[Foundation-l] Volunteer Council - A shot for a resolution

Thu Mar 13 10:42:31 UTC 2008

> Ray Saintonge wrote:
>> Ziko van Dijk wrote:
>>>> way to get the views of the community heard. Whether the board will be
>>>> bound by the decisions of the council or not (and if they are, in what
>>>> areas) is one of the details that people disagree on.
>>>>
>>> The size of the council would be a detail, but the character (advisory
>>> /
>>> decision-making) is the main question. I do not want an organ that has
>>> a
>>> voice but no responsibility.
>> That's a reasonable concern.  It's clear that the Board cannot do it
>> all.  We would want to develop a reasonable division of responsibility
>> between Board and Council.  Some of the relative responsibilities seem
>> obvious: The Board would still have essential control over finances,
>> hardware and legal affairs; the Council would be more concerned with
>> community matters, and the very broad threads of policy.  What the
>> Provisional Council needs to establish between the time it is named and
>> the time it becomes a fully functional council is that it is capable of
>> responsible decision making in the way it runs its affairs.  Whether it
>> can should be evident in its September report.
>>
>> Ec
>
>
> This said...
>
> If we set up a council to deal with community affairs, and mostly let
> the board to deal with finances, hardware and legal affairs..., I am
> sure it occured to you that most community members do not have much
> expertise with regards to finances, hardware, legal, audit etc...
> considerations.
>
> This would suggest that the board could evolve to be a body essentially
> populated with professionals rather than community members.
>
> With the co-existence of two bodies, both with a decision making
> authority.
>
> If so, the important question then left is essentially, what should be
> under the authority of who ?
>
> With a bunch of minor questions such as
> "how does it fit with the usual structure of a US based Foundation"
> "how does the ED deal with two bodies rather than one"
>
> Ant
>

A bit like a parlament (representative body) and a government (executive
body).

Cheers,
Yaroslav