[PDB Gov] PeeringDB Term Limits Proposed Bylaws Revision

[Owen DeLong]

I oppose term limits. They deprive voters of choices.

People who need to be replaced are replaced by candidates who get more votes.

Owen


> On Oct 20, 2023, at 08:44, Chris Caputo via Pdb-gov <pdb-gov at lists.peeringdb.com> wrote:
> 
> Members,
> 
> As indicated in recent PeeringDB Board Meeting minutes up at:
> 
>  https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/#board-meetings
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> The current PeeringDB Bylaws are at:
> 
>  https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/legaldocs/2015-12-08_PeeringDB_Bylaws.pdf 
> 
> 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.
> 
> In the Section "3.4 Election of Directors" the proposal is to add a 
> Section 3.4.3 as follows:
> 
> +++ "3.4.3 Eligibility.": "No person shall be elected by the members to 
> +++ the Board of Directors more than five times over the course of eleven 
> +++ consecutive Director elections, not including the initial 2015 
> +++ election."
> 
> 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.
> 
> Here is how this would play out for a Director named Foo over the course 
> of several annual elections:
> 
> - 01 2016 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 02 2017 Election
> - 03 2018 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 04 2019 Election
> - 05 2020 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 06 2021 Election
> - 07 2022 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 08 2023 Election
> - 09 2024 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 10 2025 Election
> - 11 2026 Election: Foo blocked from running
> - 01 2027 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 02 2028 Election
> - 03 2029 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 04 2030 Election
> - 05 2031 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 06 2032 Election
> - 07 2033 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 08 2034 Election
> - 09 2035 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - 10 2036 Election
> - 11 2037 Election: Foo blocked from running
> - 01 2038 Election: Foo elected to a 2 year term
> - [...]
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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.
> 
> 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, [...]".
> 
> 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 board at lists.peeringdb.com, or via email to 
> individual Board members detailed at:
> 
>  https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/#board-of-directors
> 
> As of today, no date has been set for a Board Meeting to decide this 
> matter.
> 
> Thank you,
> Chris Caputo
> PeeringDB Secretary/Treasurer