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Fred McKim and I are intending to file a motion for the 2011 Spring Governors' On-line Meeting, starting Friday, April 1, to open the on-line meeting forums to the pubic, less confidential information, AFTER the meeting has concluded.
We would like everyone to review it and provide us with any comments/proposed amendments before we file.
Thanks.
Here is the motion/commentary:
Motion 2011-Y - Opening the On-line Meeting Forum Post-Meeting
11/3/8
Moved: Bob Armstrong; Seconded: Fred McKim
- that Section 2 of the CFC Handbook, the Rules and Regulations, s. 22 A, Procedures for Governors’ Online Meetings, be amended by adding s. ( 8 ) Opening Meeting Forum, as follows:
s. ( 8 ) Opening Meeting Forum : As soon as the Governors’ Letter containing the Minutes of the Meeting have been posted on the CFC Website, the Secretary shall archive the original text of the meeting. He shall also duplicate the forum for the purpose of opening it to the public. He shall delete any confidential materials, and so note this in the text. The forum shall then be opened to the public, and notice of such posted on the members’ CFC Chess Chat Forum, along with the necessary URL and a Link..
Commentary
There has been considerable discussion by the governors since the instituting of the on-line quarterly meetings, on what constitutes sufficient transparency of governance.
At the 2011 Winter ( January ) Meeting, the governors defeated a motion that would have opened the meetings to the public, on a limited “ public view-only “ basis ( with adjournment to another forum for confidential matters ). Subsequently, however, the idea arose that maybe the governors could open their forum to the public AFTER the meeting was concluded, with confidential material removed, and so noted.
Here are the results of a poll on this issue held on the confidential Governors’ Discussion Board.
View Poll Results: Post-Meeting Opening of the Confidential On-line Meeting Forum should be instituted .
This poll will close on 02-15-2011 at 01:48 PM
Yes
Bob Armstrong, Christopher Mallon, Fred McKim, Ken Einarsson, Michael Barron, Rob Clark, Valer Eugen Demian - 7 - 53.85%
No
Aris Marghetis, Garland Best, Halldor P. Palsson, Les Bunning, Michael von Keitz - 5 - 38.46%
Abstain
Ken Craft - 1 - 7.69%
We feel that this will be a good enhancement of the transparency offered already by the putting of the meeting minutes into the GL, and posting it on the CFC website. There are a number of reasons why we feel this will be a good step for the CFC to take:
1. Transparency: The Governors need to be more transparent in their governing, beyond simply posting the Minutes. This is achieved by presenting to the public a “ transcript “ of the meeting, the actual text of the on-line meeting. This in turn gives the CFC more transparency.
2. Member Interest: This will increase member interest in the affairs of the CFC. It is recognized that many CFC members are rather apolitical, and would likely not come to view the meeting text in its entirety. But we have seen from the members’ CFC Chess Chat Forum, that there are at least 100 what we might term “ hardcore CFC supporters “ , who monitor the board regularly, and are willing to wade through not all that exciting policy posts, and comment on them. If we could generate even more interest in this group, CFC might increase its pool of volunteers, including for non-executive officer volunteer positions, and perhaps even candidates for CFC governorship.
3. Confidentiality Issues: The " confidential " matters will be deleted and so noted in the text.
4. Governor Activity Monitoring: Though posting of Minutes gives some information on the meeting, they are still very truncated, and don't reveal which governors took what positions. Members may be interested in how their own local governors contributed. Opening the meeting will allow the members to measure their local governor activity.
5. AGM: the AGM, to which the quarterly non-AGM governors’ on-line meetings are quite similar, is open to the public. So the quarterly on-line meetings should be too, at least on a post-meeting basis.
We have worded the motion so a duplicate forum will be created for opening to the public, amended by deleting the confidential matters. The original forum will be archived in its entirety for future CFC Governor reference.
Bob/Fred
( P.S. The Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) supports this motion as being member-friendly, and going to encouraging greater member interest in the CFC. The CCC is a new grassroots' chess organization focused on member development at all chess levels, and increasing member participation. This will be done by affording members a greater degree of influence on the affairs of the Canadian chess structures, and in some cases, may involve some changes to these structures. If you would like to learn more about this new organization, just e-mail me, Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator ( cooperativechesscoalition@gmail.com ).)
