[Noisebridge-discuss] Bylaws committee
jim
jim at well.com
Thu Feb 25 08:01:08 UTC 2010
the only item i recall mentioned in the tuesday meeting
was that no annual report has yet been furnished. it seems
to me that we'll have to furnish an annual report if we
want to keep our 501(c)3 status.
i read the bylaws a couple of nights ago and don't see
anything that suggests contradicting our principles or
imbuing any leaders with more authority
please clarify. so far it seems that you're reading
some implications that i don't. why do you want to
change the bylaws?
On Wed, 2010-02-24 at 20:54 -0800, Christie Dudley wrote:
> In order to remove the cognitive dissonance without changing the
> bylaws, we'd have to more or less scrap most of our principles and
> entrust our leaders with more authority. I am opposed to that.
>
>
> If you'd rather change the way we do things to be more in line with
> our bylaws, then you should form a different working group to come up
> with processes for that. This will not be that working group. This
> will be a group to work on changing the bylaws.
>
>
> For those who are unaware, when Noisebridge was founded, there was a
> whole lot of discussion on what the bylaws should be. Things were
> hashed out multiple times, from my understanding. Then, when our
> founders went to talk to a lawyer, they scrapped all that and went
> with more boilerplate bylaws to make it easier for us to get the
> 501(c)(3).
>
>
> We are operating with more or less "boilerplate" bylaws.
>
>
> Now that we have that, it's more a matter of having the powers that be
> approve the new bylaws rather than having them accept us as a public
> benefit organization. The worst that can happen is they reject the
> new bylaws and we have to go back and fix the bits they don't like.
> It'll be far less of a challenge than our original public benefit
> request.
>
>
> And once again, for reference, our bylaws are at the obviously named
> page: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Bylaws
>
>
> Christie
> _______
> "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." -- W. Blake.
>
> The outer bounds is only the beginning.
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/genriel/sets/72157623376093724/
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:55 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>
> i'm hoping we can reduce or remove the
> cognitive dissonance by improving our
> community's shared values, expectations,
> and behavior rather than by changing the
> bylaws. reviewing the bylaws seems a good
> idea in that light. expressing them in
> simple English strikes me as a good early
> move.
> having just read them, i don't see
> anything that calls out for modification,
> but that's grist for the mill.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 2010-02-24 at 08:35 -0800, Christie Dudley wrote:
> > I am wanting to look at the entire set of bylaws. I'd like
> to go
> > through everything and see what we can do to eliminate the
> "cognitive
> > dissonance" that Shannon referred to.
> >
> > For example, were you aware that the bylaws included rules
> on how to
> > remove members? Remember that debate we had raging for so
> long and
> > how we never resolved it? As it turns out, we have always
> had a
> > legally binding method of doing so. The problem with the
> >
> >
> > I feel that if we do a good job of this, we'll only have to
> deal with
> > it once and we'll be done with it. I'm going to try to get
> as many
> > questions as I can "hallway answered" by the non-profit tax
> attorney
> > next door. I hope that can help guide us in constructing
> something
> > that's fairly inexpensive to review, if we have to pay at
> all.
> >
> >
> > Yes, I realize people feel that there's a lot better use for
> our
> > money. I can see the point, but it's my perspective that
> this is more
> > like insurance. It's pretty worthless... right up to the
> point where
> > there's a problem and then it's absolutely necessary.
> >
> >
> > Christie
> > _______
> > "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." -- W.
> Blake.
> >
> > The outer bounds is only the beginning.
> > http://www.flickr.com/photos/genriel/sets/72157623376093724/
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:17 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > I think reviewing the bylaws makes sense, but I'm
> > leery of making any changes. The only specific
> > objection I heard at last night's meeting was that
> we
> > haven't produced an annual report. This does not
> seem
> > optional, given the interests of government audits
> of
> > our 501(c)3 status. Therefore, instead of changing
> > the bylaws, it seems to me we should change our
> > behavior so's to comply.
> > My offer to help write the report is sincere;
> > seems to me that it's a lonely job likely to be
> > undone without at least one other person willing to
> > participate, maybe bring pizza or do the typing or
> > make rude jokes while getting it done....
> > Jonathan's idea of creating an alternate set of
> > bylaws strikes me as useful if it's a simple English
> > interpretation that does not contradict the existing
> > bylaws.
> > Having a get-together seems like it could be fun,
> > though I don't see a need for anyone to be a header-
> > upper, though a coordinator role seems great.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 2010-02-24 at 00:26 -0800, Christie Dudley
> wrote:
> > > So at the meeting today, the discussion topic I
> had
> > submitted got
> > > shuffled off to a committee. Since I am really
> interested
> > in seeing
> > > the bylaws change to better reflect the way we
> actually
> > operate, I'd
> > > like to head up this committee. I might pop a few
> questions
> > by my
> > > lawyerly neighbor who might have a few bits of
> advice to get
> > us
> > > started.
> > >
> > >
> > > Who else is interested in hacking away at the
> legalese to
> > bend it to
> > > the collective will of Noisebridge? I'm really
> flexible as
> > to
> > > available time, so we can work the meetings around
> > interested people's
> > > schedules. It should be fun! (In a rather
> pedantic sort of
> > way...)
> > >
> > >
> > > Christie
> > > _______
> > > "The road of excess leads to the palace of
> wisdom." -- W.
> > Blake.
> > >
> > > The outer bounds is only the beginning.
> > >
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/genriel/sets/72157623376093724/
> >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> > > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> > >
> >
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
More information about the Noisebridge-discuss
mailing list