Florence writes:
In fall 2006, we did not perform criminal
background checks afaik.
Are we doing that now ?
From what I understood, Mike took care of this and this is now being
done. It is fairly recent, the board did not get any report on this,
so
I can not further comment.
I can confirm that the Foundation has retained an independent firm
that conducts criminal background checks, consistent with state and
federal law in the USA.
I asked Mike to work on a policy related to conflict
of interest
for the
staff. We already have made that policy at board level several months
ago, and it is successfully implemented. However, the policy at staff
level is a bit broken and was never implemented. I told Mike I would
like him to work on this.
This is in progress.
There comes a point when we must balance between
telling you guys
stuff,
and shutting up to avoid further troubles. Unfortunately.
I wholly agree with Florence on this point, especially the
"Unfortunately" part. My own inclination is to be as upfront and
open as possible. So when you see me cautioning against public
statements, you should infer that it's for some compelling legal
reason, and not out of disregard for the importance of community
information and participation.
--Mike