Announcement: Special General Meeting
Hi all. This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm). The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion: "That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that their subscription be renewed at or before the AGM." Looking forward to seeing you all there. Cheers J -- James Pluck Treasurer/Librarian Waikato Linux Users Group
2008/10/2 James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com>:
This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm).
The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion: "That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that their subscription be renewed at or before the AGM."
I'm uncomfortable with that motion as it stands. A person who paid a sub 20 years ago could turn up 5 minutes before the meeting, pay, the sub, and expect to vote, whereas a new member cannot. My understanding of procedure (and I'm not even a good bush lawyer) is ... Subscriptions are paid for the nominated year. Membership lapses when the member fails to pay the fee within a specified period after the commencement of the year. The AGM is usually held within this period of grace - those entitled to vote are those whose membership is current as at the end of the year. One of the purposes of the AGM is determine the sub for the "new" year. I'm not sure of the status of those joining between the end of the year and the AGM. Is the WLUG an incorporated society? If not, it should be! Michael
On 10/2/08, Michael McDonald <mikencolleen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm).
The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion: "That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that
2008/10/2 James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com>: their
subscription be renewed at or before the AGM."
I'm uncomfortable with that motion as it stands. A person who paid a sub 20 years ago could turn up 5 minutes before the meeting, pay, the sub, and expect to vote, whereas a new member cannot.
My understanding of procedure (and I'm not even a good bush lawyer) is ...
Subscriptions are paid for the nominated year. Membership lapses when the member fails to pay the fee within a specified period after the commencement of the year. The AGM is usually held within this period of grace - those entitled to vote are those whose membership is current as at the end of the year. One of the purposes of the AGM is determine the sub for the "new" year.
I'm not sure of the status of those joining between the end of the year and the AGM.
Is the WLUG an incorporated society? If not, it should be!
WLUG is incorporated. We are the only LUG in NZ that is to my knowledge. These questions that you raise are the reason we need to hold the SGM. If there are caveats we need to add to the clause or if the clause is not workable - that is for the LUG to decide. Thanks for your feedback! J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."
2008/10/2 Michael McDonald <mikencolleen(a)gmail.com>:
2008/10/2 James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com>:
This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm).
The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion: "That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that their subscription be renewed at or before the AGM."
I'm uncomfortable with that motion as it stands. A person who paid a sub 20 years ago could turn up 5 minutes before the meeting, pay, the sub, and expect to vote, whereas a new member cannot.
My understanding of procedure (and I'm not even a good bush lawyer) is ...
Subscriptions are paid for the nominated year. Membership lapses when the member fails to pay the fee within a specified period after the commencement of the year. The AGM is usually held within this period of grace - those entitled to vote are those whose membership is current as at the end of the year. One of the purposes of the AGM is determine the sub for the "new" year.
I'm not sure of the status of those joining between the end of the year and the AGM.
Is the WLUG an incorporated society? If not, it should be!
It is. James has looked into the correct procedure and as far as he can tell, this is all above board. If you don't agree with the principle of the motion, vote against it at the SGM. ;) The original restriction was put in place so that someone with an agenda against FLOSS can pull the kind of committee-stacking that other organisations (eg the ISO) have since turned out to be vulnerable to, and we're suggesting something that still restricts this. But at the moment we have distressingly few paid up members and I'm not sure what we do if we can't reach a quorum at the AGM.
On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 9:38 AM, Bruce Kingsbury <zcat(a)zcat.geek.nz> wrote:
The original restriction was put in place so that someone with an agenda against FLOSS can pull the kind of committee-stacking that other organisations (eg the ISO) have since turned out to be vulnerable to, and we're suggesting something that still restricts this. But at the moment we have distressingly few paid up members and I'm not sure what we do if we can't reach a quorum at the AGM.
I looked into the whole issue previously with the charter and was satisfied that the current arrangement was fine. To me a lack of a quorom indicates interest has been lost in the WLUG. That means it needs to be reinvogorated or allowed to die and some other body will advocate for open source if it is worthwhile (which I think it is). -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/, http://www.jandi.co.nz Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz
2008/10/2 James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com>:
This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm).
The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion: "That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that their subscription be renewed at or before the AGM."
I'm uncomfortable with that motion as it stands. A person who paid a sub 20 years ago could turn up 5 minutes before the meeting, pay, the sub, and expect to vote, whereas a new member cannot.
