User:ElectionJune2014/Referenda/4

Only the proposer of the referendum and Election Committee members may modify this page. Substantive modifications by the proposer after the referendum has been formally proposed at 'June 2014 Referenda' will invalidate the signatures of any current supporters, and require them to sign again. Comments should be placed on the Talk page.

Emergency procedure to resolve lack of functioning governance, June 2014

Proposed by the Citizendium Council

A proposed referendum on part of the Charter follows. Citizens can support or oppose it by indicating 'Yes' or 'No'. Under Article 37, a two-thirds majority is required to modify the Charter.

Proposed referendum

In the event that an election and/or referenda do not produce a functional Council, or at any point in the future the membership of the Council falls below a quorum and not enough seats are subsequently filled on an interim basis, an emergency procedure shall come into effect as detailed in a new Article 50 of the Charter, calling for the project to be run by volunteers until substantial editing activity is achieved.

Text

The following shall be added to the Charter as Article 50:

Article 50

In the event that the election and/or referenda do not produce a functional Council, or at any point in the future the membership of the Council falls below a quorum and not enough seats are subsequently filled on an interim basis, the following emergency procedure shall come into effect and in so doing over-rule any other parts of the Charter that it contradicts:

1. If the office of Managing Editor is vacant or is about to expire and cannot be filled by election, any Editor in good standing may be appointed for renewable two-year terms by the Council or Governing Board as established in (3) below, or by consensus among previous Council members.

2. The Managing Editor shall establish a moratorium on all future elections and independent Council activity, to remain in effect until the Citizendium has acquired at least 175 active users and at least 90 days have passed. (The Citizendium considers an "active user" as a user who, in the twelve months preceding consideration of ending the moratorium, has edited the main wiki at least six days per month for at least eight of those twelve months, or a user who regularly works on behalf of Citizendium whether they edit the main wiki or not (e.g., actively participating Council members, technical staff, PR-activists.)

3. During the moratorium, the Citizendium's governance shall consist of an interim Citizendium Council, called "The Citizendium Governing Board", chaired by the Managing Editor and comprising five members who will serve for two years, or fewer if the moratorium on elections terminates.

4. For the initial board, the Managing Editor shall call for volunteers, choosing four, requesting ratification from the Citizenry through an official, public mailing list. Any volunteer who receives more than three 'nays' will require replacement by another on the volunteer list. Nay-votes shall be submitted to a Constable by email.

5. Once the moratorium ends, the Council shall be re-established in accordance with the Charter. Any Council members shall be invited to resume duties if still within their terms of office and the Governing Board shall be dissolved once it has organised an election to fill any vacant seats and certified the results.

6. The Managing Editor shall serve as Ombudsman pending Citizenry-accepted volunteer, unless the post is already filled.

Charter note

The following shall be added to the Charter as a note above Article 24:

See also Article 50 (procedure to resolve lack of functioning governance)

Notes

• Provision (6) shall be included only if Referendum 1 is not passed.

• This proposal can also be discussed on the forum.