CZ:Election July-August 2013/Referenda/5

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 'July-August 2013 Referenda' will invalidate the signatures of any current supporters, and require them to sign again. Comments should be placed on the Talk page.

Managing Editor non-voting membership of any governing Council

Proposed by John Stephenson

A proposed referendum which does not modify the Charter follows. Under Article 37, a simple majority is required for this referendum to pass; alternatively, it shall pass if the Management Council or Managing Editor does not place it on the ballot, unless the Managing Editor rejects it under part 1(f) of this motion.

To support the establishment of a referendum on this issue, sign here.

Proposed referendum

The Managing Editor of the Citizendium shall be minimally a non-voting member of any governing Council and shall therefore be included in any public or private business, with participation permitted until the holder leaves office. Discussion of the conduct of the Managing Editor is exempt; otherwise, Council business that is found to have excluded the Managing Editor shall be invalid. The Managing Editor shall maintain accounts in his or her name on any forum, wiki or other software as necessary.

Elaboration

Article 36 of the Citizendium Charter specifies that the Managing Editor has the following duties:

1. to ensure by means of executive decisions that the principles and policies of the Citizendium are effectively and coherently observed; such decisions shall be based on established policy where defined;
2. to make interim decisions on behalf of the Editorial and Management Councils when established policy does not provide guidance; these decisions shall be overridden by the establishment of relevant policy;
3. to represent the Citizendium in its relations with external bodies, such as the mass media, and academic or non-academic institutions.

When the Citizendium Councils are fully-functioning, the Managing Editor has little or no practical power and acts mainly as the public face of the organisation. Furthermore, as there is no obligation to include the Managing Editor in any debate, the office-holder may know no more of what is going on within the project then any regular member. As the Managing Editor is directly elected and can make interim decisions, this is inappropriate.

The proposal includes protection for Council members when business concerns the conduct of the Managing Editor. In this case, the Managing Editor does not have to be included in discussions.