[Board] resuming discussion on vice-presidents and officers

[Jody Garnett]

> Current board members Helena, Angelos and Anita were nominated as regional
> Vice-President at our last board meeting. Anita had declined. Therefore,
> I would like to propose the following new motions.
>

We also had Dirk nominated.

...

I was treating the role of "President and Vice-President" more as covering
the responsibilities of "Executive officer" in keeping with our by-laws
(see Section 5.6). This is distinct from the role of "Chair of the
Board"(section 5.5) although we seem to be combining them.

Thank you for considering the role of charter members for other committees,
while I see what you are getting at it leaves me with some confusion:
a) the foundation lists "officers of the corporation": Chair of the Board,
a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer
b) we have recognized additional officers over time (
http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/board_and_officers.html ). These
represents officers of our corporation (covered under our liability
insurance). By recognizing these individuals, in this capacity, they are
able to act in an official capacity for our organization (this save the
time/trouble of working through the board monthly meetings).

I think this is where we (me and you) are getting stuck on setting
a precedent. It does no good to ask me to rewrite the bylaws, as we would
just put off the conversation one level removed, and still be stuck on the
current task of electing officers. I am of course willing to rewrite bylaws
if it is of benefit.

End of the day:
- I want our officers recognized (and protected) equally
- I would like future boards to have a chance to cast a wide net when
recurituing volunteers
- I do not want the board members to be over taxed as volunteers
- I do not want the board to overreach in terms of responsibility

If the current board (or a future board) is more conformable having
officers that have can vote in the decision making process then it can
consider this when evaluating nominations any given year. There is of
course other ways to allow officers a say in what goes on ... setting up a
working group to tackle an issue on behalf of a board is an approach I
favour.

I do not want to trade a short term awkwardness with competing nominations
(as a board we are compelled to make the tough choices) for a long term
precedent that stifles growth.
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