[TriLUG] [TriLUG-announce] Business Meeting: Discussion of Bylaws - April 22

[Steve Litt]

On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 22:23:13 -0400
"Hrivnak, Michael" <mhrivnak at hrivnak.org> wrote:

> The current draft of the bylaws is available for review here:
> http://trilug.org/~mhrivnak/DraftTriLUGbylaws.pdf
> 
> Please have a look, and come to the meeting if you would like to
> provide feedback or ideas. If you cannot attend the meeting but would
> like to provide input, feel free to email your thoughts to
> steering at trilug.org.
> 
> Thanks,
> Michael

I'm not in North Carolina, so this is just one man's opinion. That
being said, I was a founding member of Linux Enthusiasts and
Professionals of Central Florida (LEAP-cf). The bylaws look good to me.
Here are a few observations:

Article III, section 4, elections, says secret ballot, but doesn't
mention whether it's at a meeting, or emailed ballots, or something
else. It says you can vote for up to 5, but doesn't say whether there's
any prioritization on the ballot.

Article IV, Officers: The way it stands now is that if you're on the
steering committee, you must be an officer. Some folks are great at
facilitating discussions, getting great ideas and moving toward
concensus, but they're not good at the technical/logistical tasks of an
officer. How would you feel about adding two members at large to the
steering committee?


Article III, section 8, Meetings: Depending on the definition of the
word "should", this establishes a quorum as 100% of the steering
committee. My experience from being on LEAP's Exec Committee for three
years (president for 1) tells me that's not going to happen often. This
could be especially a problem if a perpetually absent steering
committee member needs removal, but, because he's never there, a quorum
can never be reached in order to inform the membership that his removal
vote will be taken at the next meeting.

Personally, based on my experience, I'd recommend adding the two
members at large so the committee is now seven people, and making the
quorum half steering committee (four when all 7 membership
positions are filled). That way, the committee can meet functionally
without everyone's participation, and what I've found is that when
committee members consider that a small number of people could make
policy if the committee member doesn't show up, the committee member
moves heaven and earth to get there. Something should be added to
Article III, section 7, Vacancies, to require a timely replacement.

HTH,

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance