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

Tue Mar 22 10:45:13 EDT 2016

Okay, here are my thoughts, such as they are.

1.  I like the proposed election timeline.  It's unambiguous and inherently
provides guidance for "generations to come."
2.  While it might be more mental work, I think the idea of the daily
nominations for officers would work so long as those voting days and times
were very explicit.  I've found, recently, that I often come in on the tail
end of conversations because of doing other library things.  If the
days/times are explicit, I can just add them into my calendar and treat
them like an event.  I imagine that I'm not the only one in this boat.
3.  With regard to newly elected members of the EOB, I agree that they
should NOT be elected to any core roles.  On other types of boards, I don't
think this is necessarily as big of a deal, but with the EOB, there are
specific technical competencies that a new member would (speaking for
myself) have a significant learning curve.  There are also some very
important interactions that happen between the EOB and the Conservancy that
a "young" member would not yet have context or competency to handle
(generally speaking).
4.  Yes.  There should be a special election for any candidates to the EOB
who will be filling a vacated spot with more than 6 months left in their
term, and the rules/by-laws should be updated to reflect that.
5.  Also, yes on the language regarding executive session.

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Tim Spindler <tjspindler at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>
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