GPUS Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
Sunday, March 8, 2015 – 8:00 p.m. EDT
Facilitator – Charles Ostdiek
Start recording of call
Roll Call – Charles Ostdiek, Jeff Turner, Jesse Townley, Starlene Rankin, Tamar Yager, Audrey Clement, Karen Young, Darryl! Moch. Advisors – Holly Hart, David Doonan. Observer – Doug Campbell
Agenda Revisions – website designer hire item moved to executive session by consensus
OLD BUSINESS
Questions related to GPUS Delegate’s Discussion Forum/Bulletin Board from Doug Campbell
–Consensus for Doug Campbell to participate in this agenda item
[Who’s responsible for enrolling people on the bulletin board? Do we have a designee?
•The Forum Admins share this responsibility. They are David Doonan, Holly Hart, and Frank Young (as Forum Admins), Starlene Rankin, Jesse Townley, Charles Ostdiek (as Floor Managers), Frank Young, and Holly Hart (as Forum Managers). Floor Managers and Forum Managers are registered on the Forum as “Forum Admins” in order to accomplish their duties.
The Forum Managers are elected by the NC. The terms of the current Forum Managers have lapsed. The SC will be proposing nominees for Floor Managers for the NC’s confirmation.
NC Proposal 744 at http://green.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/propdetail?pid=744 specifies that Forum Admins and Floor Managers are to be designated.
Starlene Rankin and Holly Hart have been doing most of the enrollment work although they are not the sole designees.
What about the missing persons? There are several different kinds of missing persons:
1) Delegates who are in the Delegate’s Directory, but not on the bulletin board.
•The Forum membership is updated along with the Delegate’s Directory as updates are sent in by State Parties and Caucuses.
A check was performed by Starlene Rankin on 3/8/2015. Discrepancies are being resolved by Starlene Rankin, Jesse Townley, Holly Hart, and David Doonan.
2) Delegates who are in the Delegate’s Directory, but with missing, incomplete, obsolete, inactive or otherwise useless contact information, but who nonetheless vote.
•State Parties and Caucuses are responsible for providing this information to the GPUS Secretary. Follow-up contacts for full information are made routinely. Some information is not timely provided.
3) Delegates who are not in the Delegate’s Directory.
•These should not be on the Forum.
4) Delegates who were once properly enrolled, but have since moved out of state, dropped out of the Green Party, or died.
•These should not be on the Forum.
5) Delegates that we cannot find or locate.
•These should not be on the Forum.
Who’s responsible for maintaining the bulletin board, making decisions and enacting policy? Do we have a designee? Do we have a policy?
•The Forum Admins share the maintenance responsibility.
Technical matters such as the recent upgrade are handled by GPUS Webmaster David Doonan.
Karen Young was designated a Forum Admin by the SC in early 2014, prior to the passage of NC Proposal 744, in order to establish some of the basic Forum discussion sections and threads.
The Forum also has Moderator functions. Moderators are Budd Dickinson, Starlene Rankin, and Darryl! Moch.
The SC makes any called-for final decisions and enacts policy.
Policy is unchanged from that stated in guidelines found in GPUS Rules & Procedures at http://gp.org/rules-and-procedures-of-the-green-party-of-the-united-states#09:
“ARTICLE IX: GPUS NATIONAL COMMITTEE LISTSERVE PROTOCOLS AND POLICIES
DEFINITIONS
List / Listserv / Forum – These terms are used interchangeably to refer to a group of people (members) who can send emails to a common email address and have those emails disseminated to the other people who are in the group. […]”
Who is “Voting Admin”? Who’s responsible for the “Delegates’ Directory”?
•GPUS Secretary Budd Dickinson is the Voting Admin. Budd Dickinson and Holly Hart share responsibility for the Delegate’s Directory.
Will we require delegates to post a photograph of themselves?
•No
Will we prohibit delegates from posting a primary photograph that’s not of themselves?
•No
What about usernames? Will we require that delegates’ usernames be their actual names?
•From GPUS R&P’s at http://gp.org/rules-and-procedures-of-the-green-party-of-the-united-states#09:
“III. Posting Guidelines
A. Signing Posts. All list posts should be signed at the bottom of every message with the first and last name of the author. Members should also identify their position and the originating state party, caucus, or committee.”
Who decided we would make a cold-turkey transition to the bulletin board instead of phasing it in gradually, and why?
•The Forum was phased in gradually over several months upon passage of NC Proposal 744 on 6/22/2014. Both the listservs and the forum were active until November 15, when the listservs were reset to send only or whose use was discontinued. The original date had been October 15 but was deliberately delayed so as not to impede electoral work for the 2014 elections.
Who decided to revoke my administrator privileges, and why?
•Admin privileges were revoked during the implementation of NC Proposal 744 which calls for specific designation of Forum Admins by the SC.
Doug Campbell’s designation as Forum Admin was discontinued for at least 6 formal complaints as to tone, at least 2 formal complaints as to the nearly 779 uses of profanity by the autosignature of metauser “Echo” created by Doug Campbell, and ongoing and recurrent arguments with fellow Admins and SC CoChairs.
All current designations of Forum officers are under review for confirmation by the SC.
STANDING BUSINESS
Treasurer’s Report – Jeff Turner – After paying payroll on 3/6, early March bills, and $1000 to Macalester College we have a bank balance of $10,617.55 in general funds. We owe only $5,000 to Macalester. The remaining regular expenses for March total less than $3,500.
Fundraising Report
The next fundraising letter mails this week.
Request for disbursement approval – Merchcom 1) lapel pins – $1,000 limit 2) zippered hoodies – approx. $1,500
–Both requests approved by consensus
NEW BUSINESS
Liaison Reports were heard for the following committees: Bylaws, Rules, Policies & Procedures, Coordinated Campaign, Media, Annual National Meeting, Finance, International
NC Proposals for confirmation of Delegates and Alternates to the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas and to the Global Greens Network are pending.
NC Proposals for confirmation of GPUS Forum Managers are pending.
Renewal of endorsement of Global Climate Convergence
–Consensus to draft proposal using SC online discussion/vote procedures
EXECUTIVE SESSION – Consensus to move into Executive Session to discuss two personnel matters at 9:55pm EDT.
Executive Session exited at 10:18pm EDT.
1) Website developer hire discussion (moved to executive session by consensus) – Attendance: Karen Young, Darryl! Moch, Tamar Yager, Audrey Clement, Charles Ostdiek, Jesse Townley, Starlene Rankin, Jeff Turner
–Consensus to approve up to the budgeted amount the hire of Zac Maybury as website developer
2) Fundraiser hire – Attendance: Karen Young, Darryl! Moch, Tamar Yager, Audrey Clement, Charles Ostdiek, Jesse Townley, Jeff Turner
–In interview phase
Meeting adjourned
–Charles Ostdiek
CoChair, GPUS
Acting Secretary, GPUS
(GPUS Secretary Budd Dickinson is unavailable.)
Charles Ostdiek
CoChair, GPUS Steering Committee
GPUS National Committee Delegate, Nebraska Green Party
CoChair, Nebraska Green Party