Revised Proposals for Membership, Structure and Decision Process of Merri Cohousing:

"...efficient organisational structures and work methods should be established early on " (Cohousing, p 160)

The aim of the following guidelines is to establish ways of working in Merri Cohousing which encourages people to become involved in decision making and to give all members a sense of confidence that decisions which have been made will lead to the best possible outcomes, given the resources available to the group.
Most of these suggestions were adopted by Merri Cohousing on 7/6/00. Other proposals reflect ideas that have been introduced during committee of management meetings and other meetings since then. These guidelines should be read in conjunction with "The purpose and rules of Merri Cohousing and Ecovillage Incorporated"- the constitution of our organisation, which was adopted at the inaugural annual committee of management meeting. The following guidelines could be considered as "by laws" and summarise some important points from our constitution.

Committee of Management (COM)
1. Committee of management meetings to be held every second week with all MCEVI (MerriCohousing and EcoVillage Incorporated) members welcome to attend and take part in discussion. Only members elected to COM are eligible to vote. However, consensus is the main mode of decision making at COM.
2. Committee of management meetings are the place where tasks are given to working groups and proposals are ratified ("motions are passed" - of the brain kind not the bowel kind).
3. Draft proposals cannot be ratified at the first meeting that they are presented to unless they have been distributed to all members at least seven days before the committee of management meeting. This is to ensure that people have enough time to consider the proposals.
4. The committee of management meeting can empower an individual or work group to take action or make decisions, outside of the committee of management meeting, within the limits set by COM.

General Meetings (Called Special General meetings in the constitution)
5. General meetings are used by the committee of management to inform general members of the current status of any projects.
6. General meetings are also used to: accept new members into MCEVI, discipline or expel a member or remove a person from COM.

Roles and Format for Committee of Management and General Meetings
Suggested format for Meetings:
7. Start at 7:00 pm with the first half hour for chat and catching up on any last minute business.
8. ~7:30 everyone present introduces themselves and makes a brief comment on an aspect of cohousing
9. Facilitator reads minutes of previous meeting and amendments are made to these if necessary.
10. The agenda of the current meeting is read with the addition of last minute agenda items.
11. The facilitator leads discussion of agenda items including reports and proposals of working groups.
12. As the meeting progresses tasks are given to the working groups and the agenda for the following meeting is constructed.
13. Before the meeting is closed the agenda for the next meeting is confirmed with at least one person's name attached to each item.
14. Facilitator, timekeeper and minuter are chosen for the next meeting. Roles in meetings:
15. Chairperson/facilitator - introduces the agenda, encourages people to speak to agenda items
16. Secretary/minute taker - records proposals/reports/comments as faithfully as possible, types them up in the days following the meeting and emails them to the communication group convener.
17. Timekeeper - makes sure that individual agenda items don't take more time than needed.
18. Good meeting process is very important to ensure that meetings are fair and inclusive. Everyone is responsible for their own behavior and the groups functioning. Please help ensure that during meetings: people don't speak until called by the chairperson, only one person speaks at one time, people stick to agenda items and don't introduce irrelevant information. See also "Meeting procedure for fun and function".
19. The roles are rotated among the group so that no one person, or group of people, is seen to dominate the meetings
20. Any member of Merri Cohousing is free to take one of the roles during a meeting, this is decided at the end of the previous meeting.
21. If the designated person is unable to attend a meeting, they are responsible for finding a replacement person.
22. While consensus is strived for a 2/3 majority will ratify a proposal.
23. Before any proposal is ratified, consideration is given to whether it would be better to postpone the decision to the following meeting to allow more information to be gathered and more people to have input.

Working Groups
24. Working groups meet during the week that does not have a committee of management meeting and at other times as facilitated by the convener of the working group.
25. All full members are free to join working groups.
26. At the moment five working groups exist which have the following functions:
27. Communication - distribute minutes and agenda to members, promote Merri Cohousing through the development and maintenance of a website and links with other groups.
28. Finance - investigates financing options, business plans and legal status of Merri Cohousing
29. Process- explores different work methods to facilitate efficient group functioning and decision making
30. Education-orients and recruits new members
31. Design - develops site and dwelling designs.
32. It is clear that other work groups will be needed in the future as the project develops to address social aspects etc
33. The convener of each working group is a member of COM and is responsible for reporting to COM the activities of the working group.
34. Conveners are also responsible for: ensuring that the tasks allocated by COM to the working group are carried out, arranging meeting times and encouraging involvement in the working group. Enquiries concerning Cohousing, Ecovillage or MCEVI
35. Any member who receives an enquiry about cohousing in general or about a specific MCEVI project should forward the person's contact details to the convener of the communication working group who records the details and ensures that an appropriate member contacts the person.
36. The education working group is responsible for organising information sessions and contacting interested people to inform them of session times etc
37. Information sessions will be conducted approximately every month.
38. People who are not MCEVI members should not be directed to COM meetings or general meetings of the association except if they are specifically invited by COM (eg to make a presentation)

Membership of Merri Cohousing
39. The main purpose of membership is to encourage involvement and a sense of commitment to the vision of Merri Cohousing.
40. Money from membership fees will go toward covering the cost of mailouts/photocopying/phone calls and other administrative costs of promoting the group and developing plans for the group.
41. Two different kinds of membership cater for two levels of involvement with Merri cohousing.
42. Full membership allows the member to be involved in the working groups and to be nominated for the committee of management. ( NB we cannot say at this stage how the residents will be chosen so full membership will not guarantee a place as a resident in any MCEVI project. All we can say is that you will have a role in deciding how residents are chosen )
43. One membership = one vote = one fee.
44. Joining fee for full membership : $100 or $50 for concession card holders
45. Information membership allows people to receive (e)mail outs and keep track of what is going on in the group. The aim of creating this form of membership was to discourage people from determining the course of the project without having commitment to the group. It allows people to "test the waters" and remain in contact with the group without making a large commitment of time or money.
46. Joining fee for information membership: $10
47. Information members can "upgrade" to full membership at anytime by paying the difference between the information & full fees.

Orientation of New members of MCEVI
48. New members who have been accepted by a resolution of a general meeting should be given an information pack containing: the constitution, information about how to become involved in working groups and meetings and how the mentor program works. This is the responsibility of the education work group. These proposals are in draft form and even after being ratified will always be open to being changed. The question to be answered : do we believe they will suit the purpose of Merri Cohousing at this time? We welcome your comments. If you cannot attend the next committee of management meeting please communicate your thoughts (eg via email) to someone who can present your ideas for you.