Policies regarding Probationary Members

[tomhedden]

At the May meeting the GC voted to move all pending members from the limbo of "probationary membership" to full membership. That means that if you applied for membership prior to the meeting you are now a full voting member of the NJTLC. It will still take a bit of time to process everything so please be patient with us.

The second aspect of the vote called for us to begin defining the membership process. There are two main things to consider:

1. Should we continue to have a probationary period for new members?
and
2. If so, what are the terms and conditions of this probation?

While being a member of this forum does not make you a member of the NJTLC, I wanted to have this discussion in the public space on the forum so that we could gather as much input as possible.

The two main reasons that have been discussed for having some type of probationary period:

1. To prevent the character and mission of the club from being over-run by a flood of new members with an antagonistic agenda.
2. To limit the membership from becoming unbalanced between active members and people who are not participating.

Please let us know your thoughts.

[tneigel]

Membership:
I request we move quickly on new membership request right now. No more than a month. -When someone requests membership, unless there is an immediate objection, they should be in for the next meeting. It can be rather insulting to do otherwish while the definition of the probationary period is in question. (as noted from comments from pending members last night)

If there were a flood of membership requests coming in from one area, that could (maybe?) affect that balance of the club representation. That can be addressed immeditately during that month.

While our previous review plans were good thoughts, frankly we failed in implementation. (no problem, as we are all volunteers, trying our best) The process got away from us, and if we can't address the process quick enough, we need to accept the applications in at least a timely mannor. NJTLC needs folks to join, esp now.

Until NJTLC has a smoother working process, we need to accept those that are nice enough to step forward to join, within a very quick turnaround.

May I respectfully request an update from Maureen on the Process, state of the membership forms, application list, , and continued involvement, etc. so we know where we are at.

[gregobrien]

I agree with you tneigel. For the time being we need to streamline some things and cut through the redtape to keep this thing afloat.

We can always revise this policy down the road, but it is just dead weight in the meeting agenda right now.

[HamiltonLJ]

Personally I don't see a reason for probationary period! If you want join and make a difference than welcome aboard. If you want to volunteer to help out and try to keep our forest ours than do it. If we keep ourselves tied up in red tape nothing will get done! I feel too much time is wasted on policies and affiliations.

[tomhedden]

Thanks guys! That makes three for "no probation". Much appreciated.