[Foundation-l] Board question

Thu Jun 9 00:01:58 UTC 2005

> I'd like to ask the Board what its intentions are
> - should one of the community-elected trustees resign
> - should one of the non-elected positions (Tim and Michael) become vacant.

Speaking for myself, not the board, since it's not something we've
discussed, I think this would have to depend upon when the seat became
vacant. I don't think it would be practical to hold a separate
election for one seat within three months of the next election.

> The reason I raise this question is simple. Many potential candidates
> have stated that they will not stand for election because they support
> the current Board as it is, however, that they would stand if more than
> 2 seats were available. For this reason, I believe it would be bad if,
> as per the Bylaws, the Board were to appoint someone (whoever comes in
> third in this year's election, or whoever they trust the most, or
> anything like that) should one of the seats become vacant.

I don't really see how appointing someone to the board in the event of
a seat becoming vacant relates to the upcoming election. If we were to
appoint someone, I see no reason we'd simply appoint whoever came
third in this election.

> I would therefore appreciate assurance that any community members of the
> Board will be again chosen by the community in an election should such a
> situation arise

I'd be happy for that to happen as long it was more than three months
before the following election. If you want real assurance of this, the
bylaws would need to change since they currently specify that the
Board would make an appointment in such a situation. Asking for
assurance from the current Board without changing the bylaws won't
give you much of a guarantee since two of those members could be
replaced in the upcoming election.

Angela.