--- Arkady Rose <arkady.rose(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Call an EGM. The Treasurer and Company Secretary
MUST be held to account
for their failure to discharge their duties. New members must be
appointed to the board, and a vote of no confidence taken in the
Treasurer so that he can be removed from his position and someone
appointed in his place who will actually grasp the very real and serious
responsibilities inherant in the position and fulfill it appropriately.
The Company Secretary must explain to the board of directors precisely
why he has failed to respond to efforts to contact him, why he has
failed to carry out those duties he has agreed to, and what steps he
intends to take to ensure the situation does not arise again. The board
of directors as a whole must discuss precisely WHY events were allowed
to proceed to this point in the first place and what will be done to
ensure this situation does not arise again.
As far as I understand it, only the directors are members of the company at
present, so only the directors (that's these folks:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK#Board_of_Directors ) can call the
AGM or do anything about it. Perhaps Alison, as your final (I read your email
as "I have decided to quit" rather than "I am thinking of quitting")
act, you
could see this through - so long as at least two director/members are present
at the start, and so long as at least two director members are present at the
end (though not necessarily the same ones!), that's fine - the absent directors
may continue to be absent and may be resigned in absentia. We don't need a
witchhunt ot a public flogging, we just need wiki-uk to get back on track.
Whether WMUK survives this or implodes is up to
them. They are the ones
who will have to account for their inactions to Company House - and to
all the people who have increasingly been demanding to know exactly what
has been done to take WMUK towards charitable status and complaining
about the lack of communication from the directors.
Companies House only care that directors haven't done anything illegal (as far
as I can tell, they haven't, they've just been absent), and that directors file
the accounts and keep the records held at Companies House up to date. Checking
their record, they have to file accounts from incorporation to 28/2/2007 by
14/12/2007, and they will have just been sent an annual return asking them to
check that the names and addresses of directors are correct, which is due to be
returned shortly.
As I said before, I hope this is a stumble not a fall - and that all those who
care about Wikimedia UK support in a positive way its continuence. I'm fairly
sure that the current directors don't need any more complaints, demands,
mudslinging or witchhunts - they need our support and advice.
Best regards
Scott
I think Scott is quite correct: The current membership is limited to
the five signatories to the memoranda and articles of association, who
also formed the board. As far as I know we have not done anything
remotely illegal, but some of us have been rather crap (and I'm as
much to blame for this as anybody else).
Speaking for myself, I'll also echo Scott's suggestion that we should
not engage in whichhunts, mudslinging, name calling or associated
silliness. We will be meeting shortly and will outline the current
position, and what we see as the way forward, after that meeting.
Best wishes,
Andrew