The need for community/project managers was identified by Chantal, our director, who prepared the proposal herself (in collaboration with me)
Then there was a time when anyone could propose projects for 2013 and/or comment on the proposed projects; at this point, it would make no difference if someone making a comment was a board member or an outsider. In any case, Ilario did not participate in any discussion about the new positions -- neither pushing for or against them. The board later approved the final budget proposal without any objection (and without discussing any particular detail about these position), so that Ilario could not have influenced the positions at this step either. When the job description prepared by Chantal, Yann and Myself was ready to be published, Ilario told us that he may be interested in applying for the italian position. This allowed us to build the recruitment committee without including Ilario (as the main Italian-speaking member of the board, he would indeed have been part of this committee otherwise). As mentioned before, Ilario was not involved at all with the hiring process. The board (minus Ilario) held a phone meeting in order to discuss the recommandations of the hiring committee, which it approved. In order to formally register the decision and Ilario's absention, a voting page was open on our board wiki, which saw an approval by 5 board members and one abstention because of a conflict of interest. We haven't use donors money to have "professional advice from either a charity lawyer or a charity governance expert", because it wasn't necessary. All in all, the only influence that Ilario had in the process was when he submitted his application. According to the UK Charity Commission we are in the case where Ilario " has had no significant involvement with the trustees’ decision to create or retain the post, or with any material aspect of the recruitment process" Charles ___________________________________________________________ I use this email for mailing list only. Charles ANDRES, Chairman "Wikimedia CH" – Association for the advancement of free knowledge – www.wikimedia.ch Skype: charles.andres.wmch IRC://irc.freenode.net/wikimedia-ch Le 10 avr. 2013 à 13:13, Thomas Dalton <[email protected]> a écrit : > On 10 April 2013 08:10, Charles Andrès <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hello Thomas, >> >> Thanks for asking! >> >> In fact, it was as easy as said :-) Ilario has just never been involved in >> the recruitment process. In WMCH we believe that the conflict of interest is >> not solved with the resignation, but giving the whole process in the hands >> of a committee. > > Thank you for clarifying, but it really isn't that easy... Did you > seek professional advice from either a charity lawyer or a charity > governance expert? > > I don't know how these things work in Switzerland, but the relevant > guidance from the UK Charity Commission can be found here: > > http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Charity_requirements_guidance/Charity_governance/Good_governance/conflicts.aspx#8a > > "In the case of a trustee also being employed in a separate post > within the charity, or a trustee being paid for a service provided to > the charity, the conflict of interest may result in a liability to > repay salary or other related benefits. It should not be assumed that > such conflict can be overcome merely by the person concerned resigning > as a trustee, either before or after taking up the post. The only > instance where authority may not be needed is where, practically, the > trustees can show that there is no conflict of interest. In our view, > this is confined to the fairly narrow circumstance where the trustee > concerned: > > * has had no significant involvement with the trustees’ decision to > create or retain the post, or with any material aspect of the > recruitment process > * where that person resigns as a trustee in order to apply for the > employed post in advance of a fair and open competition for it > > All other circumstances require an express authority. " > > "Authority" in this context means either an express authority in the > governing documents of the charity, a court order or permission from > the Charity Commission. > > Under UK guidance, the approach you took would not be at all acceptable. > > This is a very serious matter. A charity paying a trustee (other than > to reimburse actual expenses incurred) is probably the biggest > conflict of interest you can get. It needs to be handled extremely > carefully. > > Can you elaborate on how the decision to create the post was carried > out (presumably it was part of your annual planning process)? Was > Ilario involved in that? > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
