First of all I want to thank the committee members and the leadership team for all the
time and effort to get us to this point in establishing the policies and procedures. A big
thank you to all of you.
Regarding VIII State Coordinator Election Procedures.
Who determines which two CCs will be the committee should be specific in this document. If
the ASCs are going to be on the committee, I don't think they should be involved in
deciding who the other members are.
The paragraph indicates the EC shall set the date but the last sentence indicates the date
is 1 May. "On or around" is not a clear. The committee should have election
starting on 1 May or the election will be held in May with no dates.
May is a good time to have election. However, the cutoff of 1 September is just too large
for EC establishment, nominations, etc. before a May vote date. Seems like the process
should be started by the SC on 1 March.
Regarding XIV Website Guidelines.
The USGenWeb has a great document and I think it should be mentioned and linked first, and
then add the MNGenWeb requirements after that. It's at
- http://usgenweb.org/volunteers/scccguidelines.html
Thanks again for a super job on this.
Sincerely,
Mike
Clay County
On 9/1/2017 8:30:41 AM, Shirley Cullum <shirlcullum(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Everyone,
The issue of policies for the MNGenWeb has been in the works for quite a
long time. A committee was appointed to create a set of rules for the
project. Tim and I discussed the policies sent to us by the committee and
added a few things that we felt are important to the project. There were
also deletions of some items. Below is the proposed set of Policies and
Procedures to be considered as our accepted rules for the project. The
discussion period for this important task is now open.
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MNGenWeb Policies and Procedures
I. General Introduction
The MNGenWeb Project is a member of the not-for-profit, volunteer
genealogical organization called, The USGenWeb Project (
http://www.usgenweb.org/). As such The MNGenWeb Project (currently located
at
http://www.mngenweb.net/) website and all associated county websites
must conform to the established policy and procedures set forth by our
parent organization. The guidelines that are described on the USGenWeb
Volunteers Information page and the USGenWeb Project Bylaws which describe
in great detail the organizational structure, election procedures, and
general policies of this organization, form the foundation for each state
project. All project members and those interested in becoming project
members should carefully review the above websites before agreeing to
participate in any MNGenWeb Project.
II. MNGenWeb Project Rules
The following rules and procedures are specific to our state project. All
MNGenWeb Project members are required to read and understand the following
information prior to their participation in this project.
III. Project Name
The name of our organization is "The MNGenWeb Project." Please note that
the correct name and spelling is in upper and lower case letters without
any space breaks (correct: MNGenWeb, incorrect: MN GenWeb or MNGen Web or
Minnesota GenWeb).
IV. Our Mission
The MNGenWeb Project is an organized group of volunteers working to create
an online center for genealogical research by linking sites representing
every county in the state of Minnesota. The purpose of this organization is
to gather genealogical and historical information for free online access by
researchers. This is accomplished by creating websites which are central
repositories of historical and genealogical research data, donated either
by the website coordinator or other contributors and kept at the local
county level.
V. Organizational Status
The MNGenWeb Project, as a group of volunteers participating in a
not-for-profit organization, is considered to be an "Unincorporated
Non-Profit Association."
VI. Project Administration
The MNGenWeb Project is administered by a team of members including one or
more State Coordinators [SC(s)], and one or more Assistant State
Coordinators [ASC(s)].
VII. Responsibilities of Project Members
a. The State Coordinator (SC) is elected by the project membership and can
serve an unlimited number of terms. Although the SC may serve in an
unlimited capacity, he or she, must be re-elected by the project membership
every two years (see election procedure below). Duties for the SC include
recruiting and training new project volunteers, maintaining an internal
mailing list, and creating and maintaining the state web site. The SC may
appoint other members to serve in volunteer positions such as webmaster,
archivist, welcome hostess, new member training coordinator, special
projects coordinator, etc. These positions should be held by members in
good standing and do not merit any special project authority or position
other than meeting specific needs of the project.
b. An Assistant State Coordinator (ASC) is selected by the State
Coordinator(s) based upon volunteer interest. An ASC is responsible for
assisting the SC(s) in any special projects that the project may develop.
They also serve as SC in the event that an elected SC resigns, becomes ill,
is on extended vacation, or is unable to meet the SC position requirements.
