This is a summary of the 2008 Annual Meeting of the members of the Logical Language Group, as conducted on the llg-members mailing list from October 29, 2008 to December 21, 2008.
Announcement
The 2008 Annual Meeting was announced by the vice president on October 8, 2008, to commence on October 29, 2008, with the following agenda:
- Roll Call
- Reading of Minutes
- Officer's Reports
- Committee Reports
- Bylaw Alteration
- Election of New Members
- Removal of Old Members
- Election of the Board
- Old Business
- New Business
The proposed bylaw alterations were:
a) In article 3, section 4, replace "at the principal address of the organization" with "by e-mail".
Proposer: Robin Lee Powell.
b) In article 3, section 4, remove "In the absence of any such designation, the annual meeting shall be held at the principal address of the organization on the first Sunday following the 20th day of June each year, at 10 o'clock in the morning of that day."
Proposer: Arnt Richard Johansen.
Call to order
The meeting began on October 29, 2008 with a call to order by vice president Arnt Johansen.
Roll call
- Matt Arnold
- John Cowan
- Craig Daniel
- Arnt Richard Johansen
- Jay F. Kominek
- Nora LeChevalier
- Robert J. LeChevalier
- Jorge LlambÃÂas
- Robin Lee Powell
- Theodore Reed
- And Rosta
- Mark Shoulson
- Veijo Vilva
- Stephen Weeks
The following members were mistakenly omitted from the roll call but acknowledged as present during the meeting, bringing the total number of respondents to 16:
- Pierre Abbat
- Dave Barton
Tommy Lee Whitlock later reported he was following the meeting.
Non-participatory members (8):
- Jerome Desquilibet
- Gregory Dyke
- John Hodges
- Yann Le Du
- Nick Nicholas
- Paul Francis O'Sullivan
- Rob Speer
- Robin Turner
Reading of minutes
Robin highlighted "Carry Forward: Bits That Should Be Paid Attention To For The Next Meeting" section from the LLG 2007 Annual Meeting Minutes.
- A request was made to actually perform a roll call; the suggested method is to just limit the roll call time to 5 days or so and call anyone who doesn't respond in that time "not present".
- It is worth mentioning that xorlo was added to the zasni gafyfantymanri last year.
- It is worth mentioning that we started talking about trying to make a presence on amazon.com because people were selling the CLL for $LOTS. No conclusion or action occured; we might want to pick this one back up.
President's report
I presume everyone here read my emails that led up to my election as president last year, and that having read them, it will be understood why I do not have anything to report.
Do you have any questions for me at this time? I would be happy to discuss my level of enthusiasm for Lojban (high), the state of my life and its effects on my potential performance in the community (positive and growing), and my plans for mid-to-late 2009 (multitudinous), if those are deemed appropriate topics for this meeting.
-Matt
Committee reports
The chair requested reports from BPFK and the New Book Keeping Procedures committees. Robin, as chair of both committees, reported for both.
BPFK
Not much activity, but we have a taskmaster that is actually doing some stuff (not quite weekly, but still) so activity has recently picked up. I'm hopeful this will continue.
New Book Keeping Procedures committee
Dissolved two years ago (you'll notice it's not mentioned in the 2007 minutes).
Bylaw alteration
Chair withdraws bylaw amendment, noting 5b passed in 2007 AGM, such that amendments are "pointless".
No objections.
Election of new members
The chair repeated a statement that Robin had made as chair of the 2007 AGM:
Please recall that the LLG is a business organization, and is only tangentially in the business of running the Lojban language. The BPFK is in charge of the actual Lojban parts, and you need not be a member of the LLG to contribute to the BPFK.
Arnt proposed Timo Paulssen, creator of jbobac, the lojbanic audioboard, as a new member. The motion was seconded and PASSED by general consent.
Removal of old members
A motion was moved and seconded to remove the following members for inactivity:
- Desquilbet, Jerome
- Dyke, Gregory
- Hodges, John B.
- Le Du, Yann
- Nicholas, Nick
- O'Sullivan, Paul Francis
- Speer, Rob
- Turner, Robin
Jerome resigned during the meeting. There was some discussion on whether to remove members who had participated in the 2006 but not the 2007 meeting, and whether to remove others that had been long term members of LLG and/or had made extraordinary contributions such as Nick Nicholas and Robin Turner. The motion to remove the members was PASSED.
Election of the board
The existing slate of Directors was nominated for reelection:
- Matt Arnold
- John Cowan
- Arnt Richard Johansen
- Robert LeChevalier
- Robin Lee Powell
John Cowan declined renomination, but suggested that a fifth director be elected to replace him. Without objection, the existing slate of Directors, less John Cowan, were elected to another term.
Old Business
lojbab asked for someone to check the price being asked for CLL on Amazon.com and other internet sites. Jay Kominek reported prices of $195 on Amazon and $198 on Barnes & Noble.
Matt asked why lojbab can't sell CLL on Amazon. Lojbab explained that he used to do so, but their procedures changed so as to make it prohibitively expensive: They took 55%, LLG paid shipping to them, and the cost of returning any remainders. He suggested that the policy may have changed again, but research would be needed.
John Cowan asked how many boxes of CLL were left, about the weight of the boxes. Lojbab responded, "probably at least 3 dozen at 12-20 books per box. Around 2lb 10 oz per book and most boxes probably have 16."
Matt offered to help with order fulfillment, on the basis that he was already doing it and had the necessary equipment. Lojbab proposed sending some boxes to Matt in Michigan in the care of ex-LLG member Gary Burgess, who was planning a visit to Ann Arbor.
And Rosta reiterated an offer he had previously made to help sell CLL on Amazon.co.uk.
New business
lojbab moved that it be the normal practice not to propose or accept for membership any person who has not been asked in advance of the meeting, with the exception of someone who is actively participating in some organizational capacity of LLG. He distinguished the organization capacity from the work of the BPFK.
He also asked that a statement similar to the one the chair had included about "LLG being a business organization ... only tangentially in the business of running the Lojban language" be added to the annual meeting announcement in future years.
The motion as moved and seconded:
To add the following policy to the agenda in connection with the "election of new members" point:
"Please recall that the LLG is a business organization, and is only tangentially in the business of running the Lojban language. Prior to proposing someone as a new member of the LLG, please make sure that they understand what the duties are. See Article 3 of the bylaws for details.
"If you want to propose someone as a member, please contact the administrator of the LLG Members list in advance of the meeting, so that the prospective member can participate in it."
The motion was PASSED.
Matt proposed that LLG consider purchasing Lojban refrigerator magnets, and special lojbanic dice, and offer them for sale.
A discussion followed of what kind of merchandise LLG should consider selling, and of the roles and responsibilities of the Board and the membership in managing organizational expenditures.
Lojbab said that the Board has been given little direction from the membership on what sorts of things it is worth spending money on. He also raised the point that the bylaw-required minutes of Board meetings had not been produced for some time. He characterized the meetings as "nothing more than an restricted mailing list with little semblance of formal parliamentary procedure."
Robin offered a friendly amendment which was accepted. The motion as amended and considered:
It is the feeling of the membership that Lojbanic "toys" such as dice, fridge magnets, and so on, are useful means of promoting the language. As such, the membership encourages the board, and gives the board permission, to investigate the purchasing and possible sale of such items using LLG monies.
The motion was PASSED without objection.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by the chair on December 21, 2008.
- Previous meeting: 2007 annual meeting
- Following meeting: 2009 annual meeting