Notification of membership vote regarding change to bylaws

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

Notification of membership vote regarding change to bylaws
==========================================================

GNOME Foundation members,

The Board is proposing a change to the GNOME Foundation bylaws to allow the
directors to determine the length of the next Board term when elections are
called. An earlier proposal was discussed on foundation-list in August, and
this modified proposal is a result of legal advice to the Board, suggesting
that we change the bylaws to provide flexibility in future.

For those interested in the previous discussion, please see the archives:

  http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2007-August/msg00025.html


Proposed amendment
------------------

The current text of VIII 3. (a):

  Each of the directors shall hold office for one (1) year.

Proposed text:

  Each of the directors shall hold office for one (1) year, or a period of
  up to two (2) years as determined by the Board and announced prior to an
  election being called.


Voting Process
--------------

While a vote is not required to amend the bylaws, due to the distributed
nature of our community, it is simpler to invoke a special meeting by way of
online vote as described in XVI (iii). This proposal will be linked on the
Foundation website as soon as it appears in the mail archive.

The online vote will be administered by the membership committee, in much
the same way as the Foundation Board elections are run.

September 7 - Official proposal of bylaws amendment announced to members
September 21 - End of application renewal period
September 28 - Amendment proposal period ends
September 28 - Instructions mailed to eligible voters, voting begins 
October 12 - Voting closes
October 15 - Preliminary results are announced
October 22 - Last day to challenge preliminary results


Thanks,

- Jeff

-- 
  Jeff Waugh
  Director, GNOME Foundation
  m: +61 423 989 818
  p: +61 2 9318 0284
  w: http://perkypants.org/