These are the minutes from the TriState Poly Coalition meetings.
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Meetings from the Feb 24, 2002 meeting:
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Minutes
of the meeting of the (as yet unnamed)
east-central regional polyamory coordinating committee,
24 February 2002, at the “Busy House”
Prepared by Pete Benson
Present: Poozen Dragonbear, Jeff Dragonbear, Justin Michaels, Cecily -?-, Joel Specter, Stefan -?-, Gene -?-, Ilse -?-, Joe M, Anon1, Amara -?-, Tom -?-, Pete Benson, CH.
There was discussion of who we can persuade to come to these meetings. Repre-sentatives of several groups were mentioned who have not responded to invitations. Joe pointed out that we’re just a “start-up”; others can be expected to join after we’re a going concern. We can’t bring people in who don’t demonstrate initiative on their own.
Joel announced that there will be no convention this fall; there just is not enough time to plan and organize it. It may be considered for the spring of 2003.
Justin said he likes the idea of combining the Poly Pride Picnic with a Sunday con-vention. We might want to do a party on Saturday evening. Joel agreed with this idea, but said that a bigger con was not feasible.
Gene suggested planning such an event for the fall of 2003 so we would have a year and a half for planning.
Tom mentioned that BiZone will be having a con on 15-17 November 2002; it is hoped that this will become an annual event. He said it is the most poly-friendly bi event in the nation. Because of that we could have a poly event scheduled for each time slot. Joel offered to help with that. Jeff will also help.
Regarding calendaring, Joe mentioned that Tom has a system currently running for BiZone. It needs adaptation to scale for our purposes. He would like to get Anon1 up to speed on Windows-related Internet software, but Tom is using Unix.
Tom mentioned that another issue is what information to list in the calendar.
Justin said that a tier system was discussed for calendar entries: local, regional, and national; also events that are poly-focused, or poly-inclusive, etc.
Tom proposed that Phase 1 be completed by 1 May. This should relieve Phyllis of that work by that date.
Joel mentioned the issue of “Web standards”. He said that anyone can start a site. Proposed standards would have to do with what is included on a site—e.g., a link to a subsite to Tri-State Poly and back. In other words, there would be mutual cooperation.
It was pointed out that we cannot do anything that would jeopardize our nonprofit status. There was some discussion of what would be appropriate to allow in or should be kept out. For example, it was briefly discussed whether sex parties would be appropriate to mention, since such activities might violate some blue laws currently on the books, if rarely enforced.
Joel suggested that we just list the issues rather than trying now to find solutions to them all; let the policy committee work on it.
An proposed issue was whether to take a stand on legalities. What is an acceptable standard for inclusion in the calendar? Would standards should we have for inclusion of a group?
Joel asked whether Tri-State Poly should be thought of as dealing with groups or with individuals.
CH mentioned that e-lists have been created for the Tri-State Calendar and Policy Committees. Joe will set one up for “Tri-State Committees”. Joe invited anyone who would like to be on any of these committees to let him know.
Joe pointed out that there are two different ways that groups can be organized: by geography and by interest.
There was consensus that we should be liked to national groups.
Pete pointed out that no local groups are organized with elected or officially desig-nated officers or representatives. Anyone can claim to speak for this or that group, but one must have some credibility. This group is doing so for this region.
The mission for the Policy Committee is to create a mission. Joe said that the mis-sion (or intent) is to be the central point of contact for polyamorists and poly organiza-tions in this region. We would provide a way for novices to orient themselves among the various groups available.
Joel suggested that we add to the mission promotion of poly activities, e.g. by cre-ating e-lists.
Joe suggested also the formation of new groups.
Amara added that we could help newly forming groups to form and develop.
Pete pointed out that we still have not chosen a name for this group. Various sug-gestions were brought up, but there were no conclusions. Joe suggested that we defer that decision. “Something will come up” as we put out the calendar etc.
Poozen and Jeff suggested that our geographical range should include all of New York state, since there is a poly presence in Syracuse, Rochester, etc. (in addition to themselves and others in the Albany area).
Amara and others requested a written agenda for next time. Joel and Amara agreed to do that.
It was agreed that the next meeting will be on 17 March, same time and place.
