Policy register

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This is a draft of a new or in-progress document, and is likely to have a few people specifically working on it. You may wish to check in on the discussion page to see what the purpose of the document is and who's working on it; then feel free to give this article love and attention if have extra of those things.

Ends

Requires board discussion

Board

Structure, function and number

Various governance and structure items

Need to extract policy elements:

“The board adopted the ASG proposal as currently stated on the wiki.” [Board minutes, 13 April 2011] http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/2011_governance_proposal

Number of Directors

“The board sets its number of seats to seven.” [Board minutes, 13 April 2011]
“The Board will strive for a minimum of eight Directors at all times.” [Approved online 11/3/2011, proposal here http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/council/2011-October/003322.html]

Directors' responsibilities

Pull from New Director Agreement

How do we want to phrase these? “As described on wiki”, with date?

Scope of board activity

Relating to staff decisions

Restate as policy:

“Board should be involved in *policy & procedure* issues related to HR/discipline; but board does NOT want to be involved in individual personnel decisions (for example, as last point of appeals).” [Board minutes, special meeting, 25 July 2011]

Exception for arbitration

Restate as policy:

“The union contract requires a final arbitrator for discipline issues. The board has made it clear in the past that they are not to be that arbitrator. However, for both the collective and non-collective staff, the board can appoint someone to be an arbitrator as the last stage in the discipline process. The board agrees to this.” [[Draft] Board Meeting Minutes, 14 Sept 2011]

Officers

Phrase like seats? “As described on wiki”, with date?

Job descriptions for officers (http://lists.freegeek.org/private/directors/2011May/002399.html) [draft minutes for board meeting, 18 May 2011]

Conflicts of Interest

“The Board, and each Director, are committed to observing the Conflicts of Interest rules set out in Bylaws Article III Section 12, and the Conflicts of Interest policy adopted in 2008, which is found here: http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Conflict_of_Interest_Policy.” [Approved online 11/3/2011, proposal here http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/council/2011-October/003322.html]

Regular board meetings

Timing and period of board meetings

“We will meet monthly.” [Board minutes, 13 April 2011]
“Board meetings will be on Second Weds. of each month, at 6:15PM.” [DRAFT Board Meeting Minutes, 8 June 2011]

Agenda planning and role of facilitator

Policy needed

“nothing was put on the agenda in advance; this makes it hard to know what will happen. this was true of the last 2 meetings. facilitator should be on top of prodding people for items and posting at least the standard agenda.” [DRAFT Council minutes, 16 March 2011]

Notice of meetings

“The board will give advance notice of all board meetings to the Board’s public e-mail list. The staff Board liaisons and Volunteer Representative Directors will be responsible for making sure that staff and volunteers are aware of the meeting and agenda, and will act as a channel for concerns.” [Approved online 11/3/2011, proposal here http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/council/2011-October/003322.html]

Meeting ground rules

Policy needed:

“Ground rules: Anne explained that this is a board meeting and the board will need to be heard first; the decisions at this meeting are those of the board.” [Board minutes, 13 April 2011]

Question from 12 Oct 2011: does this apply only during union neg'ns? Or is this ongoing policy?

“Legal considerations for the following discussions: Non-collective staff will have to leave the room if we start to talk about how staff will be managed. However, we can talk about how management is structured. Also, if we talk about committees, we need to be aware that committees cannot be comprised of both management and non-management, unless they are merely advisory.” [Board minutes, 13 April 2011]

Executive sessions

Policy needed.

Board communications

Mailing lists:

Needs restatement as policy.

“The three we settled on are a discussion list, an executive session list, and an announcement list. We have consensus on the structure; all that is left is the technical implementation.” [[Draft] Board Meeting Minutes, 14 Sept 2011]

Proposed wording:

“For purposes of transparency, the board will maintain three email communication channels:
  • A discussion list, open to Free Geek community and with open archives, for most of the board's email traffic.
  • An executive list, open to only current board members, for sensitive board business that requires an executive session.
  • An announcement list, to be maintained by the secretary or the secretary's delegates, for posting agendas, minutes, proposals, and event announcements.

Board members will subscribe to both the discussion and executive lists.”

Minutes

Policy needed. Proposed:

“Draft board meeting minutes will be sent to the board-announce and board-discuss lists within 48 hours of a meeting. Corrections should be posted promptly.
Minutes will be approved at the next meeting, and the final draft posted to the minutes list.”

Policy needed around minutes for executive sessions.

Email decisions

Should be restated as policy.

“Issues come up often enough that quarterly board meetings need to be supplemented by other communication/decision process. Seamus requested board adopt a clear process to make communication/decisions by email effective and efficient. FG Board members are expected to do email. Process should make clear participation by all is desired, and that silence may be misinterpreted so all members should make concerted effort to participate. Members who will be out of email range for more than a few days should alert the board list in advance. It is useful for the person doing the proposing to summarize and consolidate discussion points as the discussion moves forward.
The board has a limited set of members and its decisions may be legally or financially critical for the organization.” [From http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/directors/2006-July/000848.html, approved by board July 2006]

Proposed addition:

“Email decisions will be reported and affirmed at the next board meeting.”

Town Hall Meetings

Policy needed on board responsibilities re: THM?

Staff

Staff structure and authority

Temporary authority granted to “Department point people”

Needs clarification and statement as policy. Also, temporariness needs clarity of end date or condition.

“The board requires that department point people exercise "line manager" duties. (Discussion of "line manager" vs. supervisor. Generally, line manager a person who makes all decisions about the department.) The collective is directed to develop and recommend to the board the details of implementation, including the exact scope of the line managers' authority and to whom they will be accountable. The board will decide what to do with the collective's recommendation. It is important to note that the board has the ultimate authority to direct management. [Board minutes, 13 April 2011]

Staff compensation

Severance pay

"Our priorities are better pay for current staff and the ongoing viability of the organization. We do not find it appropriate to provide financial rewards to outgoing staff.” [DRAFT Board Meeting Minutes, 8 June 2011]

Role of Staff-board liaisons

policy needed

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