[Fsfe-uk] AFFS conference, AGM, reform

[MJ Ray]

The last AFFS annual conference was on 15 May 2004 and had the AGM at 
its end. So, by my reckoning, the next AGM should be soon after Easter 
and must be on or before 15 August.

Last year, many excellent people arranged everything from the food to 
the venue. If you are interested in helping with this year's event 
from an early stage, please email frontdesk at affs.org.uk


Personally, I'd really rather not spend more time on AFFS's setup, but 
AFFS currently holds about GBP 3000 (please apply for more grants!) 
and I will leave ctte before very long*, so getting a sound structure 
for the future is important to me. I want to try to gather opinions in 
plenty of time. Please read through and send a short reply to me or 
the list.


You may remember that an attempt was made to change the constitution 
last year (see the page at http://www.affs.org.uk/affsac-2004.html for 
a memory jog), but defeated. I voted against because
1. I didn't agree with all "notes";
2. I'm afraid to replace such large sections of an example 
constitution;
3. it seemed like a one-sided union-style argument rather than a 
choice;
4. it lacked proof-reading.
You can find some background discussion in archives up to May 2004 in 
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/fsfe-uk/ but there was more. (You 
may want to ask future ctte candidates about their attitudes to 
private lists.)

You can see from the July 2004 ctte minutes on the web site (under 
Members) that the discussion of this was postponed. It wasn't on the 
agenda of the October 2004 ctte meeting. Now the AGM approaches once 
more and we need to address it because:

1. Some members dispute that postal voting is possible with the 
present constitution (which is based on an NCVO example of the time);

2. No Election Rules exist.


I think point 2 is something that ctte could and should deal with 
before the AGM. I'd welcome proposals or suggestions. In the past, I 
suggested using either the Electoral Reform Society or Royal 
Statistical Society voting procedures, which are forms of Single 
Transferable Vote. From experience, we won't need them anyway, so I'd 
like to do the simplest thing that will work.


To deal with point 1, we have to look at the constitution. There are 
four routes which seem reasonable to me:

A. Patch - delete the offending wording (everything after PROVIDED 
THAT) from the end of clause 6d. Will that be enough to work? Is AFFS 
essentially sound, or near enough that the procedures aren't worth 
extra work? This option requires a two-thirds majority of AGM 
attendees in favour (over option D, AIUI).

B. Replace - customise another example constitution, possibly becoming 
an limited company or Industrial and Provident Society at the same 
time. Do you think some other constitution is better? Do we want a 
legal entity for AFFS? This option requires a two-thirds majority of 
AGM attendees in favour.

C. Reform - vote to dissolve and form some other structure. Is the 
current AFFS effective? Is its structure fundamentally broken? We 
could try organising a network of smaller special-interest groups, or 
maybe consensus decision-making rather than ctte divisions. This 
option requires a two-thirds majority of ctte and a two-thirds 
majority of AGM attendees to approve it. Any money currently held 
could transfer to the new organisation or FSFE, as allowed by the 
current constitution.

D. Do Nothing - assert that there is no problem and plan to defeat all 
attempts to amend the current constitution. Do you think we can do 
postal votes anyway? Do you think postal voting is unnecessary? We 
could hope to defeat challenges to postal voting (depends on good 
Election Rules being passed by ctte) or just never use postal voting. 
This option requires more than a third of AGM attendees in favour at 
each attempt to change the consitution and an as-yet-unknown quantity 
for any election challenge.

There is also E: Something Else, but I haven't thought of it. If you 
can, correct my oversight.


Please let me know what you think about these, by email to myself or 
this mailing list. I will try to propose any options with reasonable 
support to the AGM. I don't think we need to whittle it down to one 
just yet, so don't go flaming supporters of other options. Ask 
questions if you don't understand their reasons, though.


* footnote to ctte: Exact timing depends how things go this year, but 
I'll try to give everyone reasonable notice when I know the date. I 
want to spend more time on local issues and other subjects.

* footnote to members: Don't worry. There are still good people there. 
If you have a little time to spare, please consider helping to lead 
AFFS.

--
MJR/slef    My Opinion Only and not of any group I know
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