[DECISION] Re: [Vote] hiring external communication expert

[floeff]

Hello,

the following decision, which was taken in private on 2022-12-22, is now made public in accordance with our statutes.

Hello all,

Another topic on which we need to make progress urgently IMO. Not only to check the handling, impartiality and objectivity of the CoC case against Paolo, but also get (a first?) external advise on our communication etc.

From the comments on the topic - thanks! - there is a clear preference to go with the offering from Central Consultancy & Training.

And since we're voting anyway, please cast your vote (+1/-1/0) for this one too by **Monday, 17:00 UTC / 18:00 Berlin time**.

–-%<-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–-–

The board resolves:

* Accept the offering from Central Consultancy & Training to execute 'Review handling CoC complaint against board member' as decided on October 17 2022

* As can be found here [redacted, internal link]

* The cost for TDF are approx. 14.000 €

The vote runs 54h from now.

The Board of Directors at the time of voting consists of 7 seat holders (not including deputies). In order to be quorate, the vote needs to have 1/2 or more of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4.

A total of 7 Board of Directors members have participated in the vote.
The vote is quorate.
A quorum could be reached with a simple majority of 4 votes.
Result of vote: 5 approvals, 0 abstains, 2 disapprovals.
Also one deputy supports the motion.

[andreasma]

Hi all,

if I look at the price tag of this decision, I' curious if there had
been a complete task description done in writing before the decision.
And I also think the community and especially the TDF members want to
know if there had been a tender with the task description in front of
the decision.

Had there been done a market analysis / a comparison of cost before the
decision? I'd like to note that TDF is a tax-exempt charity, running on
donation money.

Regards,
Andreas

[cornouws]

Hi Andreas,

Good questions.
Yes, we had a clear description of the ask. We had contacted 4 consultancy firms with a summary, of which two seemed best matching. We got offerings from them based on the precise description. Finally we've chosen the one which we expect to be most helpful with checking the process as described and taking (a first) look at the wider communication. The price of the offerings did not differ much.

HTH,
greetings,
Cor

PS. For me it is not needed to use 'I think the TDF members want to know'. It is OK if you are interested.

[andreasma]

Hi Cor,

if there is a clear description of the task it shouldn't be an issue to
make that public at least to the TDF members.

And it would also be of interest which consultancy firms you have contacted.

Why have you only contacted those firms, although there are a lot of
providers of such offerings on the market?

What were the detailed criteria to choose only those firms?

Regards,
Andreas

[cornouws]

Hi Andreas,

I'll ask the board to share the decision, on which the hiring of the external expert is based, public.
And for the rest you're asking too much details on board work IMO.

Cheers,
Cor

[PaoloVecchi]

Hi all,

I have to admit that I haven't checked the vote totals when published internally and only now I realise that the totals are wrong.

While I notified the board that in my opinion the expenditure is unnecessary as we have the relevant resources, communication expert and a CoC team, within TDF I've voted -1. A member of the board made me noticed that I might be in conflict of interest as the proposed expenditure is, for the best part, related to my complaint that the case was not handled with the due impartiality and objectivity, I agreed with the comment and I revoked my vote.

The final vote should be:

A total of 6 Board of Directors members have participated in the vote.
The vote is quorate.
A quorum could be reached with a simple majority of 4 votes.
Result of vote: 5 approvals, 0 abstains, 1 disapprovals.
Also one deputy supports the motion

The result doesn't change as the majority of the board think that we should spend a large amount of money for something that could have been solved months ago with our own resources and without this expenditure but I believe it's important to remove my vote from this decision.

Ciao

Paolo

[andreasma]

Hi Cor,

I don't think that I'm asking too much details of board work. I think
you, the board, are responsible with respect to the community and at
least the TDF members to explain in detail your decisions (and it's
basics). You handle TDF only as a fiduciary for the members and the
community (and also for the donors).

If you are not able to share the basics and answer the questions, you
are not able to fulfill your function.

Regards,
Andreas

[thb]

Hi Andreas, all,

Andreas Mantke wrote:

If you are not able to share the basics and answer the questions, you
are not able to fulfill your function.

I think Cor just offered to publish more details. Can we please wait
for that?

Cheers,

-- Thorsten

[andreasma]

Hi Thorsten, all,

Hi Andreas, all,

Andreas Mantke wrote:

If you are not able to share the basics and answer the questions, you
are not able to fulfill your function.

I think Cor just offered to publish more details. Can we please wait
for that?

I waited some days yet, but Cor didn't published any further details and
also didn't answer any of my questions.

When could I and the members / community expect the proposed further
details and answers?

Regards,
Andreas

[andreasma]

Hi all,

the BoD chair proposed that Cor will deliver / publish further details
on the topic 'hiring external communication expert' and answer my questions.

But although I waited for a longer time yet neither Cor nor the BoD
chair replied and submitted further information and answered questions.

It looks as if they are not willing or able to deliver. It shouldn't be
difficult to answer my questions and deliver the information (the data
should have been compiled by the board before the decision making).

Regards,
Andreas

[cornouws]

Hi Andreas,

the BoD chair proposed that Cor will deliver / publish further details
on the topic 'hiring external communication expert' and answer my questions.

But although I waited for a longer time yet neither Cor nor the BoD
chair replied and submitted further information and answered questions.

Hmm, sorry, apologies to that. When I saw you at the community diner in Brussels, I didn't think of giving a short update - so let me do now.
We've asked few people for feedback before publishing. The busy days before FOSDEM, that was not completed I think.
Will check this and expect the answer will follow this week on tdf-internal. I'll let you know if somehow that turn out to be not possible.

Cheers,
Cor