Politics
The proposed FFW 1st Amendment
The governing committee meeting went well last night. We got a lot done in 3 hours. I think we are slowly but surely getting better at the business aspect. It’s all pretty much new to me, but I’m surprised to find much of the business aspects to be interesting. And entertaining. We had a good portion of the group there, all of whom deserve a spot on our newly proposed FFW Executive Board.
I’d like to thank Andy D., Chad, Sandie, Rae, Chris, Luke, Joel and Dave for helping to pick apart my proposal like a committee (yes, that is the grouping!) of vultures descending on a fresh carcass.
And a big thanks to Andy W. for being a gracious host!
Here’s our proposed 1st Amendment to be discussed and hopefully voted into reality at our next meeting on Wednesday, February 10th:
Amendments to the Constitution of FreeThought Fort Wayne
Articles in addition to, and the Amendment of the Constitution of FreeThought Fort Wayne, proposed by the President of FFW, and ratified by the group, pursuant to Article 6- Section 1 of the original FFW Constitution.
1st Amendment
Section 1. A deliberative assembly from now on referred to as the FFW Executive Board is hereby created and invested with the power to determine all courses of action to be taken in the name of the entire organization that is referred to as FreeThought Fort Wayne. There shall be 5 to 21 members elected by a simple majority vote of members present at the regular meeting at which the vote is taken. The President of FFW shall have discretion in deciding the maximum number of members elected per year. The FFW Executive Board will hold yearly elections during officer elections. Special elections can be held at the discretion of the FFW President when a simple majority is reached by vote of members present at any regular meeting.
Section 2. Any regular member who is in good standing with FFW in accordance with Article 3- Section 2 Membership and Good Standing of the FFW Constitution, and is therefore a voting member, is eligible for membership on the FFW Executive Board, each member having one vote. There are no term limits for any member, but each must remain a member in good standing for as long as he or she remains on the FFW Executive Board. When a member violates Article 3- Section 2 Membership and Good Standing of the FFW Constitution, he or she will be subject to review by the FFW Executive Board. If this review finds the member to be in violation of Article 3- Section 2, the member will be notified in writing by a FFW officer of his or her violation. If the member is not in accordance with Article 3-Section 2 after 90 days from when the member has been notified of his or her violation by a FFW officer in writing, the member will be expelled from the FFW Executive Board. This notification includes writing via a defunct, or an otherwise invalid, e-mail or home address provided by the member if no other means of communication are available with the member. A member may voluntarily resign at any time, but is then subject to a review and supermajority vote (two-thirds) by the FFW Executive Board when and if he or she requests to become a member again. A member can be removed from the FFW Executive Board by a supermajority (two-thirds) vote by all members of the FFW Executive Board, excluding removal of current officers, if the member is found to be incompetent or otherwise incapacitated of upholding the fiduciary responsibilities granted to him or her by the FFW Executive Board. Reasons for removal also include, but are not limited to, neglect of responsibilities, or attempted hostile take-overs of FFW by single or multiple members not upholding the spirit and/or intent of the FFW Mission Statement per Article 2- Section 1 of the FFW Constitution. Current officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer) are automatically FFW Executive Board members with one vote each and cannot resign from the FFW Executive Board, unless relieved of officer duties per Article 4- Section 3 of the FFW Constitution, and only then can be removed by a supermajority vote (two-thirds) from the FFW Executive Board.
Section 3. The FFW Executive Board can meet any time the FFW President or Vice-President calls for an assembly. The Vice-President shall preside over the assembly. The assembly of the FFW Executive Board can be held in a combination of live assembly and internet, or by any electronic means, but FFW will attempt to provide basic instruction on how to participate in these particular meetings for those trustees not familiar with the programs or whose internet access is limited. Only board members are allowed to attend the assemblies of the FFW Executive Board
Section 4. The decisions of the FFW Executive Board supersede all decisions made from all other sub-committees and groups created by FFW. Any appeals or grievances need to be submitted in writing to an officer for review. The FFW Executive Board shall now have the responsibility of determining good standing of all members of FFW. This amendment supersedes Article 3-Section 2 where it states “Members not maintaining good standing as defined above shall be subject to review by the officers of FFW.”
Disclaimer: I had to re-word a few minor sections for clarity and to clean up the author’s (my) mistakes and misspellings. My intent is to present this proposal as to what I think everyone at the meeting wanted and agreed on, so please, if I’ve screwed something up or mis-represented something e-mail me or leave a comment below to bring it to my attention.
I didn’t include a 2nd and 3rd Amendment which we also agreed upon in generalities. I want to get the wording right on these before I submit them. It shouldn’t take long to adopt them at a later time when I’m ready. Sorry for the wait on those.
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The The proposed FFW 1st Amendment by Jake Doelling, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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5 comments for “The proposed FFW 1st Amendment”
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Also I added the final sentence in Section 1:
“Special elections can be held at the discretion of the FFW President when a simple majority is reached by vote of members present at any regular meeting.”
I don’t recall talking about this at the meeting, but I realized we would have to wait to elect members to the FFW Executive Board during officer elections in January. Also this would cover if a member leaves the board and creates an opening or other extraneous circumstances.
“Only board members are allowed to attend the assemblies of the FFW Executive Board”
This line may imply that we are doing things in secret. Should the meetings be open to anyone that wants to attend to provide an atmosphere of openness?
Anyone attending would not have a vote but they should be allowed to attend as we have moved all the “business” to these meetings. Anyone in the group should have the opportunity to have input regarding any business discussed not necessarily a vote.
Yes Chris, I struggled with who to allow at these assemblies. I wanted it to be accessible to all in our group. But I wonder how many groups in general have a completely open door policy when it comes to discussing business. I also like the idea of allowing any member to have a vote on all matters concerning FFW, but why then bother with a Board that is vested with the ability to quickly and efficiently take care of business for the group? That was the compromise we came to. The intent is not to make a separate, privileged membership. The intent is to get business done without interfering with our normal monthly meetings. If any Board members start acting high and mighty or holier than thou, I trust the remainder of the Board will put pressure on that Board member to remember their responsibilities and why they are there in the first place. It is not a popularity contest. It is business.
I will bow to the group if we should decide to allow any members in good standing to attend these meetings, but there has to be a division between who can and cannot vote on this Board; otherwise it will be pointless and less effective.
Obviously it is important that the group elects members who care enough about FFW to take on the responsibility of steering our focus and our finances.
My opinion is to allow anyone that wishes to attend be able to do so. Voting is another issue entirely. I think that anyone that wishes to make any comment that has to do with the “business” of the group be given the opportunity to do so. After all if they are in good standing they are paying dues. Allowing members to attend the board meetings will not slow down the ability of the board to act efficiently and quickly.
I really do not see the board meeting becoming very large or many people not on the board to actually attend but they should be given the opportunity to do so and be heard. I was not implying in any way that some would get a holier than thou attitude because they are on the group.
I would not oppose the amendment without that opportunity in it. Just some thoughts and opinions to be considered.
Fair enough, Chris. We’ll definitely discuss it with the group at the next meeting.