[hackerspaces] Question regarding member dispute

[Robert Davidson]

This is how we do it.

Generally speaking mediation works well, another thing that works well is
they both take a week/month off (week for very active/month for not active
members)

Now with that being said the community will generally not make a person
feel welcome if they are a net negative member.

https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Rules_and_Policies#Formal_Complaints

Formal Complaints

The formal complaint process exists for members to request a discussion be
held by the Board of Directors
<https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors> regarding specific
actions of another member. Members are expected to discuss their complaints
in a calm and polite manner. Mediation is available to resolve issues
without the need of a formal complaint.

   1. Formal complaints against another member must be submitted, in
   writing, to the Board of Directors or to any member of the Board of
   Directors.[5]
   <https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Rules_and_Policies#cite_note-5> The
   complaint must have two parts outlined at minimum, a "Complaint" part and a
   "Recommended Solution" part.
   2. The Board of Directors will decide to either hold a special meeting
   regarding this matter, or will consider it at the next meeting in its cycle.
   3. The Board of Directors is not required to act in accordance to the
   grievance or complainant's "Recommended Solution" part and may devise its
   own remediation.
   4. Complaints will be added to the agenda of the meeting, posted on this
   wiki, without identifying information.
   5. Minutes for the meeting will not be scrubbed of identifying
   information.



Robert Davidson
Dallas Makerspace

On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 4:16 PM, Shirley Hicks <shirley at velochicdesign.com>
wrote:

> Hey everyone,
>
> Hope all the hacker and maker spaces are off to a good start with the new
> year.
>
> Have a question regarding a member dispute I need to crowdsource. This is
> within the US, and specifically Alabama. I’m not a US native.
>
> We had a dispute develop between two members of the space that originated
> in an outside incident, but which then overflowed into the space after a
> failure to resolve successfully. This is our first such interpersonal
> problem that has developed between members. As we are still a relatively
> new group (3.75 years since first meeting, three since first incorporation,
> two in our space) and have been adding policies and standing rules as
> needed, while we have a basic set of rules in place for this type of thing,
> we’re having to walk through our first application of them carefully.
>
> The particulars that I can state are that we’re not dealing with the
> incident itself, but rather with behavior at a subsequent meeting, in which
> one member behaved inappropriately, the other responded. One member has
> accused the other of harassment. (we have a policy that has been approved
> by the membership)  We have drafted, (but have not yet sent) warning
> letters to both. There is a push developing from within a portion of the
> membership to vote out one of the members for the behavior, but the member
> concerned is also likely to push back because of his own concerns regarding
> what he sees as defamation of character which may affect other matters with
> which he is dealing.
>
> We are considering seeking legal or mediation advice locally as we want be
> able to deal with this appropriately. Am wondering if other spaces have
> dealt with similar disputes and what you learned in the process.
>
> Our bylaws concerning member rights and responsibilities are at
> http://wiki.redmountainmakers.org/wiki/By-Laws_of_The_Red_Mountain_Makers#Rights_and_responsibilities
> and our standing rules are at
> http://wiki.redmountainmakers.org/wiki/Standing_rules#Be_excellent_to_each_other
> Our anti-harassment policy -
> http://wiki.redmountainmakers.org/wiki/Policy:_Antiharassment
>
> Thanks for any input and experience you can offer in advance.
>
> Shirley Hicks
> Treasurer
> Red Mountain makers
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
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