[Wikimedia-l] Board resolutions on bylaw amendments and appointment of Foundation staff officers

[Samuel Klein]

On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 3:07 PM, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:

> Phoebe writes:

> > * a formal Board resolution that states the procedure for bylaws
> > changes (mirroring the other procedural resolutions, such as voting
> > transparency and deliberation rules).
>

+1.  We have a procedure, it's just not a good one - it's not enough to
notify the Trustees N days in advance, that should be a public
notification.  We do this infrequently, and can take our time: 1 month of
public notice for discussion seems reasonable to me.  (That said: if there
are revisions or rollbacks proposed by the community thanks to something
that was overlooked in the latest bylaws revision, we don't *need* to do
this infrequently and could get to it at our next voice or in-person
meeting.)


> > * a better (more public) standing rules/procedures type of document
> > that lays out the procedure for how the board works -- i.e. what the
> > best practice is for notification of meetings, etc. etc.
>

A guideline rather than policy here makes sense.  Public posting of an
agenda with supporting docs a week in advance, and a note to the
wikimedia-l list seems like a reasonable target.  Along with public
solicitation of suggestions for future meetings.


> > I guess now that I've made these suggestions I've also volunteered
> > myself to work on them, huh :P
>

:)


> In the past, Sam has said that private solicitation of Board members to
> introduce a resolution was the best approach.


*Public* solicitation, actually. I can't think of any reason to privately
solicit individual Board members.

Proposed resolutions should be drafted in public on Meta.

What I believe I said is: the policy for moving to vote on a Board
resolution is simple (per
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Vote:Board_deliberations ) : any
resolution that two Trustees move/second for a vote will be reviewed and
voted on within ~3 weeks.

Developers use Bugzilla to track issues. I'm not sure what Board members
> use. Mandatory notification prior to bylaws changes seems like an issue
> that
> has suffered from poor issue tracking, as a request that ultimately needs a
> (Board) resolution. Perhaps a page at Meta-Wiki could track such requests?
>

How about a Board board?  http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/BN

Sam.