PSF Meeting Minutes for Feb. 14, 2006
A regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation ("PSF") Board of Directors was held over Internet Relay Chat beginning at 18:00 UTC, 14 February 2006. Stephan Deibel presided at the meeting.
1 Attendance
The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Tim Peters, Stephan Deibel, Martin von Löwis, Jeremy Hylton, and Andrew Kuchling. Also in attendance were Kurt B. Kaiser (Treasurer), Neal Norwitz (Assistant Treasurer), and David Goodger (Assistant Secretary). D. Goodger prepared these minutes.
2 Minutes of Past Meetings
The January 2006 minutes were approved by a 4-0-1 vote.
3 Status of Past Action Items
3.1 Follow-Up Required
Originally from November 2005, follow-up from December 2005: Mark Shuttleworth (Ubuntu/Canonical) on PSF sponsorship or donation.
Status: follow-up required.
Originally from November 2005, follow-up from December 2005: Bram Cohen (BitTorrent) on PSF sponsorship or donation.
Status: follow-up required.
S. Deibel noted that all the directors, officers, and members should keep in mind approaching eligible people to extract donations and/or sponsorship from them,at PyCon, and in general.
3.2 In Progress
Originally from September 2005, Section 10.1, Trademarks & The .com Domain: N. Norwitz will ask the lawyer about the python.com domain.
Status: in progress.
Originally from November 2005, Section 4, Python.org Redesign (S. Holden):
- get the new production system to run on Mac OS X;
- detail which parts of the current content have been transformed for the new system and which parts still require conversion;
- complete the documentation so that webmaster team members can use the new system rather than the old one.
Status: in progress.
S. Deibel mentioned the possibility of a Python.org sprint at PyCon. It would require a list of what is needed; Tim Parkin won't be there and he wasn't sure who else has the knowledge.
Originally from December 2005, Section 6, PSF Member Meeting: M. von Löwis volunteered to ensure that the necessary steps are taken for the member meeting.
Status: in progress. M. von Löwis reports that he created the various forms, and posted an email invitation.
3.3 Carried Forward
The following are action items carried forward from the January 2006 meeting, as highlighted in the minutes (Section 3, Status of Past Action Items):
Originally from September 2005, Section 4, Donor Levels: S. Deibel will add the topic of "Donor Levels" to the agenda of a future meeting, and may begin discussions via email before that.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from September 2005, Section 9, Grants Committee: M. von Löwis will verify whether Brian Zimmer's grant invoice is the one previously discussed (i.e. a reduced amount of work, and a reduced payment).
Status: done.
M. von Löwis reported that the committee approved the split, and Frank Wierzbicki has provided a schedule. There have been two contracts, as Frank had last-minute revisions to the schedule; the treasurer has the latest revision. A new invoice from Brian Zimmer is required. M. von Löwis will ask Brian Zimmer to send an invoice for the part of the Jython grant that goes to him.
Originally from October 2005, Section 4, Public Support Committee: D. Goodger will pursue web page and installer donation link ideas.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from October 2005, Section 5, Ubuntu Development Meeting: Add "swag for events" to future agenda [D. Goodger].
Status: carried forward.
Originally from October 2005, Section 7, Reserve Funds: K. Kaiser will send a reserve fund investment proposal to the PSF-board mailing list.
K. Kaiser reported that SunTrust is announcing very attractive new rates today, around 5%; he hoped to have them before the meeting but no luck. There is a long-term manager's special at 5%, probably for 15 months. There is no great penalty in the unlikely event we make an early withdrawl.
K. Kaiser will prepare a proposal and send it to the PSF-board mailing list before PyCon. M. von Löwis and K. Kaiser noted that a resolution was not required (from the October 2005 minutes: “it is within the power of the Treasurer to make this decision, and that a formal resolution was not required”).
Status: carried forward.
Originally from November 2005, Section 8, Trademark Policy: D. Ascher will probably work with ActiveState's legal person on trademark policy.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from December 2005, Section 4, Python.org Redesign: S. Holden said that he would be responsible for making sure that documentation is available for the new python.org system.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from December 2005, Section 6, PSF Member Meeting: J. Hylton took on the task of finding someone to send out member meeting notices & proxy forms.
Status: done. Notices have been sent.
Originally from December 2005, Section 6, PSF Member Meeting: J. Hylton pledged to complete the minutes for the 2005 PSF member meeting.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from December 2005, Section 7, PSF BoF Sessions: A. Kuchling promised to write to Chris DiBona and Greg Stein and ask about their attendance at PyCon and possible BoF participation.
Status: carried forward.
Originally from December 2005, Section 7, PSF BoF Sessions: M. von Löwis agreed to see if the grant recipients (Greg Wilson, Brian Zimmer, and/or Ilya Etingof) will be at PyCon, and ask them to report on what they've done.
Status: done. M. von Löwis reported that all of the grant recipients were asked, and all said they would be unable to attend PyCon.
A post to the PSF blog was suggested, and discussion was deferred to email.
3.4 New in January
The following action items originated with the January 2006 meeting, as highlighted in the minutes:
Section 3.4, item 5, New in December (PSF Member Meeting): [M. von Löwis] We should set a deadline for closing the absentee ballot.
Status: done. The absentee ballot was closed on February 14.
4 Financials
The initial ruling period on the PSF's 501(c)(3) status has ended. We have surpassed the 1/3 public support ratio needed.
K. Kaiser will ping the sponsor members who have not yet paid their 2006 PSF sponsor fees.
K. Kaiser reported that he has rewritten all the transaction processing and processed everything to date. The 2005 books are reconciled with credit cards and bank statements. The remaining things to do are to reclassify the PyCon travel grants and to reclassify "other income" left over from the last PyCon.
S. Deibel asked if there is a list somewhere of which tax/etc forms we need to file at what times of year? K. Kaiser replied that N. Norwitz wrote such a list, "recurring.txt" in the PSF repository. There aren't many: the yearly Federal filing, the DE payment, and the 8734 Support Schedule, "which is a bit of a project". Also, K. Kaiser needs to check if anything is needed for Massachussetts.
5 Use of "PyCon" by Other Conferences
M. von Löwis proposed that the PSF should register "PyCon" as a trademark, and then approve it for at most one conference (organizer) per country. Discussion was deferred to email.
6 Adjournment
S. Deibel adjourned the meeting at 19:00 UTC.