[Osmf-talk] This year's AGM and elections

[Mike Collinson]

Frederick and fellow OSM Foundation members,

The board has discussed Frederick's email and I hope this provides an adequate response.


I. Date for AGM

We have set Sat 22nd August in London as the date. This is NOT a formal notice, this will go out shortly, but we do not intend to change it if anyone is making travel plans. Last year we held it at 14.00 BST.  So far, it has been very short, 20 - 30 minutes and is not very exciting with about 10 or 12 people attending. The current chair-person makes a set of formal comments.  The treasurer presents the accounts.  Anyone who has not voted by email can then vote for new board members.  The final vote is then announced and the meeting ends.

This year I believe we will hold some 5th anniversary celebration the same day.



II. AGM at SOTM

Yes, that sounds an excellent idea and unless there is any objection, we will just do it.  The 2010 AGM must be held within fifteen months of the last one, so that should not be a problem.



III. OSMF reorg

The OSMF currently uses a boiler-plate Articles of Association [1]. These are really intended for a private commercial company to get going quickly and allow the board to flexibly run the business.  They are not well-suited to serving the needs of a membership.  The board would like to start an Articles of Association working group to present proposals for changes.  It will be led by Andy Robinson as he is the OSMF Secretary.  The key question is "What is wrong with the Articles?".  This is a deliberately broad question as it should not be up to the board to dictate.  We need:

- some volunteers.  This is not a "legal" thing but how you want OSMF structured to best support you and the aims of OpenStreetMap.  My personal preference is that they should not be from the License Working Group (since a stricter procedure for future license changes will probably be an important point) and be mostly from non-board members.  The board feels that people on this particular working group should be OSMF members but is willing to consider on special cases.

- as Frederick suggests, some keywords.  My own personal ones as starters:  members not board must have formal control over any license change;  board elections; board continuity; how to properly represent an international community. But those are just mine!

What are your views? Feel free to post on this mailing list.  Right now, all OSMF members are subscribed.



IV. Elections


There are 7 board members. All 7 positions are for re-election this year.  After the election, the new board will decide who will be Chairman,  Secretary and Treasurer.

It is up to each current board member to say whether they want to stand again or not.  This will be communicated as part of the AGM notice.  

Any member of the OSMF is welcome to stand, please email secretary at osmfoundation.org.  An official email will be made shortly.  FYI, we normally meet once per month via telephone conference and then work individually and by email on action items.  A local dial-in number is provided for each country (courtesy Cloudmade).  Conversation is English.  Two or three times a year we try to have a full day meeting face-to-face.



Any more questions happily answered.  I hope my English is clear. If it is not, please email me privately.


Mike
OSM membership secretary

[1] http://foundation.openstreetmap.org/memorandum-of-association/articles-of-association/

[2] http://foundation.openstreetmap.org/officers-board/

At 08:34 PM 7/07/2009, Frederik Ramm wrote:
>Hi,
>
>    a few issues I'd like to bring to the attention of the OSMF board:
>
>I. Date for AGM
>
>Is there already a date for this year's OSMF AGM? If not, I'd appreciate 
>if one could be set soon for the benefit of those who might want to 
>travel to London from further afield. Assuming it is going to be in 
>London at all.
>
>II. AGM at SOTM
>
>In the same spirit, could the OSMF board consider holding the AGM at the 
>SOTM conference from 2010 on? I feel this would bolster member 
>participation as it would not require extra travel. If this is a 
>decision that the OSMF board feels should be taken by the membership at 
>an AGM, then please put that item on the agenda for this year and let 
>the members decide in August.
>
>III. OSMF reorg
>
>Another item I wish to see on the agenda is the whole OSMF articles of 
>association redesign topic; I believe the members should have a say on 
>who is on the relevant working group and that working group should 
>receive some sort of concrete missive (rather than "please improve 
>things somehow") from the membership so that they know what they need to 
>work on. This, however, would require members to first make up their 
>minds about what is perceived to be amiss currently. Can someone (Peter 
>Miller perhaps as the person who raised the issue months ago) give us 
>some keywords on what problems need addressing?
>
>IV. Elections
>
>I believe that some (or even all) positions on the OSMF board are up for 
>election this year. I would like to start the process of finding 
>suitable candidates soon, so I would like to know how many people we 
>need and how many of the existing board members will seek re-election.
>
>(It doesn't have to be before SOTM of course but I believe there is a 
>board meeting in conjunction with SOTM, that's why I am writing this now 
>rather than next week!)
>
>Bye
>Frederik
>
>-- 
>Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
>
>_______________________________________________
>osmf-talk mailing list
>osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
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