FOSS4G 2009 Governance

The FOSS4G 2009 conference shall be managed by the FOSS4G 2009 Local Organising Committee (which is distinct from the OSGeo Conference Committee). The discussions of the FOSS4G 2009 conference committee shall take place primarily on the public foss4g2009 mailing list http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2009 on IRC #foss4g and by conference calls. Sensitive issues, eg about finances

Decision Making

 * All non-material decisions can be taken by the chair or his delegates. The committee can refine the distinction between material and non-material from time to time. Where not clearly defined, it will be at the Chair's discretion.
 * All material decisions must be passed by the committee, to ensure acceptance. In the interest of efficiency, absence of disagreement to a request will be interpreted as acquiescence.
 * Material decisions where there is a split in opinion will be handled by a majority voting system.
 * All material financial decisions must be accepted by the OSGeo board rep (ie, OSG has veto). So the committee can approve them "in principle" but the decision cannot be acted upon until the board rep actually signals it is OK (or vetoes it and returns it to discussion).
 * The conference committee may open some questions to the OSGeo Conference Committee, but this will be a solicitation for feedback, and the decision will still be made by the FOSS4G 2009 Local Organising Committee.

Membership
The intent of membership is to have an effective committee (who get the work done) and have broad experience.

Representatives are expected to monitor FOSS4G 2009 email lists and vote on issues brought forward. Others who are seen to be making notable contributions to the development of FOSS4G 2009 will be offered a position on the committee. The committee is responsible for changing their membership.

The FOSS4G 2009 conference committee currently consists of:

Regional representatives
(People with TBD have not confirmed their availability)
 * Cameron Shorter, LISAsoft
 * TBD: Tim Bowden, Mapforge
 * TBD: Chris Tweedie, Landgate
 * Shoaib Burq, Geoscience Australia
 * Bruce Bannerman, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria
 * TBD: Jeff Waugh, Waugh Partners and Linux Australia
 * TBD: Pia Waugh, Waugh Partners and Linux Australia
 * TBD: Ben Searle, Office of Spatial Data Management
 * Markus Lupp, lat/lon

OSGeo Representatives

 * TBD: Jeff McKenna, OSGeo conference committee Chair
 * TBD: Paul Ramsey, Board Rep, 2007 Representative
 * TBD: Tyler Mitchell, OSGeo Executive Director
 * TBD: 2008 Representative

The OSGeo board of directors can replace the committee if it is determined not to be operating appropriately.

Financial Commitments
A Professional Conference Organisor (PCO) will be selected by April 2009. TBD: Identify the PCO and representatives. They are participants on the LOC but not voting members.

The PCO will maintain a working bank account for the conference from which conference related financial activity will be operated. The PCO will be responsible for providing a detailed accounting of transactions on a regular basis to the FOSS4G 2009 committee. The FOSS4G 2009 committee will approve all budgets and authorise all payments as per the decision-making hierarchy described above.

The FOSS4G 2009 committee and OSGeo will enter into a separate agreement to define their relationship.