Sec. Proposal for Fewer GA's - Vote 11/29

[Secretariat]

In response to feedback about recent General Assemblies, Secretariat has presented the following proposal to increase both efficiency and representation at GA. We are planning on calling for a vote on Tuesday (11/29). If this passes by 90% majority, it will be published on the home page, announced at all GA's this week, and the new procedure will be implemented Sunday (12/4), meaning no GA that day.

Proposal (to be voted in 3 parts):
1. The Secretariat is asking the General Assembly to allow the same autonomy for this committee as every other committee in Occupy Chicago. The current practice of calling "Format" at any deviation does not allow us to make adjustments to the daily agenda of the GA to act in the best interest of the movement as a whole. Such autonomy could involve rearranging the standard structure based on another event that is happening, like N17 by opening with Soapbox. In the spirit of transparency, any significant changes will still be brought to the GA in the form of a temp check before moving forward. This flexibility will also allow us to experiment with alternative GA structures without having to call for a formal vote to permanently change procedure. Currently other occupations around the nation allow their meeting facilitators to make adjustments to GA to suit the needs of the movement for that day.

2. We propose limiting the official General Assemblies to Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. By changing the 7pm GA to only 4 days a week it opens more time for discussion, committee meetings, planning sessions, and other community events during the non-GA days. These days were chosen in the hope that the variety will have at least a few days that work with everyone's schedule. It also takes into account other existing weekly nighttime meetings like Occupy Rogers Park GA on Sundays, Occupy Pilsen GA and Labor Outreach meeting on Tuesday, ect. Over the last 2 months Friday and Saturday have been the days with the broadest participation. Friday and Saturday also provides two days in a row for extended discussion when needed. By limiting GA to 4 days per week, Secretariat will commit to well crafted agendas, overseeing the assembly to ensure everyone is heard and represented, and taking and posting minutes.

3. Finally we propose changing the submission deadline for proposals to be added to the agenda to Sunday at 3pm each week. This will allow for Secretariat to use their weekly 4pm Sunday meeting to set the agenda for the week, and post online by Sunday night to ensure transparency and accessibility to a wide audience. Occupiers will also be able to plan in advance to attend a specific GA based on the issues being discussed. If a proposal comes in after the deadline and the presenter feels it is an emergency that needs to be addressed before the following week, Secretariat will review the situation and if it is time sensitive, work it into the existing agenda. Procedure to get added to the agenda includes: adding the formal proposal to the forum then emailing Secretariat@occupychi.org directly with a link to the post along with the proposer's availability that week for presentation and voting. Alternatively, any formal proposal that is written down for those with no access to internet, can be handed to a member of the Secretariat directly during any General Assembly to be included in the agenda the following week. While Secretariat can read any proposal for the presenter if they are not available, it is in the presenter's interest to have a representative present as we cannot clarify any confusion, defend questioned elements, or approve friendly amendments.

[AndersonJP]

I like point 1 and 3.

For point 3 I suggest to include that an emergency proposal is anything is DISCOVERED and BROUGHT FORWARD within the same week of that proposal item. If it was common knowledge, but wasn't brought forward in time, that's not an emergency.

It would be nice if we could figure out some cumulative voting system, so that votes are taken on the proposals throughout the week. I realize this is more of a long term goal, and will be fairly complicated, but I wanted to bring it to the table for discussion.

Regarding point 2, someone in this thread:

http://occupychi.org/phpbbforumforum/viewtop ... 4619#p4619

suggested that we use something like every even number day, so that the day of the week rotates: Sun, Tues, Thurs, Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun

Also, there is a link to another thread in there, that I would like us to consider those ideas.

If we are going to restructure GA, let's brainstorm, get a lot of ideas, even radical ideas, and trim it down.

Finally, I would like to set a schedule for how often we formally revisit the structure of GA. The framers of the constitution said informally that it should be redesigned every 50 years. We don't do that. Let's learn from their insight and our failure to follow their advice. The fact that our society is failing isn't their fault, it's ours, so let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

JP

[Secretariat]

Thanks for the feedback. Secretariat considered the "even day GA's" during the formation of this proposal, and decided that it would be too confusing for people to constantly have the days shifting not to mention one of the goals is to open open time in the schedule for individuals to attend the weekly neighborhood occupation GA's (set by day of the week) and more time for committee meetings not to overlap (also standard planning by day of the week). We also discussed Jamie's idea of "GA by Committees" that was presented a few weeks ago, and decided that it is not in the best interest of the GA (which Stack on that day seemed to agree as well).

Regarding larger GA structure changes, those are still to come. We would like a long working day to discuss following a led discussion with entire GA dedicated to this conversation before bringing forward a formal proposal.

We have separated out these issues (above proposal) from overall structure because we have an IMMEDIATE need to adjust the schedule due to low turn out, Sec. not being able to make well crafted agenda with an hour to space, and not having enough members to commit to attending 7 GA's a week and provide facilitators. There will be a new proposal in the next week! We want everyone involved in that convo! Please watch the forums & listen during GA for announcement of the meeting time specific to that issue.

