#01: Election of board members by SPI membership

[Bdale Garbee]

David Graham <cdlu at pkl.net> writes:

>> Also, we need to consider officers.  The existing bylaws provide mechanics
>> of taking a vote of the membership for officers, but not much guidance on
>> how or when that is to be done.
>
> If board members are selected using the condorcet system in the manner
> they were last month, it could be fairly simple to work out officers -
>
> outright winner - president
> second place - vice president
> third place - treasurer
> 4th-(8th-12th) - rest of the board
>
> The secretary can rotate through the board or be selected by the board,
> and officers can resign and be replaced between elections. The secretary
> is a procedural rather than political role and doesn't really need to be
> elected by the membership in my opinion.

I strongly advise against direct election of officers.  The large non-profits
I have worked with that are the most successful all have the members vote for
the board, and then have the board elect officers.  In fact, I'm not sure they
even require that the officers be members of the board.  The officers need to
be accountable to the board, and the board needs to be accountable to the 
membership.  If the board is powerless to replace an officer who is unable to
direct an appropriate amount of energy to the office, then the board won't 
have the ability to keep things working.

Bdale