Wikimedia Chapters Association/Meetings/2012-42

Purpose

This meeting is about further proceedings in the WCA process.

Minutes of Meeting Number 1

Logistics
Date/Time: 19 October 2012 @12:00 UTC
Agenda

Place of registration : vote on the resolution ?
Rotating presidency ?
Hiring of a SG : who and where ? Can we find a consensual solution ?
Financial aspects
Concrete tasks of the WCA in the next half year --Mglaser (talk) 22:51, 18 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dial-in: http://en.talkyoo.net/main/conference_call_international_numbers
Whiteboard: http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/WCA

Attendees
On the telecon Chantal.ebongue (Chantal.ebongue) WMCH Fæ (talk) WMUK Manuel Schneider^(bla) (+/-) WMAT Richard Kniper WMUS-NY Markus Glaser (WMDE) - Mglaser Kjetil_r WMNO Itzik WMIL Florence WMFR Tomasz Ganicz (Polimerek) WMPL Laurentius WMIT (partially) Stefan Levko (Recruiting)	On Etherpad Fae WMUK Markus WMDE John Byrne WMUK Kjetil WMNO Itzik WMIL Chuq WMAU Charles WMCH Chantal Ebongué WMCH Tomasz Ganicz (Polimerek) WMPL Manuel Schneider (80686) WMAT Tomasz Kozlowski (AffCom observer) Richard Kniper (Pharos) WM-NYC Der yck C. WMHK

Meeting timing: Start @12:05 UTC, Close @13:25 UTC

Place of registration : vote on the resolution ?

Chantal - Important to decide on a place where there are sister organizations, facilities and to make a decision soon.

Fae - are we happy that the draft resolution can run in parallel to the recruitment resolution.

Markus - we should vote on the place, and then vote on the resolution.

Fae - can have a transferrable vote

Markus - though we can vote, not sure if there is a need to reach a better consensus

Manuel, strongly support consensus but a vote may unlock this.

Itzik, not enough information yet to make a decision. In favour of getting an agency to make a recommend.

Fae, not sure I care that much where the "interim" location should be. We can easily re-visit this in 5 or 6 months with a Secretary General to help make the process work.

Chantal, process of consulting professionals would make a long process (another 3 months?). We should vote on which place seems to be the best for the moment. Chapters that feel they are not being heard should come forward with suggestions.

Itzik, cannot compare information between cities or countries at the current time.

Chantal, we have a lot if information, we should be able to vote.

Markus, see this as a bootstrap process. That makes decisions easier. Also: place of registration is not necessarily the place of office.

Manuel: We should separate the place of registration from the place where we may hire an SG. It is nice to have everything in one place but not necessary.

Suggested that those that wish to lobby for a location do so in 50 words or less and we can then have a (relatively) simple way of comparing the "initial" location to get on with a legal registration.

Itzik - may not be this simple to change later, depending on the SG's needs or constraints.

ACTION 1.1: Resolution 1 (deciding how to work) do we have registration and office in the same place? [Markus to write something, probably with Itzik and Chantal, within the next two weeks.]

ACTION 1.2: Resolution 2 (deciding where to work) write up proposal, outline the limitations of the "initial" location, invite lobbyists for locations. Fae to release the resolution. [1 week from now]

Manuel: it doesn't matter even if WCA moves locations afterwards, because the SG can be anywhere.

Fae: we need a resolution, even if the location is interim

Questions from Deryck (can't get voice on voice-conference):

1. what are the costs of incorporating from one place now, then moving to another place later?

$100 to $400 ? [Fae ;-)]

procedural / work-power costs?

2. why incorporate in one country if we aren't expecting that staff will work from that country?

Rotating presidency?

Fae: what does presidency mean, exactly

Richard - instead of having a fixed office, the office will be located in a different location each year.

Itzik - seems too early to discuss this, we will only be changing location in 2014 at the earliest.

ACTION 1.3: Richard to promote the draft resolution, to follow up before the Chapters meetings next year. Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Resolutions/Location

Hiring of a SG : who and where? Can we find a consensual solution?

Agreeing the Job Specification (due now) [Fae]

Everyone agrees to the job specification Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Secretary-General Done

How to advertize globally for a positive international response [Fae]

Manuel: Chapters and WMF should put the advertisement on their blogs, the recruiting company helps putting it into international media.

Markus, advertise in WM world first, then announce to the world

Itzik, do this in parallel

Stefan, does anybody here know someone who want's to have the job?

Chantal, do it in parallel and ask someone who knows about recruiting

Itzik, depends on decision on location. focus on the country of incorporation

Stefan, we should look for the best possible person worldwide

Fae, use some short press release for that

Stefan, make it two steps, because the internal advertisement would not produce any costs

Itzik asks about international hiring sites where we can put job descriptions

Stefan says he knows some sites and will gather all information on Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/SG_recruitment_timeline

ACTION 1.4: end of next week, page on :meta for comms (Stefan Levko)

Financial aspects

Fae: we have at least 140.000 Euros for a start from 2013 published budgets of WMUK and WMDE. This is easily sufficient to cover wind-up costs over the next year and possibly employment costs. Consequently the risk is low.
Markus: Budget committee has nothing to report yet. They are happy about external help. The committee still needs to keep up their work and coordinate the process.

No specific action. Everyone was in agreement that money, of itself, is not the top priority, though it will be the top priority of the Secretary General.

Concrete tasks of the WCA in the next half year

Section raised by Markus

Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Tasks
Fae: This page gives the WCA a good reputation as to expectations for positive future outcomes, and is much better than being seen only concerned with discussion about setup and administrative problems
Markus: asks council members to raise visibility of the WCA by putting "WCA Council Member" in their mail closing
What is our schedule for considering upcoming resolutions? (Fae: which were you thinking of? The current ones being drafted need to get a move on, we need things to happen in weeks not months.) I agree

No specific action, recommended that all Council Members to review and improve the Tasks page to reflect their priorities for outcomes of the WCA in the next 6—12 months.

AOB

ACTION 1.5: Markus, by 26 October 2012:

Next telecon in two weeks we shall switch times to make it easier for involvement. Time to be decided by doodle.

Time to be chosen between Monday, November 5th and Sunday, 11th.