[muglo] Constitution
- From: Doug Bale <dougbale@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 17:26:43 -0800 (PST)
As Tee suggested last month might be the case, there’s a bit more tinkering
still to be done as we’re updating the Constitution:
1. In Article 1.3.2, “fulfill” should be “fulfil.”
2. In Article 1.3.3 “Past-President” should be “Past President” (unhyphenated,
as in the subsequent two references in that article).
3. In Article 1.3.5, there needs to be a comma after “books of the accounts”
(it should be a relative clause, rather than a restrictive one).
4. In Article 1.3.8, there’s no reason for capitalizing “Annually” and “EMail”;
the latter in any case is an aberrant spelling. The references should read
“annually” and “e-mail.”
I move to amend Tee’s motion to include the four above-mentioned changes.
5. The proposed amendment to Article 4.0, needs a further tweak. With the
amendment, its first sentence would read “Quorums of the MUGLO membership shall
consist of the MUGLO membership, provided that at least two weeks’ notice is
given to the MUGLO membership that a voting process will be performed on the
MUGLO list.” That is to say that no fewer than 100 per cent of members will
constitute a quorum; an impossible requirement to meet.
I move an amendment to make the Article 4.0 read simply “Quorums of the MUGLO
membership for voting purposes shall consist of a simple majority of those
voting on any given issue, provided that at least two weeks’ notice is given to
the membership that a vote is to be held on the issue in question.”
6. In Article 5.0, two question arise in regard to the first proviso, “The
Executive offices of President, Secretary/Treasurer and Webmaster/Membership
Recorder, shall be filled through an election process on MUGLO, to take effect
at the end of said voting period.”
First, the words “on MUGLO” don’t, to my mind, specifically convey that the
voting is to be conducted online, and it’s been my perception at recent
meetings that the majority of active members are against the principle of
online voting in that it would put the group’s few dozen active members at the
mercy of the more numerous inactive ‘lurkers’ who in many cases seem to have
joined up to ask for advice on a single particular issue and have never taken
any further part in the group. Personally, I favour votes being cast only by
those who bother coming out to meetings, or, if online votes being allowed only
for those who have taken part in the Freelists or Google exchanges (thus, a
quorum in an online vote would be a simple majority of those who have posted to
one or the other exchange within a period we would specify). Either way, the
Constitution should make it clear which form of voting is to be used.
The second issue is with the reference to “ . . . the end of said voting
period.” No voting period has been ‘said.’ If voting is to be done online, it’s
essential that we stipulate how much time members have in which to record their
votes.
I move an amendment to make the first sentence of Article 5.0 read “The
Executive offices of President, Secretary/Treasurer and Webmaster/Membership
Recorder shall be filled by secret ballot at an Annual General Meeting, two
weeks’ notice of which must be given to members by means of online
announcement, and at which a quorum shall consist of a simple majority of
those present.”
7. Article 5.2 refers to inviting nominations “on MUGLOline.” I move an
amendment to alter the wording to “through the online MUGLO forums then in
current use” and to change the spelling of “email” to “e-mail.”
8. Article 6.1 provides in part that “All expenditures in excess of $400.00
(four hundred dollars) that are not included in the budget for the current
fiscal year shall require approval of the general membership of MUGLO, granted
by a motion passed online, provided that notice of that motion is included in
the agenda circulated online.” We no longer circulate agendas online. I move an
amendment to change that wording to “ . . . provided that such motion is
circulated online to the general membership and open to discussion and voting
there for two weeks before votes are counted.”
9. Article 6.2 also refers to a notice of motion being “included in the agenda
circulated online.”
I move an amendment to shorten the wording to “being circulated online.”
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