[PDB Gov] PeeringDB Term Limits Proposed Bylaws Revision

[Warren Kumari]

I am in favor of term limits, but only in certain circumstances.

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.

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.
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?

W

[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.


On Fri, Oct 20, 2023 at 6:45 PM, Owen DeLong <pdb-gov at lists.peeringdb.com>
wrote:

> 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
>
>
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