DMB: proposal for minimum meeting attendance

[Dan Streetman]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 8:52 AM Dan Streetman <ddstreet at canonical.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 4:51 PM Dan Streetman <ddstreet at canonical.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 3:44 PM Dan Streetman <ddstreet at canonical.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'd like to present a proposal for a change to the DMB membership
> > > rules, for consideration and discussion at the next DMB meeting
> > > (and/or over email, of course).
> >
> > To refresh the proposal, I think this is the current wording after
> > previous discussion:
> >
> > "Any DMB member who fails to attend 6 consecutive scheduled DMB
> > meetings (during a period no shorter than 12 weeks) shall be
> > considered inactive and removed from membership in the DMB. Since the
> > number of members required for quorum is 1/2 the number  of active DMB
> > members, rounded up, the change in the number of active members will
> > affect quorum. At such time as any DMB member is found to be inactive
> > due to this rule, the current DMB chair will add an action item to
> > schedule a public vote for a new DMB member. Previous DMB members,
> > including those changed to inactive due to this rule, are eligible to
> > run in the new election and any later elections. This proposal is not
> > retroactive, and the attendance requirement shall start the first
> > meeting after this proposal is adopted."
> >
> > I think there's been enough time for full discussion of this proposal
> > from existing DMB members, and I've at least replied to all concerns
> > expressed over email.
> >
> > I'd like to officially request a vote on this proposal starting
> > immediately over email, to be completed before the next scheduled DMB
> > meeting (which is on Oct 18, 2021).
>
> Follow up reminder to please vote before the next scheduled meeting on Nov 1.

Another follow up reminder to PLEASE VOTE. For reference, the current votes are:

Dan Streetman +1
Rafael Tinoco +1
Robie Basak -1

(Thomas I didn't see a confirmation from you to my request for a
formal vote, but since you did give a +1 in your email from Aug 25 I
will assume that applies for your formal vote, please let me know
otherwise)
Thomas Ward +1

That leaves this vote at net of +2 (with a range of -1 to 5). So we
need 1 more +1 to pass, or 3 more -1 to fail.

Still to vote:
Eric Desrochers
Simon Quigley
Łukasz Zemczak

>
> Specifically, these board members have not yet voted; please vote your
> -1, +0, or +1:
> Eric Desrochers
> Robie Basak
> Simon Quigley
> Thomas Ward
> Łukasz Zemczak
>
> >
> > I'll start the vote with my +1.
> >
> > Rafael and Thomas, you provided +1 before, but I'm not sure if you
> > were just agreeing or actually voting, so could you provide your vote
> > again just for clarity?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Background:
> > >
> > > The DMB has historically had problems with reaching quorum at its
> > > fortnightly meetings, which sometimes delayed or even blocked
> > > applicants from presenting their case for membership. I've (privately)
> > > recorded roll since joining the DMB, and while our record of reaching
> > > quorum last year (2020) after the elections was quite good, at 82% (18
> > > of 22 meetings), this year it's fallen, and we're down to 58% (10 of
> > > 17 meetings). Note that some meetings have no applicants, so failure
> > > to reach quorum for those isn't always critical, but it is an
> > > indicator of overall problems in attendance. The attendance record for
> > > each of our members, in increasing order but without naming any
> > > members, is: 0%, 18%, 53%, 65%, 71%, 71%, 94%.
> > >
> > > This past meeting (2021-08-23), we had difficulty reaching quorum, but
> > > finally did get enough members, however then unfortunately the meeting
> > > ran long due to the initial delay and we lost quorum before completing
> > > the vote for an application.
> > >
> > > Definitions for purposes of this rule:
> > > "scheduled meeting": listed on the DMB wiki agenda page, regardless of
> > > whether a meeting actually takes place or there are any agenda items.
> > > "attendance": sends any IRC message, from their recognized IRC nick,
> > > to the IRC channel where the meeting is held, sometime during the
> > > scheduled time for the meeting (or slightly before)
> > >
> > > Proposal:
> > >
> > > I propose amending the DMB rules of membership (which I don't think we
> > > have documented currently, in which case we should first write them
> > > down on our KB wiki page) to set a minimum attendance requirement as
> > > follows:
> > >
> > > "Any DMB member who fails to attend 6 consecutive scheduled DMB
> > > meetings (during a period no shorter than 12 weeks) shall be
> > > considered inactive and removed from membership in the DMB. At such
> > > time as any DMB member is found to be inactive due to this rule, the
> > > current DMB chair will add an action item to schedule a public vote
> > > for a new DMB member. This proposal is not retroactive, and the
> > > attendance requirement shall start the first meeting after this
> > > proposal is adopted."