Richard Russell, Our Parliamentarian, With His Atheist Flag.

Richard says that the zero stands for the number of gods, and the infinity symbol he leaves to atheists to debate.

First, a small number of us who were interested in dealing with the matching funds issue met beforehand to hammer out the details and present the result to the full board. Hammer away we did, under the guiding hand of Richard Russell, who acted as the parliamentarian, as he did for the full board meeting. The result was a full proposal, which was taken to the board, with only one issue in contention, whether matching funds should be made available to groups that had not sent a representative to the annual board meeting (and how often that would be required, if such a rule were created). The leader of each side agreed to write and argue the point to the board. All other issues were decided by consensus. Not bad for a fractious, democratic process, eh?

At the full board meeting, President Marie Alena Castle granted the parliamentary duties to Richard Russell's capable hands. He managed the meeting, allowing all points of view to be fully aired, and calling for votes when appropriate.

During the board meeting, the Matching Grants proposal was reviewed, item by item. Motions were made to modify sections, discussions ensued, and bit by bit, the details were ironed out, and most changes were accepted by consensus. The issue of whether a group would be eligible for funds unless they'd sent a representative to the board meeting was debated long and hard, as the feelings on both sides were quite strong and sincerely felt. In the end, the vote went for not requiring a representative at the board meetings, thus giving smaller groups a more even playing field.