[HamWAN PSDR] We have a Constitution!

[Bart Kus]

Good Newwws, Everyone!

The HamWAN board of directors cast a unanimous vote tonight accepting a 
slightly modified version of the proposed constitution. Our constitution 
has now been published at the Constitution 
<https://www.hamwan.org/t/tiki-index.php?page=Constitution&structure=HamWAN> 
page, and is in effect immediately.

Why is this management overhead good news?  We finally have an official 
process for making decisions!  So if someone wants to spend HamWAN 
money, there's a way to go about it that's completely above board, in 
the light of day, using a unanimously agreed upon process, and without 
any ill feelings.

There are plenty of other benefits, such as defining director election / 
removal procedures, but the biggest benefit is the ability to make 
official decisions in a quick and sanctioned way. Tremendous progress!

Over the next few weeks the board will be working on defining our 
By-Laws, which will fill in the specific details of the generic language 
found in the constitution.  We will follow Article VII of the 
constitution to bring the By-Laws into effect.  This calls for a >=66%  
in-support vote, cast by HamWAN project members, not just board 
members.  Non-voting members will not be counted as per our new 
constitution.

In creating the constitution, I wanted to shift the power and control to 
those people who are actively engaged in the project. Those who are 
contributing.  There is no concept of quorum.  All voting procedures, 
with the exception of director removal votes, are counted based on 
participating member/director votes only. Abstaining from voting does 
not block any decisions.

I won't rant about this any more.  Read the Constitution page.  It's 
really short...by design.  :)

--Bart

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