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Following the community discussion, I further researched OSGeo's
foundation documents, (in retrospect I should have done this
earlier).<br>
<br>
Of particular relevance to current discussion is our ByLaws:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html">http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html</a><br>
<i>Section 7.1. Admission of [Charter] Members. An initial group of
up to forty-five (45) persons shall be admitted as the initial
[charter] members of the corporation upon the affirmative vote of
the Board of Directors of the corporation. Thereafter, to be
eligible for [charter] membership, a person must be nominated by
an existing [charter] member of the corporation pursuant to a
written document in such form as shall be adopted by the Board of
Directors from time to time. The nomination must be included in a
notice to the [charter] members at least ten (10) days in advance
of the meeting at which the [charter] members will vote on the
applicant’s admission. Proposed [charter] members shall be
admitted upon the affirmative vote of the members of the
corporation.</i><br>
<br>
This section implies that the proposal below of automatically
accepting "Recognised OSGeo Community Leaders" is unconstitutional,
as charter members need to be voted into the role by existing
charter members.<br>
<br>
It also implies that while a separate paid membership category could
be created, paid members would still need to be voted into a charter
member role by existing charter members.<br>
<br>
The ByLaws don't mention limiting the number of new charter members.
This criteria seems to have been introduced as a Membership Process
by the 26th Board meeting:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process</a><br>
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<i>The number of new members will be between 10% and one third of
the existing charter membership count as decided by the board</i>.<br>
<br>
Such a statement created by the board, could be updated by the
board, and as such the board could agree to accept an unlimited
number of new charter members.<br>
<br>
So I'm now thinking that our election process can be simplified to:<br>
<br>
1. Charter member to nominate potential new charter member(s)<br>
2. Charter members then vote (in/out) against all nominated charter
members<br>
A suitable criteria for determining whether a nominee qualifies is
listed here:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process#Positive_Attributes">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process#Positive_Attributes</a><br>
4. Nominees with a majority of votes are included as new Charter
Members<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15/06/2014 9:52 am, Cameron Shorter
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:539CE03F.8010005@gmail.com" type="cite">
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Within 2 weeks we intend to start our annual process for selecting
new OSGeo charter members.<br>
<br>
In previous years the Charter Member selection process has been a
little contentious. We typically receive numerous nominations from
high caliber members of our community, and insufficient positions
to accept them all. This typically results in unnecessary
disappointment and dissent.<br>
<br>
In response, the OSGeo board has agreed to trial tweaking the
voting process. The aim is to automatically accept recognised
OSGeo community leaders, while continuing with our existing
process which attracts the many valuable community members who
contribute in other ways. Community comments are encouraged, and
will be considered over the next week.<br>
<br>
<b>Design guidelines:</b><br>
<br>
* We want a process which is simple to understand and implement.<br>
* We want a process which encourages recognised OSGeo community
leaders to become OSGeo charter members, while continuing to
accept members from the many other valuable OSGeo roles.<br>
* We want a process which is difficult to abuse.<br>
* For the first iteration, we should err on being more selective
in our criteria, with potential widening of selection criteria in
future years.<br>
<br>
<b>Recognised OSGeo Community Leaders</b><b><br>
</b><br>
OSGeo aims to provide OSGeo Charter Membership to all recognised
OSGeo community leaders who are nominated. Hopefully, sufficient
positions are available. If there are more candidates than
available, then membership will be allocated to the first to be
nominated. Remaining nominees will be automatically offered to go
through the standard voting process.<br>
Recognised OSGeo Community Leaders are defined as people who have
been <b>voted</b> into a position of authority within official
OSGeo projects and committees, where the voting community includes
at least 3 OSGeo charter members.<br>
<br>
Acceptable roles are currently limited to:<br>
* Project Steering Committee member of a Graduated OSGeo Project<br>
* Chair of Official Local Chapter<br>
* Chair of an OSGeo committee<br>
<br>
The application process for recognised OSGeo Community Leaders is
the same as for other nominees.<br>
<br>
Full text of our processes are at:<br>
* <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process_2014">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Membership_Process_2014</a><br>
* <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2014">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2014</a><br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P +61 2 9009 5000, W <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">www.lisasoft.com</a>, F +61 2 9009 5099</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P +61 2 9009 5000, W <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">www.lisasoft.com</a>, F +61 2 9009 5099</pre>
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