InteractingWithI3Administration

This document is currently a draft designed to outline for all of the membership the way the administration of the space (should) work, and how a given member can bring anything of interest to them to the administration. It also outlines the general process of how i3 Detroit board meetings operate.

General Structure

As stated elsewhere, at a high level i3 Detroit is divided into the following administrative structure:

The i3 Board of Directors

The i3 Board of Directors represents the legal entity of i3 Detroit and serves as the chief administrative body of the space. They are responsible for the organization of the space (i.e. zones), approval of financial, legal, and other administrative issues.

Regular and Special Committees

The Board may as necessary create committees consisting of individual members to focus on a particular aspect of space administration, do research on behalf of the board, or otherwise do some sort of job the board itself would like to delegate. Regular committees as their name suggests make regular reports to the Board of Directors on their particular purview of administration, and should serve as the primary contact regarding those matters. Special committees are created by the board to focus on a specific issue, such as research into a particular issue to make a recommendation to the board, and as such have a finite life span.

Zones (Committees)

The space is divided physically and administratively into Zones, and each Zone is ran formally by a Zone Committee. Zone Committees from a procedural point of view are Regular Committees. Often, these administrative committees consist of only the Zone Coordinator(s) as chair, but as deemed necessary by the Board of Directors or at the discretion of the Zone Coordinator(s) can include others as well. Zone Committees are responsible for all administrative tasks, policies, and upkeep for their designated zone and report to the Board of Directors on the state of their zones at regular board meetings.

These committee reports provide an invaluable and necessary opportunity for the Zone Committees / Coordinators to engage with the Board of Directors on whatever issues are relevant to their zone. For example, if a particular Zone finds themselves in need of a budget to support their Zone it is during these reports that such a budget can be requested, motioned and voted on. Likewise, any concerns regarding a space that are relevant to the Board of Directors also can be addressed to the Zone Committee by the board during these exchanges. Basically, these reports serve as the primary way the board and these key committees formally interact.

While no committee can place agenda items on the agenda for the Board of Directors, Committee chairs are free to define their own agendas for their reports to the Board to discuss anything they feel is important.

How To Get Things Done As a Member

Okay, so with that out of the way, how do you as a member of i3 Detroit affect change? Depending on what you are looking to accomplish there are a few ways to approach it. If you would like to do something that specifically and directly only affects a single Zone, you need to bring the issue to the Zone Committee / Zone Coordinator and convince them that the thing you want to do is a good idea. If that idea requires money otherwise unavailable to be allocated by the space, for example, The Zone Committee would then bring that matter to the Board during their reports to request funds be allocated.

For things that affect the space as a whole and not specific to any given zone, the matter should be brought to an active board member first who can champion the cause and have it placed on the agenda for the next Board of Directors meeting if necessary with the goal of bringing the matter to a vote on the Board to get approved.

When making proposals to the Board of Directors, it is very helpful to be respectful of the Board's time and energy by coming prepared with the full scope of your proposal for their consideration. You should have already done the following things before requesting consideration from the board:

- Is this a matter handled by an existing Regular Committee? If so, it is not a matter for the board and you should reach out to the Committee Chair regarding it

- Have you spoken to the relevant and Zone Committee chairs and are they in agreement with your proposal?

- Have you clearly outlined the resources you need and the exact nature of what you're asking from the board?

- Have you identified and addressed any concerns the board might have in advance?

- Have you provided everything possible the board needs to make a decision in advance?

For a more complicated proposal, it makes sense to create a wiki page outlining all of these issues. Here's an example template of what that might look like:

Board Proposal Template

Once you have written up your proposal and succeeded in convincing a board member to champion it, the proposal can be placed on the agenda for the next Board meeting (in special cases, its possible for the board to vote on the matter in between regular meetings as well). Once on the Agenda, the board will review your proposal. It is a good idea to be present for this board meeting in case the members of the board have any questions that aren't clear from you.

At this point the board of directors might do one of the following:

- Motion to approve the proposal, or some modification of it

- Motion to table the proposal until a future date

- Motion to reject the proposal