[OSGeo Oceania] Call for Feedback Due 23rd Sept - Board Election Process & Timeline

Sun Sep 13 19:27:14 PDT 2020

Thanks, I agree that directors should have "skin in the game" as well, but
a simple 12 month membership requirement would probably disqualify some
people who'd be great. Martin's suggested modifications could perhaps help
address this. But I still think it would need to be addressed in the
constitution, and not by board-level decision.

Cheers
John

On Mon, 14 Sep 2020 at 09:59, Alex Leith <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey John
>
> I'm not sure about the 12 month qualifying period either, but I do think
> that having 'skin in the game' as Adam has said many times is important. If
> someone wants to be on the Board, the smallest hurdle is being a member and
> having the foresight to be a member, and presumably involved, for at least
> 12 months is not really a big deal.
>
> That said though, you are right that we cannot override the constitution
> in our election process... So while we may 'define a process' in clause
> 79.1, I don't think we can further constrain eligibility, as per clause 74.
>
> So I think we need to remove this qualifier from the election process and
> refer to the constitution.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> On Mon, 14 Sep 2020 at 09:46, Martin Tomko <tomkom at unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
>
>> Hi John, Adam, all
>>
>> I agree with your second point, John, that this should be covered by the
>> constitution. I awas myself uneasy with the decision that the board decides
>> this.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am not in agreement with the first point. I believe that we are now
>> past the ”storming and forming” stage of the organisation, and our initial
>> days.
>>
>> I believe that to stand as a director, members need to demonstrate that a
>> member has been active for a period of time, in good faith. The issues OSM
>> had in the last year are a testament. The organisation is now managing
>> substantial funds, and carries responsibility.
>>
>>
>>
>> This could be addressed in a number of ways, in my eyes:
>>
>>
>>
>>    - A candidate could have the backing of a number of members that have
>>    been members for at least 12 months ( I suggest 3), if the candidate
>>    themself were not a member for that period;
>>    - A backing of a SIG could be equivalent.
>>
>> Anyway, I do not see a problem for people to wait for 12 month before
>> being  nominated for a director.
>>
>>
>>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *Oceania <oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of John
>> Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com>
>> *Date: *Sunday, 13 September 2020 at 10:38 pm
>> *To: *Adam Steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com>, "oceania at lists.osgeo.org" <
>> oceania at lists.osgeo.org>
>> *Subject: *Re: [OSGeo Oceania] Call for Feedback Due 23rd Sept - Board
>> Election Process & Timeline
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes! We want the board to be made up of engaged and motivated people with
>> the community's best interests at heart. Our community is full of people
>> like this! I reckon our best bet is to articulate that vision, create the
>> conditions for those people to step forward and participate, and make sure
>> the members who elect the board have enough visibility into it all to make
>> informed decisions.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 13 Sep 2020, 3:48 pm Adam Steer, <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hey John, all
>>
>>
>>
>> That clause was aimed at preventing people whos only interest is to get
>> on boards getting on the board, and has been a topic of debate. Based on
>> your input about the constitution its probably a good idea to just replace
>> it with ’nominees shall be nominated in accordance with clause 74 and 19.3
>> of the constitution [link])
>>
>>
>>
>> It is worth remembering we all just kinda nominated ourselves at the
>> start.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>>
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 13 Sep 2020 at 05:43, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>>
>> Great work, and thanks for the opportunity to discuss the election
>> process. I've added a couple of comments to the Google doc, but I have a
>> specific concern that may need a little more room for discussion.
>>
>>
>>
>> In the proposed process, there is a section called "*Minimum term of
>> membership*", which says:
>>
>> *To be nominated as a Director, you must have been a Member for a minimum
>> of 12 months (calculated from closing date of elections). This ensures that
>> potential Directors have had the opportunity to participate in OSGeo
>> Oceania business, and gives the Board an opportunity to mentor those who
>> would like to take up leadership positions in the future.*
>>
>>
>>
>> I think there are a couple of issues with this:
>>
>>
>>
>> *1) It's not an effective way to assess someone's capability to act as a
>> director. *
>>
>>
>>
>> For example, I want to nominate Edwin Liava'a to stand in the next
>> election. Edwin was a keynote speaker at last year's conference in
>> Wellington, and has been a highly engaged leader in the Pacific open
>> geospatial community for many years. He's volunteered on a number of
>> committees that would count as OSGeo Oceania business. He's done plenty to
>> prove his dedication to this community, would be an asset to the
>> organisation, and would be an effective voice from the Pacific, which to
>> date has been missing from the board.
>>
>>
>>
>> But (as far as I can tell) Edwin's not currently a formal member, so by
>> this clause he wouldn't be qualified to serve as a director, even if he
>> became a member now.
>>
>>
>>
>> My point is, there are likely many people in our community who would be
>> excellent additions to the board, and the length of their membership
>> doesn't seem to be a relevant measure of their potential for contribution.
>> If someone has a valuable contribution to make, why would we want to put
>> this up as an obstacle?
>>
>>
>>
>> *2) It may not be within the board's scope to decide who is qualified to
>> serve as a future director.*
>>
>>
>>
>> Required qualifications to serve as a director are already defined in the
>> constitution
>> <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kZD8pcW2efjLEY7ih3rzcWpe7X0hEG2A>
>> (section 74: simply, "*Each Director must be a Member*").
>>
>>
>>
>> Members' rights to nominate are also defined there, subject to this
>> qualification (section 79.3: "*Any Member may nominate a person who is
>> eligible for appointment under clause 74 to serve as a Director.*").
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm not sure that it's appropriate to use the election process to create
>> additional eligibility hurdles, it seems this might be impacting on
>> members' rights.
>>
>>
>>
>> If a nomination were declared ineligible based on this section in the
>> election process, could a constitutional challenge be made? If the election
>> process were found to be in conflict with the constitution, could this
>> potentially render the election invalid? Obviously it's a hypothetical,
>> unlikely scenario, but maybe not impossible.
>>
>>
>>
>> My feeling is the election process would be better without this section.
>> If there are new director eligibility requirements to add, it seems a lot
>> safer to stick to using constitution amendments, which would require formal
>> assent by the membership through a statutory process.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 at 17:58, Hamish Campbell <hn.campbell at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear OSGeo Oceania Members,
>>
>>
>>
>> Our proposed November 2020 election process and timeline for appointing
>> directors to the board requires your review and feedback.
>>
>>
>>
>> You can review and comment directly on the Google Doc
>> <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1td2oDBssX_33yIFN1h0UgSvkoUa8MckZiix7nsIdmcs/edit?usp=sharing>.
>> We also welcome feedback on the OSGeo Oceania mailing list by replying to
>> this email. Feedback to the board must be received by midnight on
>> Wednesday, September 23rd.
>>
>>
>>
>> The board will review the feedback and finalize the election process and
>> timeline in early October.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you for your contribution!
>>
>>
>>
>> On behalf of the OSGeo Oceania Election Group
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Alex Leith
> m: 0419189050
>
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