What's the best timing of the Community BoD member election?

[burke (Burke Mamlin)]

Continuing the discussion from Nominate a community member to the OpenMRS Inc Board Of Directors for 2019-2020:

@darius

As it stands now the timeline is approximately :

• Nominations until Nov 12
• Candidates to prepare statements by Nov 19
• Elections in December, concluding December 17 (after the implementers meeting)

Personally I prefer the model that we followed 2 years ago, where the elections happens in January, so they are after the implementers’ meeting (thus allowing folks to factor their meeting interactions into their vote), but not running up against end-of-year holidays. I believe this change will require a BoD vote, so I plant to make that proposal to them.

Do others agree or disagree with this change?

[burke (Burke Mamlin)]

It seems like a month to vote, including a couple weeks before the holiday could be enough and could still leverage the post-implementer meeting energy… but extending the election through mid or late January is equally reasonable.

So, I guess I agree.

[akanter (Andrew Kanter)]

I agree with the voting into January.

[terry (Theresa Cullen)]

I agree with moving this to January, and having Jan continue on the BoD (extended term) until we have a new community member who is our representative. We can leave this item open until October 25. If there are no objections to this plan, we will present to the BoD for their review and hopeful endorsement.

[janflowers]

I agree with a January vote.

[darius (Darius Jazayeri)]

We seem to have a consensus here.

Jan is going to take this proposal (i.e. having the community member seat be 2 years from January to January, instead of December to December") to the Board of Directors’s Nov 1 meeting.

[lober (Bill Lober)]

In the long run, if the board is to become more of a membership board, it would be smart to align timelines, and elect the community board member before our implementer’s meeting. Both AMIA and ISDS (and many others) hold board elections before their annual meetings (note that for us the implementer’s meeting is the time we’d most likely have a formal organizational annual meeting, if we grew into a member-governed organization). Those organizations do so in order to have the new board “kick off” their terms at the annual meeting. I understand that our goal is to have “campaigning” at the annual meeting, prior to the vote. I can see the argument, but I think it may emphasize short term enthusiasm over less long term commitment to the position.