On Tuesday, November 19th, the Southern Alberta Pagan Association held its first policy committee meeting of the 2019/2020 year. Plans for the expansion of SAPA were discussed in depth and several recommendations were put forth to be brought to the SAPA Board of Directors for consideration.
The purpose of this meeting was to fine-tune policies as outlined in the by-laws regarding roles, expectations, and responsibilities of SAPA's newly-elected directors. As well, a revolutionary new policy was unveiled regarding the duties of hosts at events such as SAPA's popular get-together, Brewing with Witches, and workshops such as Poetic Edda in a Heathen Context. The nature of the committee's proposals involved some sensitive topics that still require SAPA board approval, consideration and scrutiny, so this milestone meeting was held in-camera.
The information that was considered appropriate to share, however, included some exciting proposed expansions to the popular PaganFest celebration. The PaganFest is held annually by the members who comprise the association, now in its second year of planning quality events and workshops for its membership. “I want to see this PaganFest become bigger and better than last year”, Lyvia Hughes, who sat on the Board last year, states. “We received some invaluable feedback from the community about how to improve the event, and I hope that we might be able to take that feedback and create an event that will further the community engagement.”
One attendee at the meeting stressed the need for a coherent platform for organizing volunteers, and was presented with a document detailing the extensive measures taken to organize volunteers at last year's PaganFest event. That document will form the basis of a cutting-edge policy to be presented to the Chair of the Volunteer Committee.
"We have a lot to work with here," commented Leif Sturmanis Nordholm, SAPA's Vice-Chairperson. "Taking a look at some of the proposed by-laws and converting them into effective policies may allow us to get ambitious with orientation procedures. There's so much more to do, but I think today has been a great start."
The five-and-a-half hour meeting led to some key discoveries through comparing policies and procedures of several similar associations and organizations. "I see now how important it is to have a coherent and well-organized structure when it comes to policy development," Nordholm insisted. "Improving the clarity and accessibility of language in these policies is necessary for the board to be fully aware of our obligations, rights and responsibilities. Without a strong and clear set of guidelines, we wouldn't be able to continue to bring the pagan community of Lethbridge such amazing events and opportunities to meet, discover our community, and find other people who follow a similar path."
The other attendees at the meeting shared in Nordholm’s enthusiasm about the development of policies. It was stated that in order to foster a community, and cultivate the growth of the membership, the board of directors should have a clear vision on where the community should go, and a path on how we might be able to achieve that. The policies are meant to illuminate that path for the board of directors as they move forward in creating the Pagan community that appears is not only wanted, but needed in Southern Alberta.
Nordholm acknowledged the difficulty of the task, but also its value. "This may have taken a while to get through, but I really think it was worth it. We now have a clear sense of what we need to bring to the board when they meet again. I can't wait to see the kind of discussions these policy changes will generate."
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