On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 8:48 PM, James Hare <jamesmhare@gmail.com> wrote:I do agree that it's good to make the details transparent, but I too
> I suppose I would've caused much less outrage if I limited the
> resolution to "The Treasurer is authorized to spend $96 to go rent a
> PO Box somewhere" but I think it's fair for people to know where the
> PO Box is and what exactly we're getting out of our money. Conversely,
> if I had limited it to "we're getting the small PO Box at the
> Friendship Post Office" then there would've been the question "but how
> much does it cost?" There would also be the legal question of the
> Treasurer being able to spend corporate dollars without being
> explicitly authorized to do so (given the present lack of budget). So
> while the text of the resolution may be a bit ridiculous, I'm trying
> to be as specific as possible in the interest of transparency. By
> debating the sausage making on the mailing list, we can use our
> in-person meetings for things that are more important and more fun
> than debating back-office matters.
think that this is more specific than you generally want for a
resolution.
Playing "what if": the Post Office has a budget crisis, and before you
go to actually get the box, prices are raised to $100 annually! The
Friendship Heights post office moves next door and gets a new address!
The "small" boxes are being taken out for wall repairs, but they'll
rent you a medium for the same price! You, being diligent in your
duties, are on your way to rent the box--or renew it next year--when
you discover one of these things, and now you are deeply concerned,
because even though these are trivial matters, they're in conflict and
require the resolution to be amended.
What I might do is resolve to rent the box and spend no more than,
say, $110, without revisiting the resolution, and in the resolution
refer to another document that contains the juicy^W less-important
details: that the address of the box must be kept publicly on the
website and in the org's records, what specific size and box number
you actually got, etc. (You might also want to clarify whether "for a
yearlong period" means "for this year only" or "indefinitely, for a
year at a time, as long as the other conditions apply".)
Cheers,
Kat
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