1. Meeting overview and key information
Present
- Joel Addison (President)
- Sae Ra Germaine (Vice-President)
- Neill Cox (Secretary)
- Russell Stuart (Treasurer)
- Andrew Pam (Council)
- Jennifer Cox (Council)
- Jonathan Woithe (Council)
Apologies
Not Present
Meeting opened at 20:05 AEDT by Joel and quorum was achieved.
Minutes taken by Neill and Jonathan
2. Log of correspondence
- Lodge Linux Australia Activity Statement October..December 2023
- Scrutineers report
- Fwd: Charity audit (NZPUG)
- Xero reconciliations
- Linux Australia – Subcommittee Update [actually Reconnect with Joomla Budget]
Council members should have received an email with more details, but basically the previous council had some questions about the budget that had been submitted. A revised budget has now been submitted for the council’s consideration.
The new budget contains no sponsorship and is surprisingly frugal in their estimates of catering expenses. The budget is so small that it is unlikely to be a problem for LA, and Joomla has run previous events that have accumulated a buffer.
Once we accept a budget for an event we take responsibility for the results, including the possibility of a loss.
- Fwd: Third Party Public Liability Insurance [for KiwiPyCon]
- Issue with contact form on LA website – investigations and possible way forward
- Change to auDA domain name rules – request to make submission under LA banner
- May I assign LA as registrant of drupal.org.au?
- pyconau 2024 conference admin
- Fwd: Reconnect with Joomla Event
- Fwd: MHW Best Practice Program- Letter of Consent
3. Items for discussion
- Welcome to new council members
Recap: Fortnightly meetings for council. Ideally no more than an hour. Agenda available to everyone before meeting. Please add items to the agenda before the meeting starts.
Every second meeting is a subcommittee meeting where each of our subcommittees are invited to come along and report on how things are going.
Sometimes we discuss things that are not yet public, which will be minuted in the In Camera section. This may be something like a code of conduct issue or possibly information that a conference has shared with us but is not ready to make public.
Discussion and comments from everyone present are welcome, but please keep in mind that we are trying to be done in less than an hour.
We use Zoom for meetings as it is currently the best option available to us, but we would be happy to use a suitable open source option instead.
Similarly we use Google drive for document storage, but would like to move to an open source equivalent.
Jenny and Andrew will need to supply Joel with their preferred google account so that Joel can share the 2024 council directory.
We have a number of tasks to perform at the start of the new year. One requirement is Director IDs.
Details of committee members need to go into Linux Australia’s register, access to which can be requested by any member. This needs to include name, date of birth and address. There will be a document which shows the required details.
All council members will receive email from the council mailing address. It is sometimes best to allow discussion by the council before firing off a response.
We also have a (matrix) chat channel for quick discussions.
Sae Ra is happy to walk people through the various things that the council works on during the year.
Could everyone come with a few dot points for the next meeting addressing why we have all chosen to be on the council and what we would like to achieve this year?
4. Items for noting
- Would it be possible to get the AGM minutes up soonish rather than just before the AGM?
5. Other business
- Motion that the LA council accepts the proposed budget for the Reconnect with Joomla 2024 event and establishes an event subcommittee for this.
Moved by: Joel
Seconded: Sae Ra
Result: Passed unanimously
- auDA Response
Jonathan will prepare a draft response in consultation with Kathy Reid. To be published on the LA website and posted to email and/or social media.
There was a general discussion between the council with Sae Ra abstaining due to a conflict of interest.
- Contact Form on the Linux Australia website
Joel will discuss this with Wil to get advice on the best way to resolve the problem.
- Drupal.org.au domain name
It seems appropriate to transfer ownership of the domain to Linux Australia. Joel will respond to the email.
- PyconAU
PyconAU is now a steering committee. Late today they provided a draft budget for their next pycon conference and have notified us of their core committee membership.
PyconAU would like to lock in their venue for their proposed dates in November 2024.
- Motion by Joel: that the LA Council approve the venue contract for PyCon AU 2024, and pay the associated deposit.
Moved by: Joel
Seconded: Sae Ra
Result: Passed unanimously - Next steps: budget to be reviewed by LA Council over the next two weeks and be voted on at the next Council meeting.
- MHW Best Practice Program – Letter of Consent requested by the auditor. He would like to pass Linux Australia’s details on to CPA Australia as part of the Best Practice Program.
- Motion: that LA approve Russell to sign the informed written consent for the MHW participation in the CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment..
Moved by Russell
- Motion: that LA approve Russell to sign the informed written consent for the MHW participation in the CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment..
Seconded: Neill
Result: Passed unanimously
- Meeting Times – are we happy to continue with Wednesday evenings at 2000 AEDT
After a brief discussion there was no significant disagreement about running the meetings at the current time. When daylight savings finishes we will move to 1930 AEST.
Meeting closed at 21:08
Next meeting is scheduled for 2024-02-14