We would like everyone to review it and provide us with any comments/proposed amendments before we file.
Thanks.
Here is the motion/commentary:
Motion 2011-Y - Opening the On-line Meeting Forum Post-Meeting
11/3/8
Moved: Bob Armstrong; Seconded: Fred McKim
- that Section 2 of the CFC Handbook, the Rules and Regulations, s. 22 A, Procedures for Governors’ Online Meetings, be amended by adding s. ( 8 ) Opening Meeting Forum, as follows:
s. ( 8 ) Opening Meeting Forum : As soon as the Governors’ Letter containing the Minutes of the Meeting have been posted on the CFC Website, the Secretary shall archive the original text of the meeting. He shall also duplicate the forum for the purpose of opening it to the public. He shall delete any confidential materials, and so note this in the text. The forum shall then be opened to the public, and notice of such posted on the members’ CFC Chess Chat Forum, along with the necessary URL and a Link..
Commentary
There has been considerable discussion by the governors since the instituting of the on-line quarterly meetings, on what constitutes sufficient transparency of governance.
At the 2011 Winter ( January ) Meeting, the governors defeated a motion that would have opened the meetings to the public, on a limited “ public view-only “ basis ( with adjournment to another forum for confidential matters ). Subsequently, however, the idea arose that maybe the governors could open their forum to the public AFTER the meeting was concluded, with confidential material removed, and so noted.
Here are the results of a poll on this issue held on the confidential Governors’ Discussion Board.
View Poll Results: Post-Meeting Opening of the Confidential On-line Meeting Forum should be instituted .
This poll will close on 02-15-2011 at 01:48 PM
Yes
Bob Armstrong, Christopher Mallon, Fred McKim, Ken Einarsson, Michael Barron, Rob Clark, Valer Eugen Demian - 7 - 53.85%
No
Aris Marghetis, Garland Best, Halldor P. Palsson, Les Bunning, Michael von Keitz - 5 - 38.46%
Abstain
Ken Craft - 1 - 7.69%
We feel that this will be a good enhancement of the transparency offered already by the putting of the meeting minutes into the GL, and posting it on the CFC website. There are a number of reasons why we feel this will be a good step for the CFC to take:
1. Transparency: The Governors need to be more transparent in their governing, beyond simply posting the Minutes. This is achieved by presenting to the public a “ transcript “ of the meeting, the actual text of the on-line meeting. This in turn gives the CFC more transparency.
2. Member Interest: This will increase member interest in the affairs of the CFC. It is recognized that many CFC members are rather apolitical, and would likely not come to view the meeting text in its entirety. But we have seen from the members’ CFC Chess Chat Forum, that there are at least 100 what we might term “ hardcore CFC supporters “ , who monitor the board regularly, and are willing to wade through not all that exciting policy posts, and comment on them. If we could generate even more interest in this group, CFC might increase its pool of volunteers, including for non-executive officer volunteer positions, and perhaps even candidates for CFC governorship.
3. Confidentiality Issues: The " confidential " matters will be deleted and so noted in the text.
4. Governor Activity Monitoring: Though posting of Minutes gives some information on the meeting, they are still very truncated, and don't reveal which governors took what positions. Members may be interested in how their own local governors contributed. Opening the meeting will allow the members to measure their local governor activity.
5. AGM: the AGM, to which the quarterly non-AGM governors’ on-line meetings are quite similar, is open to the public. So the quarterly on-line meetings should be too, at least on a post-meeting basis.
We have worded the motion so a duplicate forum will be created for opening to the public, amended by deleting the confidential matters. The original forum will be archived in its entirety for future CFC Governor reference.
Bob/Fred
( P.S. The Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ) supports this motion as being member-friendly, and going to encouraging greater member interest in the CFC. The CCC is a new grassroots' chess organization focused on member development at all chess levels, and increasing member participation. This will be done by affording members a greater degree of influence on the affairs of the Canadian chess structures, and in some cases, may involve some changes to these structures. If you would like to learn more about this new organization, just e-mail me, Bob Armstrong, CCC Coordinator ( cooperativechesscoalition@gmail.com ).)