NZLARPS AGM 2012 - Additional Motions

nzLARPS
#1

These following motions have been put forward to be voted on. If people wish to discuss them they are here. At the AGM it will be a simple vote for yes or no for each motion, to avoid the extremely long meetings of the past. Anyone casting an email vote will also have the opportunity to vote on every motion.

Motion 1 - Option A
That Section 26 be amended with the addition of the following clause “The project subcommittee for any project has the right to exclude any person from participating in that project if they believe that person to be a detriment of the smooth and safe running of that project, however they may not exclude anyone for reasons that would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act 1993.”

Motion 1 - Option B
That Section 26 be amended with the addition of the following clause “The Project subcommittee for any project has the right to exclude any person from participating in that project for any reason they see fit, however they may not exclude anyone for reasons that would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act 1993.”

Motion 2
That Section 26 be amended with the addition of the following clause “The project subcommittee agrees to abide by any ruling made by the national committee in regards to disciplinary actions the society has undertaken.”

Motion 3
That Section 26 be amended with the addition of the following clause “The society reserves the right to decline any requests for resources a project makes if the project is found to be in breach of the intents and rulings of the society or taken action that would bring the Society into disrepute.”

Motion 4
That Section 27 be amended with the addition of the following clause “The national committee reserves the right to remove affiliation from any organisation if it is found to have taken actions that are in breach of the intents and rulings of the society or taken action that would bring the Society into disrepute.”

Motion 5
That Section 9 be amended with the addition of two new clauses that read:
a) A member who has been expelled under the powers stated above may not hold a position on any committees, run any projects or have access to any society resources for the period of the expulsion.
b) Expelled members may still attend projects of the Society, if the project subcommitee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the relevant regional committee that they are aware of the issues that led to the disciplinary action and presents a comprehensive plan for managing any risks involved and for protection of his or herself, other members, and the Society from the expelled member’s potential detrimental behaviour. This plan must be approved by committee vote (national or regional as appropriate), and responsibility for the banned member’s actions passes to the project owner."

Motion 6
That a new section 10 entitled “Code of Conduct” be added reading:
"The national and local committees retain the right to take disciplinary actions against any attendee of a project of the Society for any breach of the following expected level of conduct. Such disciplinary actions may include requirement of project subcommittee approval to attend society projects (as outlined in section 9b) in their respective regions or in major cases the national committee may move for full removal of society membership as listed under section 9 of the Constitution.
a) Financial: All debts and game fees should be paid promptly.
b) Legal: Attendees and organisers of any NZLARPS project are required to abide by all New Zealand laws, and any local by-laws while participating in projects of the Society in any way.
c) The Public: Attendees and organisers of projects are expected to treat the public with respect, do their best to show the Society in a good light and to not bring the Society into disrepute.
d) Venues: Attendees and organisers are expected do their best to look after the venues, abiding by all rules, avoiding damage to buildings and the environment and clean as required.
e) Behaviour: Attendees and organisers will treat each other with respect, avoiding discrimination, bullying and personal attacks.
f) Health and Safety: Project owners are expected to take all reasonable care to look after the safety and well-being of their attendees. Attendees are expected to assist in this by notifying project owners of any known issues or conditions, as well as not placing themselves in dangerous situations."
And that following sections (and references to those sections) be renumbered accordingly

Draft constitution feedback
#2

Just to clarify, does that mean that there will be no ability to suggest amendments?

#3

Nope, I would love people to suggest amendments now if they have them. But since we have email voting it is not suitable to make amendments at the AGM.

#4

That all looks good to me. Some of it I would have considered implicit in the current constitution, but there is no harm in making things explicit.

A few typos, corrections in [color=#FF0000]red[/color]:

It might pay to standardise terms like “project” and “society” as either capitalised or not, based on how the existing constitution does it.

Also, perhaps there should be another item in the Code of Conduct covering the treatment of children in larp. How do we feel about adopting the Scouting guideline that children should be accompanied by two adults where possible and that their privacy should be respected? These are preventative measures that are not covered elsewhere (for example by the requirement to follow NZ laws).

#5

I know you have all been very busy trying to hash this out, but given that the 14-day notice period closes in only two and a half hours, I have to say that this process is less than satisfactory.

I’ll see what I can come up with to try and make them work.

