decide to terminate voting memberships or change them to nonvoting classifications. This is done only after the Chair has shown TMS-TAC that a substantial effort has been made to obtain balance by adding new voting members.

When a change of employment produces a change in classification that results in an imbalance in voting interests, a voting membership can be terminated or changed to another membership classification. Reappointment can be considered when balance is achieved and if the person requests reappointment.

1.6.4Geographical Location

TMS is an international organization, and its technical committee documents should reflect practices that are applicable over wide areas.  Broad geographical distribution of committee members is important.   TMS technical committees should represent the geographical areas (but not necessarily the political divisions) of the North American continent.  Such membership distribution guards against adoption of standards that reflect only local practices. 

International members of TMS members may find it difficult to attend committee meetings, but can contribute valuable information by correspondence.  For such members, corresponding membership should be encouraged.

1.6.5Overlapping Membership

Coordination of effort among TMS committees is a continuing primary responsibility of TMS-TAC, and cross-representation between closely related committees aids coordination.  The Committee Chair should carefully review the missions of other committees and develop overlapping membership where desirable.

It is sometimes necessary to use capable Voting Members in multiple assignments;  membership on more than two technical committees should be discouraged, however.

1.7    Joint Committees with Other Organizations

Appointment of committee members to joint committees with other organizations follows the above guidelines with a few exceptions.  Before the formal appointment letter can be sent, approval must be obtained from the co-sponsoring societies.

The Chair should simultaneously submit the appointment recommendations to TMS and to the co-sponsoring society.  When approvals are obtained, TMS usually sends out the formal appointment letter to TMS members on behalf of all participating societies.

1.8    Terminations

The Chair should periodically review members’ performance and take appropriate action regarding their classification and membership.

The Chair shall remove non-active members from voting status by terminating their committee membership or by changing their membership status to “corresponding member”. A voting member shall be considered non-active if that member does not respond to two consecutive ballots, does not attend at least one committee meeting every two years, or does not contribute to the production of committee documents.

Any committee member may appeal a classification or membership decision to TMS-TAC.  The affected committee member may appear in person at which time the appeal is considered.