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The format is rather simple: The format is rather simple (please see the Board Agenda page for lots of examples):
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In general, the proposals should be circulated and discussed on the board mailing list before the meeting, so that discussions at the meeting are kept to a minimum.

It is not good practice to bring up agenda items on the day of the meeting, since not all directors will always be able to attend meetings and some may not see the email proposing the resolution.

PSF Board Processes

This page describes a few processes we have in place for the working of the board.

Selection of Officers

The officers of the corporation shall consist of a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer, each of whom shall be elected by the Board of Directors. A Chairperson of the Board, one or more Vice Chairs, one or more Vice Presidents, and such other officers and assistant officers and agents as may be deemed necessary may be elected or appointed by the Board of Directors from time to time. Any two (2) or more offices may be held by the same person, except the offices of President and Secretary.

Yearly, the board should appoint new officers. Below is the list of officer positions (as of June 2014). Not all positions are mandatory. The board should examine this yearly based on the staff that has been hired and decide which positions they deem necessary. At the first board meeting, these positions are voted on.

  • President
  • Chairman
  • Vice Chair/Chair-Elect
  • Vice Chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Communications
  • PyCon US Chair

  • Event Coordinator

Voting Process

Motions can be put to a vote by any board member.

The standard procedure for the last few years has been to:

  1. suggest a resolution
  2. put it up for discussion (on the board list)
  3. sort out any amendments (on the board list)
  4. put the final resolution text on the meeting agenda (see BoardAgenda)

  5. vote on it either by email or in the next meeting

The voting itself (in step 5) is normally run by our secretary or the chairman.

Voting messages used in the meetings and for email votes:

  • agree: aye or yes

  • disagree: nay or no

  • no comment: abstain

Results are displayed in the format: number-of-aye-votes/number-of-nay-votes/number-of-abstain-votes. Examples:

  • 7-3-1 (motion passed)
  • 2-8-1 (motion rejected)
  • 2-2-7 (tie, no result)

Board Meetings

The meetings have been held traditionally every two weeks but most recently that has changed to "when needed" and when we can get at least 6 directors together to meet quorum. Ewa will send out a Doodle request for everyone to fill out their availability for each meeting.

The agenda for the resp. next board meeting is managed on the PSF Board Agenda Page.

Discussions during Board Meetings

Each item on the agenda should be handled as follows:

  • The next item to be discussed is pasted into the IRC window so everyone knows the topic of discussion.
  • The chairman will initiate discussion with DISCUSS. Each member who wishes to speak to the discussions may at any time say YES. The chairman will call on each member to speak appropriately. When discussions are over they will be ended by the chairman with either END DISCUSS if no vote is required, or VOTE.
  • If a vote is called then members have up to one minute to cast their vote. When all votes are cast or the minute has elapsed the chairman or (more usually) the Secretary will end the vote with END VOTE and the result will be announced.

Note: We're usually not strict about the one minute voting period limit.

Voting Procedure during Board Meetings

Motions can be put to a vote by any board member. They are normally taken from the agenda.

  • If a board member wants to discuss a motion before the vote, this is signaled with a DISCUSS note to the chat members. We've gotten used to having the chair of the meeting issue the DISCUSS right after the motion is presented.

  • After discussion, the chairman or secretary then starts the voting period with a VOTE. During voting periods no discussions should occur, if possible.

  • The voting period ends with an END VOTE by the chairman or secretary.

  • All votes are counted and the results displayed immediately for verification by the chat members.

Example:

  • bm1: RESOLVED, that all board members wear hats, unless it's raining, a Friday, or Easter falls on a Sunday.
    chair: DISCUSS
    bm2: So we never wear hats in a year where Easter falls on a Sunday ?
    bm1: Yes, that's the point.
    chair: Anything else ?
    chair: VOTE
    bm1: Aye
    bm2: Nay
    bm3: Aye
    bm4: Abstain
    chair: Aye
    chair: END VOTE
    secretary: Approved, 3-1-1.

Email Voting

Expedited votes may be conducted via email. However, passage of a motion outside of the scheduled meetings requires unanimity of the Directors as a constraint of Delaware Corporate Law. From time to time, the Board has used this mechanism to decide non-contentious matters that need to be acted on quickly.

Getting a motion on the agenda

This should be posted to the psf-board list and added to the PSF Board Agenda Page.

The format is rather simple (please see the Board Agenda page for lots of examples):

  • RESOLVED, that all apples are green and oranges don't count.

It is usual to put a short explanatory paragraph before the motion so directors understand why they are addressing this business.

In general, the proposals should be circulated and discussed on the board mailing list before the meeting, so that discussions at the meeting are kept to a minimum.

It is not good practice to bring up agenda items on the day of the meeting, since not all directors will always be able to attend meetings and some may not see the email proposing the resolution.

Putting draft minutes on the wiki

Process for creating new minute pages:

  • go to http://wiki.python.org/psf/Board/minutes

  • add a new line for the new minutes by copying an existing one and updating the date
  • click on the new link
  • click on the create page link
  • add these first lines (changing the date):
    #acl BoardGroup:read,write,delete,revert All:
    #format rst
    
    2010-08-16 PSF Board Meeting Minutes (draft)
    --------------------------------------------
  • save

Getting new software installed

Contact the Infrastructure Committee with the details about the software and how it should be set up.

Committee/Work Group Reports

The board requires monthly reports from all committees and workgroups in order to better oversee the actions implemented by the committees and their progress on assigned tasks.

Doug Hellmann has put together an email template to use for these reports.

Please use the following template for all reports:

XYZ Report - Date or Month Year
------------------------------------------------------

1. Continued Activities from Last Month

 - None

2. New Activities

 - None

3. Planned for Next Month

 - None

4. Ongoing Projects

 - None

5. Tabled Activities

 - None

6. Issues / Blockages

 - None

Please send the reports to psf-board@python.org no later than a day before the next board meeting when reports are due. Due dates for reports can be found on thePSF Board Agenda Page

Board/processes (last edited 2021-07-01 18:59:16 by EwaJodlowska)

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