[OSM-talk] [Osmf-talk] Modus operandi of the board

[Clifford Snow]

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 8:23 AM, Kathleen Danielson <
kathleen.danielson at gmail.com> wrote:

> What if we had some sort of compromise, and we asked the membership if we
> could hold another AGM in 3 months, followed 2 weeks (or so) later by an
> election? We've already talked about decoupling it from SOTM, and given
> what a global project it is, it's unrealistic to expect a majority of
> voting members to be able to attend SOTM. I haven't checked the bylaws, but
> I would guess there's no rule against having *more* than one AGM per year.
> OSM-US has started holding our AGMs remotely. I'm sure other groups do as
> well.
>
> If we did a 3 month time scale, we still wouldn't be making rash
> decisions, but we would have more chance of maintaining the momentum we've
> seen over the past month or so. The current board could also focus energy
> on preparing things so that there can be a smooth transition, even if there
> is high turnover in the board.
>

I think it is reasonable postpone elections for three months considering
current turmoil. With apologies to those that submitted their name in a
timely fashion, let's ask for more candidates. We should also expect them
to answer questions from the community. And as Richard said, maybe it the
time for the rest of the Board to step down. They are more than welcome to
submit their name for re-election. It appears to this outsider that not all
Board members have been "present."

The new Board should take up a strategy to prevent burnout. As anyone who
has ever served on a board, it is a tireless job with people constantly
complaining about your decisions. At the same time, Board members need to
step down if they can continue to actively participate. If they don't the
Board needs to ask for their resignation.

There has also been derogatory comments made about Steve. While only have
playing with OSM for the past three years, I've known Steve that entire
time. He has been an energetic supporter of OSM. Hurricane and Steve
started and actively participated in the Seattle Meetup Group, which is one
of the more successful groups in the US. Steve even led by example. He
walked the streets in my neighborhood to prove that addresses don't have to
come from imports. Of course it turned out we were too lazy and decided on
an import instead.

I can't speak to the "old" Steve, but my experiences for the past three
years have been nothing but positive. (and no I didn't join Map Club.)

Lastly, I'd like to remind everyone that the Board works for us. We should
expect them to get our input before changing directions. As Kate has
proposed, the Board should annually survey the community to get our input.
As much as I respect Steve, if he get elected, even he needs consult with
the community before setting goals. And we the community needs to hold the
Board accountable to us. I'd like to propose that the new Board survey the
community annually. We should also expect them to build a vision for OSM.
While it appears that our current mission statement was constructed by the
board, the vision statement needs to be developed by the community with the
Board acting as a facilitator.

Clifford
-- 
@osm_seattle
osm_seattle.snowandsnow.us
OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch
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