On 2015-12-29, Michael Peel <[email protected]> wrote: > From what I understand, the community elections don't directly elect/appoint > WMF board members, but essentially provide a recommendation that the WMF > board then approves. Have a look at the text of: > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:James_Heilman_appointment_2015 > > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:James_Heilman_appointment_2015> > and the phrasing at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015#Process > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2015#Process> > specifically, "The candidates with the highest percentage of support will be > recommended to the Board of Trustees for appointment."
The statute in 617.0803(3) stipulates that > (3) Directors shall be elected or appointed in the manner and for the > terms provided in the articles of incorporation or the bylaws. The bylaws use a wording like "The board will approve [the community-selected candidates]" which lists specified conditions when the community choice can be approved, and the board cannot refuse approval unless some specific conditions are met. Section 3 of the bylaws has subsections (C) "Community-selected Trustees." (D) "Trustees selected by Chapters and Thematic Organizations", (E) "Board-appointed Trustees. " and (F) for Jimmy Wales, who is also Board-appointed. It is obvious that (C) and (D) do not belong to the category (E). Therefore directors of category (C) and (D) are not appointed by the board. > So the "class" here would be the WMF board, not the community. Bylaws, article III: > The Foundation does not have members. Statute 617.0601(1)(a) stipulates that > A corporation may have one or more classes of members or may have no members. but (1)(b) adds: > (b) The articles of incorporation or bylaws of any corporation > not for profit that maintains chapters or affiliates may grant > representatives of such chapters or affiliates the right to vote > in conjunction with the board of directors of the corporation > notwithstanding applicable quorum or voting requirements of this > chapter if the corporation is registered with the department pursuant > to ss. 496.401-496.424, the Solicitation of Contributions Act. This is what Section 3 of the WMF bylaws is doing - it grants a right to vote to non-members of the Foundation (as there are none). 617.0808(1)(b) goes beyond classes of members, but includes > (...) chapter, or other organizational unit, or by region or other > geographic grouping, the director may be removed only by the members > of that class, chapter, unit, or grouping. so this read in conjunctin with 617.0601(1)(b) and bylaws section three establishes a pretty clear picture to me. Saper _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
