Our BetterMost Community > The Polling Place
Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
Phillip Dampier:
Current moderators and administrators are asked not to vote in this poll. I am interested in the results from residents who do not hold an administrative function here.
An Ombudsman, as I would define it here, would be an elected individual, not currently a moderator or administrator, charged with acting as an independent observer of the community. An ombudsman would be able to receive complaints and comments from residents of the community regarding matters those individuals feel are not satisfactorily being addressed, or are of concern to a resident that would like to draw attention to a problem but do so in an anonymous manner.
The ombudsman would then be able to independently investigate the matter by privately asking questions of all involved, collecting evidence, and should a complaint be substantiated, to report back to the community publicly with the findings. Unsubstantiated complaints, or those determined to be unfounded, are generally not published.
A complaint determined to be substantiated can and should then be seriously reconsidered by the administrative staff for action. Since the ombudsman is essentially a "people's representative," the position would be elected by the residents with one round of elections and then a runoff between the two top vote-getting candidates.
An ombudsman must be fair and impartial and consider submissions strictly on their merit, not by the person making the submission. Most social communities with an ombudsman rarely need to call upon that person if the administration is responsive to the needs of the community, but can be helpful as an independent individual to approach in a confidential manner.
Many communities have no need for one, so this poll should not be taken as an indication of a need for one here. It's rather a general poll to gauge interest.
ifyoucantfixit:
Philip:
For the reason that we have some very strong minded individuals here. With many differing opinions,
i believe that there are instances where the people are not ever completely out of a tit for tat situation,
once the fracas begins. There are people here with long standing feuds, and disagreements. For the
most part, the people here get along well and treat each other with a great deal of courtesy, and even
care.. However there has become a few situations that are festering for such a long time, that they
need to have the fire department come in once in a while in order to put out the flames.
I think also, some of the stuff that is brought out is merely misunderstandings. But they never get
resolved either, because no conclusion or explanation is ever forthcoming.
In order for some of these things to get worked out for good and all. With resolutions and satisfaction
to all parties...It would be good to have someone that could handle that...
I know that Clarissa hesitates for varous reasons to become embroiled in this kind of activity, in order to
still enjoy her own participation here...But that being said..it really shouldn't be a part of her job...She has
to do so much already, that is stressful. This would only add to her stress level..so if we could have a
nomination for this and an election.. I think that would be a good idea..i just hope there would be
someone willing to take the job on... janice
BelAir:
--- Quote from: Phillip Dampier on January 14, 2008, 08:17:19 pm ---Current moderators and administrators are asked not to vote in this poll. I am interested in the results from residents who do not hold an administrative function here.
An Ombudsman, as I would define it here, would be an elected individual, not currently a moderator or administrator, charged with acting as an independent observer of the community. An ombudsman would be able to receive complaints and comments from residents of the community regarding matters those individuals feel are not satisfactorily being addressed, or are of concern to a resident that would like to draw attention to a problem but do so in an anonymous manner.
--- End quote ---
just saying a few things before reading others thoughts or voting...
if you have one, you would probably you would need more than one... and they would probably need a 'term' during which to serve...
Kelda:
--- Quote from: BelAir on January 14, 2008, 08:46:23 pm ---just saying a few things before reading others thoughts or voting...
if you have one, you would probably you would need more than one... and they would probably need a 'term' during which to serve...
--- End quote ---
good thoughts Belair. I personally think this is a good idea (I presume I can say that Phillip - if not please feel free to delete)
Phillip Dampier:
--- Quote from: BelAir on January 14, 2008, 08:46:23 pm ---just saying a few things before reading others thoughts or voting...
if you have one, you would probably you would need more than one... and they would probably need a 'term' during which to serve...
--- End quote ---
Most enterprises have a single ombudsman to handle things. Since we don't have an indication of needing one as of yet, I haven't gotten into further defining the role/term/etc.
--- Quote from: Susiebell on January 15, 2008, 02:54:42 pm ---I voted "No" because I think that the person you're describing doesn't exist. We all know some members more than others, we all like some members more than others ... it can't be helped.
--- End quote ---
I think that there are non-aligned residents here who don't consider social connections to be a major component of their time here, and that would probably be a potentially excellent candidate for the role. I agree that choosing someone that is part of a recognizeable subset of the community probably would pose a higher risk, but even some of those people can, if strong-willed sufficiently, set aside any inherent bias and engage solely independent of their social connections. It's probably easier to choose someone from the former than the latter, but we'd cross that bridge if/when we came to it.
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