[Lnc-business] Proposed Policy Manual addition regarding electronic meetings

[Daniel Wiener]

I like some but not all of Dan Karlan’s suggestions for videoconference and
teleconference procedures.  So here is my proposed draft of a Policy Manual
amendment, to be considered at our upcoming meeting.  Remember, we can
always modify our procedures as we learn from experience.


Daniel Wiener



Add a new *Section 1.02(7) Electronic Meetings:*


 *Pursuant to Article 13 of the LP Bylaws, the LNC and all committees of
the national party may conduct meetings via videoconference or
teleconference (“e-conference”) according to the following rules:*



   - *For videoconferences, it is the responsibility of committee member to
   provide their own compatible equipment.  In the temporary absence of the
   necessary equipment, or in the case of technical difficulties, a committee
   member must be allowed to participate by teleconference.  To the extent
   that it is technically feasible, meetings shall be open to all Libertarian
   Party sustaining members to listen in on, but those members must first
   identify themselves and their phone numbers to the person acting as
   secretary, and their status must be verified prior to the meeting.  By a
   majority vote a committee may allow a non-committee member to participate
   on a limited basis.*




   - *Either the committee chair or one-third of the committee members may
   call for an e-conference.  A minimum of seven (7) days notice for such a
   meeting, along with the agenda, shall be provided to all committee members
   by email, and shall also be reposted on the LNC-Business list.  No item of
   business may be placed on or added to the agenda unless all committee
   members have access to the same supporting documentation.*




   - *Participants must try to eliminate background noise, including radio,
   television, traffic, appliances, and side conversations, as well as call
   waiting for those who have it. A participants shall not place a telephone
   on hold if the system has music or messages playing while in that mode.
   Failure to do any of the above, or to otherwise mute the sound when a
   participant isn’t talking, shall be grounds for dropping the participant
   from the e-conference.*




   - *Each committee member shall be given an opportunity to speak at least
   once on each agenda item, but a member may defer until others have had an
   opportunity to speak.  If the technical means are available, members may
   signal to the committee chair their desire to speak.  The committee chair
   may choose the order to call on members.  The default time limit for each
   speaker shall be three minutes, but a different limit, applicable equally
   to all speakers, may be specified either in the agenda material prior to
   the meeting or by a majority of the committee.  An individual speaker’s
   time may be extended by unanimous consent.  Seconding a motion and similar
   parliamentary matters shall not require recognition, and shall not deprive
   a member of the opportunity to speak substantively on an agenda item.  *




   - *The chair may choose a voting method which will clearly and
   efficiently determine the outcome.  In cases where a roll call vote is
   required, it shall be sufficient if the voting method can accurately
   identify how each committee member voted and allow that information to be
   recorded.*




   - *A person (normally the Party Secretary in the case of an LNC or
   Executive Committee meeting) shall be appointed to perform the secretarial
   function who is not also the person chairing the meeting.*




   - *Barring technical difficulties and excepting Executive Sessions,
   e-conferences shall be recorded.  The audio (and, if practical, the video)
   shall be archived and linked to on the LP website.  All individuals
   attending an e-conference must agree to be so recorded, and also agree not
   to record and not to divulge the contents of Executive Sessions unless the
   committee allows it by unanimous consent.  Individuals who do not agree to
   these conditions shall be excluded from the e-conference.*



-- 
*"In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we
guess it (audience laughter), no, don’t laugh, that’s the truth. Then we
compute the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right, if
this law we guess is right, to see what it would imply and then we compare
the computation results to nature or we say compare to experiment or
experience, compare it directly with observations to see if it works. If it
disagrees with experiment, it’s WRONG. In that simple statement is the key
to science. It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it
doesn’t matter how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is.
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there is to it.”*
-- Richard Feynman
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