Common Resources

Mandate for the Common Resources Team

1. The Common Resources team is a standing team with the general responsibility of overseeing the acquisition and replacement of durable goods that are located in the common spaces of the community. The team has 4 specific roles as defined here:

   Purchasing Process Observer - Common Resources is to ensure community funds spent match our spending values. To that end Common Resources needs to be informed in advance when teams doing their own purchases of durable goods are spending more than $250 on a single item. Once informed (via e-mail to the team list), the Common Resources Team has 72 hours to respond. If the team has an objection, Common Resources will work with the requesting team to overcome the objection. If there are no objections, the purchase is approved.

   Opportunistic Shopper - Common Resources Members will watch freecycle, craigslist, and any other shopping store or site for deals for items which might be of value to the community and might need quick responses to obtain, whether or not a specific request has been made by an individual or team for the items. If consensed upon by the Common Resources team, these items will be purchased out of the Commons Resources budget. Additionally, Common Resources members are a resource for any community teams wishing assistance with purchasing items.

   Cohousing Equipment Reserve Keeper - Common Resources will maintain a list of equipment owned by Mosaic Commons Cohousing, including: last purchase date, estimated replacement price and expected replacement year. To ensure we can replace these items as they wear out, Common Resources will also manage a "reserve" fund, which includes suggesting during the annual budget process what the annual contribution amount should be to fund the reserves.

   Small Team Fiscal Agent - Common Resources Team will hold the budget for common house room teams (and the workshop team) under it’s own budget if those teams do not have a separate line in the annual budget. Those team with budgets under Common Resources can make their own spending decisions up to the amount earmarked for them, but must keep Common Resources informed in advance of any purchase. The Common Resources team will remain in contact with these room teams periodically throughout the year, and if those teams inform Common Resources that they will not be spending their entire earmark, the Common Resources team can chose to spend the remaining amount on other purchases without going to the plenary.

2. Members are chosen by self-selection, and serve as long as they are willing.
3. Team decisions are made by consensus of the members of the team.
4. This team has a line in the annual budget for current year purchases, the amount determined during the cohousing budget setting process each year. In addition, the team oversees the setting of the cohousing reserves budget but not the spending from it.
5. Reports to the plenary about purchases from this teams budget, or purchases the team was involved with, will be issued no less than quarterly, and also when any item costing over $250 is purchased.
6. The Common Resources team will work in conjunction with the common house room teams or any other team that would be acquiring a durable good for a common space.
7. The Common Resources team has the following power levels:
   • Power Level 4 (may make making binding decisions on their own) regarding decisions about spending money out of the annual budget for current year purchases.
   • Power Level 2 (may bring a proposal to plenary) regarding spending from the cohousing reserves.
   • Power Level 4 (may make making binding decisions on their own) regarding choosing of items to purchase once tasked with purchasing something (if there is a team that oversees the space the item is for, must get agreement of that team).
   • The Common Resources team will accept input from people not on the team via email. The Common Resources team can establish a date by which input into a decision is closed.