Important changes to our best practices and bylaws

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In order to have a more perfect burner union, the volunteer non-profit Houston Burners board has made three important changes to our best practices and bylaws:
– New role: Ombudsperson (AKA ombudsburner) for community and board advising
– New term limits suggested
– Biannual, public board review process (chaired by ombudsburner)
Please read on below for more information.
NEW ROLE: Houston Burners is seeking nominations (anonymous, friend and self-noms welcome) for a community member to act on a limited basis as a publicly known mediator between board members, the community and the board.
*Ombudsburner (Ombudsperson) role — see definition of ‘ombudsman’ on wikipedia here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman#United_States

Please nominate yourself or a friend on the Nomination Form

This role is a public, independent advisor and liaison to the board and the community who can make non-binding recommendations and acts as a mediator. The ombudsburner also runs a survey monkey reviewing board members every 6 months and shares the results with the board and the public (forms provided, website sharing and facebook posting assistance provided).This role has a public nomination process and a limited time commitment: at least 1 hr/mo, and 4 hours running a survey monkey every 6 mo. This role has a 1 year minimum term, 4 year maximum term.

Role description:

1) mediate intra-board and community communication if requested by phone, text, email if needed.

2) For at least 4 hours/month every 6 months, steward a public board member 360 feedback process, described below.

Tasks to be completed by the Ombudsburner: 360 review process (public) every 6 months, with public call for comment / feedback on board behavior and roles in the review period. This has two parts, a private board members-only survey, and a public board member survey. The ombudsperson would share the anonymised results of both, And tally any recommendations such as role changes & objective/purpose review as a whole board. (Final scope described here is subject to change based on current needs, but the basic review process should remain straightforward.)

Forms: the survey monkey forms give a description of the board with the roles and responsibilities & objectives/purposes for the board itself. The Community is invited to provide any feedback.

This Nomination form is open and explanation to community through June 2022 with a final decision in July. The announcement of a selected ombudsburner is targeted for August 1, with a post on houstonburners.org.

Board term limits:
For current and future board members, in future communications, recommended terms of 3 year minimum; 6 year suggested maximum.