> John, > Could you provide an organizational chart for the BH? So we all know whos in charge of what? > Thank You, > Paul Robey

There's not much to chart. Here are the basics:

• We are incorporated as a 501(c)(3) (i.e. tax deductible) non-profit corporation. I think we started in 1999.
• We are governed by our bylaws which places most responsibility on the board of directors.
• There are no written policies, procedures, or regulations beyond the bylaws.
• We currently have nine directors on the board of directors. The bylaws allow for up to 15. We meet on second Sundays.
• There are four officers of the board: 2 co-chairs, a secretary and a treasurer.

o Kathy Sweeton serves as both one of the co-chairs and the treasurer. (And says she would welcome a competent replacement as treasurer.) o Cherise Williams is the other co-chair. o Bill Engebretson is the secretary.

• In addition to the board, the bylaws call for an assembly that would handle operational matters. Our assembly meets on first Sundays (I think you attended an assembly, didn't you?), but it does not have a defined membership or any written rules or procedures, so it's pretty ineffective.

Beyond that, there are the collectives. They are supposed to be autonomous, and so are free to have their own rules, etc. As far as I know, none has adopted any formal rules or governance structure. The bicycle (freewheel), radio, and noize collectives are the most active.

• As far as I can tell, bikes has three or possibly four members: Whit Forrester (a director), Brent Tinnell are both very active. Tony "TwoTones" and Meg Stern (a director) are less active. (Meg founded the collective but has been relatively inactively with both the collective and the BH for the past year or two.)
• Noize has been led by Kathy Sweeton (co-chair and director) for the past year with Kristin Shelor's (director) help. Martin Larsen, J "shifter" Vincent, and Andrew Morrow also seem to be members. (You shoud ask them to see how active they are.)
• Radio is led by me (a director) with five other members who are active or semi-active and several more who are active from time to time. It is the only collective that doesn't operate out of the building, since our broadcast area is limited to the suburban Fern Creek area. The active members besides myself are: Matt Brier (program director), Richard Slawsky (houses the transmitter and antenna), and program producers David Link, LeByron "LB" Martin, Whit Forrester, and Evan Burkhead. Cherise Williams (BH co-chair) is also a member of the collective.
• There are also the art, gardening, library, and free store collectives ... or not. These are mainly one-person efforts, although art for a time had a second person, and gardening is more active in the spring and summer.
• In addition there are other organizations that are related in a very undefined way: Kristin runs something called KWAC, the Kentucky Women's Art Collective. Meg runs WENCH, a self-help health collective. There's Edward's FLFP. And there is (or was .. it seems to be inactive now) something called the LINE free school.

Although radio doesn't operate out of the building, I think everyone in radio agrees we should try to work with Noize in promoting local musicians and independent music. There has also been some discussion of starting a second, streaming-only station that would operate out of the Brick House, and radio has expressed a willingness to work with anyone interested in doing that.

In terms of how a new leader can bring about change, it's got to be some combination of gathering new faces willing to help and changing the makeup of the board. Kathy has called for us old timers on the board to step back and make way for newcomers (and I and several other directors agree) but it's not clear how the whole board feels right now. (Even though the board may seem wholely dysfunctional from the outside, there are nine egos involved that should not be underestimated. Tread carefully.) We should know more in a few days.

I guess this is more than you asked for (...but there's still no chart!!)

Please feel free to ask if you have more questions. And feel free to call me if you like

Regards,

John

Send private message to robeysan

I'm working on a flow chart, hopefully the quizzes that we're taking help us to discern what everyone will be accountable for, and then we can see who really to put the work into keeping things going. We'll just see at the next assembly meeting, where I'm hoping that we might see some people from each collective instead of an over abundance of one. We need to know how much each collective is doing, not just what the ones that are doing something are doing.

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I challenge Johns statement here and call it false for its omissions and assumptions.

Facilitators are individuals who have been granted keys to the space. Some facilitators have formal roles as a part of collectives which were once well defined in structure and accountability. Many of these collectives maintain their terms of accountability and assembly process regardless of the illusion that this entire organization has accepted autonomous function and choice as the liberty of the collective and individual who has been given a key.

Some facilitators have been granted funding by outside agencies for specific purposes and such activities are approved by the board and aligned with the values of the assembly process as both reporting and invitation of inclusion. These facilitators are not the same as collective organizers but share the responsibility of organizing events and groups as a series of agreements according to the details of their specific projects through assembly.

The community has operated by a set of bylaws which have been uprooted in recent years ... there is a set of processes that our collectives and assembly do believe in and have practiced as a part of leadership and concensus-based principles; these processes and unofficial bylaws have been challenged for 'their legal viability' every time we attempt to vote them back into functional format.

Individuals who lead various work groups and collective efforts can quote these bylaws to you without prompting from other individuals because we sat as a group and formed them and also accepted them as board and assembly members. There is a standing argument about these tabled bylaws and much redress has been endured for the sake of working around these 'legal obstacles.'

The most recent KYWAC workshop was 'I Screen, You Screen, We all Screen for Silk Screen.' There were 8+ actively involved participants and 3 women leaders there to provide instruction capability. Kris Philipp could not be present but does actively lead fabric and reclamation art projects presently. There is a great difference of opinion as to what 'autonomous' values are appropriately translated into direct action within our community.

I have no confidence that John Hicks represents us appropriately in these matters given what I have read here.

Send private message to creativemindsunion

Who are the Facilitators and under what circumstances is it appropriate to contact them?

For each facilitator please provide the following info. Facilitator name: It's best to contact this person for...: Contact info:

Send private message to robeysan