An ASC's primary duty, other than assisting with state matters, is that of
Quality Control Coordinator for county and special project websites. An ASC
performs an annual check of all county and special project websites. These
checks help ensure the smooth operation of the project, help maintain a
consistent standard throughout the project, and identify any problems with
links, navigation, or html coding.
c. The County Coordinator (CC) is selected by State Coordinator(s) based
upon volunteer interest, residence in the county of interest is not
required. The CC is responsible for creating and maintaining websites at
the county level, and is required to include certain elements on the county
website. The CC may select one (1) individual to serve as an Assistant
County Coordinator (ACC) who will have equal rights to voting in any
MNGenWeb or USGenWeb election. The ACC's will be subject to the same
criteria used for selecting CC's, and must be approved by State
Coordinator(s). Aside from providing the required elements, each county
website should strive to include other elements suggested by the USGenWeb
and MNGenWeb.
VIII. State Coordinator Election Procedures
Every two years there will be a State Coordinator election to be held in
the month of May. An election committee (EC) shall be convened and
comprised of two county coordinators and the ASC(s). The EC shall set the
date for the election and choose a method for casting votes (manually or
electronically). All project members will be notified via email on how to
cast their votes and when the voting period will begin and end. The Voting
period should be scheduled to begin on or around May 1.
Each County or Assistant County Coordinator may cast only one vote In the
event a CC hosts more than one county, that CC will only be allowed one
vote.
Any interested volunteers who would like to run for this position should
make their intentions known to the project no later than September 1.
Candidates must have been a CC in the state for the preceding 12 months to
be eligible for the position of State Coordinator. The month of September
may be used to announce candidates and for the promoting of campaign
issues.
The state coordinator will be elected by the project membership. Each
County or Assistant County Coordinator may cast one vote only (no matter
the number of counties hosted). The winner of the election will be the
individual who receives a fraction over 50 percent of the votes cast, if no
candidate receives at least a fraction over 50 percent of the vote then a
runoff election will be held between the two individuals with the highest
vote totals. The winner of the runoff will be the individual who receives
at least a fraction over 50 percent of the vote caste.
In the event of tie in the the runoff vote, the position of State
Coordinator will be held by both individuals as Co-SCs. One of the two SCs
can resign at any time without a need for an additional election.
IX. Selection of County Coordinators
The position of county coordinator is selected by the SC. All interested
persons should contact the SC to see if the county of interest is
available. If it is available, the SC will determine qualifications for
hosting the county (qualifications include but are not limited to:
knowledge of the county's history, ability to create and maintain a
website, file transfer protocol (FTP), and desire to serve). The most
important quality is a desire to serve as part of this project. If a person
is interested and is knowledgeable in the county but is new to the Internet
or to website design, help is available from other project members. The
county coordinator needs to be available to make updates to the website,
answer researcher queries (no research is conducted), and generally provide
assistance as needed. Time requirements for this position can range from 30
minutes per week to several hours. The amount of time given to each project
is solely dependant on the volunteer but a minimum amount of upkeep is
required to keep the website on active status within the project. New CCs
are expected to have a site up and running within two weeks of appointment,
and if this does not happen the CC will be to have a site up and running
within two weeks of appointment, and if this does not happen the CC will be
replaced.
A County Coordinator may solely host up to 5 counties within the state, and
at the discretion of the SC. A County Coordinator may serve as an Assistant
County Coordinator in as many counties as they have time to help with.
All County Coordinators will be subscribed and will remain subscribed to
the Official MNGenWeb mailing list.
X. Active Status
It is imperative that all websites remain active once they are networked as
part of this project. A website is considered active when regular updates
and additions are made to the website. The Project Administrative team
understands that not all volunteers have access to materials and are not
able to transcribe volumes of information for use online. However, it is
expected that every CC will maintain their sites to the best of their
ability. Date stamps are required on all county websites and must be
current within 6 months.
Regular website checks will be performed by the Leadership Team. Website
checks will include all required elements and links, query board usage (or
email page updated regularly), as well as general appearance and
functionality of the site (link checks, etc.). Obvious errors in coding
will be brought to the cc's attention but choice of layout, design, colors,
etc., are not part of the check process. However, if any background choice
makes type elements practically illegible, this will be brought to the CC's
attention for modification.
Website checks will be conducted twice per year and email notification will
be sent to each CC with a copy sent to the SC. Any websites that do not
meet the project standards will be noted and the CC will have approximately
two weeks to make corrections. If the CC doesn't make corrections within
the two week period (exceptions include vacations, illness, etc.) the
website will be placed on an "inactive status" and the link may be removed
from the county index. If after 30 days the website corrections have not
been made and the CC is unresponsive to email requests the website will be
removed from the project and a new host will be recruited to fill the
county coordinator position.
