1. Proposal from Will Rose, Central Cluster Liaison on CC.

Membership

Membership in SNOW is open to any member of the public and any organization that formally accepts the SNOW Points of Agreement. Membership is formalized as follows:

Organization: any organization wishing to join the SNOW Coalition shall do so by providing a statement in writing to the SNOW Secretary, certifying that a meeting has been held of the members of the organization at which the members agree as an organization to accept and adhere to the Points of Agreement in any activities undertaken as an action of the organization.

Individual: Any individual wishing to be considered a member of SNOW must attend at least one general meeting per year, and must sign a statement indicating his/her acceptance of the Points of Agreement of SNOW and intention to abide by these principles to the best of his/her ability in any action or activity on behalf of, or explicitly as a participant in a SNOW-sponsored or SNOW-endorsed event.

Voting

Coordinating Committee: Votes at regularly scheduled or special Coordinating Committee meetings shall be by a supermajority unless otherwise specified in the bylaws, and require a quorum of 75% of Coordinating Committee members or designated alternates to be valid.

General meeting: matters of concern to the entire SNOW organization may be brought to a vote by the general membership at any regularly scheduled meeting. In order to ensure that only full members participate in meetings and votes, the convener (facilitator) of each general meeting will provide an attendance sheet which will include a column heading stating, in effect: "I am a SNOW member and have signed my acceptance of the Points of Agreement".

Signature cards will be made available at each general meeting so that individuals may join the organization by signing their name to a statement of adherence to the Points of Agreement. These cards, or membership rosters, will be kept on file at the SNOW office. This establishes a voting "paper trail" so that if a voting result is ever questioned, it may be possible to compare numbers of votes cast with people in attendance, and names of those in attendance with those who have a signed statement on file. Signature cards should include the name and contact information of the member, the full text of the Points of Agreement, the member's signature, and a record of any dues paid (a section on dues may be inserted in the by-laws once agreement is reached on whether dues should be part of membership).

Membership:

Group Membership: Use the current system. Neighborhood groups and organizations can become members of SNOW when they formally agree to the SNOW Points of Agreement.

Individual Membership: There is no formal individual membership thus avoiding all the record keeping involved in the ROSE PROPOSAL (at left).

Voting:

General Meetings. General Meetings will decide on 1) Commitment of major SNOW resources to SNOWwide campaigns, 2) Bylaws and their amendment, 3) Other issues of major concern to the Coalition as a whole.

Decisions will be made at any regularly scheduled meetings with notification of the decision to be considered published on the SNOW web site and SNOW Announce email bulletin at least one week prior to the meeting. Approval will require a super majority of 66% of the votes cast.

Individual voters. Each individual in attendance who agrees to the Points of Agreement may cast one (1) vote.

Group Representatives: Each person officially representing a member neighborhood group or member organization will have three (3) votes. Each member organization or neighborhood group may designate and official representative and alternates who would be registered with the office. Only the representative or alternate could cast the member group's 3 votes at a general meeting. [This system would make it very unlikely that an outside group could take over SNOW.]