[Board] Fwd: FOSS4G 2014 RFP Vote

[Paul Ramsey]

Board,

After a period of discussion and a re-vote, the conference committee
is still returning a tied result (3 abstain, 5 DC, 5 Portland).

So, it falls to you all to make a final determination!

Thanks,

Paul


On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Jeff McKenna
<jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> Thanks for this update.
>
> I appreciate all of the effort (and grey hairs) that the entire
> Conference Committee puts into this decision.
>
> I feel a re-vote after something like 5 business days is a good plan.
> For the 2012 vote we saw a big difference in the second round of voting.
>
> (Note that I would never say one result was a 'bad' one.  We all learn
> from each FOSS4G event.)
>
> I also respect Paul for not voting.  Working for a company that is a
> strong part of a bid is a conflict of interest.  Earlier on in the
> process I had to dig up the emails to see if this was the case, and I
> was happy to see that he declined voting. (yes I watch quietly from afar)
>
> In the event of another tie, since allowing the chair to vote would be a
> conflict of interest, the decision should fall on the Board.
>
> Yes the Conference Committee should update the 2015 RFP to add a note
> about tie breakers, such as:
>
> ****
> "In the event of a tie in voting, the Conference Committee Chair will be
> given an extra half vote to decide the winner; in the event that the
> Conference Committee Chair is unable to vote (i.e. conflict of interest
> due to an involvement in one of the bids), then the final decision
> should be given to the OSGeo Board, likely through a vote by all Board
> members."
> ****
>
> Those are my recommendations.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2013-07-16 1:12 PM, Paul Ramsey wrote:
>> Hi Board,
>>
>> So, we have a tie. Last time this happened (2012), we re-voted and saw
>> if anyone changed their minds. It seemed an odd process, though it did
>> cause a result to emerge (the wrong one, as it turned out, but that
>> wasn't an artifact of the process per se).
>>
>> The Board does have final say in conference site selection, the
>> conference ctte just forwards a recommendation to the board, which has
>> traditionally been accepted after the LOC provides an acceptable
>> budget. The most straightforward action would be to forward the result
>> to the Board to decide, since the ctte doesn't have a clear preference
>> either way.
>>
>> Since this has happened twice now, adding a tie-breaker process to our
>> document is going to have to be part of next year's RFP prep. But for
>> this time out, it falls to you all.
>>
>> Recommendations on next steps?
>>
>> P.
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Paul Ramsey <pramsey at cleverelephant.ca>
>> Date: Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 8:34 AM
>> Subject: FOSS4G 2014 RFP Vote
>> To: conference <conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org>
>>
>>
>> All,
>>
>> You will, like me, be displeased to hear that voting results are
>>
>> 3 - Abstain
>> 5 - DC
>> 5 - Portland
>>
>> Some random notes:
>>
>> * Mark and Arnulf also voted (hi guys!) even though they aren't on the
>> committee [1], so their votes aren't counted (and they cancelled each
>> other out in any event).
>>
>> * The three abstentions are all due to members participating in the DC
>> event or (me) declaring a perceived conflict of interest wrt DC.
>>
>> * With the exception of Peter, none of the voters is actually in North
>> America! (Well, actually Gavin *is* in NA right now, but on a trip.
>> And Peter is actually in the UK right now. And he's British. We live
>> in an odd world.)
>>
>> * A few of the voters indicated that while the proposals were both
>> very good they preferred the relative international ease of access of
>> DC. (see above)
>>
>> * One voter, while voting for DC, suggested that Portland be given the
>> next NA event.
>>
>> I'm going to let anarchy reign for one day, and then tell you all
>> what's next after some discussion with the board, who are the final
>> arbiters in these matters in any event.
>>
>> P.
>>
>>
>> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee
>> _______________________________________________
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