Mandatory roll calls will be held every 3 months and will run for the
entire month (January, April, July, & October). Any CC’s not responding to
a roll call will be sent a private message by the SC. Failure to respond
within 2 weeks of that message will result in removal of the CC and the
county(ies) will be made available for adoption.
A County Coordinator who unsubscribes from the Official MNGenWeb mailing
list and remains unsubscribed for more than two (2) weeks will be
considered as to have dropped out of the project and their county(ies) will
be placed for adoption.
XI. Resignation of a Coordinator
In the event that a coordinator no longer wishes to volunteer with this
project, notice must be given to the SC as soon as possible. The SC will
announce to the mail list that the coordinator is stepping down and will
offer the county up for adoption to the membership first.
If no existing County Coordinator is interested in adopting the orphaned
county, a notice will be placed on the county index and a new host will be
recruited to fill the vacancy. The outgoing coordinator may choose to
remain with the project until a new coordinator is found or may choose to
step down immediately. In the event a CC chooses to leave, they will agree
to give the existing website back to the MNGenWeb Project for future
reassignment. All contributed material will remain the copyright of the
contributor.
If a state coordinator resigns, the ASC's will serve out the remaining
term. A new election will be held the following May to elect a permanent
SC. In the event that there are two SCs and one of the SCs resigns, the
other SC will continue to serve in this capacity until the next election.
XII. Removal of a Coordinator
Every coordinator is guaranteed due process in the MNGenWeb Project and is
given 30 days to rectify any problems or issues within the project.
However, certain behavior will not be tolerated and may be grounds for
immediate removal of either an SC, ASC or CC. A coordinator that cannot be
contacted for a period of 30 days either by e-mail, phone or letter will be
replaced. The following are types of behavior that are considered days
either by e-mail, phone or letter will be replaced. The following are types
of behavior that are considered inappropriate for this project:
*use of foul, derogatory, abusive language on the state mail list
*derogatory, inflammatory, or abusive comments made towards any member of
the project *failure to correct flagrant copyright violation within a
period of 30 days notification of said violation
*any CC profiting from third party advertisements placed on any pages of
the county site
XIII. Arbitration, Grievance Procedures
All problems within the project will be resolved according to the following
procedure. Issues between coordinators should be handled privately and with
discretion. If a resolution is not forthcoming, a grievance notice should
be filed with the state coordinator. The SC may include the ASC's in any
problem resolution issues and ask for guidance and suggestions. If a
resolution cannot be reached that is satisfactory to the two parties, a
neutral committee of two county coordinators (one from each region, eastern
and western) shall be asked by the SC to arbitrate the grievance. Upon
further discussion of the issues, the committee shall present its findings
and a resolution to the SC. With the SC approval of the committee's
resolution, the parties shall be contacted and the outcome shall be
considered final.
XIV. Website Guidelines
The following guidelines are to be in effect for all members of this
project until further notice.
1. The MNGenWeb logo and return link must be placed on every county
website. The USGenWeb Project requires every project to display the USGW
logo and include a return link to
http://www.usgenweb.org/.
2. Every county must maintain a query page. The coordinator may choose any
method for maintaining queries so long as the page is current. Automated
type systems are easiest and hosts are encouraged to use this method -- as
it seems to work best for everyone. However, the choice is up to the host.
3. All website contents remain the property of the county website for
future CC's to use unless the contributor requests its removal. Any
material that is copyrighted and published without permission from the
author must be removed immediately.
4. County coordinators may host the county's website anywhere they wish.
5. Date stamps must be on the main page of each county website and must be
current within 6 months.
XV. In Conclusion
All coordinators are required to keep fresh in their minds the mission of
this project. Our goal is to help visiting researchers find useful resource
and reference information online and assist them in tracing their family
history. Our job is to be friendly, responsive, helpful, cordial, and most
of all available. The Project Administration team has worked hard to try
and cover every possible scenario that may occur given the nature of
internet genealogical projects. However, we cannot guarantee that your
experience as part of our project will be perfect or stress free. We have
created a working policy that will serve this project well so long as all
members agree to participate fully and without any measure of distrust or
dishonesty.
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