Policy on Dual Membership - East Wind - 1998

12.5 - Policy on Dual Membership
Membership Committee, 28 March 1998

A dual member is a member of two FEC communities who spends at least three months of any given year in each of the communities. Dual members are fully participating members while in residence at either community, and retain certain rights while not in residence. A dual member must have attained full member status at their first (home) community before applying to become a dual member, and must be approved by both communities.

Becoming a Dual Member:

Any full member of an FEC community may apply to become a dual member of their “home” community and another FEC community. In addition to the usual visiting and membership procedures at the second community, co must also be approved by the appropriate body at both communities in order to become a dual member. At East Wind, co can apply for dual membership by either appealing to the Membership Committee or doing a petition of 2/3 of the full members. Any request for becoming a full member must include a short explanation of the reasons co wishes to be a dual member, and a rough plan for how co will complete their provisional member-ship at their second community and what their plans are for their first year of residency in each community. If co is hoping to be a dual member with Twin Oaks, co should put up a concerns note regarding their dual membership plans after co has put in a total of six months at East Wind. If 25% of full members submit official, written concerns to the Membership Committee at that time, a vote will be held on co’s dual member status. (Co may still be eligible for full membership at East Wind, however, and that process will follow the current legislation regarding full member-ship, stated elsewhere.)

Co may be approved to do their provisional membership in two separate time periods if that would help ease the transition for them. Co should come for the first time for at least three months to get a good idea of what living here is like. This option must be approved ahead of time.

Co may, at any time, surrender their status at one community and become a regular member of the other community, assuming that the membership process at the chosen community is going smoothly (i.e., there is not a vote pending). Membership [Committee] recommends that a provisional dual member check in with a [Membership] Committee member to see if there are any con­cerns on them before making this decision.

Because of tax, property code, membership guidelines, citizenship, and other legal considerations, a dual member will choose one community as their primary community to be used in these matters and the other as their secondary community. Co may change their primary community status at any time with approval of both communities.

So long as co is maintaining a minimum of three months of residence at each community in the calendar year, co may change residence at any time co chooses. Co need only give two weeks notice to each community for housing and work purposes. During the first year co becomes a dual member, co must spend at least 25% of the remainder of the year at each community.

While in residence at a community, co shall be regarded like any other member on the system as far as money, voting rights, labor, vacation, etc. (see below for medical). Because East Wind al-lows members to take leaves with a much greater flexibility than many other communities, any leaves co wishes to take that would normally be at cos discretion can only be on East Wind’s time unless approved by co’s other community. (In other words, co’s PA leaves could only last nine months unless the other community approves the leave as well. If co does take a leave, that time will count toward that year’s residency requirement, and active membership can be resumed at East Wind just like any other member returning from a leave.) Dual members are subject to all the usual regulations around leaves.
Dual members’ room rights will be the same as for any non-dual member (that is, their status as provisional or full members takes priority). Similarly, a returning dual member will be considered for the waiting list based on their provisional or full status, and will have priority over associates. Medical and dental coverage will be handled as follows for dual members:

Once co is covered (see Medical Committee for those guidelines), medical and dental costs will be shared by the two communities in the following way: The communities will split the costs of coverage in the same proportion of co’s residency at each community in the past twelve months, except that the community co currently resides at will be responsible for the first $50 of medical and dental incurred during that residence period. While a person is not yet covered at their new community, co’s home community assumes responsibility for emergency costs. When there is time, the medical managers from both communities should talk about whether they’ll approve the costs together. (The Medical Committee will have the authority to change this paragraph to be consistent with other community’s policies. People applying for dual membership should also be aware of any PEACH guidelines that affect dual members).

East Wind will allow children to be dual members, but approval for such an arrangement must go through Child Branch in addition to the normal community process around dual members, and families exercising this option will be expected to make specific plans well in advance and stick to them. Families will also be expected to allow the use of any rooms in Lilliput they would other-wise retain rights to as space for guesting and visiting families immediately upon departure. Child Branch can set limits on clothing and other kid-related expenses for dual member families.

*This policy replaces all pre-existing legislation on Dual Membership. (The only thing we can find is from 1974. Seemed like time to update.)