Hi Thomas, Thanks for your summary of the issue.
When I look at this matter, the first question I have is a different governance one: why does the DMB believe that it has the authority to pass its own policies removing members from the DMB? I see that the DMB has for some time been running its own elections, which seems fine as this is effectively an administrative thing; but I don't think members of the DMB have the authority to remove other members of the DMB, even for inactivity, who have been elected by the Ubuntu Developers at large. I certainly think it would be improper for the TB to pass such a policy for itself, as well. So I think any such policy for removal of inactive DMB members needs to be ratified by the TB (as the body which delegated the DMB) or, if you want to skip-level, the CC. On Mon, Feb 07, 2022 at 12:34:07PM -0500, Thomas Ward wrote: > Technical Board: > > During the Developer Membership Board meeting today[1], there was an action > item / discussion item regarding the removal of two DMB members who have > been inactive for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, there was an > increased amount of argument and disagreement by members in attendance over > how to execute this policy. > In August of 2021, the DMB proposed [2] and then in November approved [3] a > requirement for DMB members as follows: > > Any DMB member who fails to attend 6 consecutive scheduled DMB meetings > (during a period no shorter than 12 weeks) shall be considered inactive and > removed from membership in the DMB. Since the number of members required for > quorum is 1/2 the number of active DMB members, rounded up, the change in > the number of active members will affect quorum. At such time as any DMB > member is found to be inactive due to this rule, the current DMB chair will > add an action item to schedule a public vote for a new DMB member. Previous > DMB members, including those changed to inactive due to this rule, are > eligible to run in the new election and any later elections. This proposal > is not retroactive, and the attendance requirement shall start the first > meeting after this proposal is adopted. > (see > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DeveloperMembershipBoard/KnowledgeBase#Rules_and_Regulations) > There are currently two individuals on the DMB who are in violation of this > policy decided upon over 3 months ago; the specific names can be provided > upon request privately for the TB's knowledge if the information is required > or pertinent. > Both of these members have not been present for at least 6 consecutive > meetings and as such are in violation of the agreed upon policy that was > passed in November. > During the DMB meeting today (Feb. 7, 2022), a major disagreement came up > between Dan Streetman and Robie Basak, over the fact that, "While we have > decided upon this policy, we never discussed *how* we would do this." As > such, a massive point of contention rose today in the meeting. > Dan Streetman has proposed removing the members who meet this criterion > immediately and begin the process of drafting elections for two new members > to replace the individuals who are now in violation of this policy. > Robie Basak is against any action until both aforementioned individuals have > had a chance to respond before we remove them. He is also of the position > that any response from the absent members would not necessarily affect any > decision on their removal, however Robie is of the opinion that all > individuals must be contacted first and must have a chance to respond before > we simply remove any absent members. > Unfortunately, the DMB could not come to agreement on this, and have > requested to escalate this to the Technical Board for determination of how > we should address this, and help to determine the proper procedure in this > case. > I would request that the TB make a decision as to how the DMB should > proceed, or if the TB chooses to not handle this, escalate to the proper > group to handle this decision. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer https://www.debian.org/ slanga...@ubuntu.com vor...@debian.org
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