Wondercafe2 Council

WonderCafe2 governance is based on a council model. Council represents the Wondercafe2 community and is responsible for day-to-day running of the site. Council’s membership consists of the administrators, moderators, and treasurer. 

Composition

Council is comprised of:

               3 Administrators

5 Moderators

1 Treasurer

Approved position descriptions for all three roles shall be attached to the council model.

Nomination Process

To form Council, the community is asked for nominations.  After a suitable nomination period of not less than 5 days, the nominations are closed and Council selects new members from the nominations. For purposes of the initial Council, the three founding administrators shall perform the selection.

Council members shall be polled annually to determine if they wish to stay in their current role so that vacancies can be declared and nominations sought to replace them. 

If at any time a council member is unable to fulfill their duties, they may step down or may be removed by the council. New nominations shall be requested to fill the vacancy.

The slate of nominated Council members shall be confirmed annually by a vote of the community.

Eligibility for Council Positions

Council members must be registered users of Wondercafe2. Candidates should have an active, continuous history of posting of the forums during the 12 months preceding nomination or have a combination of posting history and contributions to the operation of the site through financial or other contributions during the 12 months preceding nomination.

Active continuous history means that they have been posting at least monthly with no breaks in activity of more than a month and no suspensions.

These criteria are guidelines and Council may, at its discretion, nominate anyone that Council feels meets the necessary requirements of commitment to Wondercafe2 and skills required for the position.

Members who have been banned at any time may not serve until at least two years after they are allowed to return.

United Church of Canada Liaison

In recognition of Wondercafe2’s historical connection with the United Church of Canada, the United Church may, at its discretion, designate a liaison who shall sit as a non-voting member of Council. The liaison shall act as a conduit between Wondercafe2 and the General Council Office of the United Church of Canada on matters related to the relationship between Wondercafe2 and the church.

Denominational Liaisons from Other Groups

At Council’s discretion, liaison status may be offered to other faith groups who link to, promote, or otherwise support Wondercafe2.

Non-voting Members

Sub-forum moderators and denominational liaisons shall be non-voting members of Council. They may join Council discussions, present reports on their activities, and have input, but do not vote.

Chair and Secretary

Members of Council shall choose one of their number as Chair. The Chair shall be responsible for convening and moderating meetings of Council, posting the minutes of the meetings, posting communications from Council to the community, announcing the annual meeting to the community, and collecting and collating reports from the teams (Moderation, Administration, and Finance).

At the discretion of the Chair and Council, a Secretary may also be chosen to assist the Chair in these tasks.

Responsibilities

Council has oversight of the community following best practices for non-profit, small organizations and web forums. 

Council maintains appropriate records and minutes. Council minutes shall be posted to the public Wondercafe2 Business forum.

Day to day activities and discussions are performed through the Wondercafe2 Council Forum, a sub-forum on the site accessible only to members of Council.

Quarterly reports are brought forward by the admins / moderators through the same forum.

A virtual annual meeting is held which is to include financial, moderator and admin reports and planning for upcoming year. This may be done using a forum or through other appropriate Internet media (e.g. Adobe Connect) chosen by Council. The date, time, location, and agenda shall be publicized on appropriate Wondercafe2 forums at least a month in advance by Council.

Changes to formative documents

Any change to the formative documents of Wondercafe2 must be approved by 7 of the 9 members of Council and 80% of votes cast by the community.

Formative documents are: Mission Statement, “Who Are We?” Statement, Council Model (ie. this document), Position Descriptions, Code of Conduct.

Other documents may be added to the list by the same proposal and voting process that is used for changes to the formative documents.