#6

Following Ryan’s version:

Motion 1
That Section 26 be [color=#FF0000]amended[/color] with the addition of the following clause “The Project subcommittee for any project has the right to exclude any person from participating in that project if they believe that person to be a detriment of the smooth and safe running of that project, [color=#FF0000]however they may not exclude anyone for reasons that would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act 1993.[/color]”

Rationale: Unlawful discrimination extends beyond “race, sexuality, religion, or political views”. As written, the clause would imply that it permitted discrimination on the basis of sex, age, or employment status. Its best to simply be consistent with NZ law here.

Alternative Motion 1
That Section 26 be [color=#FF0000]amended[/color] with the addition of the following clause “The Project subcommittee for any project has the right to exclude any person from participating in that project [color=#FF0000]for any reason they see fit, however they may not exclude anyone for reasons that would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act 1993.[/color]”

Rationale: As above, but stresses that GMs control access to their games, and removes any posisbility of litigating such a decision through NZLARPS.

What’s the procedure here? If I validly submit these to the secretary before 5pm, do we vote on different versions, or what?

#7

Motion 2
That Section 26 be [color=#FF0000]amended[/color] with the addition of the following clause “The Project subcommittee agrees to abide by any ruling made by the national committee in regards to disciplinary actions the society has undertaken.”

Motion 3
That Section 26 be [color=#FF0000]amended[/color] with the addition of the following clause “The society reserves the right to decline any requests for resources a project makes if the project is found to be in breach of the [color=#FF0000]purposes[/color] and rulings of the society [color=#FF0000]or taken action that would bring the Society into disrepute.[/color]”

Motion 4
That Section 27 be [color=#FF0000]amended[/color] with the addition of the following clause “The national committee reserves the right to remove affiliation from any organisation if it is found to have taken actions that are in breach of the [color=#FF0000]purposes[/color] and rulings of the society or taken action that would bring the Society into disrepute.”

Rationale: “Intents” is vague and undefined. However, the society has purposes set out in the constitution. The grounds for withdrawing project or affiliate status should be aligned.

#8

Motion 5
That Section 9 be repealed and the following section inserted

“9. EXPULSION OF MEMBERS
(a) The National Committee may at any time by written notice invite any member within a specific time to retire for breach by him of the Rules and/or regulations and by-laws of the Society, or for bringing the Society into disrepute, and in default of such withdrawal to submit the question of their expulsion to a National Committee Meeting and at such meeting the member whose expulsion is under consideration shall if they appears be allowed to offer an explanation verbally and/or in writing and if thereupon two-thirds of the members present shall vote for their expulsion they shall forthwith without releasing him from any antecedent liability to the Society cease to be a member provided that the voting at any such meeting shall be by ballot if so desired by any member of the National Committee.
color=#FF0000[/color] A member who has been expelled under the powers stated above may not run any projects or have access to any society resources [color=#FF0000]until readmitted as a member.[/color]
color=#FF0000[/color] Expelled members may still attend projects of the Society, if the project subcommitee demonstrates to the satisfaction of the [color=#FF0000]approving regional or national[/color] committee that they are aware of the issues that led to the disciplinary action and presents a comprehensive plan for managing any risks involved and for protection of his or herself, other members, and the Society from the expelled member’s potential detrimental behaviour. This plan must be approved by [color=#FF0000]a vote of the approving committee[/color], and responsibility for the expelled member’s actions passes to the project owner.”

Rationale: Repeal and replacement is to get the numbering right. The existing section 9 becomes 9(a), with the new sections consequently renumbered.
Snipped membership of committees as committee membership ceases immediately upon explusion (s21). I’d snip the reference to running projects for similar reasons (s26 makes clear that all members of a Project Committee must be NZLARPS members), but it is probably useful to retain it for clarity.
“Period of expulsion” is nonsensical. Expulsion is a revocation of membership, not a set-period ban. Phrasing it as “until readmisison” gives greater clarity.
“relevant committee” was clumsy; I’ve made it clear that the responsibility lies with the committee approving the project.

Edit: noticed the need to renumber existing s9 as 9(a).

