The Emergency Decision-Making Committee (EDMC) can substitute for the CoCo in urgent situations; it’s authorized to make decisions in the event of: “any situation for which the Coordinating Council has authority to act and that requires that a decision be made before the next Coordinating Council meeting or the next Great Circle, whichever comes next, either because of a firm externally imposed deadline, because a major opportunity is very likely to be lost if action is not taken sooner, or because a situation has arisen which is very likely to impact the organization, its members, or its property negatively and requires very prompt action.”
The EDMC members, as of the May, 2020 Great Circle:
Balance, Tyra primaries; Wildsong alternate. (We don’t much distinguish between primary and alternate.)
Ex officio members: Secretary (Mugwort), Corresponding Secretary (Happy Worker), Treasurer (Ffree)
By a historical quirk, CoCo also names one representative: Rula.
(Comfry, formerly Mawma Bear, resigned in March 2021, due to being off-grid.)
To contact the committee, email
edmc@nomenus.org
You also may contact nomenus@nomenus.org, or any EDMC member.
Our procedure hasn’t been formalized, but we’ve always followed this practice: All EDMC members are contacted. They can send their approval in advance if they’re unable to attend. Quorum requires all primary members (including ex officio) to join the meeting or send their decision, or one alternate for each primary who can’t be reached or is unable to participate. Before meeting to discuss the proposal, we contact as many active, interested Nomenus members as possible; the job of the EDMC is to make urgent decisions that have widespread support. Non-EDMC Nomenus members are welcome to join the meeting and discussion, unless confidentiality is necessary (only once thus far). So far, all decisions have had the consensus of all EDMC members who could be reached, without distinguishing primary and alternate. We haven’t ever turned down a proposal once it reached the EDMC stage, because by that point it should be worked out and clearly have community support.
Suggested Steps to Active the EDMC
- Ask secretary@nomenus.org to confirm the email list is current.
- Send a brief note to the EDMC email list (currently nomenus-edmc@googlegroups.com), so they know to stay in touch because the committee is being called up. You may need to also address your email to individuals who aren’t updated in the email list yet (step #1).
- Create an online document for the proposal, which will hold minutes and the final decision.
- Send a note to CoCo and the EDMC describing the proposal and why it’s necessary. Ask that any comments be sent to the EDMC email list. Point to the document from step #3.
- Start the process of setting a meeting time. (Doodle works well.) Where possible, this meeting should be at least 24 hours after the CoCo announcement, so people have a chance to send comments.
Not all these steps will always be appropriate. Some proposals may need confidentiality, or it may be necessary to reach a decision very quickly.
P.S. Email archives from 2011 thru May 2017 are at the Yahoo group nomenus-edmc .