Revision dates: 08/25/2010, 01/26/11, 04/27/2011

Portland Green Party: Bylaws

 

Article I - Constitution

A. Name, Boundaries, & Affiliations

1. The legal name of this organization is the Portland Green Party, hereafter also may be referred to as the "Portland Pacific Greens" or "Portland Greens”, or "Portland Pacific Green Party".

2. The legal area of this organization is the union of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties, in the State of Oregon.

3. The Portland Green Party operates as an autonomous organ of the Pacific Green Party of Oregon.

B. Purpose

1. The Portland Green Party is established to work for sustainability and conservation, peace, social justice, and grassroots democracy through the electoral system.

C. Membership

1. Member – As defined in ORS 248.002 (4), an individual who is registered as being affiliated with the Pacific Green Party of Oregon and is legally resident in Clackamas, Multnomah, or Washington County.

2. Participating Member - An individual who has attended at least two official meetings of either the Portland Metro Chapter or of the Pacific Green Party of Oregon.

3. Board Member - A participating member who has been elected to a responsible position on the Portland Metro Chapter Board.

 

Article II - Participating Member Meetings

A. Scheduling and Meeting Places

1. The Board shall provide for regular participating member meetings at least once a calendar quarter, preferably once a calendar month.

B. Responsibilities

1. Electing Board members as provided for in these Bylaws.

2. Making campaign endorsements

3. Ratifying campaigns initiated by the Executive Director.

4. Appointing standing and ad hoc committee members.

5. Making changes to these Bylaws.

 

Article III - Board

A. Membership

1. The Board shall consist of a minimum of four members and a maximum of seven.  One of which is the Treasurer who is appointed by the Board and removed at their discretion.  The rest are elected at a general meeting.

     a. The Treasurer is the legal filing officer with the State of Oregon.

          i. He/she will ensure that the books are kept as required by law and that all statements are filed appropriately under state and federal campaign finance, business, employment, tax, and any other requirements.

          ii. The Board may not instruct the Treasurer to abrogate legal, fiduciary, and filing requirements.

     b. Board members must meet the requirements of a participating member.

2. Board members serve two year terms.  There are no term limits.

3. The Board may appoint replacement Board members in the case of a vacancy, though such appointments must be ratified by the next Participating Member meeting.

4. Any Board member absent without leave for two consecutive Board meetings may be removed upon two-thirds approval of the remaining members of the Board.

B. Responsibilities

1. Interpreting organizational documents.

2. Proposing, approving, and publishing rules to implement these Bylaws.

3. Approving internal policies to ensure compliance with election, employment, and any other laws.

4. The Board shall appoint an Advisory Board that serves at its pleasure.  The members of the Advisory Board shall provide non-binding advice to the Board.

5. The Board shall appoint the Executive Director who will serve at their leisure.

6. Appoints standing and ad hoc committee chairs and in so doing make the committee official.

7. The Board shall approve spokespersons for the Portland Greens specific to narrow areas of expertise. The Board itself shall act as general spokespersons for the Portland Greens.

8. The Board shall by rule provide for elections to county central committees (CCCs) within the Portland Greens boundaries as needed.  Once created and functioning the Board may:

     a. Appoint to fill vacancies to a County Central Committee within its borders between elections.

     b. Change the boundaries of the Portland Green Party in cooperation with the Pacific Green Party State Coordinating Committee, upon the successful application of another regional chapter in a contiguous area of (or overlapping) the original tri-county area outside of Multnomah County without having to approve the change as a normal Constitutional change.

     c. Serve as the Multnomah County Central Committee if the Portland Green Party boundaries are reduced to Multnomah County.

C. Being transparent

1. The Board shall operate in a manner open to all members except when discussing or handling personnel matters, legal issues, proprietary policy or strategy documents, or necessarily private identification credentials.

2. The Board shall normally operate via an electronic form except where unresolved concerns are raised, then an in-person meeting should be called

3. To enhance the consensus decision-making process:

     a. The Board shall allow all participating members access to its electronic discussions by subscription.

     b. Decisions of any in-person Board meetings or participating member meetings shall be reported electronically to subscribing participating members within seven days of any decision.

 

Article IV - Executive Director (ED)

A. Responsibilities

1. The Executive Director is the administrative officer of the Portland Green Party.

     a. The decisions of the Executive Director may be reversed for cause by the Board.

     b. Once appointed the Executive Director may only be removed by the Board.

2. The Executive Director is responsible for:

a. Hiring, firing, and managing staff to carry out the business of the Portland Green Party.

b. Operating Participating Member meetings and managing their agendas.

c. Recording and reporting decisions of Participating Member meetings as needed.

 

Article V - Processes for Decision-Making, Elections and Removal

A. Decision-making Process using Modified Consensus

1. The Portland Green Party is established as a participatory democracy following the consensus model described by C. T. Butler's "On Conflict and Consensus".

     a. Except that if the consensus process fails after two attempts, the majority approval of a public vote cast carries the decision.

2. A person is ineligible for decision making or being elected, appointed, or hired, if the person has ever been convicted for a criminal offense involving fraud, forgery or identification theft in the last five years.

3. At least three eligible decision-makers present constitute a quorum of any committee or meeting.

4. Committees or meetings must record minutes of attendees and decisions.  These must be sent to the ED within seven days.

5. Any committee member absent without leave may be removed upon two-thirds approval of the remaining members or the Board.

6. Any Board member may be expelled for cause by two-third affirmative support of all votes cast at a Participating Member meeting for offenses set by rule.  "Cause" does not include policy disagreements with Board members who were legitimately elected using a system of proportional representation.

B. Elections

1. Candidate endorsement

     a. Non-partisan candidates seeking Portland Green Party endorsement should notify an officer designated to function as the Election Administrator as soon as possible.

     b. The Election Administrator must notify each filed or declared opponent and provide all an opportunity to also seek an endorsement.

     c. Candidate endorsements must be open to all participating members.

     d. Candidate endorsements must provide for secrecy and may (at Board or participating member meeting request) include mail or electronic balloting as determined by rules established by the Board.

     e. At least two candidate endorsement participating member votes shall be scheduled per two year election cycle, a first for the primary election, and a second for the general election.

     f. Candidate endorsement votes shall use preference voting and none-of-the-above whenever possible.

2. Board election process

     a. The Board shall be elected using a system provided for by Board rule that ensures proportional representation such as single-transferable voting.

     b. Until such time as Board rules otherwise, OpenSTV (use OpenSTV default, which is Meek Droop dynamic fractional counting) shall be used to tally secret-ballot STV Board elections (with coin toss tiebreaks), and if there are not more candidates than seats available on the Board, the Board may be elected by consensus, forgoing a secret ballot.

     c. The Executive Director, Treasurer, and elected Board member are positions that may be held by one person only.

C. Removal Authority

1. Any non-elected officer, committee chair, advisory committee member, or approved spokesperson associated with the Portland Green Party shall serve at the pleasure of the Board.

2. Any Board member may be expelled for cause by two-third affirmative support of all votes cast at a Participating Member meeting for offenses set by rule.  "Cause" does not include policy disagreements with Board members who were legitimately elected using a system of proportional representation.

 

Article VI - Bylaw Changes

A. Changes to these bylaws must be:

1. Proposed by either unanimous consent of the Board or via a petition signed by at least ten participating members,

2. Introduced at a participating members meeting, and

3. Ratified by the next participating members meeting, either by consensus or, if consensus is not achieved, by a 2/3 vote of Voting members attending.