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Meetings from the Mar 17, 2002 meeting:
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TriState Poly Coalition
Planning Meeting Minutes
Sunday, March 17, 2002
Opening Business:
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Attendance:
CH (TriState Poly), Sheri (Hudson County NY), Sena (Hudson County
NY), Chris (NY), Joel (TSP), Joan (njpoly/nypoly), Liz (New Brunswick
Poly), Tom L. (New Brunswick Poly & BiZone), Justen (Polyamorous NYC),
Jeff Bear (Albany), Pete (PA), Joe, Anon1, and Cicely.
Announcements:
o (Sheri) Holistic Sexuality for Women this Saturday & for Men on
Sunday
o (Tom L.) Apr 1st, New Brunswick Poly's Facilitator Training
(free, all invited)
o (Justen) Poly Pride Day has verbal approval for Sat Oct 5th in
Central Park
Select facilitator, timekeeper, minute-taker:
Facilitator: Joel
Minute-Taker: Tom L.
Timekeeper: Justen
Approval of minutes:
January minutes approved.
February minutes not distributed in time. Will be approved next
time.
Consensus on time limits and agenda:
Some times were changed. Joan given time to talk about some
differences she's seen on the North Caroline lists.
Next meeting date:
April 21st, 2pm.
Project Business:
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Report of the Web Committee:
CH reported: TriStatePoly.org is up and running. The info that
Phyllis had created is up on the site. More design work is in progress.
Report of the Calendar Committee:
Tom reported: CH, Tom, Anon1, & Joe M. have been working on various
aspects. BIG NEWS: Phase 1 (discussed last time) is complete and will
be put into action shortly after this meeting.
Feature request: Repeating events should permit exceptions (one month
only is a special date)
Feature request: Display non-member events differently (need suggestions
on how they should be displayed)
Proposal #1: "TriState Poly Membership Policy" (30 min)
CONSENSUS REACHED on "Membership definitions & process" section with
these changes:
o Change "related" to "connected" "unless they are related" and
"are considered connected".
o "Associates -- groups whose mission statement is not primarily
focused on polyamory issues but are somehow related."
POSTPONED decision on "How do groups become members?"
POSTPONED decision on "How does a group leave the coalition?"
CONSENSUS REACHED on "The Benefits of Membership" section with these
changes:
o Change "Have up to two individuals" changes to "has
representation on the steering committee"
o Add "All the benefits of networking among member groups"
o Add "Other services as they are developed"
CONSENSUS REACHED on "The Responsibilities of Membership" section with
these changes:
o Add "without approval of the steering committee" to "not speak
in the name" item
o Change "possible" to "where appropriate" on "to publicly
support" item.
o Delete the "to pay dues" item.
o Add "Coordinate with other member groups to avoid conflicting
events when appropriate."
PROPOSAL TENTATIVELY APPROVED. Unless there is objection via email
(tristatepoly-committees) it will be approved be by default 1 week from
today.
SEE ATTACHED for final wording.
Proposal #2: "Tri-State Poly Calendar Policy"
CONSENSUS REACHED on proposal with this change:
o Change item 2: Change "non-member" to "other"
SEE ATTACHED for final wording.
Old Business:
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Conference committee:
Joel reported that they are still planning for 2003. No progress since
last month. Interested people should see Joel. Tom L. requested
volunteers make a commitment to coordinate the poly track of the BiZone
conference.
Computer Issues:
It was brought to our attention that Yahoo had a scheduled outage for
1.5 days (Friday midnight to Sunday morning) and it might be a good idea
to spread our selves over various providers.
Decision: Name of Organization
CONSENSUS REACHED that our working name is "TriState Poly Coalition:
Serving the CT, NJ, NY and Philly Region" until we incorporate and
select our official name.
Proposal #3: "TriState Poly Mission Statement"
CONSENSUS REACHED on the mission statement as attached.
Proposal #4: "TriState Poly Decision-Making Process"
Before discussing the proposal, we discussed organizational structure
issues.
