The Bylaws committee continues to explore and identify major issues that our new bylaws will need to deal with. A first forum on the bylaws has been scheduled for Sunday, January 9 in room 224 of the Campus Center at the Sage Junior College of Albany (on Academy Road). The next two forums will also be on Sundays, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., on February 27 and March 26.  Our February forum will also be at the Sage Campus Center. The place for our March 26 forum will be announced.  Feedback and involvement by Coop members are essential to the process of bylaws revision. The operational word here is "revision."  Robert's Rules of Order states that "changes of the bylaws that are ... extensive and general ... should be effected through the substitution of an entirely new set of bylaws, called a revision."  Piecemeal amendment over the years at HWFC has contributed to contradiction and imprecision in our bylaws. This quotation from Robert's Rules of Order leads to another significant bylaws issue.  Any organized group cannot function legitimately, let alone effectively, without certain stated "rules of order." These rules provide structure for discussion and decision-making. Right now, our bylaws do not deal with this issue. They should. We need to decide what rules are to govern membership meetings. If such rules are followed, then meetings are inoculated against confusion, and worse.  A crucial issue is how the membership can have final responsibility for decision making at HWFC - without hobbling the board of directors, or denying paid staff the chance to function creatively and effectively. We need people to be thinking about this.  One final issue, for now, is the question of proxy voting. Would, we provide for more involvement, and a strengthened democratic decision-making process, if we allowed for proxy voting?  And, if we were to have voting by proxy, should it be limited to specific votes known ahead-of-time, or could someone have a proxy authorization that would include any votes taken?  The next two bylaws forums will deal with these issues, along with others. Plan on attending.  Check the Coop for further information from the Bylaws committee. The committee hopes to have flyers, posters, a notebook and possibly audiovisual presentations available for interested members. It will also work with the Coop Loop to publicize this effort.