Friends:
There was discussion in the threads while voting took place which indicated that three items need clarification before we finalize Charter text. I've put approved text in the first post of each of the threads, but it has not been moved into the charter yet.
(1) The meaning of "one year" in Article 7: Binding Votes. (Both Hobby and Faramond questioned this.)
The approved text now reads:
A binding vote cannot be held for a proposition that has been defeated by an earlier vote during the past 6 months and the same proposition cannot be voted on more often than twice in one year. It is the responsibility of the Committee to determine whether the proposed vote is allowable. If the committee is divided, a straw poll will be taken and a simple majority of the committee members will decide whether the vote is allowable.
Hobby raised the question whether the one year provision is not redundant. It would not have been redundant if we had said that votes have to be separated by three months, or if we had said that a vote can only be repeated once in two years. But because we said that votes should be separated by six months and take place no more often than twice in one year, we gave the same answer to both questions and the second provision is in fact now redundant.
With your permission, I will remove it. Raise objections to this promptly, please, if you do not agree.
(2) Faramond raised an objection to allowing a binding vote (Article 7) to overturn a provision of Article 8: Policy on Thread Deletion. He wanted the reference to Article 8 removed as one of the things that would require a binding vote.
We have not yet completed Article 8. We're setting out to do that now. But I will comment that we already have a situation before us where Faramond's objection is relevant. Rangers have had to exercise Extraordinary Powers, and it concerns a binding vote and a thread deletion, and it will be up to us to review the situation because we are the Charter committee currently convened. (Hobby will post it when it is morning again in Europe.)
So ... a suggestion that we deal first with Article 8 and our current emergency situation, and then if we need to remove something from Article 7 as a result, we can do it afterwards.
(3) There was a big block of first-draft text concerning the composition of the Charter Amendment Committee which went to a vote with absolutely no discussion. Hobby registered her discomfort with this, and though no one else did, I suspect we were all just anxious to get through this stuff. But as long as we are still have threads here to deal with, I'll ask you guys to be a tiny bit patient and read through this text carefully one more time, and if you have questions or objections to raise them here in this thread. If no objections are raised, we will go with the text as approved. But I don't want something as important as the Charter Amendment commitee given less than adequate consideration.
Composition of the Committee to Amend the Charter
The committee will have an odd number of members, no fewer than seven, no more than thirteen. The Mayor and one Loremaster will be voting members of this committee. The composition of the rest of the committee will be as follows:
If the committee was convened after the exercise of Extraordinary powers by a Ranger, it will also include:
• the current Ranger who was involved in the incident and one other current Ranger;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of two volunteers from among the rest of the membership.
If the committee was convened by an initiative of the Mayor or two current Rangers, it will also include:
• the two current Rangers who brought the initiative;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of two volunteers from among the rest of the membership.
If the committee was convened by an initiative of the members, it will also include:
• one current Ranger;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of three volunteers from among the membership, one of whom will be a member who brought the initiative;
• and if five or more volunteers are accepted from among the membership, two of them will be members who brought the initiative.
The Committee will be convened by posting a sticky thread in the Business Forum and accepting volunteers in order until the committee is filled and composed as required. Any registered member may serve on the committee.
Thank you!
Jn