The resolution of the disciplinary hearing against Dennis Gries. This resolution is hereby adopted, effective Wednesday, 16 June 2010. ============== The USGenWeb Advisory Board issues this finding in response to the charges brought against Mr. Gries relevant to Grievance 2009-08-15. Charge: Refusal to participate in good faith in the mediation and arbitration phases of grievance 2009-08-15, filed by Ms. Laverne Tornow against six individual FLGenWeb board members, as demonstrated by attempts to introduce issues outside of the scope of the mediation and arbitration portions of the grievance, raising repeated objections to questions posed by both the mediator and the arbitrators and refusing to answer specific questions posed by the grievance committee team and the insistence that the USGenWeb Project's Grievance Process was not the proper venue to handle a grievance, that all grievances must be filed in a court of law in the state of Florida. Finding: We find that the Grievance Committee reviewed concerns brought to the Committee by Mr. Gries and the Grievance Committee not only responded to each concern, but consulted the National Coordinator for clarification of procedures which state: "It shall be the responsibility of the parties to the dispute to raise the issue of bias or conflict by a member of the team. This shall be done privately to the mediator, or the committee member if the conflict is alleged against the mediator. All claims of bias or conflict must be raised prior to the beginning of the mediation process. If an objection should be raised to a team member, that member shall be dismissed and a new team member appointed without the necessity for any proof of bias or prejudice. The identity of the party raising the objection shall not be revealed to any team member. Once the team is seated and the process initiated, no further objection may be raised as to partiality, bias, or conflict, and a team member may only be removed on his or her own request." Evidence presented clearly demonstrated that Mr. Gries stated that he would continue to reject any and all mediators that were assigned and once these hurdles appeared addressed Mr. Gries continued to make assertions that had previously been addressed within the confines of the above stated procedure and it was clearly demonstrated by presented evidence his actions to continue to dispute after the team began their work. Charge: Repeated breaches of the confidentiality of the grievance, despite repeated warnings during both the mediation and arbitration phases of the grievance process by contacting those outside of the mediator, the arbitrators and the GC representative handling the grievance. Finding: It is the Advisory Board's finding that multiple breaches occurred by multiple individuals party to this grievance and those breaches will be addressed by the Advisory Board separately. Regardless of others' breaches of confidentiality, the evidence has clearly demonstrated that Mr. Gries mindfully and purposefully engaged in and originated confidentiality breaches and that his breaches were prohibited within the process and procedures where he was a named participant. In doing so, the process was compromised for all parties involved with the grievance. Charge: Mr. Gries' insistence during the grievance process that he was not a member of the USGenWeb Project, despite being a member of the FLGenWeb Project, and as such, the USGenWeb Project's bylaws did not apply to him, and that the grievance process was an illegal attempt to circumvent the FL Corporate laws. Finding: The Grievance procedures are a member approved USGenWeb Process in adherence with its bylaws. As FLGenWeb had no local procedure for grievances and was a member of the USGenWeb project as evidenced by their being linked to from the USGenWeb National site and their use of the USGenWeb logo, they are bound to the rules which that membership implies. Those rules allow for grievances by a USGenWeb Project member against another USGenWeb Project member located within the same State or Special Project when there is no local Grievance Procedure to follow in that State or Special Project. Furthermore, a grievant can file a grievance against one or more persons. There is no requirement that it be filed against an entity in the case of incorporation. The evidence presented indicated that Mr. Gries withdrew his statement that he/FLGenWeb was/were not a part of the USGenWeb Project as the grievance proceeded. He did not, however, drop the contention that the grievance must be handled in a court of law according to FL corporate law. Therefore, The USGenWeb Advisory Board, in a closed-session hearing of charges against Dennis Gries, has found Mr. Gries to be responsible for each of the charges against him. It is the decision of the Advisory Board that he is hereby: Beginning retroactive to May 12, 2010 the date of the FLGenWeb Resolution of Grievance http://www.usgenweb.org/business/AB-05-2010.shtml#a73 , Mr. Gries will be considered "on probation" within the USGenWeb Project for a period of 5 years. He may not run for, serve, hold, or be appointed to any position higher than the Local Coordinator level in any state or special project, or the national project. AB Members voting "Accept": Ann Allen Geoghegan, Cyndie Enfinger, Dale Grimm, Denise Wells, Jeff Kemp, Larry Flesher, Les Shockey, Linda Lewis, Tina Vickery, Pauli Smith AB Members voting "Reject": Alice Allen, Colleen Pustola AB Members abstaining from the vote: Bill Oliver? AB Members not present at the hearing: W. David Samuelson? Sincerely, Tina Vickery, Representative at Large - Chair of Disciplinary Hearing