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

[Tim Spindler]

Thanks Grace, I think I was confusing things overall.   We have standard
process for electing people to the board but we do not have a formalized
process for electing the chair, vice chair and secretary.

In any case, I think having a timeline you suggest is still a good idea.

Tim
On Mar 21, 2016 6:15 PM, "Grace Dunbar" <gdunbar at esilibrary.com> wrote:

> Hi Tim,
> Thanks for the input!
> I was clearly unclear.  :)
> I think that our current structure of having the Board vote in its own
> officers is fine.  Though if someone has a compelling argument for having
> the community vote on officers I'd be happy to discuss it.  The issue that
> has been bothering me is that we generally elect officers in a voice vote
> at a tiring and possible stressful conference.  From everything I've
> researched, nominations followed by voice vote are generally not
> recommended for officer elections as it puts people in an awkward position
> of saying, "Golly,Bob sure is great, but I think I'd do a better job than
> he will at being Supreme Commander..."  and worse, we put them on the spot
> in an in-person meeting to do it.
>
> So, I think that my suggestion should be taken as keeping the voting for
> Board members to the Board, but addressing the election time frame to a.)
> remove it from the in-person EG conference meeting thus the immediate voice
> vote and b.) allowing for a more thoughtful and considered approach to
> elections.  Also, it would free up most of the in person meeting for other
> issues.
>
> Thanks!
> Grace
>
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 3:11 PM, Tim Spindler <tjspindler at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Grace,
>>
>> I think the structure you are suggesting is appropriate including the
>> time line with appropriate reminders as has been suggested.   I also think
>> it is a good idea for voting outside of conference so it is more inclusive
>> but also provides an opportunity for incoming officers to be more formally
>> introduced at the conference.
>>
>> I think the only thing I have difficulty is deciding who can vote.  It is
>> a bit informal but I don't have alternatives unless we were to create some
>> kind of formal membership organization which I see as an entirely different
>> discussion with its own advantages and disadvantages.
>>
>> Tim Spindler
>> C/W MARS
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Grace Dunbar <gdunbar at esilibrary.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> eg-oversight-board mailing list
>>> eg-oversight-board at list.evergreen-ils.org
>>> http://list.evergreen-ils.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/eg-oversight-board
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tim Spindler
>> tjspindler at gmail.com
>>
>> *P**   Go Green - **Save a tree! Please don't print this e-mail unless
>> it's really necessary.*
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Grace Dunbar, Vice President
> Equinox - Open Your Library
> gdunbar at esilibrary.com
> 1-877-OPEN-ILS  |  www.esilibrary.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.evergreen-ils.org/pipermail/eg-oversight-board/attachments/20160321/a4a5a688/attachment-0001.html>