Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: out-of-state members <<FWD>>

[Fred H Olson WB0YQM (fholson]

Message Date: Mon, 19 Sep 94 21:13 CDT  Sorry about the delay, Fred

DANDER [at] IGC.APC.ORG  is the author of this message but
due to a listserv problem it was posted by the COHOUSING-L sysop.


Steve,
   We were "out of area" members of the EcoVIllage (Ithaca NY) CoHo for
almost a year (we finally moved from Buffalo last month). We did have the
benefit of a manageable "commute" (160 miles) so we could get to one
meeting a month or so - but it IS HARD... to be a long-distance member.
  EcoVillage CoHo does not have any hard and fast rules for this situation. It
has been agreed that one cannot block consensus long distance... the argument
being that consensus is not merely a vote but a response to the sense of the
group on an issue that grows out of the breatdh of the discussion of an issue.
We do try to get agendas of upcoming meetings and minutes of prior ones out
ASAP so that our long-distance members know what's up (and coming up). As
recently as 6 months ago we had 7 or 8 households (out of 20+) which were
from out of town.
  Committees can usually be found (!) that allow (!) work on the part of
an out-of-town member... As a start I'd suggest that you offer to start
an "Out-of-towners Committee" - seriously... you could either try to drum
up addl OOT members or support others that your group might already have
with a newsletter or some formal connectivity processes.
   Frankly the hardest part is not the stretcccch of the groups overt rules
but the realization that a whole lot of what goes on in a CoHo group that's
a-building is in the interpersonal relationships that the "in-town" folks
have as a multi-daily part of their lives. Lots of apparently formal
decisions are based upon very informal discussions within the "local"
community that bring shade and nuance to the discussion that my agenda or
the text of a proposal simply could not reflect...           
          -da