Board meeting, November 12th, 2015
Board members present
- Bdale Garbee (bdale) (President)
- Joerg Jaspert (Ganneff) (Vice President)
- Michael Schultheiss (schultmc) (Treasurer)
- Martin Michlmayr (tbm) (Secretary)
- Joshua D. Drake (linuxhiker)
- Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)
- Martin Zobel-Helas (zobel)
Board members partially present
- None
Board members absent with regrets
- Gregers Petersen (glp)
Board members absent
- Robert Brockway (Solver)
Board advisors present
- None
Registered guests present
- David Graham (cdlu)
- Richard Hartmann (RichiH)
- Jimmy Kaplowitz (Hydroxide)
- Jonathan McDowell (Noodles)
- H W Tovetjärn (totte)
These are the minutes for the November 12th, 2015 SPI Board Meeting, held at 20:30 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org. LOG.
President's Report
Bdale Garbee had nothing to report.
Treasurer's report
Michael Schultheiss is caught up on treasurer's reports. The reports for August to October are attached to the agenda.
Secretary's report
Martin Michlmayr has completed the outstanding minutes.
Outstanding minutes
Vote on Meeting Minutes for 13th August 2015:
| Joshua D. Drake | Abstain |
| Bdale Garbee | Yes |
| Joerg Jaspert | Abstain |
| Dimitri John Ledkov | Yes |
| Martin Michlmayr | Yes |
| Michael Schultheiss | Yes |
| Martin Zobel-Helas | Yes |
Motion passed with a vote of 5 yes, 2 abstain, 0 missing.
Vote on Meeting Minutes for 10th September 2015:
| Joshua D. Drake | Abstain |
| Bdale Garbee | Yes |
| Joerg Jaspert | Abstain |
| Dimitri John Ledkov | Abstain |
| Martin Michlmayr | Yes |
| Michael Schultheiss | Yes |
| Martin Zobel-Helas | Abstain |
Motion passed with a vote of 3 yes, 4 abstain, 0 missing.
Vote on Meeting Minutes for 8th October 2015:
| Joshua D. Drake | Abstain |
| Bdale Garbee | Abstain |
| Joerg Jaspert | Yes |
| Dimitri John Ledkov | Abstain |
| Martin Michlmayr | Yes |
| Michael Schultheiss | Yes |
| Martin Zobel-Helas | Abstain |
Motion passed with a vote of 3 yes, 4 abstain, 0 missing.
Items up for discussion
LIR (Local Internet Registry) and SPI budget
The Debian project requested to register SPI as LIR (Local Internet Registry). Dimitri John Ledkov was wondering whether it would make sense for SPI to pay for the fees and extend the benefits to all SPI projects. After some discussion, Dimitri John Ledkov agreed to reach out to other SPI associated projects to see if they are interested.
Status of our current treasurer process
Martin Zobel-Helas expressed concerns about the treasurer process since there are many outstanding requests. He suggested finding ways of processing transactions more quickly, staffing the treasurer's position with more personnel, and organizing a treasurer sprint. Dimitri John Ledkov volunteered as assistant treasurer. The board agreed to evaluate progress made in the next board meeting and decide then whether a sprint would be useful.
Conflict of interest policy
Dimitri John Ledkov took the conflict of interest policy from Software Freedom Conservancy, which is compliant with NYC law, as a basis for SPI's policy. He gathered some feedback and promised to propose the policy for adoption in the next board meeting.
Resolution 2015-11-11.jrk.1: Acknowledging the election of David Graham to the Canadian House of Commons
Jimmy Kaplowitz proposed a resolution to formally acknowledge the election of former SPI Board member David Graham to the Canadian House of Commons. Several board members congratulated David Graham individually, but the board didn't feel that SPI should take any action as an organization.
Any other business
No one had any other items to discuss.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned until Thursday, December 10th, 2015 at 20:30 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org.
Appendix A: Current Board Membership
| Last elected | Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Bdale Garbee | President |
| July 2013 | Joerg Jaspert | Vice President |
| July 2014 | Martin Michlmayr | Secretary |
| July 2015 | Michael Schultheiss | Treasurer |
| July 2013 | Joshua D. Drake | |
| July 2013 | Martin Zobel-Helas | |
| July 2014 | Robert Brockway | |
| July 2014 | Gregers Petersen | |
| July 2015 | Dimitri John Ledkov |
Appendix B: Resolutions
Resolution 2015-11-11.jrk.1: Acknowledging the election of David Graham to the Canadian House of Commons
WHEREAS 1. David de Burgh Graham (hereafter "Graham") was formerly a longtime member of the Software in the Public Interest board of directors, helping with numerous legal and logistical matters during his time on the board. 2. Graham has held several other prominent roles in the free and open source software community over the past 15 years, including serving as a journalist and founding the Open and Free Technology Community, an SPI-affiliated project which offers communication services to the free and open source software movement. 3. Graham has been a user of Linux-based operating systems for 20 years. 4. On October 19, 2015, Graham was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Laurentides-Labelle. 5. Knowledge of the free and open source software movement in general and of Linux-based operating systems specifically is a valuable but scarce resource among national legislators. 6. Graham has this knowledge coupled with the skill of sharing it with broader audiences from his time in journalism. 7. National governments make many policy decisions which affect the health of the free and open source software movement within that country and worldwide. 8. Being an MP of the political party which now forms the government of Canada, Graham is well-positioned to provide informed input regarding the free and open source software movement as such policy decisions are made. THE SPI BOARD RESOLVES THAT 1. SPI congratulates Graham on his election to the Canadian House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Laurentides-Labelle and wishes him well in that endeavor. 2. SPI encourages greater sharing of expertise regarding free and open source software with all elected officials to help in their policy and technology decisions. 3. SPI shall issue and publicize a press release substantially based on this resolution, including a suitable quote from one or more current SPI directors and layman-friendly descriptions of the free and open source software movement and of SPI. 4. In recognition of Canadian bilingualism and of Graham's majority-Francophone constituency, the aforementioned press release and this resolution will be published in both French and English unless volunteer translation services cannot be obtained with reasonable effort.