Governance and Decision Making
A big part of community life is governance. The membership of Sunward is responsible for all aspects of running the community and holds decision making authority. Community decisions are made by consensus. Consensus decision making is based on the belief that "each person has some part of the truth and no one has all of it." It is inclusive, and requires the active and responsible participation of members.
Many people raised in American culture don't have experience with consensus process - it's not a common part of the mainstream social and cultural training. If you are new to consensus decision making, then you will need to learn about it in order to participate in our Community Meetings and decide if you want to live in a consensus-based community. We have occasional educational events to help. The Facilitation Group can provide information and help. SunHouse 21 stores our library of materials on group process. Just living and listening in the community with an open heart and mind is great on-the-job training!
Community Meetings take place monthly, usually on Tuesday or Thursday in the Common
House and attendance is an expectation of Membership. A quorum of at least 21 households,
must be established to make decisions. Guests are normally welcome to observe though occasionally meetings will be for members only. Minutes from the community meetings contain
a wealth of information about our history and are the official record of our decision.
Our Book of Agreements (BoA) is our official collection of all standing agreements that the community has made. It is our concise decision log from community meetings and a complement to the Master Meeting Minutes Archive. The Book of Agreements also includes guidelines and policies developed by various committees for items and practices falling within their areas of responsibility as well as committee mission statements. All new members and residents are bound by the BoA and it is thus very important to review when considering life at Sunward. It is maintained by our Scribes Guild. We also have a set of Bylaws which pertain to the underlying legal/financial structures and certain aspects of our operation. We are currently in a process of slowly examining and revising the semi-boilerplate bylaws we originally adopted. These are also very important to review in detail while considering joining the community.
“Sunward does not belong only to us. We are stewards, caring for our land, our houses, and our community in a way that honors members who have come before, and keeps faith with members yet to come.”
