[FOSS4G-Oceania] Governance

[John Bryant]

A couple of notes from me.

*Re: forming an entity*: I had a brief preliminary chat with Francis from
the Association Specialists, they are eager to help us out if we need it.
They are generally recommending that groups go with a 'company limited by
guarantee', though I don't yet have a clear picture of why that is. It
seems to be in part that such a registration would be directly through a
national body rather than a state-level body, but it also looks slightly
more onerous in terms of initial setup and long term maintenance, so I
think we should approach this with some caution.

This page
<https://www.cbaa.org.au/resource/incorporated-association-vs-company-limited-guarantee>
has a bit more info.

I agree with Martin and other who have said we should consult with other
orgs, so I've been doing a bit of this. I have a call with Kathy Reid from
Linux Australia this afternoon and will let you know what I find out.

*Re: governance more generally*: I think the more pressing task is to
organise ourselves heading into 2019, with a new event, probably some new
faces wishing to join our efforts, and possibly some new ideas bouncing
around for additional outreach efforts and events beyond just the annual
conference.

The Governance doc
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KkUl-qwb2pE5OomHy-0RwKSsXJDOkFx0dpW6Dhfv624>
we've been working on for the last week or so was getting quite unreadable
with all the suggestions and comments, so yesterday Daniel and I spent a
couple of hours going through it and incorporating the work to date into a
legible whole. I think it's ready for another round of comments and review.

By way of a brief summary, the gist of the proposal is this:

   - the organisation is called OSGeo Oceania, and in due course will aim
   to become a local chapter of both OSGeo and OSMF
   - it will be governed and managed by a board of directors, which (in the
   absence of an existing membership) will be appointed by (and replace) our
   existing committee
   - the board will be responsible for outreach activities, and will
   appoint and provide oversight of a conference committee
   - the conference committee will answer to the board, and will be
   responsible for planning and executing a successful conference
   - in the short-to-medium term, the inaugural board will have the mandate
   to
      - have a voting process defined for renewal of board membership
      - determine and formalise an appropriate non-profit structure

There are more details in the doc
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KkUl-qwb2pE5OomHy-0RwKSsXJDOkFx0dpW6Dhfv624>.
It aims to provide enough clarity and guidance to help us be efficient,
without being overly prescriptive or heavy-handed. I imagine there will be
differing views on how well it has achieved this, but I'd say there is
still plenty of time to discuss the merits of the proposal, and/or raise
alternatives.

Input & discussion very much appreciated!

Cheers
John
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