Re: [gentoo-nfp] List of items to be addressed by audit

[William L. Thomson Jr.]

Roy,

On Tue, 2011-03-29 at 19:02 +0100, Roy Bamford wrote:
>
> William,
>
> I will patiently away the outcome ...  is a key phrase in your post.
> Nothing will start by way of an audit until we have elected a new
> Treasurer and he or she is comfortable in the role.

You really cannot wait for such things. The financial responsibilities
of the trustees, just as legal falls on all trustees. Its all of your
duty, and if there is an absence in one, then others should fill that
void till otherwise. Just as with any team.

Also Matthew clearly stated that he was assuming the role and duties of
the treasurer. Is that not the case? There was on mention of the audit
taking place after elections, and when a new treasure appears.

Who's to say any new trustee would want to assume the role of treasurer,
much less be qualified for such? If that does not happen, then what?

> As you well know, Treasurer is an office, so it need not be one of the
> trustees. The only requirement for an officer is that they be capable
> of discharging their duty.

The election is not regarding officers or to replace a treasurer, who
should have been replaced back in 2008. Now understand I am not saying
Joshua should not have been a trustee. That is very different, and I was
never calling for him to be removed as a trustee, or step down from that
title/role/position. I have respect for Joshua and like him as a person
from when I met him at LWE. I have nothing against him.

However the role of treasurer as well as many others has gone neglected
for far to long. In a sense the legal financial responsibilities out
weigh the other legal aspect. If Gentoo loses its charter, it can't
protect its IP. Things are really backwards. Financial must be in order
to defend and protect legal IP. When establishing a business, you have
to exist with state and feds before you can walk into court :)

Furthermore, there are no provisions for how Gentoo goes about acquiring
officers. Basically the trustees figure out amongst themselves who will
fulfill that role. Ideally officers are separate of trustees. That way
there is oversight, and the officers are held accountable to the board.
There should be many more trustees, and they pick officers. Officers are
not elected, at least not at this time and not sure if they should be
ever.

Either way, I really don't find we are waiting till after the election
to conduct an audit acceptable. Waiting for someone totally green to the
entire situation. That really does not show good leadership, or
delegation. Also seems to be a way to avoid responsibilities that fall
on all.

I am not going to press matters outside of Gentoo, but this status quo
is not acceptable. Its why there has been no progress in years on these
matters, and Gentoo cannot wait for another day, month, or year. These
things need to be done ASAP, immediately, I cannot stress that enough.
Gentoo has managed to remain under the radar, which I do not plan on
changing. But at some point, that will change on its own.

Start the audit now, and new trustees can pitch in and get involved.
This is every Trustees responsibility, first and foremost. Any other
trustee action is totally moot. Till these necessary things are done and
the house is in order financially and legally.

Now once the new trustees are elected, and after the audit or during.
The trustees really need to work on figuring out how people become
officers. Right now I do not believe there is any policy for such. You
just become a trustee, and if you want an officer. But if there are more
trustees, there can only be 4 officers, as it was when I was a Trustee.
I was 5th elected, thus not a officer. But that was a very lame way to
assign officer positions.

Really need to address the whole officers situation, after the audit.

-- 
William L. Thomson Jr.
Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
http://www.obsidian-studios.com