Bryant makes some excellent points. Some of us might not like it and some of us think it is good but the national USGenWeb is under a Parliamentary Authority (a bylaw) and the Board has currently chosen “The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure by Alice Sturgis” (a special rule). The USGenWeb currently breaks down “rules” by (for the national) “Bylaws,” “Standard Rules,” and “Special Rules.” They’ve also generated a “Guidelines” which in my opinion is an excellent document that cuts through all the formal language and places many of the rules and recommendations into one document. The intent of my question to the candidates was not to generate a big discussion on the value of state rules and how to proceed but to find out IF the candidates wanted to proceed (which would play a part on my vote), and if so, how high was their priority on getting some rules set. And I asked the question because I believe some minimal rules are required in the state. I do not believe the national rules cover all issues that arise in states. I do not believe that the state doesn’t need some sort of rules. It is apparent to me that if we had some minimal rules then discussions on this list would be greatly reduced. This list has been loaded with discussions on logos, voting, replacing SC’s, roll calls, state web site content, CC site requirements, ASC(s), and the list goes on. So, I think each of the candidates have made their positions very clear at least to me. How we go about it or if we go about it will depend on the SC voted in. Mike Clay Co From: Genealogy via Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 9:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MNGEN] By-Laws My 2 cents. I am confused. By-Laws, Standing Rules and SOPs (Standing Operating Procedures) are synonymous and apply specific requirements for the objective. I would think that a set of By-Laws would be the target for establishing requirements that we must follow. Standing Rules or SOPs should be incorporated into the By-Laws under an appropriate section that would apply to the objective of the rule or SOP. Then you would have only one set of requirements that members could refer to in their need to meet MNGenWeb requirements. Guidelines are a separate issue since they are not requirements, but only suggestions that may enhance the process for various reasons. They should be a separate document and not incorporated into the document of requirements, i.e., By-Laws. As to establishing a By-Laws document, it may be best to establish a committee (already proposed) to draft the document before open discussion occurs. I base this on the many, many discussions that occur on this list. This approach, which has been suggested by several people, should reduce the amount of dissention and possibly speed up the process. After the document has been drafted, each article or section should be discussed one at a time (already proposed) to again reduce the overload on my daily reading. That said, any By-Laws for the state should be designed to enhance the USGenWeb By-Laws and not conflict with them. Granted, the USGenWeb By-Laws could use a good cleaning, but they already establish basic requirements for state and counties. Any By-Laws established for the state should only cover issues that are not covered at the national level, making our document a much shorter list of requirements. Bryant -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Laverne H. Tornow via Sent: Saturday, February 14, 2015 1:30 AM To: Timothy Stowell; [email protected] Subject: Re: [MNGEN] Marc Pennau Logo, There are 3 things many people are confused about: ByLaws Standing Rules Guidelines ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message