Worcester Common Ground Board Part 4

On July 12th, 2 1/2 months after our initial discussions adding one member of the CBA to the WCG board, we received an e-mail basically telling us that it is a good idea but it can not be done now until a few points are resolved:

1. Common Ground by-laws do not allow addition of board members in between annual meetings.   We can only replace resigning board members between annual meetings.
2. CDC regulations require 51% of the board be consituted by residents of the census tracts with the CDC's area.   In addition we are currently discussing changing our by-laws to increase that percentage.  Consequently any new board members in the near future will probably have to reside with the census tracts we serve.
3. It is important that business representation on our board be balanced to include the voices of businesss throughout our area.  While this is not a concern of yours, as an internal matter, if we are to give CBA a voice on the board, we need to ensure that other business corridors in our area are represented as well.
4. Last, but not least it is important that board members be able to fully support, endorse and publicly promote the mission and objectives of the organization as currently stated.  If the CBA and the indivdual representing the organization fell they can in good conscience do so we should continue to discuss the representation on the board.  If not it may be more appropriate to have the organization's voice heard within out committee structure.

The four points above come directly from the e-mail.  Tomorrow I will give my final thoughts.