[sakai-pmc] Proposal to amend PMC bylways regarding term of election

[Noah Botimer]

I think an annual term is generally fine, but we should be conscious of the impacts upon the vice-chair position. Assuming we preserve the de jure succession, we would be enacting a two-year commitment.

I don't know whether we, as a body, consider serving as vice-chair immediately prior to serving as chair to be important. It could be that serving as a vice-chair is an eligibility requirement to being chair, but succession is not important. Or it could be that there is no eligibility concern.

I don't want to confuse the issue too much, but I would like us to consider the role of the vice-chair and what we really want to vote on (chair, vice-chair, chair-in-a-year).

I am not necessarily opposed to simply adjusting the terms and continuing to vote for vice-chair. I am just raising the topic in case we see an election arrangement that fits our goals better.

Thanks,
-Noah


P.S., I support Sam's preference that we would extend current terms rather than incoming.

On Dec 20, 2013, at 11:42 AM, May, Megan Marie wrote:

> I’m on board with this as well
>  
> From: sakai-pmc-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org [mailto:sakai-pmc-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org] On Behalf Of Charles Severance
> Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 11:32 AM
> To: Sam Ottenhoff
> Cc: sakai-pmc at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Subject: Re: [sakai-pmc] Proposal to amend PMC bylways regarding term of election
>  
> I think that this is a great idea.  We are settling into an annual rhythm with a release in the summer - we might as well align our leadership changes in the same way.
>  
> /Chuck
>  
> On Dec 19, 2013, at 4:49 PM, Sam Ottenhoff <ottenhoff at longsight.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> OVERVIEW: The six month rotating chair rule inherited from TCC practice specifies too short a time period between elections to ensure effective continuity in office for members elected to serve a committee now responsible for oversight of the Sakai project within a broader Apereo community. The rule results in the PMC chair and vice-chair rotating too often and results in too much time spent on elections. The frequency of rotations between chairs also complicates communications between the PMC and other bodies (Foundation director, conference planning, licensing, etc) and contributes to a perception of instability within the committee.  
> 
> PROPOSAL:  I propose we extend the term of office to one year per Apache PMC protocol, with the term ending on the last day of the month of the primary Apereo Conference (or June 30 if there is no primary conference). 
>    
> Specifically, I propose we strike this language:
> 
> Rotating position. Elected by simple majority vote of membership unless replaced by vice-chair according to order of succession described below.
> Term: 6 months [1]
> 
> And replace it with this text taken from the Apache bylaws section 6.4:
> 
> Each officer shall hold office for a period of one year or until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. [2]
> 
> Amending the PMC governance rules will require a roll call vote of the membership.  I request that the chair schedule a vote.
> 
> 
> [1] Section 1.2, https://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/PMC/Governance
> [2] Section 6.4, http://www.apache.org/foundation/bylaws.html
> _______________________________________________
> sakai-pmc mailing list
> sakai-pmc at collab.sakaiproject.org
> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/sakai-pmc
>  
> _______________________________________________
> sakai-pmc mailing list
> sakai-pmc at collab.sakaiproject.org
> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/sakai-pmc

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://collab.sakaiproject.org/pipermail/sakai-pmc/attachments/20131220/9dd46382/attachment-0001.html