How soon before the meeting they turn up is irrelevant. If the former member is renewing their membership for the next year, this rule will allow them a vote. As this change reads, anyway ;) As it stands, I cannot vote at the AGM (my membership lapsed several years back due to me being out of town and no committee ever following up renewals). Nor can a large number of other old members, who might want to vote. I could front up $20 for a retrospective 2007-2008 membership, I suppose, but I better get on to that pretty quickly if that's the case. When we[1] wrote the charter, we added that clause thinking to prevent a hostile takeover. The modification seems like an attempt to keep that spirit, but allow a previous member whose membership has lapsed to renew and vote at the agm. In hindsight, this seems fairly optimistic that anyone would want to do such a thing. Not to say WLUG isn't or wasn't a worthy cause, just that I doubt very much it would happen. And, if I can in fact pay my dues right now, become a 2007-2008 member, and then renew at the AGM, and be eligible to vote, then I've circumvented the original clause anyway. This point did come up when we wrote it, but we decided that if someone really wanted to stump up enough two-year memberships to get a significant membership into WLUG in order to do something hostile, then there isn't much more we can do about it.
Is the WLUG an incorporated society? If not, it should be!
It is, and has been, for a number of years. [1] I used "we" here inclusively of myself, because I drafted the original charter, and worked through changes to it with the then- current membership at the point we incorporated. A bit of history for you ;). This also means I accept responsibility for this annoying clause, and it's why I feel I can criticise it's usefulness :)
On 2/10/2008, at 8:44 AM, James Pluck wrote:
Hi all.
This is to formally announce the intention of the committee to hold a Special General Meeting 15 minutes prior to the AGM (7:15 pm).
The topic on the table for this meeting is the motion:
"That the charter be amended to allow former paid members of the Waikato Linux Users Group to vote at an AGM of the WLUG with the proviso that their subscription be renewed at or before the AGM."
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Something that James hasn't pointed out is that only current paid-up (2007-2008) members of WLUG can vote at this SGM. And if this motion or one rescinding the rule that it applies to isn't passed, only current paid up (2007-2008) members of WLUG can vote or run for committee at this AGM.
This looks good to me. I'm not currently a paid-up member and unlikely to be in Hamilton for any events in the near future, but I'd be likely to pay my $20 if chased... cheers stuart
On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 10:26 PM, Stuart A. Yeates <syeates(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I'm not currently a paid-up member and unlikely to be in Hamilton for any events in the near future, but I'd be likely to pay my $20 if chased...
Likewise. -- Matt Brown matt(a)mattb.net.nz Mob +353 86 608 7117 www.mattb.net.nz
2008/10/2 Daniel Lawson <daniel(a)meta.net.nz>:
And if this motion or one rescinding the rule that it applies to isn't passed, only current paid up (2007-2008) members of WLUG can vote or run for committee at this AGM.
I should have looked at the Charter ( http://wlug.org.nz/WlugCharter ) before posting last time! Anyway, a couple of points following on from Daniel's comment ... 1. There doesn't seem to be a requirement that a nominee for the 2008/9 committee must have been a 2007/8 member. There is just the implied requirement of being an existing member - and the membership form could have been signed just prior to the meeting. I don't think there's anything odd in a "new" committee nominee not having voting rights at the AGM. 2. Nothing is stated about giving the committee power to co-opt if insufficient members are appointed at the AGM. The only mention is for replacing committee members. 3. Requests to join WLUG can't be retrospective. It's too late to become a 2007/8 member. I'm becoming firmly of the opinion that the status quo should remain. Michael
Michael McDonald
3. Requests to join WLUG can't be retrospective. It's too late to become a 2007/8 member.
2008/10/2 Craig Box <craig(a)dubculture.co.nz>:
Why is that? The 2007/08 year isn't over until the AGM.
Quote ... Rule 3 In order to join the society one must complete a membership form, and payment for the yearly fees must be received within 90 days of the submission of the form. Failure to pay the fees within this time will result in the membership, and all membership benefits, being revoked. The fee is determined by the committee of the society and can be changed as the needs of the society change. Membership is for the current financial year of the WLUG. This is presently defined as being the year from the 1st of September to the 31st of August. End Quote ... Michael
participants (8)
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Bruce Kingsbury -
Craig Box -
Daniel Lawson -
Ian McDonald -
James Pluck -
Matt Brown -
Michael McDonald -
Stuart A. Yeates