The issues that were brought up:
o Do we want the coalition to be a light-weight coalition
(providing a few specific services, otherwise be focused on
networking) or a heavy-weight coalition (has many projects of
its own in addition to supporting the member organizations)?
o There was agreement that decisions should be pushed down to the
lowest level.
o There was agreement that delegates (or whatever they end up
being called) shouldn't be voting until they've attended a
certain number of meetings. How many?
o Are we representing ourselves or the entire poly community?
(Interpretation from the minute-taker: the former, and once a
policy is set we need to be clear about this on our web site,
literature, etc.)
o How do we solve the issue of representation? Do large groups
get more votes?
o Given all that, what should the structure be?
Consensus is that we should discuss these on the mailing list.
New Business:
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Joan's report on NC groups:
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Joan reported on the North Carolina mailing list. She has been lurking
on their lists and reports that they do some things better and worse
that "us" (where "us" seems to be the amalgamum of NY-area mailing
lists, not the TriState Poly Coalition). We tend to be better about not
accidentally sending personal email to the entire list (our lists tend
to default to "reply to poster"). Some areas of improvement: we handled
911 in a way that alienated some people; impromptu social events such as
antiquing are more frequent and more successful on the NC lists (Justen
mentioned that his group has split his list into a couple specific lists
to target people that want just announcements, discussion, and so on).
Closing Business:
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Check Out:
o People felt that we got a lot accomplished.
o Joel thanked Tom and Amara for their help with creating the
agenda.
o Justen reminded us that NYC's GLBT Pride is Sun, June 30th, and
invites everyone to march with the poly contingent.
ATTACHMENTS:
TriState Poly Coalition Membership Policy
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(March 17, 2002)
Membership definitions & process:
o Our structure is a coalition of organizations run by a steering
committee made up of delegates from the Member Organizations.
Therefore, our members are organizations. Individual people
participate via the member group in which they affiliate.
o There are three types of members:
o Member Groups -- groups whose mission statements relate
to supporting polyamory within a broad but recognizable
definition. In the case of e-mailing lists, each active
mailing list is a separate group unless they are
connected.
o Associates -- groups whose mission statement is not
primarily focused on polyamory issues but are somehow
related (for example bisexual, BDSM, swinger, or other
organizations).
o National Affiliates -- National organizations that wish
to be identified with us.
o The steering committee makes the final determination as to
whether a group's mission statement supports polyamory, whether
or not a mailing list is active, or whether a group of mailing
lists are considered connected.
The Benefits of Membership:
o Events held by Member Groups are listed in our event listings
which are published:
o On our web site
o Via email
o Via paper mailings
o Member Groups, Associates and National Affiliates are always
listed in any "group directory".
o Member Groups have representation on the steering committee.
o All the benefits of networking among member groups.
o Other services as they are developed.
The Responsibilities of Membership:
Member Groups have the responsibility...
...to inform the coalition of any events they want listed,
including updates and corrections.
...to update the coalition of any change in their public or
private contact information
...to keep the coalition informed of who its delegates are in a
timely manner.
...to coordinate with other member groups to avoid conflicting
events when appropriate.
...to publicly support the coalition by identifying themselves
as members wherever appropriate and by promoting the
coalition whenever appropriate.
...to not speak in the name of the coalition or represent
themselves as the entire coalition without approval of
the steering committee.
...to treat other member groups with respect and kindness.
...to not perform any illegal acts that would jeopardize the
incorporation status of the coalition.
TriState Poly Coalition Calendar Policy
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(policy approved March 17, 2002)
What events are listed in the calendar?
o Events held by Member Groups
o Events held by other groups that are open to the public as long
as they are non- commercial and have some relevance to our
mission statement.
o Using the above guidelines, the calendar committee decides
whether or not an event is listed. The calendar committee may
opt to seek a vote of the steering committee.
TriState Poly Coalition Mission Statement
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(policy approved March 17, 2002)
"TriState Poly Coalition promotes and encourages networking and
activities for polyamorous groups in CT, NJ, NY and the Eastern PA
region, provides a forum for communication and coordination, a central
point of contact for existing groups, assists in the formation of new
groups, aids in the development of the polyamorous community, and helps
individuals interface with the groups and activities appropriate for
them."
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Mintues from Apr 21, 2002 minutes:
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minutes have not been completed yet.