Increase common-meal budget to €240/month
Proposed by Maya · ends Sun 4 May
The Council is where decisions get made and recorded. Not every decision — most things are fine without a vote. Council is for the ones that bind everyone or spend shared money.
What needs the Council, what doesn't
Council is for:
- Spending shared money over your community's threshold
- Changing the bylaws, code of conduct, or admission policy
- Welcoming a new long-term member or asking one to leave
- Material changes to physical space (renovations, big purchases, structural work)
Council isn't for:
- What to make for Sunday dinner
- Whether to mow on Tuesday or Wednesday
- Approving each individual purchase under your threshold
- Personal opinions on each other's choices
Consensus vs. Action goes deeper on the line between the two.
The lifecycle of a Proposal
- Draft. Anyone can write one. Writing proposals that pass covers the structure that wins consent fastest.
- Open for voting. Members vote Consent, Stand aside, or Block. Reasons are encouraged on Stand aside and required on Block.
- Closes at deadline. Default is 7 days. Set shorter if it's urgent, longer for big things.
- Outcome. Passes if there are no Blocks. A single Block stops the proposal — that's the point of consent. The Block-holder is asked to suggest a path forward.
The three vote types, in plain language
- Consent doesn't mean "I love this." It means "I can live with this. It's safe to try."
- Stand aside means "I have concerns but I won't stop the group. Carry on without my full backing."
- Block means "I cannot live with this as it stands. Here's what would change my mind: ..."
A Block is a powerful thing. Use it once a year, not once a meeting. If everything is a Block, the group can't move and the Block-holder loses credibility.
Federation Proposals
If your Sanctuary is part of an Ecosystem, a Hub admin can mark a Proposal as Federation. It then appears in the Council of every connected Node for local voting. More on federated governance.
Recording the decision
When a Proposal closes, link it to a Council Gathering's notes Scroll, or include the link in a follow-up Scroll. Six months later, "when did we agree to that?" should take ten seconds to answer, not an evening of WhatsApp scrolling.
If a Proposal blocks
Don't take it personally. The Block-holder usually has information you don't. Re-open conversation, edit the Proposal with their concern addressed, re-submit. Most blocked Proposals pass on the second pass. The few that don't probably shouldn't have.