Constitution

The ratified community constitution is the Second Edition - 28th August 2020
Constitution on Google Docs (original).

The purpose of this copy is to identify minor errors/omissions for future votes, and to provide a place to work on potential developments. Until formally voted in [which would be reflected on the linked copy above] these changes are not part of the constitution.

1. The club is recognised as the ‘Online Amateur Radio Community’ which may also be abbreviated as ‘OARC’

1. Operate in the interest of its membership to further the amateur radio hobby
2. To provide all its services fairly to every member of the club
3. To promote the community within the United Kingdom

1. Membership is open to any persons that hold an interest in the Amateur radio hobby
2. A member is considered a person who has joined the club’s Discord server and provided a real name along with (if applicable) their registered amateur radio callsign
   
3. A member may be removed from the community if they harass or victimise a fellow member, or are found to be acting in a way which negatively impacts public opinion of the club or violates any terms of the Equality Act 2010
4. The club cannot refuse or grant membership on less favourable terms because the candidate has a protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act 2010

1. A Community Representative (CR) is a named member who is tasked with acting on and enforcing decisions made by community consensus, to uphold the terms of the constitution and represent formally the club to third-parties as required by the community
2. An Individual may propose themselves to become a community representative once they have been active in the OARC for a period of 30 days. This application shall be made and considered by following the decision-making process as detailed in section 5.
3. It is suggested, but not required, that the community not allow more than 12-15 members to hold the role of Community Representative
4. Where there are already over 12 Community Representatives, existing representatives should be given the opportunity to stand down.
5. A Community Representative is limited to the same terms as a member as defined in the membership clause of the constitution.
6. A Community Representative may be responsible for holding certain direct liability of club assets and/or resources for the benefit of the club only
7. A Community Representative reserves the right to remove themselves from office at any time
8. A Community Representative may be removed from office by community consensus at any time
9. Community Representatives are required to operate transparently with the entire membership

1. All members of the club are entitled to propose and deliver ideas for the benefit of the wider community, subject to collective agreement from the community.
   
2. Collective agreement shall be sought by posting suggestions and ideas on the groups discord server #ideas channel. Proposal shall be considered to have gained collective agreement under the following circumstances:
   1. Minor amendments to existing activities - such as, additions of a new channel on the Discord server, or additional section of the OARC website may be acted on in real time and challenged retrospectively.
   2. New ideas or significant changes must be posted for a minimum of 72 hours
   3. New ideas or significant changes are said to have been agreed by the group if:
      1. The idea is voiced in the #idea channel on Discord and no objections have been made in the following 72 hour period or…
      2. Where objections have been made and can’t be resolved, a vote shall be held. The vote shall be facilitated by the Community Representatives, within 1 week of the first objection being lodged.
      3. The idea will have been said to gain approval if it receives a majority from those who opted to vote.
      4. In the event of a tie, the proposal will be consider to have been rejected
      5. Members who fail to vote on any given proposal shall be considered to have abstained.
      6. Abstentions shall not be considered for the purpose of determining a majority.
3. The community may permit or delegate certain decisions to be made by individuals in good faith, although members are free to challenge decisions.

The club holds no direct liabilities as an unincorporated association as defined by UK law; any and all liabilities are to be held by named Community Representatives (CR) of the club under the sole intention of being beneficial to the club’s entire membership exclusively. A liability is defined as a service (such as a bank account, insurance contract, etc) held by a person that is for the club purposes solely.

1. It is the duty of the CR to inform the membership of the liability and terms within, and when change is required
2. The membership holds the right to enquire the details of a liability at any time
3. A CR leaving office must hand over any liabilities to another officer
4. A CR waives their right to withdraw themselves from holding liabilities at any time within the legally contractual terms applied

1. Any liabilities that hold fiscal value such as bank accounts or equipment must be in the club’s name only.
2. The current value and transactional history of these liabilities must be presented to the entire membership on request in full.
3. Any exchanges, transactions or payments must be published and advertised to the entire membership.

