<html><head></head><body><div><div><div class=""><div class=""><div class=""><div class="">I am in favor of term limits, but only in certain circumstances. <br></div><div class=""><br></div><div class="">If the role has significant power where the incumbents can intimidate or otherwise keep themselves in power (e.g a leader of a country), then they are useful. <br></div><div class=""><br></div><div class="">But, in an organization like PDB, where the board / organization isn't super important[0], where the board is small, or where it is hard to find candidates willing to run, they can result in seriously suboptimal outcomes.<br></div><div class="">Let's pretend that e.g Aaron (alphabetically first) was term limited, and that only person running was me… Would y'all *really* want to be forced to replace Aaron with me, just because of a term limit? Really?<br></div><div class=""><br></div><div class="">W<br></div><div class=""><br></div><div class="">[0]: Yes, PeeringDB is important, but it isn't the type of organization which has guns, and no-one is likely to bribe or intimidate people to get elected to the board, etc.</div></div><div class="sh-signature"><div class="gmail_signature"><br></div></div></div><br><div class="sh-quoted-content"><div class=""><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Oct 20, 2023 at 6:45 PM, Owen DeLong <span dir="ltr" class=""><<a href="mailto:pdb-gov@lists.peeringdb.com" target="_blank" class="">pdb-gov@lists.peeringdb.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><p class="">I oppose term limits. They deprive voters of choices.
<br></p><p class="">
People who need to be replaced are replaced by candidates who get more votes.
<br></p><p class="">
Owen
<br></p><blockquote class=""><p class="">
On Oct 20, 2023, at 08:44, Chris Caputo via Pdb-gov <<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:pdb-gov@lists.peeringdb.com" class="">pdb-gov@<wbr>lists.<wbr>peeringdb.<wbr>com</a>> wrote:
<br></p><p class="">
Members,
<br></p><p class="">
As indicated in recent PeeringDB Board Meeting minutes up at:
<br></p><p class="">
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/#board-meetings" class="">https:/<wbr>/<wbr>docs.<wbr>peeringdb.<wbr>com/<wbr>gov/<wbr>#board-meetings</a>
<br></p><p class="">
there has been discussion of term limits for PeeringDB Board members.
Consensus seems to be that a term limit of 10 consecutive years (five
2-year terms) would be good for the organization.
<br></p><p class="">
With that background in mind, the Board has asked that I share the
following Bylaws amendment proposal with you, for the purposes of
gathering member feedback prior to a vote on the amendment by the Board at
a future Board Meeting.
<br></p><p class="">
The current PeeringDB Bylaws are at:
<br></p><p class="">
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/legaldocs/2015-12-08_PeeringDB_Bylaws.pdf" class="">https:/<wbr>/<wbr>docs.<wbr>peeringdb.<wbr>com/<wbr>gov/<wbr>legaldocs/<wbr>2015-12-08_PeeringDB_Bylaws.<wbr>pdf</a>
<br></p><p class="">
Per Article 7 "Amendments", the relevant Article 3 "Board of Directors",
may be adopted by a vote of a majority of the number of Directors in
office.
<br></p><p class="">
In the Section "3.4 Election of Directors" the proposal is to add a
Section 3.4.3 as follows:
<br></p><p class="">
+++ "3.4.3 Eligibility.": "No person shall be elected by the members to
<br>
+++ the Board of Directors more than five times over the course of eleven
<br>
+++ consecutive Director elections, not including the initial 2015
<br>
+++ election."
</p><p class="">
The effect of not including the initial 2015 election, which happened
prior to incorporation as a non-profit, is that the two Board members who
would otherwise be affected by this new language (Aaron Hughes and Job
Snijders), would still have the option to run in the 2024 election.
<br></p><p class="">
Here is how this would play out for a Director named Foo over the course
of several annual elections:
<br></p><p class="">
- 01 2016 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 02 2017 Election
<br>
- 03 2018 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 04 2019 Election
<br>
- 05 2020 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 06 2021 Election
<br>
- 07 2022 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 08 2023 Election
<br>
- 09 2024 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 10 2025 Election
<br>
- 11 2026 Election: Foo blocked from running
<br>
- 01 2027 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 02 2028 Election
<br>
- 03 2029 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 04 2030 Election
<br>
- 05 2031 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 06 2032 Election
<br>
- 07 2033 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 08 2034 Election
<br>
- 09 2035 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- 10 2036 Election
<br>
- 11 2037 Election: Foo blocked from running
<br>
- 01 2038 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
<br>
- [...]
</p><p class="">
So the end result is that a person can serve for 10 years, but then gets a
forced 1 year gap as far as elections go.
<br></p><p class="">
NOTE: The use of the word "members" in the proposal means this does not
prevent a Board of Directors from filling a vacancy with whoever they like
per the existing Bylaws.
<br></p><p class="">
Inspiration for how to word the amendment was drawn from how the United
States limits its Presidents to two terms: "No person shall be elected to
the office of the President more than twice, [...]".
<br></p><p class="">
The Board welcomes feedback for and against this proposal. Feedback can be
shared on this list, or to myself to pass onto the Board, or directly to
the exclusive Board list <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:board@lists.peeringdb.com" class="">board@<wbr>lists.<wbr>peeringdb.<wbr>com</a>, or via email to
individual Board members detailed at:
<br></p><p class="">
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/#board-of-directors" class="">https:/<wbr>/<wbr>docs.<wbr>peeringdb.<wbr>com/<wbr>gov/<wbr>#board-of-directors</a>
<br></p><p class="">
As of <span class="sh-date">today</span>, no date has been set for a Board Meeting to decide this
matter.
<br></p><p class="">
Thank you,
<br>
Chris Caputo
<br>
PeeringDB Secretary/Treasurer</p></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div><div><br></div></div><div></div></div></body></html>