Publically viewable resolutions and increasing the visibility of board activity

[Ian Jackson]

Neil McGovern writes ("Publically viewable resolutions and increasing the visibility of 	board activity"):
> This is a short summary on how resolutions will be accepted by the
> secretary, and various ways in which to improve the membership
> participation in SPI and the board accountability.
...

> A) A resolution must be submitted to the following:
...
> B) To be considered at a board meeting, a resolution must be:
>     1. sponsored by a board member AND
>     2. submitted at least 48 hours before that board meeting occurs.

This is all good.  But I do think that 48 hours is too short.  And I
do think we need to have an agenda long enough in advance, and well
enough publicised, that people can make special effort to attend.

A sensible schedule would be:

by T-10 days but not before T-14 days:
             Announcement giving time and place of meeting and
             instructions for getting items onto the agenda.
   T-7 days: Latest non-emergency agenda item submission deadline,
             to be submitted in accordance with Neil's instructions.
             Agenda items which are intended to result in a board
             decision (ie nearly all of them) should come with a
             draft resolution text.
by T-5 days: Meeting reminder announcement containing complete list
             of non-emergency business to be conducted
             (NB, _containing_ not _linking to_).

For emergency agenda items, or items not submitted in the proper
manner, the board would first vote whether to treat it as an urgent
item and deal with it straight away; failing that it will be deferred.

If it's too much work to remember all of these deadlines then we
should automate it.  The bot could screen-scrape the agenda (as edited
continually by the secretary as things come in).

Ian.