[HCoop-Discuss] Goals and policies

[Nathan Kennedy]

This is just a quick recap of goalposts ahead for HCoop and some changes 
I see for the future.

1. Finishing migration, getting backup DNS etc at Cernio, and 
decommissioning fyodor, which will save us a few more bucks each month.

2. Revise bylaws, most importantly, increase the number of directors on 
the board from the present 3 to 5.  Some other changes were discussed 
and will continue be discussed in the relevant threads.

3. Related to 2, there will be another board election starting on April 
4.  I'd like to push through the bylaws changes soon so that we can have 
a meaningful election and add another two directors starting then.  If 
you are interested in participating in HCoop's leadership, please start 
considering this now if you have not already.

4. As I attempted before and promised in the past, I would like to work 
towards setting an official environmental policy for HCoop.  Now that 
migration is soon to be completed and membership is reopened, there are 
no more excuses, and with the issue growing more important and our level 
of hardware much higher, it is more important than ever.  A recent 
report indicated that greenhouse gas emissions from IT are now 
surpassing those of aviation.  As a cooperative, we need to make sure 
we're part of the solution rather than the problem.

http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/event_detail.aspx?eid=2696e0e0-28fe-4121-bd36-3670c02eda49


5. Most members have been prompt about payment and we are in decent 
financial health.  This is aided by a number of members voluntarily 
contributing more than a single share.  However there have been and 
continue to be a few who remain behind in payments.  A particular 
problem is people who default on paying and then leave, forcing the rest 
of the membership to come up with the difference.

Our bylaws allow for us to require a deposit, yet we have never really 
enforced this.  Our bylaws also allow the board to eject members for 
three months nonpayment.  I propose a new mandatory policy of requiring 
a refundable deposit of just over three months average costs to be made 
(equivalently, keeping ones balance over that amount at all times).  
Right now there is no deposit required and members are only emailed when 
their balance is very low or actually negative.

This would enable the board to remove nonpaying members before their 
debt exceeds their deposit, and prevent delinquent members from leaving 
the co-op with bad debts at the expense of responsible members.  A three 
month deposit would only be around $15.

-Nathan