2008/10/12 Tom Holden thomas.holden@gmail.com:
Again another flu addled quick reply.
Drink plenty of fluids and get well soon!
- TD made an apparently beautifully simple suggestion on this, but it
became rapidly rather less simple when we were trying to word it. I don't think it actually needs to be that complicated at all. We just need to say that any expulsion by the board can be overturned by an ordinary resolution of the membership. We don't have to worry about formal appeals processes etc., it's up to the expelled member to canvas actual members to persuade them to submit such a resolution. (We may perhaps need a clause saying the membership must be notified of expulsions, but that's it.)
Actually, I've just been thinking about it and I don't think any clauses beyond saying it can be overturned are needed. Any member can require the board to distribute a statement in advance of a meeting (at least, I seem to recall reading that somewhere) and if the expelled member can't find any current member willing to exercise that right then there is no chance of the ordinary resolution passing.
- On voting: I thought we'd come to a consensus on using approval voting
for board votes too?
I'm not sure it's been fully discussed, although I don't recall anyone suggesting an alternative. Approval voting requires the least changes to the governing documents (in fact, it may even be possible to do it entirely through rules with the default docs).
- Perhaps we should again have some "subject to legal advice" text on
delegation.
What, we put it in the docs now with a comment that legal advice needs to be sought before actually using it? That could work - it would allow us to wait until we can afford a solicitor before doing any final. On the other hand, even having it in the docs could cause problems if it's illegal, with or without a requirement to seek legal advice.