Structure Group Report 2012-12-31

STRUCTURE GROUP REPORT

December 2012

http://freegle.it/Structure

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 30th November 2012, covering messages 10897 to 11147 membership stands at 80 (Four more than last month).

The topics we have discussed this month are below.

Task 96 - Setting Up a Trading Subsidiary

Discussion originally called Trading Arm and continues from Nov. Structure Report.

POLL QUESTION: Should this group propose a trading subsidiary be set up with the aim of raising funds for Freegle?

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Yes, 16 votes, 94.12%
- No, 1 votes, 5.88%
- Abstain (please explain on group), 0 votes, 0.00%

More discussion has taken place since the poll with the view of proposing this idea as a poll on Central.

Employing People

We are discussing the pros and cons of employing people to work for Freegle. The scenario we are exploring initially is a freelance web designer, media or tech person to work on Freegle Direct. The discussion covers the advantages and implications of hiring someone on a freelance basis versus having a permanent paid ‘employee’. Discussion continues...

Election of Reps - Voting Problem

There was a problem with the setup of the first Reps Election poll, which was halted and a new poll started. This was run successfully with anyone who had already voted being asked to vote again on the new poll.

Getting Organised

Jacky asked everyone to have a look at the task list and remind themselves of what is waiting to be done. She asked if anyone had any new tasks to add.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhDLE82mEn2jdGE5a0F0N0JPbXBEeWUxT1EtU0xWRUE -

Please feel free to have a look and if you have any tasks you think should be considered, or if you disagree with any of the tasks we have at the moment, or if you would like to contribute in any way please join us over on Structure.

http://freegle.it/Structure

Freegle Direct Membership Lists Policy

The current wiki entry is:

Freegle centrally will not use any group's membership list kept by Freegle Direct without permission from the group Volunteers.

Volunteers are assumed to be those who receive -owner emails for the group.

Permission would be gained by emailing the group -owner address and acted upon with
- explicit permission from one Volunteer, and
- implicit permission from other Volunteers, i.e. assume consent if no conflicting replies are received within 3 weeks (reminder sent after 2 weeks within that period).

We are running a poll to make a small amendment to this.

POLL QUESTION: We should amend the wiki entry http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Freegle_Direct_Membership_Lists to add the sentence: " This includes groups which have chosen to leave Freegle." (see thread starting http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Freegle-Structure/message/11040 for background.)

CHOICES AND RESULTS
- Yes, 19 votes, 100%
- No, 0 votes, 0%
- Abstain (please explain on group), 0 votes, 0.00%

Standing for a Separate Elected Position

Our Returning Officer, Stuart, was a candidate in the Reps election. To avoid conflict of interest he stood down from his position as RO during the elections but didn’t resign his position. He is now resuming his position to complete his current term. We don’t currently have a policy to cover this situation so the following suggestion is under discussion.

Anyone in an elected position can stand for another separate elected position. Where there is a conflict of interest (e.g. if the person is the RO) then they must stand aside from their current role until the election is complete. Once the election is complete, if the person does not have a new role then they may resume their old role and service until the end of their original period of office. They may not have access to sensitive information during this stand-aside period; for example, a RO may not have access to voting information about an election in which they stood as a candidate. If they do have a new role, or no longer wish to resume their old role, then a new election will be called to fill that vacancy. This discussion continues...

Reps Terms Of Office

The constitution says:

7.3 Elections for Reps will be held annually.

7.4 Reps will serve a term of office of three years.

7.5 At the end of each year at least one third of Reps will stand down from office and/or come to the end of their term of office.

We've got a bit out of step now, because of people stepping down earlier than 3 years. This means we might either have a situation where we do not have a third of Reps reaching the end of their term of office, or (later) might have considerably more than a third (which might be bad for continuity).

What method should we use to get back in step? Discussion continues...

If any of the above topics interest you, or if you have proposals about the structure of Freegle to suggest, please do join our group. http://freegle.it/Structure

Task List

Our Task List can be viewed at http://freegle.it/StructureTasks

The Coordinator for this group is Jacky (Great Yarmouth) Deputy Coordinator is Peter Johnson (Hunts) and Secretary is Wendy (Woodley) Owners are Jacky, Peter and Wendy.

Back to Structure Group Report 2012-11-30 or forwards to Structure Group Report 2013-01-31