As we are now ~3 days into the first annual OpenSolaris Member's Meeting and we
still are sitting at about 2/3 of the needed quorum, it is worth spending a few
moments thinking about the situation.
In my reading of the constitution, quorum is 1/3 the total Membership, or ~123.
It is counted as
count( uniq( (Members joining the IRC "meeting room") + (voters casting
votes)))
What are our choices?
0) If we reach quorum by the end of the meeting/voting period, then all is
well and this contingency planning isn't needed.
If not, what happens? I see 3 choices:
1) We do nothing. The current board stays in office indefinitely, holding
and
re-holding "please vote for someone else" meetings of the membership in
the
eternal hope for quorum...
(6.3: ... Each OGB member shall hold office for the term for which he or
she
is elected, until his or her successor shall have been elected and
qualified,
or until his or her earlier resignation, removal, or death.)
2) We disband the community. Same as #1, but the current board resigns,
effectively
dissolving the community and throwing it back in Sun's lap.
3) We choose to move ahead anyways - "if the rules get in the way of doing
what
is right, do what is right, and fix the rules later." Treat the election
as
valid, put the new board in place, and continue on, with a bunch of work
to do.
I assert that, if we don't get to quorum, choice 3 is the only viable one for us
as a community. As it stands now, we have ~80 people who care enough about the
community to actually participate in its operation. This implies we have a
community structure that is out of whack with the community itself, and the
first thing the new OGB (along with the 80 or so members who have indicated
that they wish to be involved) needs to do is figure out a better structure,
play test it for a year, adjust things as needed, write down what works, and
forge *that* document into a constitution to be voted upon next year.
Thoughts?
-John
