Since the President's schedule does not permit him/her to attend all district conventions each year, a Board Counselor is assigned to a district by the President-designate as the personal representative of the President and the International Board of Trustees to the district.
By Bylaw provision (Article IX, Section 1) the district is an administrative unit, established, supervised, and controlled by Kiwanis International for the purpose of promoting the best interests of Kiwanis. The Board Counselor is, essentially, a liaison between the Kiwanis International Board and the district.
The Board Counselor acts as a facilitator, communicating information from Kiwanis International to the district and from the district to Kiwanis International. When problems arise in a district, the Counselor may be called upon by either Kiwanis International or the district to help resolve the difficulty. In such cases, the Counselor may be asked to present the district's perspective to Kiwanis International.
It is important for both Board Counselors and district leadership to know and remember that Counselors represent Kiwanis as a whole rather than specific areas of the Kiwanis world. While Board Members should give candid answers if asked for personal opinions, the Board Counselor is primarily charged with transmitting information impartially, unbiased by either personal preferences or the "political" preferences of parties on either side of an issue.
Sylvester