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Topic: USGW Bylaws---GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE
Conf: ByLaws Discussion, Msg: 235
From: Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net)
Date: 2/18/1999 08:20 AM

Article VI, Section 3 of the bylaws reads: "The responsibilities of the Advisory Board shall include: addressing any problem issues as they arise, aiding the state projects upon request, overseeing elections, advising and mediating, if necessary, any grievances or appeals, and appointing a Webmaster to maintain the national website."

Mediating grievances between project members, once mediation has failed at the state and regional levels, can be a very important function of the USGW Advisory Board. The Advisory Board has interpreted the above section to mean that it is the Grievance Committee, since no reference is made to non-Board members. This is problematic for a number of reasons, among them are concerns about how a grievance involving a Board member or the Board itself will be mediated, and concerns about the rights of CCs to have a hearing before their peers (other CCs) in case of a grievance.

In the one publicly known case in which the Board attempted mediation, it is generally considered (even by some Board members) that it was not handled properly. This is probably due more to a lack of guidance in the bylaws as to how grievances are to be addressed than to any failing on the part of the Board or its members.

Therefore, we've been batting around some ideas as to how to amend this section in order to increase fairness and provide guidance to the Grievance Committee. This is where we are so far:

1. The committee would be made up of 5 SCs and 7 CCs (who are not also SCs)
2. It would be all volunteer, with the Board voting to accept or reject the entire group of volunteers (not separate votes for each) unless they get more volunteers than positions, in which case voting would be person by person (I personally think this idea needs some work, since in the latter case, the Board could hand-pick the GC)
3. The NC would be an ex-officio member of this committee, and vote only in case of a tie
4. The committee would elect its own chairperson and secretary.
5. The call for volunteers would go out as soon as the Board is seated after the election, and would be in place within 30 days of the first day of the term (Sept 1).
6. The committee would be a standing committee

We need to talk also about procedural rules for the GC, including such things as: a) when the GC gets involved; b) confidentiality; c) reporting requirements (to the Board and/or the project membership); d) membership requirements for the GC; e) etc!

Any of your thoughts or suggestions on these items are very welcome!

-Teresa
merope@radix.net