[Businessmtg] Consensus? Voting?

[Steve Rankin]

Thanks Melanie for re-posting the Business Meeting opening.  The details of
how we conduct our business are in Jennifer's opening.  But I'll summarize
the process  . . .

1.  While it seemed to me last night that we might be close to a consensus,
this particular issue can be complex so I posted the list of what I thought
the salient points were so the members could better understand and therefore
make a more informed decision on the issue.  

2.  Now we give the members of the Business Meeting (BM) a few days to
comment.  

3.  If the comments appear to indicate that we do have a consensus, then
Jennifer will post a note to the BM that we seem to have a consensus on XYZ
points.  If it seems that we don't have a consensus on point Q & R and those
points are critical to the issue, then we do NOT have a consensus.  OTOH, if
points Q & R were administrative details instead of critical policy issues,
then we could proceed with the consensus on XYZ.  Comprende?  The point is
that if the consensus has a FATAL FLAW, then we do not have a consensus.

4.  Assuming we do have a consensus, then Jennifer will ask for a motion
from the floor that contains ALL of the salient points that are a part of
the consensus.  If a motion is made that does not address all salient
points, then the motion is flawed and needs to be fixed or thrown out.
Since we are using the KBDM process, Jennifer may throw out any motion made
that does not properly reflect the true consensus of the meeting.  In other
words, the meeting can't be held hostage to a rogue motion.

5.  Once a proper motion is made and seconded, then we may spend a short
period of time reviewing the motion, and if needed making tweaks to it.

6.  Next, the exact wording of the motion is re-posted to the BM by the
Secretary (Jennifer) as the motion that will be voted on, and the timeline
of the voting.  There will be no paraphrasing of the motion or statements
such as "voting for X means such'n'such."  

7.  Then Anne, the Webmaster posts the motion on the web site and prepares
the site for the "poll" (vote).  When the site is ready, Anne will post a
note to the BM with a link to the polling site.

8.  From this point on there will be NO discussion.  To ensure that there is
no discussion, the Secretary may place the entire meeting on 'moderated
status' to prevent the server from posting any messages while the polls are
open.

9.  After the polls close, the Webmaster and/or the Secretary will post the
results of the vote.  Most issues require a 2/3's majority to pass.  The
Webmaster will also make a permanent record on our website of the motion and
tally of the vote.

10.  The Secretary may open the next topic if there is time left in the
month to do so, or may close the BM if we don't have enough time left.


That's the gist of it.  I hope that clears up any confusion about how the
process works here at ASP.  Please note how we strive to make sure that our
motions truly represent the consensus of the members.  We give our Secretary
the authority to dismiss motions that are out of order or don't accurately
represent the consensus.  Along with that authority comes the responsibility
to do so if needed and to do so fairly.  That's why we call them Trusted
Servants - we TRUST that they will LEAD according to the principles of
Al-Anon.

Hugs,
Steve