[Nottingham] Proposed amendment to constitution

[Michael Simms]

I would like to propose an amendment to the constitution. To be honest,
Im really pretty annoyed at the recent election, and I imagine Im not
the only one. 

Let me first say - I dont have any problem with the people who were
standing, each one of them is someone I feel could do the job they are
standing for - but I feel that I, and probably MANY other LUG members
have been effectively robbed of our voice. I am absolutely sure that
this was never the intention, but - that is what I feel has happened.

I propose the following amendment to the constitution.
---
12) The Committee or, where there is no functional Committee, the
ordinary members by consensus will determine the date for the election
and take receipt of nominations. The dates of the election and of the
close of nominations will be publicised to members via the Group Mailing
List.
---
to become
---
12) The Committee or, where there is no functional Committee, the
ordinary members by consensus will determine the date for the election
and take receipt of nominations, which must be received no later than
one week before the date of the election. The dates of the election and
of the close of nominations will be publicised to members via the Group
Mailing List. All nominations will be listed to members via the Group
Mailing List at least five days before the date of the election.
---

As notice, I plan on following the procedure laid out in the
constitution for this change, as follows.

As per clause 17 of the constitution, Next meeting I manage to attend,
which should be the next one, I will request a vote to call an EGM,
which will require a 2 thirds vote of attending members

If this EGM is approved I intend to request a vote on this change to the
constitution at the EGM as per clause 19 of the constitution.

(Id actually expect it would be pretty informal and all held at the
times of regular meetings and take no more than 10 minutes, however I
really do feel strongly about this, being called out of town on 24 hours
notice, given a list in advance I could have made my vote known and
could have asked someone to vote for me by proxy or hell, even set up an
'at' job to send the mail for me. As it was, at 8am this morning I
really didn't have time to look through 200 emails to pull out the ones
that contained the individual nominations)

Let me just re-state, yes, Im annoyed, but I do not at any point
consider that any of this was deliberately underhanded, or done for any
reason other than people being too busy to get it all organised in
advance. My proposed amendment is simply to prevent this happening
again, not to irritate people or to 'make a point'. I feel strongly that
the election of the LUG positions was an important event and a 4 hour 8
minute window was not even CLOSE to enough, especially when this window
was during a time when most members would be unable to vote. If the LUG
does not agree with me when I call for the amendment, so be it, I'll
shut up about it.

Thanks
-- 
Michael Simms - CEO, Tux Games
http://www.tuxgames.com