[Linux-aus] Committee Meeting - 2005/03/29

[Anthony Towns]

Programme notes!

Anthony Towns wrote:
> Agenda for Linux Australia Committee Meeting
> 2005/03/29 21:00 +1100

Erk, that's +1000 now, isn't it? Durn Southerners with their daylight 
term deposits... :(

Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane: 9:00pm
   Jon, Pia, Anthony, Stewart
Adelaide: 8:30pm
   Geoffrey
Perth: 7:00pm
   Mark
Who knows: ???
   Andrew :)

> Location: Teleconference

Teleconference hookup via IBM
   Phone: 1300 301 336
   ID: 136830

Some notes for Jon:

Open the meeting.
Roll call to make sure we know who's here for the record.

> FORMAL MEETING
> (1) Approval of minutes for formal meeting 2005/02/22
>     Motion: That the minutes of the Committee Meeting held by
>     teleconference on the 22nd February 2005 accurately reflect the
>     proceedings of that meeting.

Subject: [LACTTE] 2005/02/22 Committe Meeting Minutes (DRAFT)
To: LA Committee <committee at linux.org.au>
Message-ID: <42491225.7020300 at azure.humbug.org.au>
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 18:30:29 +1000

Read out the motion; ask for someone to propose it (Anthony) and second 
it (Jon?). Ask for any further comments for/against. Ask each person on 
the conference call for their vote.

> (2) Change of registered office
>     Motion: That Linux Australia's registered business office be changed
>     to the North Sydney office of Minerva Technology Lawyers.

(see endnote for correspondence)

C/- Minerva Technology Lawyers
Level 21
201 Miller Street
North Sydney NSW 2060

WRT Andrew's question, no, we haven't spoken to these guys, but they 
seem legit, and seem to have a dedicated focus on IT and non-profits 
(they're www.charity.org.au). Without someone in Sydney beating the 
pavement, I can't see how we can do any better; though we could just 
wait 'til I'm in Sydney post LCA.

Read out the motion; ask for someone to propose it (Anthony) and second 
it (Mark?). Ask for any further comments for/against. Ask each person on 
the conference call for their vote.

> (3) Linux Professional Institute Activities Budget
>     Motion: That Pia Smith be authorised access to funds necessary to
>     cover LPI events and activities related to linux.conf.au 2005, with
>     total amount not to exceed $2000; that Ms Smith be directed by the
>     committee to show discretion in the use of such funds; and that the
>     committee shall review LPI related income and expenses by 1st June
>     2005, with a view to ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness
>     of our involvement in LPI.

Read out the motion; ask for someone to propose it (Pia?) and second it 
(Jon?). Ask for any further comments for/against. Is the $2k 
appropriate? Is Pia's discretion suitable for checks and balances? This 
is intended to cover things like the LPI dinner and the LCA sponsorship 
Pia's been talking about. Other issues? Ask each person on the 
conference call for their vote.

> (4) Media Training
>     Motion: That the quote offered to Linux Australia for media training
>     in Canberra on April 20th, for a group of eight or more (to include
>     the linux.conf.au 2006 organisers and others), for $4198.70
>     (including GST) be accepted.

Read out the motion; ask for someone to propose it (Pia?) and second it 
(Jon?). Ask for any further comments for/against. Ask each person on the 
conference call for their vote.

> (5) Community Code Project
>     Motion: That a sub-committee of Linux Australia be established in
>     accordance with the proposal presented to the committee by Matthew
>     Palmer on the 26th of March, 2005, and that the Linux Australia
>     committee shall offer appropriate assistance to the sub-committee,
>     in particular with respect to insurance concerns. The sub-committee
>     shall be known as the "Community Code Project", and the committee
>     chair shall be Mary Gardiner.

From: Matthew Palmer <mpalmer at hezmatt.org>
To: linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au
Message-ID: <20050326035536.GG2902 at hezmatt.org>
Subject: [Linux-aus] Updated Community Code/LA proposal
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 14:55:36 +1100

The committee currently consists of:
   Adelle Hartley
   Anne Julienne
   Jacqueline McNally
   Ken Foskey
   Kylie Davies
   Mary Gardiner (chair)
   Matthew Palmer
   Pia Smith
   Taryn East
   Terry Collins

Read out the motion; ask for someone to propose it (Jon?) and second it 
(Pia?). Ask for any further comments for/against. Does Mark have any 
further comments re: insurance issues ($5M public liability coverage for 
up to 15 mentors and participants)? Ask each person on the conference 
call for their vote.

> Proxies by committee members will be accepted by the secretary by email 
> up until the beginning of the meeting.

Proxies have been received by Andrew and Stewart.

Cheers,
aj

Correspondence re: business address:

---
No worries.

Put your registered office as
C/- Minerva Technology Lawyers
Level 21
201 Miller Street
North Sydney NSW 2060

No charge to nominate us as the address.

Also, some background on the other Minerva arm that we have.

When your in N syd, why don't you give me a call and drop in for a coffee.

Cheers
nigel

-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Towns [mailto:secretary at linux.org.au]
Sent: Monday, 21 March 2005 5:01 PM
To: Nigel Hutchinson
Cc: secretary at linux.org.au
Subject: Re: Enquiry from charity.org.au

Hi Nigel,

Nigel Hutchinson wrote:

 >> Thanks for your note. We can help you with that.
 >> I'm in North Sydney on the number below. Please give me a call at your
 >> convenience.


We seem to be playing phone tag a bit, so it might help get this moving
if I give you a few more details over email.

Anyway, we're Linux Australia, Inc, a NSW incorporated association. Our
constitution is online at http://www.linux.org.au/about/constitution .
Our main activity has been to support the running of the annual
Linux.Conf.Au conference, though we've been looking at ways of
broadening our horizons (and finding ways of using the proceeds from
those conferences to further promote Linux in Australia) for the past
couple of years.

In spite of being a NSW registered organisation, we act nationally; and
this year our president, Jon Oxer, is based in Melbourne, our secretary
(that would be) is based in Brisbane, and our treasurer, Mark Tearle, is
based in Perth.

What we would like from your organisation is simply some basic
organisational support in the form of somewhere to nominate as our
registered office for legal purposes; we don't expect this to entail any
duties beyond accepting and forwarding any correspondence that can't (or
for various reasons, simply don't) go directly through our regular PO
Box. Inspection of minute books, membership list and so forth are
handled by the public officer (Andrew Cowie, based in Manly), and
secretary (myself), in the common case over the Internet.

We would like to sort this out fairly quickly, as we would like to
update our details before finalising some pending changes to our banking
details that are needed for preparing next year's conference and some
other projects currently we're working on.

This is pretty much the extent of the support we're looking for at the
moment -- currently we obtain legal advice from Jeremy Malcolm who's
been involved in the Linux community directly for a while now, and we're
not yet in a position to make use of some of the other services you
offer in regards to accountability and fiduciary responsibility and so
forth; and in any case, it's probably a good idea to start the
relationship small and build up if (when!) it works out well. :)

If you could provide some indication of whether this level of
relationship is plausible from your end, and, if so, an indication of
the cost, so that I could present it to the executive that would be
helpful. I'll be available on 0421 282 443 at your convenience this
evening, tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday to discuss this.

Thankyou in advance for your time and courteous response!

Yours sincerely,
Anthony Towns
---

-- 
Anthony Towns <secretary at linux.org.au>
Secretary, Linux Australia Inc

http://www.linux.org.au/