This is a topic which could not get tackled during the 6th Board Meeting. Let’s discuss it until Sunday (at 10pm CEST), at which point I’ll open the votes. By default, the initial proposal will be submitted to the vote.
Reasoning
I have taken this first month to try to get a feel for the role and the needs of the organisations. A recurring obstacle for me has been that I feel that the exact responsibilities versus other volunteers and the board has been somewhat unclear, and therefor I have made a list of suggestions that could help clarify the scope of the role. The one thing missing from my proposal is a break down of the Work plan, with clear allocations of tasks to the Secretariat. I hope the board will be able to do this during the meeting.
Proposal
The board decides the following:
a) The Secretary General, as well as any Deputy Secretary Generals appointed in the future, shall have a standing invitation to attend any meetings of the board, with the right to add topics to the agenda, as well as to make proposals during the meetings for the board to decide upon.
b) The secretary general, as well as any Deputy Secretary Generals apointed in the future, shall be invited to the Board email list, and the Board mattermost channel.
c) The secretary General email address shall receive emails sent to the generic board email address.
d) the board clarifies that the following areas falls under the responsibility of the Secretary General:
all social media accounts of the organisation
all IT tools of the organisation
the website of the organisation, including the discourse platform (european-pirateparty.eu)
the mailing-lists of the organisation
the email accounts of the organisation
the Open Collective account of the organisation
e) the board clarifies that this includes the mandate to instruct any subcontractors or third parties operating these services on behalf of the organisation
f) the board mandates the Secretary General to be responsible for the relationship agreement with the Greens/EFA Group on behalf of the organisation, in close cooperarion with our MEP office.
g) the board mandates the Secretary General to represent the organisation in relation to other political organisations, with the aim to establish strong connection to like minded movements.
h) the board delegates the responsibility for the budget line “IT Services” to the Secretary General
i) the board clarifies that the Secretary General has the mandate to decide on the use of any funding coming in through Crowdfunding/donations as a result of the work of the Secretariat.
j) the board clarifies that the Secretary General has the mandate to issue payments to the people managing the bank account of the organisation.
Based on the discussion in the board channel, I would suggest we modify letter J to read the following (bold cursive is changed/added)
j) the board clarifies that the Secretary General has the mandate to instruct the person authorized to make payments to initiate payments related to those parts of the budget delegated to the Secretary General by the board.
The phrase “the person authorized to make payments” is used in the statutes, so it makes sense to use that instead of “the people managing the bank account”.
And since I am already allowed to make these payments myself (you might want to give me access to the bank account so that I can do that), it stands to follow that I should also be able to instruct the people with the current access to make the payment on my behalf.
Make financial decisions related to any part of the budget of the organisation explicitly delegated to them by the board, including the authority to make payments on behalf of the organisation. Any actions taken with budgetary implications shall be reported to the board.
The board decides the following:
a) The Secretary General, as well as any Deputy Secretary Generals appointed in the future, shall have a standing invitation to attend any meetings of the board, with the right to add topics to the agenda, as well as to make proposals during the meetings for the board to decide upon.
b) The secretary general, as well as any Deputy Secretary Generals apointed in the future, shall be invited to the Board email list, and the Board mattermost channel.
c) The secretary General email address shall receive emails sent to the generic board email address.
d) the board clarifies that the following areas falls under the responsibility of the Secretary General:
all social media accounts of the organisation
all IT tools of the organisation
the website of the organisation, including the discourse platform (european-pirateparty.eu)
the mailing-lists of the organisation
the email accounts of the organisation
the Open Collective account of the organisation
e) the board clarifies that this includes the mandate to instruct any subcontractors or third parties operating these services on behalf of the organisation
f) the board mandates the Secretary General to be responsible for the relationship agreement with the Greens/EFA Group on behalf of the organisation, in close cooperarion with our MEP office.
g) the board mandates the Secretary General to represent the organisation in relation to other political organisations, with the aim to establish strong connection to like minded movements.
h) the board delegates the responsibility for the budget line “IT Services” to the Secretary General
i) the board clarifies that the Secretary General has the mandate to decide on the use of any funding coming in through Crowdfunding/donations as a result of the work of the Secretariat.
j) the board clarifies that the Secretary General has the mandate to issue payments to the people managing the bank account of the organisation.