Ems Policy

Board of Directors

Size of the Board of Directors

The EMS board of directors is limited in size by the bylaws but currently shall not exceed 6 members, and until changed, this number of directors shall be elected at each annual meeting.

Board Member Qualifications

Candidates for the Board of Directors must have been members in good standing with the GD during the election month, and except for the first BOD, must have also been a member in good standing for the two preceding months, or any three months in the five preceding months, or any five months in the preceding eleven months before the election month. A Candidate must also be nominated, and accept, by another member in good standing.

Regular Meetings

The board of directors shall meet on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 6:00 PM. The first such meeting of 2017 will be on October 4th.

Attendance

Each board member must be present at regular board meetings. Failure to provide a reasonable explanation for more than one absence in a year will qualify as a breach of the GD and may result in the removal from the BOD as described elsewhere in the GD.

Submitting issues to the general membership for a vote

The BOD may from time to time submit issues to the general membership for a vote at one of their regularly scheduled or other meetings. Five (5) days notice must be given in one of the common EMS communications channels, such as email or the website. If there is a quorum of the membership class(es) voting then a simple majority of the general members in attendance shall decide the issue(s). If 5 days notice cannot be given then the issue(s) can be decided by a majority of the total number of voting members at an official membership meeting.

General Membership

Qualifications

To qualify as a potential EMS member you must:

1. Be 18 years of age or over or have your parent or guardian sign up with you.
2. Submit a postal address we can reach you at, an email address, and optionally a phone number.
3. Sign the Organization’s Waiver of Liability.

To qualify for a family discount your family must:

1. Have one full dues paying EMS member in good standing.
2. Have other family members wishing to join.
3. Be approved by the board.

Dues

1. Monthly dues for basic membership in EMS shall be set at $45, to be paid at the beginning of each month that membership is to be recognized. New members may prorate their first dues payment.
2. If you have been approved for a family discount, one adult member of your family shall owe the full dues amount to be paid at the beginning of each month that anyone's membership in the family is to be recognized. The other family members shall owe half of the dues amount to be paid at the beginning of each month that their memberships are to be recognized.
3. Members have a one week grace period in which to pay each charge recorded in their account. If payment is not made at that time they will lose their member in good standing status.
4. If there is an official EMS record of payment, including an EMS account statement of the payment posting before the end of a month then the member will be recorded as having been a member in good standing for that month. However that will not change any previous decisions regarding their member status.
5. If the member is paid up for the current month then the payment will apply to some future unpaid month.
6. Refunds for unused portions of member dues can be requested for all future months. There are no refunds, prorated or otherwise for the current month.

Scholarships

Basic membership may be granted for a period of three months to persons of the community that the Board of Directors declare recognize as having made a significant contribution to the assets of EMS. This program shall be entitled the "Quarterly Scholarship." The Quarterly Scholarship may only be issued to the same person once a year and must be awarded by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

Termination

1. Members may terminate their membership at any time for any particular reason by submitting written notice to the Board of Directors and will be required to pay the full sum of their dues for the month that they terminated their membership.
2. Members may also be terminated by the BOD as described elsewhere in the GD.

Privileges

Members in good standing have the following Privileges:

1. Access to EMS-owned equipment designated for membership use when said equipment is not in use by another member, has been loaned for use to a partnering organization, is inaccessible due to the equipment location's hours of operation, or has been designated out of operation by a Director.
2. Access to equipment loaned to EMS by individuals or other organizations if the member has been approved to use the equipment by the owner or one of his agents. Unless the equipment has been marked as out of operation by the owner or agents.

Key Privileges

1. EMS controls access to its space and other resources with keys. They may be physical, electronic, or pass codes.
2. A member in good standing is eligible for the privilege of having key access upon presentation of government issued photo identification. The board may waive this requirement.
3. However Minors, even if they are key holders are not permitted at Eugene Maker Space without an adult member present.
4. The BOD may suspend a members' key privileges for any reason, and may or may not chose to review it later.

