Wikimedia Chapters Association/Meetings/First Meeting

For the minutes, see /Minutes. Details of committees mentioned can be found under /Committees. A announcement will be developed under /Blog.

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The Berlin Agreement arranged the first WCA Council first meeting at Wikimania. Some discussions on the date took place on chapters-l, here are some updated information.

10th July

Informal discussions and agenda finalization will take place at Marvin Center, room 301. Room is reserved 09:00 – 17:00 for WCA and Chapter Activities.

At 13.30h the WCA Council Members will have an informal preparation meeting, to inform each other about the present situation and answer questions. Guests are welcome, we should have enough seats.

Topics:

• What happened in the past and why having a WCA
• Chapters as members, and Council Members
• Budget questions
• Positions and candidacies
• Standing orders

Summary of the preliminary discussion

Issue at hand: tomorrow is planned the first meeting of the Wikimedia Chapters Association Council. According to the Charter, the steering committee will be disbanded at that meeting, leaving the organisation without a lead.

We have several options:

1/ Not having a first Council meeting tomorrow: the present Steering committee just continues

• Pros:
  • Do not have to elect anyone yet;
  • Low-cost.
• Cons:
  • We do not have a Council, thus it cannot make any decisions ;
  • No possibility to alter the composition of the committee ;
  • Volunteer positions may not have the time.

2/ Designating an interim, unpaid, lead

• Pros:
  • Low-cost ;
  • Candidates are not affected by the mandate limitations defined in the Charter.
• Cons:
  • Volunteer positions may not have enough time

3/ Elect a regular Secretary General

• Pros:
  • We have a person at full-time.
  • The SG has the executive power given by the Charter
• Cons:
  • No budget for a paid position ;
  • No regular candidate call and recruitment process.

4/ Have the Meeting, and have the Council change the Charter for a different solution

• Pros:
  • Possibility to implement whatever alternative solution (including lifting mandate restrictions)
• Cons:
  • No alternative solutions have been suggested.

11th July

Room is available 09:00 – 13:00 for WCA and Chapter Activities.

Chapters' space

From 10:00 to 11:30 Council Members and interested guests are welcome to use the space and make friends, and ask questions. This is especially useful for Council Members who were not in the meeting of July 10th, or who feel that they would like to learn more about the movement and the WCA.

In this time, the room should be already made ready for the First Council Meeting, e.g. with the regard to the expected Tomer Ashur video message. Also, the tables and seats should be arranged during this or better after this session.

Etherpad: http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/wikimania-2012-7-11

First Council Meeting: timetable

The First Council Meeting will make an end to the period described in the Charter, F1: the provisions for organs can no longer deviate from the provisions described in the Charter. The Council can decide to install officials other than a Secretary General.

• 13:00: Welcome and introduction by a member of the Steering Committee
  • Including opening video conference with Tomer.
• 13:20: Roll-call: list of the Council Members; if at least nine Chapters have joined and appointed a Council Member, the establishment of the WCA is to be announced officially (Charter, F1)
• 13:45: Accepting agenda and preliminary standing orders
• 14:15: Election of a Chair. After this, the Chair takes over the leading of the meeting. Then, he lets the Council elect a Deputy Chair (see B6).
• 14:45: Pause
• 15:15: Election of other organs. First it would have to be decided whether to elect a regular Secretary General (and Deputy) at this moment, or to have an alternative solution. Presentation of candidates for the different solutions.
• 16:00: Discussion about the future of the WCA.
• 17:00: End

Meeting notes

Meeting notes can be found here: Wikimedia Chapters Association/First meeting/Minutes

Procedures and elections

• Self-nominations for the positions of the Secretariat or other positions instead of Secretariat members could be published here (page TBD) along with nominations (candidates should explicity accept nomination!) until 23:59 UTC 10th July 2012.
• Candidacy Tomer Ashur & Delphine Ménard for 'interim SG and DSG'
• Candidacy Sebastian Moleski

Elections will be helded by a show of hands; only Council Members (present) can vote and have speaking rights. There can be no 'deputy Council Member'.

The Council meeting allows guests.

A resolution draft

• A resolution draft concerning the creation of the Board of WCA