questions from leadership structure working group

[Paul Orwig]

Hi all,

The leadership structure changes working group sent me some questions about our current structure. I have drafted some answers to those questions below, but I would appreciate it if everyone would review what I have written and add your thoughts if there should be any changes. The working group is working on a tight schedule so my request is that we finalize this for them by next Friday 4/13.

Q1: Are there any legal requirements regarding the liquidation of the COC and the restructuring of the board in OSM, PLT, CLT?
If, which one?
A1: There will need to be changes to the current OSM bylaws if the COC is dissolved. Dissolving the COC would only impact OSM, but not PLT or CLT. OSM will follow up with our attorneys about the legal requirements around this.

Q2: How is the current situation on the OSM board (PLT, CLT?) regarding election procedure (who votes), election period, number of necessary
votes ( unanimous, with % majority, etc.), suspension rules, nomination procedure, defined responsibilities.
A2: Since OSM is the legal owner of Joomla's copyright, trademark, and financial assets, it has it's own set of formal legal rules. PLT and CLT have their own less formal ways of managing those functions. Here are answers for each team:

PLT
There are no legally binding rules for election procedures, etc. PLT may ask the community for nominations of new team members or they may not. Existing PLT team members may come up with their own process for inviting new team members. There are no terms or term limits for PLT team members. There are no published formal rules for how existing PLT team members may be removed.

Main PLT responsibilities:
Platform and CMS code development, documentation, language translations, and administration/updates/

maintenance of the developer.joomla.org, docs.joomla.org, ux.joomla.org, ideas.joomla.org websites.

CLT
There are no legally binding rules for election procedures, etc. In the last round of CLT team member additions, the community was asked to submit nominations of new team members. Existing CLT team members are free to come up with their own process for inviting new team members. There are no terms or term limits for CLT team members. There are no published formal rules for how existing CLT team members may be removed.

Main CLT responsibilities:
Forums, JUGs, administration/updates/maintenance of JED, JRD, JTD (still in development), JPeople, JCM, Community portal, and www.joomla.org websites.

OSM
Members from the community submit nominations for new board members. Current OSM board members evaluate the nominations and make recommendations to the COC. COC votes to accept or reject the recommendations (by a majority vote). There are currently 5 COC members (2 from PLT, 2 from CLT, and 1 who isn't on either). OSM Board members have 2 year terms, and when their terms are about to expire they can request additional 1 year terms that would need to be confirmed by COC. COC can remove OSM board members during their terms by a majority vote. Required OSM officers are President, Treasurer, and Secretary. 

Main OSM responsibilities:
Legal, trademark, financial (accounting and capital/sponsorship), organizational support, and administration/updates/maintenance of opensourcematters.org website. Events support and external communications are two other areas of responsibility that OSM has taken on in recent years.

Thanks,

paul