Meetings

Except for the annual election meeting, at least two board members must attend any membership meeting in order for it to be duly recorded, otherwise it is not a valid membership meeting. One of these board members shall be responsible for seeing that the meeting minutes are recorded in the EMS documents properly

Regular Meetings

The General membership shall meet directly following the last board meeting of each quarter.

Special Meetings

A special meeting may be called by a petition signed by members in good standing as set forth in the bylaws. The intended date and purpose(es) of the meeting must be on the petition, and notice of the meeting must be sent with this information to all members in good standing. If the notice is sent by USPS first class then at least 7 (seven) days notice must be given. If notice is sent by other means then at least 30 but not more than 60 days notice must be given.

Petition to vote on an issue

The general membership may circulate a petition to put issues up for a vote at a membership meeting, as specified in the bylaws. There must be at least ten days notice before the given meeting of the issues to be voted on. A valid notice shall be communicated through one of the EMS common communication channels. Such as but not limited to: Members email list, postal mail, main website, etc...

Guests:

Guests may accompany members in good standing in areas designated for EMS membership, however, guests may not access or operate EMS-owned equipment designated for membership use unless said equipment has been loaned to a partnering organization that the guest is member of.

Elections and Voting in General

In order to more effectively determine the will of the voters It is the policy of EMS that all votes taken using ballots whether they be paper or electronic, will be marked in ranked order starting at 1 for the voters first preference, 2 for the second preference, and on to Nth for the voters last preference. For simple yes or no ballot measures either a 1, or X like mark will be allowed to indicate the voters choice.

For votes taken without ballots only selections between more than two options, e.g. something other than a yes or no vote will require the options to be ranked 1, 2, 3 etc...

Preferential Voting

All ranked votes shall be counted using Single Transferable Vote (STV) with the Meek method. For single winner races this is the same as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), Some elections or races could also select a Condorcet winner if that is deemed appropriate.EMS feels that these modern voting systems give the voters more effective control over the election results.

Annual Elections

The annual election of the EMS Board of Directors shall be on the first Saturday of December, and 30 days notice of the time, place, and complete list of all items to be voted on shall be sent to the general membership via common communication channels such as postal mail to the last known address of each member in good standing, their email, or on the EMS web page. Election procedures are further described in the GD, and include the options of remote or electronic voting. For at least the board of directors race and possibly others, those candidates that don't reach the STV quota of votes will not be elected, possibly leaving unfilled seats. This assures each board member will have a strong mandate from the membership.

Voting Members qualifications

For the years 2014 and beyond, Members need to be in good standing for the 60 day period prior to the annual meeting date in order to vote at the annual meeting.

Notices

All meeting and other notices of EMS activities shall be posted to the EMS calendar webpage and available on opt in mailing lists. Special meetings which have fewer than 30 days notice must be announced via USPS first class mail. It shall be the responsibility of the member to provide the Secretary with a correct mailing address and any change thereof, failure to do so shall terminate the member's right to receive notice.

Finances

1. All expenses of $50 or over must be approved by the BOD.
2. All monetary expenditures provisioned by EMS's treasury will require signatures from at least two officers of the board for approval.

Code of Conduct

1. Active participation in EMS functions is encouraged. Presentations, lectures, announcements, projects, screenings, or other events are open to relevant discussion. Persistent or tangent interruptions, distractions, and unwelcome discharge of office supplies and equipment is highly discouraged.
2. In order to establish a welcoming social atmosphere, no member shall derogate, harass or otherwise troll another member during EMS functions, although civil debating over technical issues or the merit of works of science fiction are welcomed.
3. Be excellent to each other, dudes.

Community Relations

1. EMS may engage in joint ventures and partnership with other organizations in the general community where it is in the interest of all parties involved to promote the purpose of EMS as partnering organizations.

-- Main.ClifCox - 2011-01-17