#9

Motion 6
That a new section 10 entitled “Code of Conduct” be added reading:
"The national and [color=#FF0000]regional[/color] committees [color=#FF0000]retain[/color] the right to take disciplinary actions against any attendee of a project of the Society for any breach of the following expected level of conduct. Such disciplinary actions may include requirement of project subcommittee [color=#FF0000]approval[/color] to attend society projects (as outlined in section 9color=#FF0000[/color]) in their respective regions or in major cases the national committee may move for full removal of society membership as listed under section 9 of the Constitution.
color=#FF0000 Financial: All debts and game fees should be paid promptly.
color=#FF0000 Legal: Attendees and organisers of any [color=#FF0000]NZLARPS[/color] project are required to abide by all New Zealand laws, and any local by-laws [color=#FF0000]while[/color] participating in projects of the Society in [color=#FF0000]any way[/color].
color=#FF0000 The Public: Attendees and organisers of projects are expected to treat the public with respect, do their best to show the Society in a good light and not bring the Society into disrepute.
color=#FF0000 Venues: Attendees and organisers are expected [color=#FF0000]to[/color] look after the venues, abiding by all rules, avoiding damage to buildings and the environment[color=#FF0000],[/color] and clean as required.
color=#FF0000 Behaviour: Attendees and organisers will treat each other with respect, avoiding discrimination, bullying and personal attacks.
color=#FF0000 Health and Safety: Project owners are expected to take all reasonable care to look after the safety and well-being of their attendees. Attendees are expected to assist in this by notifying project owners of any known issues or conditions, [color=#FF0000]and by[/color] not placing themselves in dangerous situations [color=#FF0000]or endangering others[/color]."
And that following sections (and references to those sections) be renumbered accordingly[color=#FF0000].[/color]

Rationale: Incorporates Ryan’s amendments
We have regional committees, not local ones.
Clauses relabelled to follow normal scheme
"do their best" to look after venues is a vague; I think we want a clear statement here.
Tidied up safety and added a section making it clear that attendees should not endanger others.

#10
#11

Yes! Sorry I missed it.

#12

Just submitted these to the secretary:

[quote]
Section 19 is amended with the addition of the following clause: “Each position must be held by a separate individual.”

Section 20 is amended with the addition of the following clause: “Each position must be held by a separate individual.”

Section 21(a) is amended with the addition of the following clause: “In the event of someone being elected to multiple National positions, they must choose which one to retain and the others are declared vacant.”

Section 21(b) is amended with the addition of the following clause: “In the event of someone being elected to multiple Regional positions, they must choose which one to retain and the others are declared vacant.”[/quote]

Rationale: Administrative tidy-up, to clarify that you can’t have multiple positions on a committee (but people can serve on both regional and national).

#13

Having been the one that submitted the initial motions, I’m happy with IdiotSavant’s ammendments that fix some little mistakes in my wordings (local/regional) and typesetting. And the “…for reasons that would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act 1993.” I think is a much better wording. I also approve of the “One position per committe per warm body” clauses

#14

Thanks for taking the time to write these out, Cameron.

#15

I should probably put the thing about children in a more formal way.

Motion 6
…
(g) Children: Project owners and adult attendees will take special care of attendees aged under 16 years. They will respect young people’s right to personal privacy at all times especially in regards to sleeping, changing of clothing, bathing and ablutions. Where reasonably possible young attendees will be within sight of at least two adults.

#16

A privacy clause on 6(e) looks like a good idea as well:

#17

quote Behaviour: Attendees and organisers will treat each other with respect, [color=#FF0000]including respecting each other’s privacy and[/color] avoiding discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying and personal attacks.[/quote]Slight reword to avoid ambiguity about positive and negative clauses.

#18

The National and Wellington AGMs have been delayed an extra week for these motions to be discussed and finalised.

I will edit and update the original motions with the corrections and improvements that seem to be clearly agreed upon. And then point out what areas need more discussion or an additional option to vote. Ryan I will also include the motion that you added about Children.

#19

One I missed:

[quote]Motion 6
That a new section 10 entitled “Code of Conduct” be added reading: (…)

And that following sections (and references to those sections) be renumbered accordingly[/quote]

There are cross-references elsewhere in the constitution. This will break all of them. The better way of doing it is to say:

[quote]That the following new section be inserted after section 9:

9A. Code of conduct
(…)[/quote]

#20

So the new close date for business is the 12th?

In order to kick off the discussion, perhaps the person moving these motions (Cameron?) could make their pitch, and tell us what they are intended to achieve (so that we’re all clear on that). I’m also particularly interested in how, if at all, they see them as applying to Adam P.