Bylaw and Policy Change: Membership Voting Policy and Procedures

[Christopher Hoffman]

Hey Hackers,

Here is my official proposal for a set changes to the Bylaws and Policy Document. Since they are a package deal, I'm sending it out for the required 4 weeks of review needed for Bylaw changes before being voted on during the Annual Meeting on March 27th, 2018.

This proposal is to move the Membership Requirements and Voting Rules from the Bylaws to the Policy Document, and clarify the methods by which we vote on applications. You can see the official proposal here: https://github.com/Skillhouse/bylaws/pull/6/files

Bylaw Changes:

Article II, Section 2: Basic Membership Election
Any person who supports the purposes laid out in Article I of these bylaws is qualified to become a basic 
member. -Any qualified person may be elected a basic member upon payment of appropriate dues and by a 
simple majority of a quorum of voting members.- +Membership requirements and voting procedures are 
listed in the Policy Document.+

Pretty simple, moves reference to who may become a member and the method of acceptance out to the Policy Document. 

Justification: The thought is that Bylaws are hard to change, so with requirements being codified in the Policy Document, we as an organization are more likely to keep those requirements updated. It also allows us to be explicit over what we require, so that applicants are not blind sided when we ask for proof of ID, etc. It sets expectations early.

Policy Changes (All new):

Article 1: Membership

This policy outlines the requirements of new members, and defines the method by 

which new member applications are accepted.

Section 1: Membership Requirements

Any person meeting these requirements are eligible for membership:

•     18 years or older
  
•     Willing to provide documents listed in Section 3

Section 2: Voting

After an application is submitted, the Secretary shall send a notice to the 

Voting Members in a timely fashion. Voting Members shall have one (1) week from 

the date of notice to vote on the application. Votes shall be recorded by the 

Secretary, and may be submitted either in person or electronically.

For the purposes of voting on applications, quorum shall be defined as having at

least one half of the Voting Membership submitting a vote during the voting 

period.

If quorum has been met, then a simple majority of votes submitted are needed for

an application to be approved.

If quorum was not met, then the application may be resubmitted to the Voting 

Membership at the Secretary's discretion.

Section 3: Required Documents

New members must provide the following before they are granted access to any 

physical locations.

• Signed Liability Waiver
• Copy of valid proof of identity: drivers license or state/federal ID  card
• Provide current address, phone number, and emergency contact  information

Section 1 contains the requirements for membership, primarily that new members must be 18 years or older. Section 3 list documents which are required before new members get their swipe cards.

Justification: It makes sure liability waivers are signed, that we have a scan of a valid ID (as we've been trying to collect recently), and that we have up-to-date contact information in case of emergencies. This is listed up front, so that applicants know what to expect. 

Section 2 provides detail to how we vote on new members. The big change is that after an application is received, it is up to the Secretary to send a notice to all voting members. That starts a 1 week people for Voting Members to vote, either in person, or through an electronic means (email, phone, slack, does matter. As long as the Secretary trusts the member, the electronic vote is allowed). After the 1 week voting period, if more than half the Voting Members submitted a vote, then the application is accepted from a simple majority of the received votes.

Justification: Reduces the friction on voting for new members. With our current weekly voting, Voting Members may only have a couple days to review applications before the Tuesday Meeting. That limits the time for conversation about the person. The current process also requires every Voting Member to attend every weekly open house in order to cast a physical vote, which can be straining on the member. By allowing electronic voting to occur, we lower the barrier. Hopefully that will encourage more member to seek Voting Member privileges, as well as not punishing Voting Members if they are unable to attend an Open House. There is also clarification about what can happen if quorum is not met, giving that decision to the Secretary over whether to resubmit the application, or encourage the applicant to attend more open houses before re-submission.

This is my formal proposal. Let me know what you think!

-Christopher Hoffman

[Daniel Crisman]

I am against moving membership requirements to the Policy Document.

I am in favor of electronic voting.

I think it is foolish to remove the requirement to pay dues to become a new member.