AGM 2009

carl August 17, 2009 - 23:08

The 2009 AGM of the New Zealand Open Source Society has been held.

The NZOSS would like to thank all attendees and those financial members who took the time to vote on the proposed constitution changes. We are now able to progress our application for Charitable status and hope to have that completed as soon as possible.

The poll results are available here.

The NZOSS would like to thank all members for their continued support.

The 2009 AGM of the New Zealand Open Source Society will be held on:

Wednesday the 19th of August 2009 starting at 5pm.

The meeting will be conducted primarily via an IRC channel
chat.freenode.net #nzoss

Agenda

Voting, if required, will be conducted online via the main NZOSS website. You must be a registered and current financial member and be logged in to vote on the website.

We will be performing a final reconciliation of current financial membership on Tuesday 18th August so your details must appear in the societies bank account before then. Any member who has paid the $40 membership fee at any time in the previous 12 months to Tuesday 18th August 2009 will be eligible to vote at the 2009 AGM.

Information on how to become a financial member of the NZOSS is available at /nzoss/join

Nominations for the following people were received by Friday 31 July 2009

Members of the current Council who were renominated:

* Don Christie (President)
* Peter Harrison (Vice President)
* Carl Klitscher (Secretary/Treasurer)
* Zane Gilmore (Christchurch Regional Officer)
* Daniel Reurich
* Vik Olliver (Events Organiser)
* Andrew Turner
* Matthew Holloway
* Brent Wood (Education Group)
* Chris Daish (Government Officer)
* David Lane
* Francois Marier (Seconded 2008)

One new nomination was received:

* Alick Wilson

The Constitution allows up to 11 Council members in addition to the elected
positions of President and Vice President. As no other nominations were
received by the due date the above names will stand unopposed.

One notice of motion was received by Friday 31 July 2009.

"That the NZOSS constitution be amended to allow registration of the society
as a charitable organisation."

Background. The initial request by the NZOSS for registration as a charitable
organisation was turned down for two reasons. The first centered around the
aims and objects of the society, the second around the winding up clause.

As a result of this the following constitution changes are proposed:

These paragraphs replace the section from the heading "Objects" through to the
subheading "Affiliate with other bodies".
-----oOo-----
OBJECTS
Education
To advance education by:

1.Developing educational materials covering the use of hardware and software
developed under the Open Source Paradigm in Educational Institutions,
Government, Private Enterprise and the Community.

2.Encouraging the development of support services to address the support
requirements that Educational Institutes, Government, Private Enterprise and
the Community may require in order to use hardware and software covered by
the Open Source Paradigm.

3.Supporting or operating Workshops, Seminars and other Events that educate
about or support the development of hardware and software under the Open
Source Paradigm in New Zealand.

4.Raising public awareness of the benefits of using hardware, software and
services based on the Open Source Paradigm.

5.Providing professional literature, newsletters, journals and other material
regarding the Open Source Paradigm.

6.Advancing the state of knowledge and techniques in hardware, software and
services development under the Open Source Paradigm to foster high standards
of design, development and coding.

7.Initiating or assisting with scholarships, awards, grants, or other support,
for students participating in or learning about the Open Source Paradigm.

Affiliate with other bodies...
-----oOo-----

This section alters the wording of the "Dissolution and Winding Up" clause by
inserting the word 'charitable' at the appropriate point.
-----oOo-----
Before the dissolution by the Registrar of Incorporated Societies or a
resolution by the members to voluntarily wind up of the Society, the
property, assets and monies shall, after provision for the discharge of all
liabilities of the Society, be transferred to any charitable body or bodies
that have similar aims to those of the New Zealand Open Source Society Inc.,
as a General Meeting shall decide.
-----oOo-----

Both of these changes have received preliminary approval from the Charities
Commission and the Council recommends that they be adopted.

The current NZOSS Constitution is available at
nzoss.org.nz/nzoss/constitution

To test if you are a current financial member please login and attempt to access this page.

If you feel the result you get from the above page is incorrect or you have any other questions please contact the Secretary.

Carl Klitscher
Secretary NZOSS