[Eg-oversight-board] EOB elections

[Grace Dunbar]

Hi all,
It's that time again.  Oversight Board elections!

Per the rules of governance: <http://evergreen-ils.org/governance/>
*"At the end of the Evergreen Conference for a calendar year, the term of
outgoing Board members will end and the term of incoming Board members will
begin. If no Evergreen Conference is held during a calendar year, terms
will begin and end at midnight EDT on April 30."*

According to the above, there’s no reason we can’t announce the new members
slightly in advance of their term beginning, which I favor, as it’s easier
to schedule the elections without trying to plan it around getting the
numbers in the week of the conference. Also, it’s easier for the new
members to plan to attend the EOB meeting at the conference if they’re
given as much notice as possible.

With that in mind, I'd like to propose the following schedule for the
timing of general EOB elections going forward. (What this would mean for
elections this year is noted in parentheses.)


   - The election processes should begin 6 weeks prior to the annual
   conference or April 15th, whichever comes first.  (April 15 comes first
   this year)
   - Weeks 1-3 to nominate/accept candidacy (Starting March 4 through March
   25)
   - Weeks 2-3 for finalization of candidates bios and management of voting
   registration (March 18 through March 25)   * Yes, there’s overlap. :)*
   - Week 4 for voting and finalization of those elected. (March 26 through
   April 1)
   - Week 5 for: Notification of the new Board members, ironing out
   conflicts so new members can attend the EOB meeting at the annual
   conference (either in person or virtually), and announcing the new members
   (?). (April 2 through April 9)

Which brings me to my next question/issue that I'd like to discuss.
I’ve left Week 6 (April 10-April 15) open for nomination and election(?) of
officers.

I've been concerned about the Board elections and I would like to talk
about ways we could improve them.  Is there any support for nominations of
officers prior to the elections?  I think it might allow us to give more
thoughts to the candidates for each position and perhaps encourage
participation/competition. Do you think that setting aside the final week
of the process to at least nominate the officers and maybe even vote on
them would have merit?

The one certain benefit of having the officers nominations and elections
prior to the conference, and not trying to shoehorn it into a normal
meeting, is you could hold each office's election separately.  First,
nominations for Chair, then we vote for the Chair.  Then Vice Chair
nominations...etc.  This would allow someone who was nominated for Chair to
declare interest in running for Vice Chair or Secretary, if they don't win
the Chair position.  I feel that this kind of thing, while possible, is
much harder to accomplish with our current election process.
Also, we're all so darned nice we don't like to compete against one
another.  ;)

Anyhow, I'm done rambling for now.
Please give the above ideas some thought and respond with any criticisms or
concerns prior to tomorrow's meeting if you can.  I'd like to set the
election schedule tomorrow if possible but if any of these proposed changes
are too contentious we can always handle it next week via an email vote.

Cheers!
Grace

-- 
Grace Dunbar, Vice President
Equinox Software, Inc.  -  The Open Source Experts
gdunbar at esilibrary.com
1-877-OPEN-ILS    www.esilibrary.com
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