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A community is independent and self-governed. The Master Plan or Community Constitution must contain all the details. Other agreements may also be used for various purposes for the whole community. The members of a particular community can change the community rules by obtaining enough votes, although certain key components can be established at the beginning in such a way that they can never be changed in the future. Each village of a community is self-governed, within the parameters of that community. The members of each village will work together in many activities. The eight households in the village can make whatever decisions they like, as long as the decisions are not opposed to the rules of the community. Since each person can choose their village, and the other village members can choose whether to accept an individual or not, a high degree of compatible lifestyles and goals can be achieved at the village level. Village members can meet any time on any subject they desire. There are no restrictions on any decisions made except something against the decisions or parameters of the entire community. If the members of a particular village want to change any of the rules of the community, a general meeting of all community members is required. Community-wide meetings For all community decisions each household has one vote. This prevents someone from having more adults in their household just to get more votes. Each household must designate which adult in that household will caste their vote, or each person can have a fraction of a vote. If there are 4 adults in a household, if they prefer they can each have 1/4 of a vote - if the community allows this. We recommend vesting the voting rights in one member of a household, and that member should listen to and respect the views of all the other adult members of the household. The process of consensus is the preferred decision-making process for communities. All community members should be trained in this process, otherwise it becomes too difficult to make group decisions. Decisions reached by the process of consensus may take more time, but a decision is made the entire community is behind it and is capable of tremendous accomplishments. Some communities use a back-up process only when consensus cannot be reached. For communities that desire a back-up process when consensus simply cannot be achieved, we recommend there be at least a 95% agreement by the members and a 95% quorum requirement. This means the least percentage of votes needed to make any decision is 90%. Since the members of a community share many common purposes and goals these processes are possible, and in fact many communities are able to make consensus work well. There should be periodic meetings of all the members of each community. The frequency can be determined by the members themselves, but there must be at least an annual meeting. Monthly meetings are ideal for a community that is well established, and weekly meeting are recommended for communities that are just forming and are serious about it. Any existing Planning Teams should provide updates and progress reports at periodic community meetings. If a community has decided to have it’s own Local Planning Teams, everyone on each planning team votes for a Secretary for the planning team for 1 year terms, who chairs the team meetings and presents the reports at the community meetings. Voting in larger communities can be facilitated by one representative from each village who tallies the votes for everyone in his or her village. If there are 300 voting members in a community, tallying the votes on every issue can add up to a lot of time. During voting, the representatives can tally the votes for their village and report them collectively - e.g. “5 in favor and 3 opposed.” These representatives can also serve another function as below. Community Council In larger communities, one representative from each village can be elected and appointed to a Council to represent that village in periodic meetings for ordinary day-to-day decisions needed at the community level. In this way a community meeting is not necessary for everything that comes up. However, if the members of a village do not agree with the way their representative has voted, they can then call for a community-wide vote. Each village representative would therefore have 8 votes, if all 8 village home sites are occupied. In such larger communities, the village representatives would elect four officers - a Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer for one-year terms, for the purposes normally associated with such roles. The Chairman does not vote unless there is a tie. Robert’s Rules of Order should be used to conduct meetings. The four officers will also fill the same roles at the general member meetings. The members can also opt to not allow representatives to vote independently. Such voting can be accomplished by the representatives holding a council meeting to discuss issues and then going back to their respective villages to discuss and vote. At the next council meeting the votes are tallied and new issues discussed and taken back to the villages for voting. Conversely, the members of a community can decide what kind of decisions can be made by the council and what decisions require a general vote. This should be done in advance, as part of the community rules. The system above of not allowing independent representative voting can be modified to allow such independent voting only for critical decisions that must be made before the next meeting. The Treasurer is responsible for the community finances, which includes each community building operation. The Treasurer will be supported by the local Community Economics Planning Team if one exists. Each community can have whatever type of governance they choose; these are only examples. The council exists only to support the members by not requiring a full community-wide meeting for every single decision, or by not requiring all the members to be present for all meetings especially when issues have already been discussed in each village. Community-wide voting for individuals such as a president or mayor tends to increase politics. Especially in the earlier stages of community development, as represented by all the information in this web site, we strongly recommend a fully democratic model, which means everyone votes on every issue. This is possible because so many subjects will be covered in detail prior to the community being formed. However, a democratic model also means that the governmental system can be changed by the entire community. In mature stages of development communities may see value in different governmental systems. The community council should play a key role in coordinating, organizing, and setting an example in community service. See the Community Buildings page for more information. Dispute Resolution Every member of a community should agree to a dispute resolution and mediation process, which is included in the process of joining a community. A good system can alleviate and solve many problems. All such processes and procedures should be completely enunciated in the Community Constitution or other community documents. Community Defense Defense is not expected to be a problem, unless there is a catastrophic emergency in the cities. (See Supporters page for more information.) At such a time a community may need to turn away people seeking entrance, and people may be trying to get into the community either nicely or by using force. This subject will not be covered online. There are already fully functioning local, state, and federal law enforcement and legal systems, and communities should fully utilize these systems. If a community establishes any law enforcement process or appoints community members to such positions, such operations and persons must be certified within and supported by the county and state systems. Next - (Finance) Traditional Financing
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