Re: Minutes of the Board meeting of June, 6th, 2017

[Tobias Mueller <tobiasmue gnome org>]

Hi.

On Mi, 2017-06-14 at 14:06 +0100, Allan Day wrote:
> There are two issues here: the practicalities of transitioning between
> boards, and what we are required to do by the bylaws.
Sure.  And I'd be surprised if the new board members wouldn't see it
similarly.
But the way the minutes are written makes it sound less distinct and
more like that the old board can decide when the new board starts
coming into power.

> As for the second issue, as far as I can see, the bylaws don't say
> exactly when new board members should take office. (Let me know if
> I've missed something.)
The bylaws say for how long the directors shall hold office, i.e. they
are elected for a certain term.  The duration of the term of the
current board is one year (unless, e.g. no new board has been elected,
or it had been decided to make the term longer; see below).  The
current term started July 2016. It thus ends at the end of June 2017.

>  However, there are statements which suggest
> that the AGM is the time. For example, clause 8.2.1 states: "The
> Directors shall fix their number at an annual meeting."
This is not related as it's about changing the number of directors.


> Looking at this, it seems that we haven't been as clear as we should
> be regarding the length of each term.
Because there is no need to. The provision you cited¹ defines the term
to be one year. Unless it's been decided otherwise for an upcoming
election. As that was not the case, the term is indeed one year.
1: https://people.gnome.org/~tobiasmue/bylaws2012/bylaws.html#election-and-term-of-office-of-directors

Cheers,
  Tobi