Board meeting Minutes/10 April 2018

Prior: 27 March 2018

Board meeting Minutes

Next: 24 April 2018

Minutes approved: 24 April 2018

Present

Andy Cowell (VP), Brian Globerman (Treasurer), Aleksey Tsalolikhin (Secretary), Drew Adams, Danielle White

Apologies

Steve VanDevender

Opened

9:03 P.M. Eastern Time

Closed

10:01 P.M. Eastern Time

Consent Agenda

• Approve minutes of 13 February 2018
• Approve minutes of 27 February 2018
• Approve minutes of 27 March 2018

Andy moved to approve the minutes, Drew seconded. Minutes approved unanimously.

Standing Reports

Treasurer's report (Globerman, Beech, Suehle)

• Balance sheet as of April 10, 2018 (pdf)

Bank balance on 4/10/2018: $32,222.60 (+684.83 over last reported balance on 3/24/2018)

• Profit and Loss, March 10, 2018 - April 10, 2018 (pdf)
• Profit and Loss, January 1, 2018 - April 10, 2018 (pdf)
• Donations to LOPSA in 2017 (pdf)

Brian agreed to take on cleaning up / bringing up to date our list of sponsors (the lists on the web site and in the LOPSAGram got out of sync), and that the Treasurer would maintain the list of sponsors going forward -- provided the donations are recorded in Wild Apricot, and that somebody else drafts "thank you" letters for donations/sponsorships, as well as the end-of-year Annual Statement / "Thank you for your support" letter (which Aleksey said he'd do).

Aleksey asked if the directors have to track hours spent on LOPSA business (are there any IRS requirements for us to do so?) Brian said no, as long as we're volunteering, directors don't have to track hours worked.

Membership report (VanDevender)

For once, Steve could not attend; no membership report.

Committee reports

Conferences/Events (Adams)

Regarding Community Manager Roger Luedecke's proposal to go to LFNW -- Aleksey will let Roger know that we'd like to see proposals for travel to conferences -- we'd prefer locations where we don't already have an active chapter -- but let's see some proposals.

LOPSA Cascadia 2019: (Globerman)

Brian is still looking for a venue for CasITConf 2019.

Marketing/Communications (Tsalolikhin, Uphill)

• Roger is working on the April LOPSAgram - nearly there.

Technical Services (White)

Danielle talked to Dan Rich - nothing special to report. The list (of issues/tasks) is a lot smaller now that we don't run our own server anymore.

Education, Training and Mentorship (Cowell)

• We added two colleges to https://lopsa.org/System-Admin-Colleges -- thanks to tanner filip for writing in with two schools offering degree programs in system administration!

• We should update lopsa.org with a link to mentor.lopsa.org before we publish the LOPSAgram

Recognition (Beech)

No George. No report.

Leadership Committee (Tsalolikhin)

• George Beech stepped down as the board liaison to Leadership Committee; Aleksey Tsalolikhin will serve as board liaison.
• Trev Thorpe resigned; Scott Murphy stepped up as head of Leadership Committee and is organizing the 2018 elections. Thanks, Scott!

Chapters Committee (Adams)

• Aleksey updated the list of chapters on https://lopsa.org/Chapters to remove defunct chapters; and to remove the Affiliates section as one affiliate went inactive (Sonoma County System Administrators) and the other (UUASC-LA) gave birth to a full chapter (LOPSA-LA).

• Aleksey will introduce Roger to the LOPSA Chicago chapter leaders. They haven't had their first chapter meeting yet, so we didn't list them on the LOPSA Chapters web page.

• Aleksey's draft of LOPSA Chapter Handbook is up at https://gitlab.com/lopsa/chapters/blob/master/chapter_handbook.md Aleksey has asked for feedback from the other LOPSA chapter leaders.

Proposal to change board size from 9 to 7 (Tsalolikhin)

Aleksey Tsalolikhin moved that:

To ensure continuity of governance in the face of a reduced LOPSA membership body (i.e., to make sure we have enough candidates to fill the board), make the following change to Article 4.2 of the bylaws, Board Composition <http://governance.lopsa.org/LOPSA_Bylaws#Board_Composition>. Change the sentence:

   The Board shall consist of nine members ("Directors").  

to:

    The Board shall consist of seven members ("Directors").

Aleksey's motion was tabled to give the board time to study the bylaws.

Handling of email (Tsalolikhin)

Following Trev's resignation from the leadership committee, we discussed timely handling of email by board members and how we can do better. We agreed we don't need a policy but we each need to do better about making sure we answer board emails especially in a timely manner.

Proposal to change LOPSA's policy on minimum requirements for starting and running a chapter (Tsalolikhin)

Aleksey Tsalolikhin moved to amend Article 3.1 of "LOPSA Policies/Locals program" <http://governance.lopsa.org/LOPSA_Policies/Locals_program#Regular_Chapter> to make it easier for people to start and operate chapters, and to encourage formation of chapters:

Change:

   A Regular Chapter must have at least SIX paid members. Provisional status can be granted with THREE paid members for the first year.

To:

   A Regular Chapter must have at least THREE paid members. Provisional status can be granted with TWO paid members for the first year.

Andy seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

Review of board goals for 2017-2018 year (Tsalolikhin)

Review of the goals was tabled due to the late time.

Reference:

https://governance.lopsa.org/Goals_and_Strategic_Plans

Increase the LOPSA's value proposition to its members:

• Run CasITConf 2018 - DONE (cancelled CasITConf 2018)
• Restart the mentorship program (done -- needs promotion)
• Provide guidance and support to local chapters (started -- initial draft done, needs input from other chapter leaders)

Improve execution/organization/governance:

• Increase the number of active LOPSA members (Aleksey reached out to head of Leadership Committee to start the discussion on cultivating volunteers)
• Document the pattern of an active LOPSA chapter valuable to its community (done, see above)
• Document the pattern of a successful LOPSA conference -- needs work

Improve perception of LOPSA:

• Communicate better, communicate regularly -- needs work

Adjournment

 Andy Motioned for Adjournment
 Danielle Seconded