<div dir="ltr">On Wed, Apr 6, 2016 at 8:35 PM, Accounting at Software Freedom Conservancy <<a href="mailto:accounting@sfconservancy.org" target="_blank">accounting@sfconservancy.org</a>> wrote: <div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Adam, The accounting department at Conservancy never received a reply to this thread below. As Representative, I would have expected reply to come from you. > Walter Bender wrote on 10 February: >> Please find attached my expenses for the Turtle/Music Blocks workshop >> in Thailand this month. I wrote on 8 March: > I have processed this expense report for a total expenses amount of > $1,389.29 for Bender's travel to the Constructionalism 2016 conference. > However, I don't see any records of SLOBs approval of this expense. > > Adam, as Representative, can you please communicate ASAP that the SLOBs > have approved this expense? > > Once I have this, we can send the reimbursement. ... and, as such, Walter has still not been reimbursed for his $1,389.29 for travel to the Constructionalism 2016 conference. I really would appreciate if you'd either approve the expense, or indicate that it should not be paid, so I can give a definitive answer to the traveler about whether the reimbursement request will be paid. (I know that SLOBs tend to approve things via meetings, so you can just send a link to SLOBs minutes if it was approved at a meeting already.) <div><div>-- Bradley M. Kuhn President & Distinguished Technologist of Software Freedom Conservancy |------> & also, de-facto Bookkeeper since we can't afford to hire one. Pls donate so we can increase staff: <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ </a></div></div></blockquote><div> Hi Bradley Kuhn who does all the hard work behind SFConservancy Accounting, Sorry I was away in Haiti when you wrote in March. Your file Sugar/Ledger/sugar.ledger correctly shows Walter Bender's $807.22 flight + expenses to Thailand's Constructionism 2016 = $1389.29 total. If SL's Oversight Board was supposed to vote on this affirmatively per SFConservancy policies, can you just clarify those policies, particularly with many new board members since February 2nd 2016, so that we're fully in compliance without confusion going forward? If SL Board pre-approval of expenses or budgets are necessary and/or wise then any particular suggestions for resolving this expeditiously most appreciated. Thank you greatly in advance for your time. Aside: Caryl Bigenho and Dave Crossland have been working on a Treasurer suggestion for Sugar Labs to possibly make such financial clarity and promptness more of a priority for our community in future, relevant later this spring if SL's Board chooses to act on this or similar, but we are not quite there yet encoding norms of financial transparency/ responsiveness/intentionality that our community agrees on broadly, and if so how we're going to get there: <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/16jIFuZ9bX-Bv675BpA1KmcEcRcX4PRCOUEX0ICRUkOc" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/16jIFuZ9bX-Bv675BpA1KmcEcRcX4PRCOUEX0ICRUkOc</a> > > Devin Ulibarri traveled with me (I bought his plane ticket but he > > will submit his other expenses separately). > > On another related matter, I have not received a trip report and expense > report from Ulibarri. Per instructions from Conservancy's Executive > Director, Karen Sandler, on this matter, I have not processed the part > of the Bender's reimbursement request but will do so as part of Devin's > full expense report when it arrives. I will presume Devin Ulibarri's Constructionism 2016 expenses ($787.31 flight + $903.08 Music Blocks/conf-related expenses = $1690.39 total) approval process would follow the exact same process as you outline for Walter's above, as soon as that's clarified. Separately it seems Walter Bender misunderstood that SL's Board agreed to pay Devin Ulibarri an additional $500 in compensation, above and beyond Devin's travel expenses: <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Oversight_Board/Meeting_Minutes-2015-%5C" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Oversight_Board/Meeting_Minutes-2015-\</a> 12-17&oldid=96639 In fact, SL's Oversight Board requires 4 votes for all decisions as was clarified immediately upon my joining SL's Board near the end of 2009, generally to protect against the temptation to schedule meetings around different voting factions, when quorum drifts etc, whatevs. This requirement for 4 votes (majority of seats) was confirmed on December 11th 2009, when the motion "SL is and should be a GNU/Linux distributor" failed, receiving only 3 votes: <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/2009/Meeting_Minutes-2009-12-11" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/2009/Meeting_Minutes-2009-12-11</a> And again more recently on March 4th 2016: <a href="http://meeting.sugarlabs.org/sugar-meeting/meetings/2016-03-04T16:00:36#i_28624%5C" target="_blank">http://meeting.sugarlabs.org/sugar-meeting/meetings/2016-03-04T16:00:36#i_28624\</a> 08 I have modified the 2015-12-17 records at <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/Decisions</a> to reflect the correct and agreed-upon procedure (4 votes minimum, certainly that's been the case since I joined SL's Board at the end of 2009). Walter or others wishing to resubmit a motion to pay Devin Ulibarri $500 in compensation, should feel free to do so (insofar as SFConservancy Travel Policies permit retroactive financial approvals, which is NOT something to encourage in future instances obviously, but in these special circumstances it may obviously be necessary, with all Board members voting their conscience per usual). Sugar Labs needs to be a place where we learn from our human mistakes WITHOUT recriminations going forward, when small debuggings/reviews bring us closer to the goal, in keeping with our universal principles (reflect, iterate, collaborate, learn!) Finally, Devin Ulibarri is a great person by absolutely all appearances, who I don't happen to know, so I'd be remiss to explain why I _personally_ abstained from voting during Dec 17th 2015's vote (mine being 1 of 4 abstentions, alongside Daniel Francis, Chris Leonard, Gonzalo Odiard) to pay him $500 compensation. That reason is my personal convictions around financial prudence. My own opinion being that $500 compensation for a 5-day conference is too high for Sugar Labs to be paying _anybody_ at this current stage. That caution is strictly only my opinion however. Four months later, with a very new Board, it is far more important today that we look to the future resolving all such matters forthrightly with everyone voting their clear conscience (whatever motions/votes arise) honoring agreed-upon procedures respectful of Software Freedom Conservancy requirements. Sincere Respect and Thanks -- to Bradley and All, Adam Holt Sugar Labs Oversight Board Liaison to SFConservancy.org CC'd to <a href="mailto:ieap@list.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">ieap@list.sugarlabs.org</a> as there's a growing if not universal community request for timely transparency and process clarity, around vision/governance/finance (enforced by bylaws implicit across <a href="https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance" target="_blank">https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Governance</a> but that too needs to be clarified, as bylaws simply cannot be edited by random passersby on a wiki, leaving the legally-binding version to guesswork). Nonetheless identifying/organizing our legal nonprofit bylaws is not a huge job in the end as outlined above. Most important of all, if everybody is civil about innocent human procedural mistakes, soon to be resolved now that they are understood, Donors will also increase their trust in the Sugar community as our organ of deliberative forward movement -- catalyzing conscientious action far beyond hype~ -- Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ <a href="http://unleashkids.org" target="_blank">http://unleashkids.org</a> ! </div></div></div></div>