[OSM-talk] Postponing elections, or other alternatives (Was: Modus operandi of the board)

[Kathleen Danielson]

Frederik,

Thank you for your brainstorming on this topic. It's been very helpful.

I'm curious about whether the membership is interested in us pursuing some
kind of "reboot". We've only heard a few voices on the topic, which has
made me reluctant to work on organizing anything that might go against the
membership's wishes. This is made a bit easier by the fact that any
resolution would still have to pass a vote, so even if we moved forward
with such an initiative it could only be enacted if a majority of us
actually wanted it.

It might be easier to decide in advance of the election whether or not this
is something we want to request from the board, simply because we'll all
have that much more information as we are electing the 3 new board members.

If this is something that you are interested in, and you are a member of
the OSMF (you can still join, I think), please chime in here,  or contact
me privately. We'll still need to work out the mechanics of a
recommendation, but if there is enough interest I'll help us get this
started.

On Oct 26, 2014 12:32 AM, "Frederik Ramm" <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
>    I've raised the idea of postponing AGM and election with the board
> but it appears that there is no board majority for postponing/cancelling
> anything.
>
> Of course you or any other OSMF member is welcome to coordinate plans
> for members to make a (non-binding) recommendation about how they would
> like the board to proceed.
>
> I'll avoid the word 'resolution' here because a resolution is something
> that would be binding and have to be properly put on the invitation when
> the AGM was announced and it is too late for that.
>
> This would really need some champion from the membership drawing up some
> wording and getting the necessary support behind it. I find the whole
> thing interesting but personally I have taken a very explicit position
> in the whole affair and it would polarize too much if I were to
> spearhead a "reboot" effort.
>
> I guess the 100% proper and legal way would be to not rush anything into
> this AGM. Instead (and IANAL etc, just a reader of our AoA and Companies
> Act)
>
> 1. Draw up a proposal for a reboot, for example saying that the whole
> board is sacked and re-elected and nobody with more than X years on the
> board is eligible.
>
> 2. Find 26 OSMF members who like the idea. Or better 30. You need 5% of
> voters. This is complicated by the fact that you don't know who the
> voters are but if you fish among osmf-talk participants you have a good
> starting point.
>
> 3. Write to the board requesting a general meeting as per the paragraphs
> I mentioned earlier, with the agenda consisting of the sole item of
> passing the drafted resolution. The board then has 21 days to announce
> that a general meeting takes place, and the meeting must take place
> between 14 and 28 days after that announcement. This means that the
> meeting will take place between 14 and 49 days after board receives your
> request.
>
> 4. At the meeting, you'll then need a simple majority of all votes to
> get the resolution passed.
>
> That would create a binding resolution, and would also be the only way
> that works should individual board members refuse to comply. If on the
> other hand you can assume that all board members will support the
> effort, a simple declaration of intent by a large enough group of
> members could be sufficient. But if that intent should contain that the
> whole board is to quit and one member then were to refuse, the only way
> to force them would most likely be the above GM process.
>
> Bye
> Frederik
>
> --
> Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
>
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