[atlarge-discuss] FW: Richard's Bylaws

[Joanna Lane <jo-uk@rcn.com>]

Richard wrote:-
> > Article 1.  Name of the Organization
> >
> > 1.1  The name of the organization shall be determined by the Board of
> > Directors in consultation with the membership.
> > *****prefer: shall be determined by the membership, and confirmed by the
> > Board of Directors*****
>

How are you planning to accomplish this?

Scenario 1: At current membership levels and a 10% response rate to a call
for suggestions, that's a 100 suggestions to argue about. If we debate the
merits of each name and there are an average of 10 comments per name over a
24 hours period, that's more than 3 months debate and 1,000 posts to read on
this list, just to get to the point where we have 10 names to put on a poll.

Scenario 2: Forget the debate and go straight for the poll of 100 names.
Let's say it's a typical 20% turnout, but because the vote is split 100
ways, the highest number of votes for any one name is 9. Do you declare this
the winner? If so, it could be argued that the selection has less support
than one chosen by an elected 11 member Board

> >  2.4  The term of the initial Board members shall be six months;
> > thereafter
> > the term will be annual ***** will be annual, or such term as
> > defined by the
> > Membership of the organization in advance of any election;
> notwithstanding
> > which, the Membership will be constitutionally empowered to
> terminate the
> > Board's term of office and call for new elections, if over 50% of those
> > polled so determine,
>
Not 50% of those polled - 50% of the responses received to the
poll. Out of 1000 members, typically around 20% will vote.
That's not enough to pass anything.

> subject to the Polling rules established by the
> > organization and overseen by its Polling Commission*****
>
> Fine

For the record, I'd also like to state that I don't believe the Board should
have the power to change the Bylaws without explicit consent of the
membership. As well, I believe that the membership ought to be granted the
right to remove the Board, in part or whole, as they see fit, over and over
if necessary. What I am not interested in is the tortuous route for every
member to have an opportunity to dot one i and cross one t.

More important, if you intend to incorporate, the Law states that the Board
is liable for the actions of the corporation, not the membership, regardless
of what Bylaws may have been written. Point me to a country where that is
not the case. And as such, you cannot expect the Board to take the liability
for any decision they are not empowered to make.

Still working my way through the rest.
Joanna


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