[Eg-oversight-board] Election process, officer elections, and executive sessions

[Grace Dunbar]

Hi,
I promised to send out an email regarding EOB elections.
For starters, I want to provide a quick review of the voting process.
We are currently accepting nominations for the Board.  The deadline is this
Friday.
Like in years past, folks have to register to vote.  The deadline for
registration is this Friday and the link to the registration form is here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EOB2016 . That list will capture the email
addresses we need to send the link to the election on OpaVote.

This year, as it was last year, voting process is approval style (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting).  You should vote for the
four candidates that you feel will best represent the community and the
project's interests.

Last month I sent out an email that proposed we adopt an election timeline
that is something that has a little more specificity than can be used
year-to-year.  Right now the wording is, "Each year, the Board shall
promulgate procedures for nominating and electing new Board members."
(2.4d)

I'd like to suggest something a little more structured, such as:
Election processes should begin 6 weeks prior to the annual conference or
April 1st, whichever comes first.
Nominations and voter registration shall be managed in weeks 1-3.
Week 4 shall be set aside for voting and Weeks five and six shall be for
new member notification and officer elections.
Newly elected officers will take office at the end of the Evergreen
Conference for that calendar year. If no Evergreen Conference is held
during a calendar year, office terms will begin and end at midnight EDT on
April 30.

Does anyone have any thoughts positive or negative on election of officers
prior to the conference?  If no objections, do you have thoughts on how we
should structure voting for the chair, vice-chair, secretary, and
representative?  I would assume we would nominate and vote on each position
separately.  Maybe take nominations for Chair Monday am, vote Monday pm -
take nominations for Vice-Chair Tuesday am, vote Tuesday pm, and so on?
That would allow someone who ran for a position to run for another position
if they weren't elected to the first.  Or we could do all nominations and
then handle it via STV
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote>, RCV, or Approval
voting.  Thoughts?

I would also like to toss out a few ideas that I'd like to hear feedback on.

How do you all feel about a proposal that members newly elected to the EOB
(e.g. in their first ever EOB term) may not be nominated to core roles of
Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary, or Conservancy Representative?  They can,
however, be nominated to serve as committee chairs.

Also, the Board has been called upon to appoint several new members when
elected members have resigned.  Personally, I find the Board appointment
process to be an issue as it has the potential to change the dynamic of our
elected board.  Would there be any interest in proposing a change to the
rules of governance to require special elections when a Board member leaves
with more than 6 months left in their term?

This would require some additional language around the structure and terms
of special elections, but I wanted to see if the idea was compelling before
writing further language.

Lastly, I do think we need to add some language to the Rules of Governance
about how to manage the occasional executive session.

I know I've tossed out a lot of ideas; I'd love to hear your thoughts on
any and all of them.

Cheers!
Grace



-- 

Grace Dunbar, Vice President
Equinox - Open Your Library
gdunbar at esilibrary.com
1-877-OPEN-ILS  |  www.esilibrary.com
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