[Board] Re: Motion: Support visit to meet with the emerging Vietnam Chapter with funding

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

Howard Butler wrote:
> On Mar 8, 2010, at 7:54 AM, Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) wrote:
>> Board,
>> to my knowledge we did decide to support this expenditure but left open
>> which budget to take it from. Whatever happens I personally vouch for
>> having Jeff get reimbursed, so please go ahead.
> 
> No we did not. An email motion cannot pass without unanimous consent,
> and in that case a voice vote at a meeting must be used to have a
> majority carry. A quick whip of the votes (AFAIK, I'm the only -1) shows
> it will probably carry when we do have a meeting as long as we have a
> quorum and Jeff is good at turning out the vote :)
> 
> What does personally vouch for having Jeff get reimbursed mean? You
> would use your own funds to do so?

Howard, do you mind elaborating on your concerns?  I don't see a vote by
Chris either, I'm guessing he's away.  If it's important enough to vote
-1, then I believe there are some valuable concerns you could share.

Voting and spending - two potentially divisive issues any board has to
deal with, especially when the spending affects a fellow director.  So
no surprise here that it is gumming up the gears a bit.

In our context, although voting feels like a benign democratic activity,
if not handled sensitively it can be a destructive event.  The Board is
more like a family or sports team working toward common goals.  Since
there is no "minority party" in a 9 member team, if one director's
opinion is disregarded it undermines the collective authority of the
board that our members and projects rely on.

It's hard enough to go against the flow in voting.  I'd like to be able
to say that all directors can feel encouraged to share their views no
matter how unpopular they are, so I encourage (even beg!) you to have
further discussion on this, but they need to know your position Howard
to put it into any context.

Best wishes,
Tyler