I've BCCed the main SLUG list on this email; please direct responses
to the activities@ list.
SLUG is an incorporated association. This places many burdens on the
association; in the main, we end up merely duplicating work and
expenses that Linux Australia does.
In addition, the aims and goals of SLUG seem to largely mirror those
of Linux Australia - with the exception that SLUG is exclusively
focused on the Sydney area while LA has a larger scope.
I'm proposing that we ask LA to take over the functions SLUG has
performed, and then wind up SLUG as an association.
This move would free the local open source community from:
- The requirement to have a Public Officer for SLUG (LA has a public
officer already)
- Requirements to lodge reports with the Dept. Fair Trading (LA has
to lodge more paperwork than SLUG does; but taking on SLUG's
responsibilities would not add to their burden)
- $800/year in insurance - this currently consumes almost 100% of our
income. If freed from this burden, we would not need to ask for
membership fees (LAs existing insurance would cover SLUG at no extra
cost, if SLUG was a subcommittee of LA)
- The requirement to have more than two members on the committee
(more on this later) (It's still a good idea to have >2 people, and we
probably want to have 3-4 - but as a subcommittee we can tweak that
number as needed, whereas now we're required to have at least 4; and
tweaking requires a special resolution to be passed at a General
Meeting..)
The suggested structure for a replacement for SLUG is as follows:
- Linux Australia would create a subcomittee (tentatively named the
Sydney Linux User Group subcommittee), and delegate to this
subcommittee the responsibility of running regular meetings and
coordinating other such activities as may seem useful to support the
open source communities in and around Sydney.
- The subcommittee can later, as needed, recruit other members as required
- Linux Australia will appoint two people to this subcommittee: the
people elected as President at the SLUG AGM in March 2011 to act as
convenor of the subcommittee, and the person elected as treasurer to
act as treasurer for the subcommittee
- SLUG would, pursuant to a Special Resolution passed at the March
2011 AGM, apply to the Director-General for approval to wind up the
association
- SLUG would, pursuant to the same Special Resolution, apply to the
Director-General to disburse all assets to LA, to be used by LA to
support the operations of the SLUG subcommittee
I’ve drafted the motion I’d like to put at the AGM onto the wiki
(http://wiki.slug.org.au/windup). The final wording needs to be
announced 21 days before the AGM, so please submit any feedback you
have in the next few days.
Relevant parts of the legislation:
Public Officer
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/act+7+2009+pt.4-div.2-sec.34+0+N
Voluntary Winding Up
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/act+7+2009+pt.6-div.3-sec.62+0+N
Distribution of surplus property
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/act+7+2009+pt.6-div.3-sec.65+0+N
Voting on Special Resolutions
http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/fragview/inforce/act+7+2009+pt.4-div.3-sec.39+0+N
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