Community Meeting Norms

Please do not edit this doc without a vote of the Board.

Meeting Times and Frequency

The Sustainable Capitol Hill Board of Directors, along with any interested volunteers and community members, meets as part of our regular community meeting on the fourth Sunday of each month. Meetings are held at the Tool Library from 7:10-8:30pm. Meetings are structured as described in this proposal.

Agendas

The secretary will create a preliminary agenda one week prior to the meeting. They will post it in the #announcements Slack channel, email it to the board-members@sustainablecapitolhill.org email alias, and ensure that it is posted on Meetup/the calendar. Generally, preliminary agendas will prioritize topics that we didn’t get a chance to discuss at the last meeting. Board members and other volunteers are encouraged to add topics to the preliminary agenda.

Facilitation

Meetings are generally facilitated by the secretary, but they may request or select another board member to facilitate a specific meeting or a portion thereof. The facilitator’s role includes:

1. Encouraging thoughtful use of time, including:
   1. Keeping the meeting in time with the agenda as much as possible
   2. Gauging whether a discussion is ready to move to a proposal and whether a proposal is ready to move to a vote
2. Supporting balanced participation as needed
   1. The facilitator(s) should use a “progressive stacking” technique to call on members who have not already spoken if there is a lot of back-and-forth discussion.

Discussion

Discussion should generally remain focused on the agenda and support SCH’s work. All participants, but especially board members, are encouraged to participate thoughtfully, make space for others, and engage in respectful disagreement.

Participants should communicate in clear, accessible language and explain acronyms or technical terms so knowledge is shared, all volunteers can participate fully, and the community can understand our work. Participants should also strive to treat all ideas as worthy of consideration, provide space for everyone to talk, and balance their own speaking with listening to ensure that conversations are not dominated by a few voices.

Discussion should focus on topics that are relevant to the group as a whole. Whenever possible, specific details of proposals should be worked out in a smaller group beforehand (e.g., a workgroup or a committee) so they can be fully fleshed out before bringing them to the full board.

Virtual Attendance

Chat: In hybrid meetings, chat works best for logistics rather than discussion, as messages are only clearly viewable by virtual attendees and may not be seen in real time. Board members are encouraged to participate verbally during discussion when possible to support clarity and accessibility.

Proposals Requiring Board Votes

• Projects costing more than $350.
• Projects that have legal ramifications or require permitting from the City (these will also involve discussion with the Church).
• Projects that change the space in a significant, permanent way (e.g., moving, changes to our lease, or building significant new furniture).

Board Actions

Any action taken by the board shall follow the following procedure:

1. Proposal: Any volunteer makes a clear proposal to take action or make a decision.
2. Discussion: If needed, board members, volunteers, and community stakeholders discuss the proposal and/or ask clarifying questions. Suggested changes may be incorporated into a proposal with the agreement of the proposer. If there is disagreement about how to proceed, the board will briefly decide whether to vote on changes separately.
3. Vote: The proposing board member or meeting facilitator restates the vote and calls for a second.
   1. If there is no second, the motion fails and the meeting proceeds.
   2. If the motion is seconded:
      1. Vote facilitator asks: (1) Who supports this? (2) Who does not support this? (3) Who abstains?
      2. Board members may vote in any verbal manner, as long as their vote is clear and recorded.
4. Confirmation: The motion and results are announced and recorded by the facilitator.
5. Additional Actions: A successful proposal may be followed by complementary proposals, such as whether to establish a work group, etc.

If an action requires more debate or is contentious in a way that cannot be handled by the above procedure, the Board will fall back on Roberts’ Rules of Order.