[Bylaws Committee] Week 3 And Beyond

[Zachary Yaro]

Hi all,

As anticipated, there wasn't massive interest in the discussions about Committees or Conduct.  Big thank you to Chris Beland for taking the time and bringing a different set of viewpoints.  Speaking for myself, I think what we came up with was better than either of us would have alone!

1. Next meeting

Our next meeting, focused on the bylaws regarding Meetings, will be Thursday, the 20th.  I want to give folks who haven't been able to make it to our weekend in-person meetings another opportunity to attend, so it will be online at https://meet.google.com/jyw-avod-ekn from 6-9 P.M.

If anyone wants to have a synchronous conversation, but can't meet that late, digital meetings are a bit more flexible, so please email me back as soon as you can, and I will see how early I can nudge the start time.

Again, if we get through everything related to Meetings before the end time, we can return to topics we didn't finish at previous meetings if folks want.

2. Then what?

My intent is by the end of this week, we will be done with our first pass over the doc.  We can then have another Sunday-at-noon meeting where we revisit the particular topics we were unable to resolve during the first pass.

Just before Sunday's meeting, I will confirm most “suggestion mode” changes in 📝 the Bylaws Committee work-in-progress Bylaws document.  That will give us a cleaner starting point for the second pass.  I went through and noted (in the comments to the right side of the doc) which of those changes I will confirm and which the committee already noted need further synchronous discussion.  If you think any others need further discussion, please note that by the end of the week!

After that point, please keep 📝 proposed amendments less in terms of suggestions and more in terms of precise changes you want made to the text if possible.  (If you think a change is important, and you aren't sure how to phrase it as bylaw text, please do still share it!)

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed to this!

See you Thursday,

Zachary Yaro

[Zachary Yaro]

Hi neighbors,

1. Update from last night

Unfortunately, no one else joined last night's meeting on the bylaws regarding DSNC meetings.  I took a stab at consolidating the relevant amendments (notably 25 part 2, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, and 42).  Noteworthy changes include:

• Renamed “regular meetings” to “general meetings” (this is what we have been calling them)
• Removed “Annual Meetings” (the term isn't used elsewhere in our bylaws,  §4.5: Nominations and Elections specifies when the regular election happens, and different committees have different update frequencies)
• Added meeting public access and accessibility requirements
• Added meeting notification requirements
  
• Moved Outreach Committee's obligation to assist the Board with meeting notice dissemination to its own bullet
• Added alternate suggested rulesets for meetings
• Added requirement for chair to help members unfamiliar with parliamentary procedure with their concerns if it can be done briefly
  

Please absolutely weigh in on ways you think the wording of those sections (largely in Articles 6 and 7: Meetings and Parliamentary Procedure) can be improved.  I intentionally left the relevant amendments in the first tab of the 📝 proposed amendments document for folks to review asynchronously.  Past sections have turned out better from our combined efforts than what any of us wrote alone, so I have no doubt there will be some good suggestions!

Once those are resolved, the Bylaws Committee will have discussed every amendment pending from last general meeting! 🎉🎉  We still have a little ways to go between here and full consensus, including a few more recent proposed amendments, but this is an exciting milestone!

2. Looking ahead to Sunday

As I said before, I will confirm most “suggestion mode” changes in 📝 the Bylaws Committee work-in-progress bylaws document this weekend, just before Sunday's meeting.  If you think any I noted I intend to confirm need further discussion, please reply to those document comments by Saturday evening!

Sunday the 23rd, noon, Diesel Cafe, we will do a second pass with a focus on particular areas we noted at past meetings needed more attention.  The order is tentatively:

1. Amendments & Dissolution
2. Appendix
3. Purpose
4. Parliamentary Procedure
5. Conduct
6. Committees
7. Meetings
8. Board

If there is something specific you want to make sure we go over on Sunday, please reply to this email letting me know!

Have a good weekend,

Zachary Yaro

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[Zachary Yaro]

Hi neighbors,

(Thank you for bearing with me on this late update.  As you may have seen on the news, it has been a busy time of many things happening I wish we didn't need to deal with.)

1. Current status

As things stand right now, the Bylaws Committee has discussed every amendment submitted! 🎉🎉🎉

That doesn't mean the bylaws process is over, but I hope the compromise positions and alternative approaches we found through our myriad discussions have produced a document many more of you feel addresses your concerns, and that you feel you can vote to pass!

There is one matter still unresolved: the Bylaws Committee didn't find a good consensus on the different approaches to Board structure.  I left amendments 40 and 41 in the 1st tab of the 📝 amendments document since they were extremely recent, but there were many other ideas (including amendments 1, 2, 26, and drafts linked from the amendments doc) for other changes we didn't find consensus to merge in.  There didn't seem to be sufficient interest in meeting again just to discuss those, so there won't be another committee meeting before we discuss at Monday's general DSNC meeting, but I encourage folks to discuss in this email thread and 💬 Brendan's relevant thread ahead of then!

2. What next?

Apart from the Board structure question, if you all like the 📄 Bylaws Committee's draft of the bylaws, we could vote to approve all those changes in one go at Monday's meeting.

I recognize that is a lot, which is why the 2nd tab in that document lists out the differences from the bylaws draft passed around at the last DSNC general meeting and groups them article by article.  If any of you think any of that needs further discussion, we can pull it out and only pass the less contentious changes in one go.  I too want to be at the end of this process as soon as we can, but it is very important to me we hear and address members' concerns so the DSNC can best represent and serve everyone in Davis Square!

In the 3rd tab of the 📄 Bylaws Committee's draft of the bylaws, there are a few topics we decided we can afford to wait to address in future resolutions or amendments to the bylaws without delaying passing our founding bylaws.  If you notice something that seems to be missing from the bylaws draft, please check whether it is listed there!

Thank you again to everyone who participated in this process, and especially those who gave your Sunday afternoons and local cafe budgets to the cause!  It was a massive amount of time and work, but we did it—a couple months ago, we were on pace to still be discussing amendments this time next year, and now we are wonderfully close to being able to dedicate that time back to the real work of improving Davis Square!  I really believe we produced a document better than any one of us could have (or did) drafted alone, and I think the DSNC will be better for it.

Have a good weekend and see you Monday,

Zachary Yaro