2020-03-18 Hypha Worker Co-op: Governance

Time: 9:30-11:00am ET
Location: https://jitsi.hypha.coop/hyphacoop
Attending: bl, dc
Cultivator: dc
Notetaker: bl

Agenda

Item	Time (min)
Personal Checkins	5
Announcements	5
Task Board Review	15
Discussions	30
Process Checkout	5

Notes

Personal Checkins

30min covid-19 convo

Announcements

dc: attending COVID-19 worker co-op by orgs but had technical difficulties, wait on link to be shared

Task Board Review

Review DONE tasks
- archived
Review [priority-★★★] [priority-★★☆] [priority-★☆☆] [priority-none]
- bl: concern over AGM timeline, not being in-person
- dc: bring up OKR stewardship process at today’s All Hands #199
  - #todo archive 2020 Q1/Q2 OKR exercise in a new folder in public organizing repo
- dc: covid internal vs. external response
  - internal
    - there are some things we need to be clear on, write up internal policy
    - minor scale
    - bl: discuss priorities of the business
    - What is our stance?
      - Priorities (e.g., employee/community safety, business, operating continuity)
      - Continuity planning
      - Business risks?
      - Needed supports? e.g. higher clip? is hypha sole source income for anyone?
      - block members from engaging in activities that may put members / clients / public at risk? (e.g. going to client site)
    - reserve fund, etc. for supporting members through this time, surface personal financial risks in medium-term (months) as covid situation develops
    - how much money is in hypha reserve? what portion of the clip is spent on overhead? #todo bl to let ppl know our financial situation (our reserve as % and current balance)
  - external
    - discuss at All Hands
    - bl: goals?
      - dc: mutualaid, decenters hypha, connector place can be a separate domain, etc.
        
        help spin up quick static sites connecting ppl
        
        reachout to alan, design justice folks, maggie’s, unions, etc.
        
        e.g., mutual aid connecting in Toronto https://spaces.commonknowledge.coop/
- dc: covid stuff may make wsib issue higher priority #217

Discussions

#todo:dc make a governance template for meetings (those labels pls!)

AGM Timeline

dc: issue is the uncertainty/issue with travel to us all getting there, not us being in the same room
bl: has a flight back in april, but not sure if how situation develops
bl: not convinced it’s safe to travel in enclosed areas
dc: risk of not everyone being here
- 10 day to give notice… hold dates and give official notice closer to
- we are technically not allowed to have this meeting if it’s not in person (have a majority without bl and pc)
  - e.g. everyone except bl and pc in a room, but may need enough of us in a room (with appropriate measures)
- 5 of 7, majority in a room, if situation allows
- but we don’t have 51% directors if bl and pc aren’t here
- could delay, but may need some degree of a meeting to cover planning
- we wanted bylaws by end of Y1, our accountant wants us to have, but to hold the AGM we have 18-months legally
- technically we could adopt our bylaws before AGM, but it has to be in person (until we have adopted the bylaws)
  - but… this is only a problem if we really stick to the Act
  - full remote is ok if we are comfortable not sticking with the Act
options:
1. “Business as usual”, hope we can do an in-person meeting in May and stick to current timeline, only fall back to plan B as needed (May 15ish) (uncertainty)
  - extra risk to members if related to high-risk folks
  - risk that it can’t happen
2. “Postpone AGM,” hold remote meeting to do time-sensitive tasks: adopt bylaws (lil hinky), accept financial reports, strat. planning (not stick to the Act – closer to Act)
  - bl and pc have to figure out how to come back before Feb 2021
3. Go “full remote,” host full AGM and adopt bylaws, elect directors, host strat. planning, have social there (not stick to the Act) (most hinky)
  - we did things wrong, something bad happens and we are subject to scrutiny, house of cards falls apart and we have to reset
  - concern: how effective would it be without being in-person
    - bl: not concerned about sticking to Act, but we need an in-person session to talk through many co-op challenges, remote will not be effective
    - dc: will have to have more social signalling/“verification” for voting, etc… I can’t see a way around requiring everyone use video (e.g., to confirm it’s them, to have visual and audio cues)
4. Do “Hybrid AGM” and find ways to accomodate remote people, adopt bylaws (we’ll have member majority with 5/7), could not have directors meeting (uncertainty)
  - extra risk to members if related to high-risk folks
  - complex, difficult to thread
preference on options:
- bl: “business as usual” but select plan B: postpone slightly if situation allows / “full remote”
- dc: same
bl: individual OKRs?
- dc: pc and I are thinking to do reflective exercise, and have individual OKR as part of that
- dc: during strategy session on Sunday (individual OKR, peer feedback, etc. in additional to org stuff)
- dc: original AGM schedule:
  - sat am: members meeting, maybe some member reflective stuff, chat about what happens, results presented, elections and surfacing new biz
  - sat pm: (open) board of directors meeting, formally adopt things, resolutions
  - sat night: invite other ppl
  - sun am: strategy, roadmapping, org and ind okr
  - sun pm: fun activity
dc: conflict resolution policy is needed, and to some extent can be established in bylaws (usually escalation, removing amember)
- bl: we have always been bad at communicating to individual members about expectations and harm to org by certian behaviour
- dc: maybe the “how to be a good member” is a good starting point?

Process Checkout

parked convo on bylaws, were flexible on order/time but felt important

Action Items for Cultivator

Migrate items with #todo:person to task board
Publish meeting notes as
- business-planning: open access, or publicly indexed with restricted access
- finance: open access, or publicly indexed with restricted access
- governance: open access, or publicly indexed with restricted access
- infrastructure: open access, or publicly indexed with restricted access
- operations: open access, or publicly indexed with restricted access
Reset meeting pad for next meeting
dc: archive 2020 Q1/Q2 OKR exercise in a new folder in public organizing repo
[] bl: to let ppl know our financial situation (our reserve as % and current balance)
dc: make a governance template for meetings (those labels pls!)

_{Edit this page}