Board meeting, June 12th, 2023
Board members present
- Michael Schultheiss (schultmc) (President)
- Stephen Frost (Snow-Man) (Vice-President)
- Forrest Fleming (fsf) (Secretary)
- Joe Conway (jconway)
- Milan Kupcevic (milan)
- Jonatas L. Nogueira (jesusalva)
- Zach van Rijn (zv)
Board members partially present
- None
Board members absent with regrets
- Jeremy Stanley (fungi)
Board members absent
- Héctor Orón Martínez (zumbi) (Treasurer)
Registered guests present
- Síle Ekaterin Liszka
- Célestin Matte
- Levente Polyák
These are the minutes for the June 12th, 2023 SPI Board Meeting, held at 20:00 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org. LOG.
President's Report
Stephen Frost and I are completing the paperwork for our newest Merrill account, we will implement the tiered Certificate of Deposit (CD) and investment strategy we discussed with our financial advisor. Continued thanks to SPI Vice President, Stephen Frost, for handling contracting with SPI's contractors. Stephen continues to do a fantastic job working with our contractors and legal counsel.
Treasurer's report
Héctor Orón Martínez was not present.
The SPI treasury team is continuing to process requests and is striving for more timely ticket handling. The backlog is being processed but if there are any board members who would like to assist with treasury tasks, additional help is always welcome.
Secretary's report
Forrest Fleming:
Thank you, zv, for your continued support. After this meeting, zv will take over secretarial duties. Please ensure he receives all conflict of interest forms that have not yet been sent to secretary@. Many of those are still outstanding - please complete them.
Zach van Rijn:
I will be sending mail around soon to coordinate a face-to-face meeting.
Vote On Minutes For Previous Meetings
Vote on minutes for meeting Monday May 8th 2023
| Joe Conway | Yes |
| Forrest Fleming | Yes |
| Stephen Frost | Yes |
| Milan Kupcevic | Abstain |
| Jonatas L. Nogueira | Yes |
| Michael Schultheiss | Yes |
| Zach van Rijn | Yes |
Vote passed with 6 yes, 1 abstain, 0 no.
Items up for discussion
Vote to Confirm Zach van Rijn as Interim Secretary
| Joe Conway | Yes |
| Forrest Fleming | Yes |
| Stephen Frost | Yes |
| Milan Kupcevic | Yes |
| Jonatas L. Nogueira | Yes |
| Michael Schultheiss | Yes |
| Zach van Rijn | Abstain |
Vote passed with 6 yes, 1 abstain, 0 no.
Proposal for Communication Committee
Some members have been demanding more transparency and communication from SPI Board. Jonatas L. Nogueira (jesusalva) has drafted a proposal to allow the Secretary to delegate certain tasks to the Board or Membership. See Appendix B.
Zach van Rijn would like to see some of the language simplified/clarified.
The Board will discuss minor changes to this draft proposal, but there were no objections
to its content. The final proposal will be added to the agenda for the next meeting,
as well as to the spi-general mailing list for additional feedback.
Decide How to Handle 2019 By-Laws Revision
By-Laws deficiencies still need to be addressed.
We plan to discuss it at the next face-to-face Board meeting.
Other business
Arch Linux is asking for priority assistance in resolving Ticket 6282.
Jonatas L. Nogueira will add contract- and agreement- related tasks to Board RT to ensure consistency and for tracking purposes.
Stephen Frost and Michael Schultheiss will work with Levente Polyák (anthraxx) of Arch Linux after the meeting adjourns.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned until Monday July 10th, 2023 at 20:00 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org.
Appendix A: Current Board Membership
| Last elected | Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
| July 2021 | Michael Schultheiss | President |
| July 2021 | Stephen Frost | Vice President |
| July 2022 | Héctor Orón Martínez | Treasurer |
| July 2022 | Forrest Fleming | Secretary |
| July 2020 | Joe Conway | |
| July 2021 | Milan Kupcevic | |
| July 2022 | Jonatas L. Nogueira | |
| July 2022 | Jeremy Stanley | |
| July 2022 | Zach van Rijn |
Appendix B: Proposal for Communication Committee
A charter is hereby granted for the formation and operation of a committee within the guidelines and objectives stated herein. The committee shall operate in the best interest of the free software community and is responsible to the board of directors and to the membership of the organization. Purpose of the Committee It is the responsibility of this committee to aid the Secretary of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. in its communication tasks. This includes the tasks mandated by resolutions regarding SPI's decision making openness. This committee is defined in accordance with Article 10 of the SPI bylaws. Operating Guidelines The committee will be chaired by the Secretary and aid them by request or by craft, when noticing that a task assigned to the secretary regarding communications was not made. The members of the committee may also propose to the Secretary and operationalize once approved, new means to communicate with membership, observing SPI's governance. While membership in this committee does not include nor preclude any specific power, right or grant, the Secretary may delegate part of their powers and responsibilities regarding communication to the committee, including and not limited to managing social media accounts, writing minutes, moderating, or posting summaries about SPI's activities in the relevant mailing lists. Any power, right or grant directly and expressly attributed to the Secretary by the By-Laws, such as summoning board directors for meetings, managing votes and elections, the objective responsibility over SPI's documents and representation in Board meetings, may not be delegated to the committee without the Board's express approval. Membership and Organization This committee will be chaired by the Secretary, and will consist of a group of up to four people including the Secretary, which may be from SPI's contributing membership or from the Board itself. Members will be designed by the Secretary or by the Board of Directors. The secretary may establish guidelines in how the committee will be operated, the term for the committee members, how contributing members may join the committee, and may also remove any committee member at their sole discretion. The Secretary should provide a summary in the next Board Meeting in case it happens.