--- Erik Moeller erik_moeller@gmx.de wrote:
Yes, that makes sense wherever there is a need for official contacts; in particular, every wiki should have a content partnership coordinator and a press contact. I'm not sure if we can legally transfer the position of treasurer like that, but it would be a shame if Mav couldn't continue his great work in that area.
Thanks :) Just rewrite the by-laws to separate the function of treasurer from being one of the trustees to being a separate financial officer who is appointed by the trustees and approved by the membership (same with the secretary position - we also may eventually need a president and vice president, but that can wait). The current by-laws are still in final draft form so this should be an easy thing to do.
But as I said before, I don't want this position, I just want to make sure the work gets done and am willing to do that work. If a Wikimedian who happened to have relevant experience, who was trusted by board, and who wanted to do the work showed up, then I would let them do that work and I would work in some other area that needed attention. Until then, I serve at the pleasure of the board.
I would be able to do a much better job if I had the ability to check the Wikimedia bank account balance and transactions myself and had better access to the PayPal account. As it is, I have to pester Jimbo about the bank account balance every few weeks ( <cough> currently pestering </cough> ;) and the limited PayPal access I have gives me raw data that are difficult to work with (there seem to be advanced reporting features that I'm locked out of). I also have no way to really account for expenditures and thus have not been tracking that - that's not good.
But if a background check were conducted on me (Jimbo already has the info needed for that) and I had an official position in the foundation, then I could have the access I need in order to correctly report the foundation's finances. Until then I'm perfectly fine with the limited access I do have. I feel that, organizationally, it would set a dangerous precedent to give anyone such access minus a background check and an official position that the officer (and ultimately his/her boss, the trustees) are accountable for.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
PS: I haven't made a final decision yet, but so far I like what I'm hearing from the leading trustee candidates and thus (so far) don't feel I need to run.
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