Vote to Allow Area Hosts to Check IDs
Sponsors
Note
This vote was superseded by a similar one, which did pass, with additional sponsors, that expanded the ability to check IDs during onboarding to any members that the board designates.
History
- Mailing List Announcement: TBAN
- Officially Proposed: TBD
- To be Voted on: TBD
- Quorum at time of vote:
- Yes:
- No:
- Present:
- Passed:
The substance of this vote proposal was rewritten and resubmitted with clarified language in 2017, and passed in October 2017: https://wiki.pumpingstationone.org/Vote_to_Authorize_Area_Hosts_to_Check_IDs. Vote to Authorize Area Hosts to Check IDs
Background
Current practice is to require 2 different board members to check a new member applicant's ID before considering them an actual "member." Board members can be hard to find on days and times other than Tuesday right after a board or member meeting, and the requirement puts too much day-to-day business of the organization solely as a burden on board members.
Onboarding (getting people in as a welcome part of the organization) has some bottlenecks and checking IDs is one of them. Bottlenecks in the onboarding process create a negative experience, and give the impression that the organization is unable to get simple tasks accomplished or show agility or flexibility.
Area Hosts are already trusted with a PEX debit card and stewardship over a hosted area and it's budget, they are responsible people by definition, according to our system. They could be removed from their position quickly if any discrepancies, abuse or other issues crop up.
Checking an ID is verifying the information on a government-issued ID, and the existence of a signed waiver and minimal data entry and does not require any real technical skill.
The risk/downside of allowing an Area Host to check ID include that there could be more people with access to the member database. While access to the member database is not absolutely required to perform the task, the way it is set up now, it goes hand in hand with access to the database.
It can be a benefit to acculturation if a new member manages to get to a member meeting on a Tuesday, as well, but it isn't always possible for every person to make it to a Tuesday night meeting, and it shouldn't be a de facto requirement.
We don't and won't have a receptionist or staff on duty at any time in the foreseeable future, so we should be more adaptive and flexible when onboarding new members.
Language
Change the language of bylaws or policies to allow area hosts, not just Board members, to check a new member's ID. Exact changes required, yet to be determined.