Structure Group Report 2010-07-25

STRUCTURE GROUP REPORT 25th July 2010 http://freegle.it/Structure

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 27th June 2010, covering messages 4019 to 4606.

Our Task List can be viewed at http://freegle.it/StructureTasks. We have increased our membership to 68 this month, partly due to the 'Start of Task' notices we are now posting to Central to let everyone know if a significant item is about to commence discussion. The topics we have discussed this month are below (in no particular order!).

Internal Polls

Group polls held this month concluded:

40 votes; 60% voted for a Rep to serve 3 years before having to stand down at election (this breaks an earlier tied result in a poll of all Members).

39 votes; 53% voted for the Reps to decide amongst themselves which Reps should stand down at election to create a rolling programme of one third Reps standing down each year with the Reps producing the list of people to stand down to Central in advance of an election.

Reps Remit

New thread started to discuss what should constitute a Remit for Reps. This led to further discussions on the Governing Document.

Governing Document

Discussions continued about the liability of individuals who undertake work, commit to contracts or expenditure in the name of Freegle. It is proposed that the governing document makes clear that individuals are personally liable only for actions they have undertaken.

Financial Management and Controls Policy

This is an ongoing discussion about a document outlining financial controls for Freegle as a central organisation.

AGM

A proposal that Freegle should hold an AGM which combined into one time period Reps and other Role Holder elections, acceptance of accounts and appointment of an auditor was discussed. There has been no conclusion to this at present. if you feel this is either a good or bad idea, please do join in our discussions.

Yearly Elections

Discussions on the group about how to handle the next set of elections, taking into account mid-term resignations, was discussed and the Reps were asked to take on board the points made and produce a one-off proposal for this year. The proposal was posted onto the Group on 24th July.

Reps Working Practices

The Reps produced a draft document on 23rd July for their own working practices which is being discussed at the moment.

Transparency Guidelines

A draft document for guidelines relating to transparency of working is still being discussed and now being aligned with the proposed Reps Working Practices.

Public v. Private Nominations

It was concluded after some discussion that when nominations are made for candidates for central roles, the Returning Officer should expect to receive these direct to the returningofficer@ address, not have to monitor Central for messages.

Conditions of Office for Reps

The poll proposing this document be adopted by Freegle was closed on July 4th with the result that this is now an official procedure. Conversations continued on the group about implementing it; the appointment of an Ombudsman is now the last part of the process to be put in place. To date there have been 10 people offer their services for the Panel Pool.

Improving Freegle Elections

We briefly talked about the need for voting members to have information about candidates for roles. This has been added to our Task List.

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If any of the above topics interest you, please do join our group. The spokespeople for this group are Jacky (Great Yarmouth) and Edward (Rep, Edinburgh and couch potato). Owners are Wendy (Woodley) and Jacky.

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