There will be a change discussed and voted on at tonight’s annual meeting to the guest policy section. I wanted to post it up here so people can state whether or not they’ll vote for it and why, so members without background don’t feel like they’re coming in cold.
The change is here:
Current policy:
Members with keys may host a private meeting or event at the MakeICT Makerspace, as long as they are not charging a fee.
Proposal to change to:
Members with keys may host a private meeting or event at the MakeICT Makerspace, as long as they are not charging a fee, only exception to this is tutoring.
That’s the change right now, the actual ballot will have the final proposal as discussed at tonight’s meeting.
Malissa is proposing the changes and will present them at the meeting, this thread is for discussion
Can someone link me to the info for proposing changes? While i agree with some of these changes, I don’t agree with all of them. I would like to know the rules and process for proposing something in the future.
There have not been formal procedures adopted for proposing changes. The bylaws state that they can be changed when “an amendment proposal petition is approved by an affirmative vote of at least 2/3rds (two thirds) of the members voting,” and Article 3 says that all other issues “shall be decided by affirmative vote of more than 50% (one half) of the voting members present”
The way it’s written, anyone can bring up anything and have it go out for a vote.
Next version of the bylaws I think we should only accept proposals with board approval or a petition of X number of members (10? 20?)
I agree with the bylaw change. Letting one person propose something could be a mess. I could propose 200 things today, and apparently they would have to be added to the meeting.
Any member should be allowed to propose a change. There’s no reason not to listen to our membership. In fact, it’s one of my favorite parts of the bylaws, that any member can propose a change. That’s great.
Considering that certain people don’t want to extend board terms for longer because that supposedly relinquishes power from the membership, I’m surprised that there is a request to change this awesome right of the members.
I love when members propose changes and I want to encourage that, but I think a change should have some level of vetting and consensus by a small group before we send it out to 400 people for a vote. JB is right about this being a logistics issue.
I disagree with the proposed change to the Standing Rules, instead, tutoring should be handled as a class with a limit of one attendee, and if our procedures do not handle this correctly, change the procedure not the policy.
I support something similar to the proposed Bylaws change, but really it should be in another thread, and discussed at another time. I completely agree with what Curt and others have stated about how much time and thought is wasted on making piecemeal changes to the Bylaws without a complete and thorough review. We should only be collecting information about what Bylaws sections have issues, and then look at proposing options to modify them.
I also agree that the bylaws need to be considered as a whole. Preferably with the help of an expert in this area so that we can have an improved chance to avoid unnecessary friction in the future.
I tried to do a policy change but the area leads would not support it they felt tutoring was between the tutor and student that the maker space should not be involved.
Here is what I proposed:
Tutoring
. Tutoring can be for members or non-members.
Price for Tutoring:
Members: instructor fee only
Non-members: $5 facilities fee + instruction fee
If tutoring makes area unavailable to members: 2 weeks notice must be given and a $25 facility fee applies.
Instructors
Set the tutoring rate
Keep 75% of tutoring fee revenue
MakeICT:
Provides the venue/facilities
Handles registration
Handles customer service
Keep 100% of facilities fees + 25% of tutoring fee revenues