Structure Group Report 2011-03-24

STRUCTURE GROUP REPORT

24th March 2011

http://freegle.it/Structure

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 28th Feb 2011, covering messages 7591 to 8096. Our membership stands at 72 (the same as last month).

The topics we have discussed this month are below.

Reps Ending Terms of Office

Task 51, Priority 3
Jacky drafted a revised Reps Ending Terms of Office procedure document and invited Structure to submit their comments. We discussed whether Reps should be able to remove one of their own, whether those standing as Reps should agree to a clause in which they agree to resign if asked to by their colleagues, when would be the appropriate time for any evidence gathering, and the appeals procedure available to the removed Rep.

Mediation Service - how do we recruit suitable people?

We discussed how we should recruit mediators, what constitutes relevant experience and what qualities and skills would make a good mediator.

Picking Panelists

Task 51 Priority 3
We discussed how many people should be on a Panel, how we should recruit Panel Members and what qualities and skills would make a good Panel Member, also we discussed whether it is important for the identities of individual panel members working on a case to remain confidential. It was agreed that the use of the Yahoo poll facility should be considered for progressing the work of the Panel and the Appeals doc was updated accordingly.

Ombudsman and Returning Officer Remit/Role

Task 60 Priority 4
Structure discussed the length of term of office for Ombudsman and Returning Officer positions. We discussed the size of the Ombudsman and Returning Officer teams and whether the teams should comprise of Officer and Deputy or whether they should take equal roles within the teams.

We went to (opinion) polls with:
Should the Returning Officer and Ombudsman teams be changed from Returning Officer and Deputy/Ombudsman and Deputy to equal job titles for each team?

• Yes 19
• No 6

The Returning Officer and Deputy roles at present are open ended appointments. Should these be changed to fixed term? If so, for how long?

• No - keep open ended 9
• Yes - change to 2 year terms 8
• Yes - change to 3 year terms 3
• Yes - change to 4 year terms 3
• Yes - change to 5 year terms 2

The Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman appointments are currently for a fixed term of one year. Should this be changed? If so, changed to what?

• No - 1 year terms are OK 1
• Yes - change to 2 year terms 9
• Yes - change to 3 year terms 4
• Yes -change to 4 year terms 3
• Yes - change to open ended appointments 8

The remit for the job of Ombudsman and Returning Officer is currently carried out by two people for each role (role holder plus deputy). Should this be increased to three people for each role remit?

• No - keep to 2 people for each remit 21
• Yes - change to 3 people for each remit 5

Discussions are ongoing to include the results of the polls in a document for these elected posts.

Central Mod Remit

Task No 50
Central Mod team posted the Central Mods Remit final draft document for discussion and editing.

Working groups Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator and Secretary

The Freegle Working Group document suggests that each working group should have a Coordinator, Deputy Coordinator and Secretary so recruitment was undertaken. We now have Jacky as Coordinator (of course), Peter Johnson (Hunts) as Deputy Coordinator and Wendy (Woodley) as Secretary. Other working groups are currently recruiting for these positions so if you are interested please join the relevant group and make yourself known.

Choice of bank account

The Reps have suggested opening a bank account for Freegle with Unity Bank. In order to do this a constitution needs to be provided along with other paperwork. Previous discussions about a governing document have now been brought forward and a new document drafted for discussion. This document will need approval of a full Volunteer poll when completed.

Media Group

The question was posed Why is Structure so much busier than Media? One answer could be because we are laying down the structure to keep this organisation going for years to come, but the other answer is that Media simply don’t have enough active volunteers. This from Cat on the bottom of a message to Central. “You do NOT need any media experience to help the media department. I have an inexhaustible list of other things that could be done behind the scenes by anyone, anytime, as you can get it done, no pressure! that would be incredibly helpful to assisting the promotion of this network and help to get more things done in a proactive way instead of a reactive way.”

So if you do have even a little bit of time please join Media and make yourself known.

Task List

Our Task List can be viewed at http://freegle.it/StructureTasks

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If any of the above topics interest you, or if you have proposals about the structure of Freegle to suggest, please do join our group.

The Coordinator for this group is Jacky (Great Yarmouth) Deputy Coordinator is Peter Johnson (Hunts) and Secretary is Wendy (Woodley) Owners are Jacky, Peter and Wendy.

Posted as a Special Notice on Central 31.3.11

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