| As current members talk to other organizations around the ACF about joining, questions come up that we would like to answer. These are the ones that get the most attention. |
| Costs |
The Steering Committee wrestled with the dues structure. At one time, the suggested dues were double the final amounts. The concept was to provide a dues structure that was affordable yet required member organizatons to make a committment to the mission and goals of the group. As one very active member of the Steering Committee expressed, most organizations 'spill' the amount of the dues without even being aware of it. Considering the millions of dollars that have been spent on the water conflict, the dues structure is a bargain to get participation in a resource that has significant potential as a new voice. |
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| Time |
Yes - it is going to require a committment of time if a member wants to serve on the Governing Board. However, the structure of the orgnaization provides for establishing resources that can be focused on the heavy time committment requirements. An Issues Committee will tackle most of the heavy lifting projects and it can involve outside resources as the project requires. |
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| Consensus decision making |
The Steering Committee and various workgroups felt that in order for a decision or recommendation of the group to have maximum impact it must reflect a position that everyone on the Governing Board 'could live with'. That does not mean that any position will accomplish everything that everyone wants. But it does mean that the Governing Board will look for those issues that will benefit everyone on the ACF Basin and not represent a postion that is one-sided to the detriment of other stakeholders. This will be the major challenge of the group. But the upside is that when positions are taken that do represent a consensus view, they will hve more impact. There were Steering Committee members that would have preferred to have a consensus minus one decision making process so that no one person could block any actions from occuring. That is always an option for the Governing Board to adopt a change to the bylaws if it becomes a problem. |
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| Representation |
The Governing Board is set up as a representative body. It is possible for an organization to join and 'invest' in the organization and not have a seat on the Governing Board. However, the stakeholder's interest list if very broad so that most organizations will have the ability to select from diverse interest. For example, a city could legitmately have an interest in water supply, water quality, social values, economic interests or others. As with any other represenative based organization, the level of participation will be up to the individual member to decide upon based on the organization structure. |
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| Relationship with State and Federal Agencies |
The 800 lb gorilla in the room is in fact the relationship that the ACF Stakeholders will have with the state and federal agencies. There is a well established history of these agencies listening to significant constituent voices. Since this will be the first orgnaization that provides a unified voice for the ACF Stakeholders, it will almost be incumbent on the agencies to listen to the organization. How much influence and the final role that the organization plays will depend on the level of participation. The organization will be open to roles that might evolve as the water conflict works its way through legal and legislative processes. |
