[Board] 2013 Budget approval

[Cameron Shorter]

On 15/03/13 03:09, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 5:01 AM, Cameron Shorter
> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Daniel / Cameron,
>>>
>>> What is "other professional services" expected to include beyond
>>> the professional services for accounting, tax preparation and 501(c)3
>>> we have already accounted for?
>> Daniel, you would be best to expand on this?
>>
>> Frank, my feeling is that it is wise to have spare budget available for
>> unforeseen expenses. This doesn't need to be used if such unforeseen
>> expenses don't eventuate.
> Cameron,
>
> My opinion is that we don't have to budget for all eventualities.  As
> long as we have adequate reserves/income we can pass motions for
> special needs.  We put things in the budget to understand likely
> expenses and also to "preauthorize" expenses so they don't have to
> come back to the board for authorization.  For instance, once we have
> authorized funding for SAC, they can spend it in cooperation with the
> Treasurer without further board motions.
>
> Who owns the "other professional services" item is not super clear to
> me, so I don't know who would be preauthorized to spend that money nor
> what would be appropriate to spend it on.
>
> I'd prefer then to keep such open ended items out of the budget, and
> instead for us to just address special needs as they come up.
>
> I don't mind an item like "code sprint support" since it gives us a
> sense of how much we expect to spend on this over the year, and we can
> try to calibrate what we authorize as a board with the idea that all
> requests should fit into that limit.
>
> What belongs in, and not in the budget is certainly a fuzzy issue!

Frank, I'm comfortable with your explanation and suggestions here.
I feel the person to make the call on what should/should not be included 
in "other professional services" is our esteemed treasurer, Daniel. 
Daniel, do you care to comment?

>
>>> Sorry for not speaking up sooner.
>>
>> All OSGeo board members,
>> I realise that we are all volunteers, but I'm hopeful that we can commit to
>> turning around decisions quickly and efficiently, preferably within 2
>> working days, and in most cases within 1 working day.
> Ouch.
>
> I do try to quickly address cut-and-dried motions.  But open ended
> topics like the budget can be challenging to bring to a conclusion and
> seem to evolve quite a bit as the thread goes on making it hard to
> know the exact state of things without very careful attention.
>
> I've also come to the conclusion that reading email on my mobile
> devices where I'm not willing to compose significant replies has
> significant downsides.  Something for me to continue struggling with.
>
> Best regards,

All good. Frank you are usually pretty good.
We have a number of other board members who have been silent so far and 
I'd encourage to either speak up, or vote quickly once a motion is raised.

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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