Board Meeting 2006 10 27

The 20th board meeting has been scheduled for the 27th of October at 15:00 UTC (fixedtime), by phone and IRC (#osgeo) at the same time.

Communication will use the new Conference Call facilities.

Agenda

 * Appoint meeting secretary
 * Review and approve Nineteenth Board Meeting minutes
 * Motion to graduate Community MapBuilder from Incubation and appoint Cameron Shorter as VP, Community MapBuilder.
 * Motion to adopt the Project Sponsorship proposal.
 * Executive Director start-up issues:
 * Discuss spending protocols and expectations
 * Identify top priorities
 * Discuss upcoming events and timelines (see also VisCom Meeting protocol)
 * 501(c)3 status for OSGeo and related issues

Minutes
 these need the legal-language appendices stuck on them, but this is what happened 

In attendance Frank Warmerdam, Chris Holmes, Markus Neteler, Arnulf Christl, Jo Walsh. Also Tyler Mitchell was present at the request of the Board.

Motion to approve last meeting's minutes and decisions
It was noted that technically at the previous meeting there was no quorum. The Board voted to approve the previous meeting's minutes and also to re-approve with this full quorum the motions that were passed at the last meeting.

Motion to graduate Community MapBuilder
Approved the graduation of Community Mapbuilder from the OSGeo incubation process

Motion to approve Project Sponsorship proposal
Jo asks whether potential sponsors have been consulted much over this document and Frank says they have to some small extent. Chris asks about the 27K level of "platinum" sponsorship, is that a cap, the answer is no. The motion to approve the Project Sponsorship plan is approved.

Discussion of priorities and expenses for the incumbent Executive Director
Tyler refers us all to an email sent to the board list over the previous week which outlines his view of the situation and his priorities as ED. He is due to start the 6th. We are told that acquisition and setup of new distribution infrastructure for the foundation and for MapGuide in particular is in hand; Bob Bray is donating time from a sysadmin on behalf of MapGuide.

Tyler will begin employment as OSGeo's ED on the 6th and will maintain a calendar which we will have access to in the next 2 weeks.

Question of Travel expenses
ED will need travel expenses for following tasks
 * Representation / promotion at conferences if no local volunteers are available to offer support
 * Meetings with potential sponsors and partners
 * Helping local chapters to establish themselves

There is some discussion of the upcoming Autodesk University event in Las Vegas and whether it's a good use of Tyler's time and OSGeo's money to have him attend and be on the stall there (one has been offered to OSGeo by ADSK marketing anyway).

Motion to allow ED to manage own travel expenses within quarterly budget of 5K
Approved - the ED should have autonomy in this area as much as possible and not have to come to the board with each small request - is trusted.

Discussion of pending 501(c)3 status
There has been little progress on this lately. Rich seems to be very much uncontactable and this is a real shame for us, as no-one else really has the right legal experience. There is a new legal person at ADSK though without nonprofit specific experience whose advice we could call on if they can bootstrap themselves, possibly with help from Lisa Landers who has related experience. Allan Doyle also has experience in this area and has done the 501(c)3 application process himself in the past - it may be possible for volunteers (the ED or Board members or otherwise) to prepare the documentation set and then just have it reviewed by a lawyer afterwards.

Motion to close the meeting
Approved.