Voting will also be a separate proposal in the future.

[AndersonJP]

I personally don't believe that you will fix the problem of low turnout by setting a specific day of the week. Based on the casual conversations I have had with people, there is a sense that what is done in the committees is more important that what is done within the community. My perspective is that people don't turn out because they don't value participation with the greater community. Many people view the GA as an interference because there are people attending that aren't involved with committees and "don't get it." People who see GA as an interference often look down on people,and disregard them because they are homeless, or drink, or smoke pot. They consider them not a valuable part of the movement, and state that they don't support the movement. They would rather not support these people, or associate with them at all.

If you want to fix low turnout, you'll need to find a way to circumvent an existing paradigm that has been brought to a new community by those people who would rather not be bothered with the GA.

[Lucas V]

Hi All, (Note, this began as a response to Anderson and then kinda grew out of control )

This alone certainly won't fix GA. However, we think these are essential steps that we need to take along the way.

There are several much larger issues that need to be addressed and you are absolutely right that we, as in *all of Occupy Chicago*, need to address the growing gaps between the GA, various committees, HQ and our online supporters who can't make it out to any of these on a regular basis.

Secretariat has a role to play in this, but our core responsibility is ensuring that GA's are run well and a formal record is kept. The current proposals are intended to deal with pressing issues asap.

The proposal posted above is the official one from Secretariat and is what the GA will vote on, but I still have some personal clarifications/concerns about them.

1) "Temp check" remains poorly defined IMHO. We will present a proposal that clarifies what this is and how it should work, but my informal understanding is that a temp check is for temporary changes and requires a simple majority agreement rather than the 9/10'ths formal approval. Since the goal is to move the discussion forward, the moderator should begin with an informal assessment and take a vote only if there seems to be serious dissent against a change.

2) "Official GA's" are the GA's where we vote. We still have GA's at 1:30 even though we don't vote. The non-voting days are actually an excellent opportunity for less formal discussions, introspection, community building etc. I have some ideas about how to make these "discussion days" work, and secretariat should try to help but they should be a much more organic and enabling experience for everyone involved.

3) This is already in there, but might deserve some special emphasis. Secretariat bends over backwards to try to get time sensitive proposals worked in, and we will keep doing that. We understand that we'll need to adjust the agenda during the week. *BUT* providing an agenda in advance allows those with limited opportunity to attend the ability to choose how to spend their time.

Again, these are just my personal opinions.

[mattjohnson]

Why have the vote on one of the days you specifically excluded from the normal schedule due to other meetings? What's the rush? Can't we vote on this on Wednesday or Friday?

[Secretariat]

The idea was to have the vote sooner than later, to give more time to publicize the change for a few days if it passes, then start the revised schedule on Sunday. We were not trying to rush anything through. We've gotten almost no push back besides the above comments, except a few people who want to cut GA to 2 days per week.

Tonight if the consensus of GA is they would like more time to think about this, then great we'll vote later. That said, we need to hear feedback if you aren't happy. The goal is to make adjustments to benefit everyone.

[mattjohnson]

Oh, no, I was definitely happy with the proposal. I was just curious because it seemed like part of the idea was Tuesdays = low turnout. I guess the one thing I might add, and perhaps I should join Secretariat or Tech and try to help with this would be if we could set up some sort of system for public collaboration on proposals that is less clunky than the forums.

In lieu of that, it would be good for each proposal posted on the agenda schedule each week to have contact information of the proposer so that consensus could be built ahead of time between dissenters and proposers.

One more thing, now that I'm thinking of it, will the review of proposals and scheduling include some sort of editing/friendly suggestion process from Secretariat? Sometimes people present proposals that don't propose anything. Eeeek!

[Secretariat]

Hey MattJ.- this proposal was stacked again last week and as there were no complaints and people who wanted to table, we called for a vote and it PASSED. The final language was exactly the same as the original post with the addition of "Note: an emergency proposal is anything is DISCOVERED and BROUGHT FORWARD within the same week of that proposal item. If it was common knowledge, but wasn't brought forward in time, that's not an emergency." This was suggested by someone in the forum. There was one question about the possibility of switching the days of the week, as there is a proposal up for vote tonight about using a Union Hall for meetings that is available on Sundays. Response from Secretariat is of course can be changed if needed by a vote by the GA.

I would absolutely for you to help create a better space for discussion of these proposals ahead of time. I really dislike the forums to be honest...

Due to this proposal starting this Sunday, the Secretariat will have more time between receiving the info and presentation meaning time to work with presenters to encourage effective use of GA time. That said, we will never tell anyone they cannot present something if follow correct channels as anyone has the right to bring an item to the GA.

Hope this helps to clarify!
-Nicole from Sec.