Fire Family Council

Council Policy Manual

12/07

(Proposals revised based on Council conference call meeting of 11/26/07.)

1.      Advisory Council

The Advisory Council of the Fire Family Organization is a group of people whose counsel and guidance are valuable to the organization and to the Council. Members of the Advisory Council may be former Council members, or they may be other community members with skills that have been identified by the Council as important to support the work of the Council. Advisory Council members are not expected to attend meetings and do not participate in voting or consensus decision-making. However, they may be asked to sit in on meetings occasionally, as individuals or as a group, and they will normally receive the notes from Council meetings for review. They may also be called upon by the Council from time to time for input on specific matters.

Advisory Council members will have their own email group, to which Council meeting notes will be posted. Email access by Advisory Council members is strongly preferred for ease of communication, although exceptions may be made from time to time.

Previous Council membership is an automatic qualification for Advisory Council membership, and any Council member may choose to join the Advisory Council upon stepping down from the Council at the end of their term, by submitting a statement of their intentions in writing. Community members may be invited to join the Advisory Council by consensus of the full Council, based on an identification of the specific contribution (of skills, connections, expertise, etc) that individual brings to the organization. That anticipated contribution will appear in the notes of the meeting at which the invitation to the Advisory Council is discussed and decided, and appointments to the Advisory Council will be a matter of public record.

Advisory Council members may serve on committees, or as gathering staff at the discretion of the Council (or the executive committee, or coordinator, or whoever is empowered to “hire” gathering staff). Advisory Council members who are not serving as gathering staff will receive a 20% discount to the gathering. In exchange, they are expected to help promote the gathering and bring new people to it.

Since the purpose of the Advisory Council is to have a strong reservoir of experience and history, Advisory Council membership is not time-limited. Advisory Council members may resign at any time by submitting a written notice. The Council will periodically review the Advisory Council membership and request resignations when necessary or appropriate.

PASSED BY CONSENSUS, DECEMBER 2007

2.      Leave of absence policy

A Council member may elect to take a leave of absence from the Council for up to one year, beginning either at the post-gathering Council meeting or the mid-year meeting following the Council’s receipt of a written notice. During the leave, the individual will effectively function like a member of the Advisory Council under the terms described above. At the end of the year, the individual may choose (in writing) to return to the Council for the remainder of her/his term, or to step down from the Council (and over to the Advisory Council if they want). Lack of written notice at the end of the year will be considered a resignation. If a Council member leaves for more than one year, or resigns, they may be considered again for Council membership later, under the same terms, conditions, and process as any other potential new Council member.

This policy will be reviewed and adjusted if necessary when the number of Council members approaches the maximum of 15.

PASSED BY CONSENSUS WITH RESERVATIONS of three Council members, DECEMBER, 2007. Reservations concerned “automatic” return of member following leave.

3.      Council compensation

Members of the Council receive free admission and travel expenses to the annual gathering on the years they serve on the Council. In addition, for every two years of service on the Council, an individual will receive one free admission (but no travel expenses) to the gathering on a year they are not working. If a Council members serves three years, they will receive one free admission and one half-price admission to the gathering.

For the purposes of this policy, a “year” of service on the Council refers to the time from before  (and including) the mid-year meeting up to and including service at the gathering.

“Admission” includes those meals that are included in the basic registration, if any. Additional meal plans will be paid for by the former Council member.

PASSED BY CONSENSUS, DECEMBER 2007