OCP Workshop 10/17/2012

• Ron:  would like to continue with this process even though there is a proposal on the table
• Mike:  maybe we should vote on membership so we can start implementing some of the things we are talking about
• Tiffany:  maybe we could break up into groups so that everyone has a chance
• Ron:  as you speak, try to speak to the whole group and not just Ron – Ron is the facilitator – it would make Ron more comfortable and be better for group process;  if we do have the vote, we still haven't said whether or not the Friends of OCP group is or is not the membership; 
• Jamie:  agrees with Kris that we should break down into teams to get everyone's input before voting
• Kris:  before we vote on the proposal, maybe we should talk about what the teams might look like; 
• Membership has been a deliverable
• Trista:  membership could be an optional thing, but voting should be based on the 3 meeting idea
• Mike:  do we want to vote on having a membership or do we want to talk about all of the aspects of membership before voting on it;  if we vote on it, we achieve a deliverable
• Ron:  we have decided all ready that we wanted to look at the idea of membership and some of the details before voting; 
• Proposal:  “To develop a system of membership that encourages, coordinates, and captures the volunteer energy to make OCP and the community at large a better place, that will emerge out of Friends of OCP”
• Ron:  does anyone object to voting on this kind of proposal
• Tiffany:  would like to see us discuss membership first before voting
• Matthew:  would like to see us go ahead and vote
• 14 voted yes;  1 opposed – does not want to block the vote – motion carries
• Mike:  feels good to get something solid like this done;  now we can keep going into the discussion more and we could possibly start benefiting from this;  we could also move on to another deliverable
• Trista:  what is the purpose of this place?
• Heather:  would like to see us talk about teams next
• Jamie:  is interested in talking about teams so everyone isn't crowed around one topic
• Philip:  agrees with Heather – would like to talk more about teams;  also wants to know how membership interacts with this Friends group – what if this group starts making decisions about membership but these people aren't members
• Mike:  the Friends group is more of a thinking body and the membership is more of an action body;  has been thinking about a workday that might be members only or maybe someone has to be given a team to come to a workday
• Ron:  sometimes wonder if the Friends group being different from membership is a bad idea – it seems like the people involved are the same people that would make up a membership;  not ready to make the proposal to bring the two together but does think it could be a good idea; could get behind discussing teams
• Philip:  likes the idea of dissolving the difference between membership and Friends group – seems cleaner and that everyone in the circle now would be members
• Anna:  also agrees that if we are moving towards membership, we should dissolve real or imagined differences
• Kris:  wants people who care about the place to be involved
• Jamie:  teams could be working on different things at the same time
• Mike:  would like to leave some room that there could be different people who might want to be invovled in membership different from Friends of OCP
• Daniel:  is also interested in meshing the membership with the Friends of OCP – bar for membership would be set pretty low
• Tim:  there were only about 6 or 7 people here doing work, but when the food was served, there were about 30 people;  if there are team members, the rules will be followed better and things will flow better
• Ron:  appreciates what Mike has said about the idea that we haven't said that the Friends group ISNT the membership yet, so we don't need to hurry about and vote about it;  thinks we can handle the idea that some people might not want to be members but would like to have some say
• Mike:  it might be too much to have two completely separate groups, but for now, they could develop together;  there might be members who don't live in Harrisonburg but who would like to be involved – like to leave some room for keeping these separate
• Trista:  agrees with Timmy that teams would help get this place under control;  more people would be willing to help
• Ron:  trying to do things in a way that brings the community along so that people are engaged and have some buy in and that this group could be self-governing;  if we can get some focus, we can dive in – do we want to talk more about teams, about bringing the groups together
• Sigi:  seems like giving people something who come on Tuesday and aren't helping, that is OCP's mercy;  has seen teams made and then people don't show up, how do we deal with this
• Heather:  agrees with Sigi – why did teams fall apart before?  How can we make teams better now?
• Timmy:  there were too many chiefs and not enough indians – that is why teams fell apart; would like to be on the maintenance team
• Ron:  we could imagine the teams and then come back to the membership discussion which could give some body to the teams;  not a fan of people who aren't here being talked about negatively;  why things fell apart – believes that the mistake in the beginning was that OCP was open all the time with no adequate staff – it was too much – many people blamed the individuals causing trouble, but it isn't their fault – there was not enough structure and no real daily plan;  can the current staff and the committed community members make something happen now; 
• Mike:  we seem to be discussing teams before we have decided to discuss teams and there seems to be a lot on energy around this topic;  would it be helpful to go over the various deliverables or should we just go to team talk
• Tiffany:  about dishes, we should divide up the tasks so that everything gets done
• Heather:  in the old days, if only one person showed up for various things, can that one or two people get help;
• Jamie:  it wasn't so good in the past before we closed in September;  we are trying to make this a better community;  this membership will probably help makes things better
• Trista:  is there any way that people that were here earlier can help people now understand how to make things better
• Daniel:  please remember to raise your hand to get on the stack
• Mike:  lets go over deliverables
• Ron:  larger changes to staffing or programming may need to be proposals to philip or the board
• Tiffany:  we could sell things like we have done in the past to help with funding
• Ron:  membership seems to drive so many of these topics -