VERSION ONE
In the community organizations which you belong to, is open, accessible participation by community members a core value of yours? Do the processes of your organization run openly, and on time, so that when people try to participate their time is respected?
+++++
I.) Will decisions (votes) on proposals (New business Items, rules, regulations, norms, …) be made at specific times during the meeting, according to the agenda?
- Are those times be held to?
Did people have time to discuss the proposals at a prior meeting?
- Was the discussion period at the end of the meeting, after votes, so that people who weren't interested in the discussion, or who didn't have time, could leave?
Were the proposals available, electronically, at least 2 weeks before the prior meeting?
II.) Was the agenda available at least one week before the meeting? Is there a consistent, open, electronic, accessible opportunity for community members to weigh in on the agenda before the agenda was available?
III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period.
+++++
In the community organizations which you belong to, is open, accessible participation by community members a core value of yours? Do the processes of your organization run openly, and on time, so that when people try to participate their time is respected?
Why do people have to make decisions with only hours, or a few days, to think about a proposal, to discuss the proposal, to think about it some more, to lobby for and against the proposal?
Discussion time can be very passionate and contentious. When there are only a few hours or days notice to vote on a proposal, those passions only get amplified. Why can't the discussion happen after the votes, which happened at well defined times?
III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period.
+++++
VERSION TWO
In the community organizations which you belong to, is open, accessible participation by community members a core value of yours? Do the processes of your organization run openly, and on time, so that when people try to participate their time is respected?
+++++
I.) Will decisions (votes) on proposals (New business Items, rules, regulations, norms, …) be made at specific times during the meeting, according to the agenda?
- Are those times be held to?
When people show up, on time, and things don't happen on time, what does that say to those who took time to show up?
When people show up, on time, and things don't happen on time, what does that say to those who took time to show up?
Did people have time to discuss the proposals at a prior meeting?
Why do people have to make decisions with only hours, or a few days, to think about a proposal, to discuss the proposal, to think about it some more, to lobby for and against the proposal?
- Was the discussion period at the end of the prior meeting, after votes, so that people who weren't interested in the discussion, or who didn't have time, could leave?
Discussion time can be very passionate and contentious. When there are only a few hours or days notice to vote on a proposal, those passions only get amplified. Why can't the discussion happen after the votes, which happened at well defined times?
Were the proposals available, electronically, at least 2 weeks before the prior meeting?
Why are proposals available a few hours or a few days before discussion and voting? In the internet era, why aren't the proposals available for all interested parties? I've been a member of a score of orgs over the years. In some orgs you can't vote on anything which wasn't discussed at a prior meeting.
Why are proposals available a few hours or a few days before discussion and voting? In the internet era, why aren't the proposals available for all interested parties? I've been a member of a score of orgs over the years. In some orgs you can't vote on anything which wasn't discussed at a prior meeting.
II.) Was the agenda available at least one week before the meeting? Is there a consistent, open, electronic, accessible opportunity for community members to weigh in on the agenda before the agenda was available?
Adopting the agenda at the beginning of the meeting is fine when you're part of a paid legislature. If you don't like the agenda and wish to revise it, as a paid member of the legislature you can use Robert's Rules to do that. How does last minute, arcane manipulation of Robert's Rules of Misrule engender participation? trust?
III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period.
Want to turn people off? Take your last minute agenda, with your last minute proposals, your last minute discussion, and add last minute process manipulation with Robert's Rules of Order.
+++++
4 - 3 - 2 Is Needed From You
IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.
They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.
Adopting the agenda at the beginning of the meeting is fine when you're part of a paid legislature. If you don't like the agenda and wish to revise it, as a paid member of the legislature you can use Robert's Rules to do that. How does last minute, arcane manipulation of Robert's Rules of Misrule engender participation? trust?
III.) Is there an abbreviated, single page, large font subset of Robert's Rules used? If people aren't paid, as their full time job, to participate in meetings, then people don't have the time to master the ins and outs of Robert's Rules. Period.
Want to turn people off? Take your last minute agenda, with your last minute proposals, your last minute discussion, and add last minute process manipulation with Robert's Rules of Order.
+++++
4 - 3 - 2 Is Needed From You
IF our unions are going to matter to the decision makers, the decision makers are going to have to be scared of us. When they're scared of us, they'll work with us. When they work us, they'll stop pulling the kind of garbage they've pulled on Washington State educators over the last 5+ years: denial of citizen approved cost of living raises, denial of citizen approved smaller classes sizes, a multi billion dollar Boeing give away in the fall of 2013 in an emergency 3 day session.
They'll be scared of us when 4 times a year, during 1 of the 3 important political seasons of the year, each of us does something political for at least 2 hours.
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