1. Club Representatives (CR) will be responsible for organising an Annual General Meeting (AGM) each year.
2. The AGM should be held as close to the anniversary of the approval of this constitution as possible, never more than 15 months from the last AGM.
3. CR will notify members through a prominent message on the OARC website and by posting on the group Discord Server, giving at least 2 weeks notice.
4. The meeting shall be held on the groups Discord community server using the Discord Video & Voice Services
5. The purpose of the annual general meeting is to enable the group to present an overview of its liabilities, review its aims and constitution and for club representatives to reaffirm their intent to provide the role for the following 12 months.

1. Amendments to this constitution can be requested and applied at any time by consensus of the community

1. A resolution to dissolve the club can be made by consensus of the community at any time
2. Any debts held by the club will be resolved using club funds and assets, any remaining assets will be donated to a selected charity.

Date Approved 19/06/2020

Approved by vote

20 Approve, 0 Reject

Please add Callsign & Date as a minimum to any future proposals

• Section 2, Sub-section 3 - Change all references to United Kingdom to United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland by M0LTE & M0JQQ
  
• Section 5, Sub-section 2 by M0TZO / M7ANW
  
  • Collective agreement shall be sought by posting suggestions and ideas on the groups discord server #ideas #proposed-ideas channel. Proposal shall be considered to have gained collective agreement under the following circumstances:
    • does this point need the name of the channel explicitly stated? could we just specify 'the designated channel on the groups discord server' to avoid having to amend in the future if we want to make a change at any point? by G6AWK
• Do we want to update all the mentions of “club” in the constitution to “community”? by M0TZO / M7ANW
• Section 6, fix the numbering so there's no text not numbered by M7PKL
• Section 4, (6) a CR can hold liabilities, and can hold assets on behalf of a club, but “responsible for holding certain direct liability of club assets” seems clunky duplication unless there's a lawyer in the house can explain otherwise by M7PKL
• General, consistency required in the use of “Community Representative” and the abbreviation “CR” by M7PKL
• General, review the use of “liability”/“liabilities” throughout as it seems to be used in places to refer to assets, rather than debts or obligations. by M7PKL
• Section 3, Sub-section2 by 2e0ggj
• Change 3.2 to A member is considered a person who has joined the clubs Discord server and provided a name that they wish to be known by along with, if applicable, their registered amateur radio callsign or a description of their status (SWL or in training).g
• new section for visitors
• change section 8 - the AGM shall be held online via video call - rather than specifically on discords video service
• Section 3, sub-section 3,
  • 3.x Members are expected to treat each other with mutual respect and conduct themselves appropriately when interacting with other members of the community
  • 3.x A member may be removed from the community if they harass or victimise a fellow member, or are found to be acting in a way which negatively impacts public opinion of the club or violates any terms of the Equality Act 2010 by G6AWK/M0UKF 19/02/2022
• should alt accounts be allowed? by m0lte

1. People may wish to explore the community as a visitor before becoming a member. Visitors may join the OARC discord server for a period of up to 30 days, without joining the OARC. After this period OARC reserves the right to withdraw visitor privileges and remove a visitor from the server. Visitor status is intended to be a trial pre-membership of the community and not a permanent status.

2. Visitors are not required to provide their name/call sign details but are encouraged to do so.

3. Visitors have limited access to OARC community resources. Some areas of the community will be provided with read-only access and others will be access denied. These restrictions may be varied from time-to-time by Community Representatives, in accordance with the normal community rules and decision making processes.

4. Visitors are not full community members. They are not entitled to vote in community decision making process and they are cannot be authorised to act on behalf of the community.

5. Visitor status is a privilege and may be withdrawn at any time by a Community Representative acting in the interests of the community. A visitor will be removed from the community if they harass or victimise a fellow member, or are found to be acting in a way which negatively impacts public opinion of the community.