What is Consensus Decision Making?

If you been following recent Mountain Accord developments, you’ll know that they often say that the Accord’s Executive Committee will make decisions based on “consensus.” So for instance, if Park City didn’t want a gondola going from Brighton to PCMR but other parties did, the Executive Committee would decide what to do based on consensus.

So, what is consensus? I thought I new. I’m sure you probably think you know. I’m sure most people in our local government think they know. I’d bet you a steak dinner at Grubb Steak that you, me, and our leaders don’t really know what it means.

I thought consensus meant that a simple majority wins in any vote. That’s not necessarily the case. According to the Wikipedia article on consensus decision making, the decision making process lies somewhere on the spectrum below:

• Unanimous agreement
• Unanimous consent (See agreement vs consent below)
• Unanimous agreement minus one vote or two votes
• Unanimous consent minus one vote or two votes
• Super Majority thresholds (90%, 80%, 75%, two-thirds, and 60% are common).
• Simple majority
• Executive committee decides
• Person-in-charge decides

So consensus decision making is either a unanimous vote, the person in charge decides, or somewhere in between.

So, I have two questions. Who is the PERSON in charge of the Mountain Accord process. And do you really feel that “a consensus” gives Park City and Summit County some level of protection against a tunnel?