Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Meeting quorum questions

[John Beutler (jabeutler]

Our proxies are based on a degree of trust between the person who 
gives the proxy and the person who exercises it, that they understand 
their concerns in more than a general way.  No substitute for being 
present, but it seems to work reasonably well for us.  And of course 
since it is consensus it is primarily used to meet quorum 
numbers.  The facilitator would probably hold off attempting to reach 
consensus if the attendance was scanty.

Cheers

JAB

At 05:17 PM 6/20/2009, you wrote:


> On Jun 20, 2009, at 2:26 PM, John Beutler wrote:
>
> > At Liberty Village (Libertytow, MD) we have a proxy system whereby
> > different folks "hold proxies" for others.
>
> Proxies that mean "I consent to anything you decide" or "I consent to
> the proposal"?
>
> The problem with proxies for anything other than saying, I consent to
> _anything_ you decide, is that they negate the importance of
> information. Unless the meeting is just a rubber stamp, one would
> expect information to come out in the discussion that might influence
> the decision. There might also be amendments.
>
> Since the number of consents is meaningless in consensus decision-
> making because it's all or nothing, a proxy could only be meaningful
> to establish quorum.
>
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
>
>
>
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John Beutler
Liberty Village, MD
jabeutler [at] comcast.net
http://www.libertyvillage.com/