[HOT] HOT governance tasks, please read!

[Mikel Maron]

Hello HOTties!

It’s governance time.

As the end of 2011 approaches, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team has a 
number of tasks on hand. It’s time for another round of membership 
nominations. We are past due to have a Board election. And we have 
updates to our Bylaws. We need to complete all these things on an 
relatively quick schedule, as we are working to complete 501(3)c filing 
for HOT by the end of the year.

So, please, read through this email carefully, and please act where requested. Any questions or concerns, fire away. Thanks!

* Membership

First for all current members need to confirm continued membership. Do you 
wish to continue to be a member of HOT?  Some individuals have been more active than others and we understand if you don’t have the time.

The current membership list is posted to http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/Members

To confirm your membership, please fill out this brief form.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGJzRjBVb25LRzI1OFVseC1kOWNIamc6MQ

Please confirm your membership by end of day, December 7.

* Member Nominations

HOT membership works similarly to Apache. New members are invited by 
current members. The nominations are published, and if there are no 
objections, the new members are accepted.

Nominated members before have come from all sorts of places, those who have 
worked with us in the field, remote volunteers that have really made a 
difference in responses and partners that have really helped. 

Nominations can be made in the form below. If you’d like to be nominated, don’t 
hesitate to contact HOT members individually to discuss.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFNsWG1EdTRfWGR3aVJudWdIUnRiSFE6MQ

Please make nominations by end of day, December 7.

* Elections

We are past due to have a Board election. Four of the Board are up for 
re-election (Nicolas Chavent, Kate Chapman, Dane Springmeyer, Mikel 
Maron). And the Board has decided to expand to seven total, meaning we 
have 6 seats to fill this election. Having a Board with a diversity of 
skills will help further the organization.

Nominations can be made on this wiki page:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/Board_Elections

Nominations will be open until end of day, December 7.

We’ll have the election the following week, with completion by December 14.

* Bylaws

For HOT’s 501(c)3 application, we need to update our bylaws. There is 
nothing substanitally new from the current bylaws (excepting one thing); they’ve only been made to conform to legal language.

Please review, and let’s discuss anything of concern on list. The one thing we do need to decide is which organization would receive HOT’s assets in 
the event of dissolution. This must be an existing US 501(c)3. One 
suggestion so far has been the EFF, but this hasn’t progressed past the 
idea stage. So, suggestions welcome.

The Bylaws are posted to:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/U.S._Bylaws#Proposed_Bylaws_for_HOT.2C_Dec_2011

We’ll include approval of the bylaws with the election, by December 14. It 
will take a majority of members to accept the new bylaws.

* That’s it

Thanks for reading through all of this and for helping get HOT through the 
governance rigamarol. If anything doesn’t make sense here, just ask.

Best,

The HOT Board

Mikel Maron
Kate Chapman
Nicolas Chavent
Harry Wood
Dane Springmeyer
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