Since this was mentioned on a call I had with Richard on Friday, I’m guessing the merger that he mentioned below may have been related to the networks of BBV, SMB and CNS (Fiber Minnesota) coming together on 9/1.  However, the services provided by those companies will still remain with their respective companies.  (i.e.: BBV will still provide Internet services for their customers.  FM will just provide transport to BBV for their services.)   Thus, there should be no change in membership as a result of this merger.

If interested, here is a link to the press release: 

https://blandinonbroadband.org/2021/09/13/fiber-minnesota-creates-statewide-fiber-network-in-mn/

Thanks,

Dean

We've had the topic of quorum on the agenda a few times. At the last meeting, I said I thought our annual meeting would be a good time to take that up officially. I said I'd send a proposal to the list.

To recap the concern: Our bylaws currently set the quorum at 10%. As we add members (which is great!), the required quorum increases proportionally. However, it seems we have approximately the same core group interested in governance. If we grow much more, we may be unable to meet the quorum requirement. We have already had a couple meetings where we had to wait for people to show up, or contact people to encourage them to join the call.

The attendance numbers going back to the end of 2017 are: 11, 11, 10, 9*, 12, 12, 11, 16*, 11, 16, 15*, 15, 15

* Regular annual meeting with election.

The current Bylaws and the Attendance information can be found at:
http://micemn.net/resources.html

As of the last meeting, our voting membership was 118, which puts quorum at 12 members.

(Also, I understand that a merger has happened which would reduce most, if not all, of the previous attendance numbers by 1.)

Counterargument: We haven't actually completely failed quorum yet. Counter-counter-argument: It's been close, and if it happens, then without a quorum, we can't fix the issue.

We previously discussed the idea of setting a cap on the quorum. That is, it would be 10% or X, whichever is lower. This is consistent with other provisions in the bylaws (e.g. 3% or 50 members, whichever is less, can call a meeting if no meeting has occurred in 15 months). This seems like a great solution to me. I think 10 would be a good number.

I propose that section 1.11 of the bylaws be amended to read as follows:

Members representing ten percent (10%) of the voting power of the membership interests entitled to vote at a meeting of the members, or at least ten (10) members, whichever is less, are a quorum for the transaction of business.

Thoughts?

-- 

Richard

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