On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 12:56 PM, Michael Richardson <mcr@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mary Barnes <mary.h.barnes@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Allison has suggesting selecting 11 people, with the 11th being a
>> participating, but non-voting spare. I'm undecided if this would be a good
>> thing. In 2014/2015 I did select an 11th from the pool, and confirmed that
>> selection with others in case we needed someone else.
> [MB] I actually really like this idea as it seems to be more the rule than
> the exception that one person has to leave the nomcom or just isn't engaged
> (I had the latter on the Nomcom I chaired and the former on the one for
> which I was past-chair advisor). So, I think having a backup is a really
> good idea. I would suggest if that happens that each Nomcom should agree
> at the start the criteria under which they would add the 11th as a 10th
> voting member. I had a voting member that just wasn't participating at
> all for an extended period of time. I was almost at the point of going
> through the process of having them removed as a voting member, but finally
> I was able to get some response. But, this situation wasted a lot of time
> and does a disservice to the process.
> [/MB]
The issue is whether the 11th member (the spare), sits through the
proceedings, goes to the interviews, etc. If they don't, then they aren't of
much use.... If they *do* it seems like a large burden to do that, and then
not get to vote unless someone gets hit by a bus.
[MB] It wouldn't be particularly useful if the 11th wasn't involved in the process as a voting
member would be. The process has a number of people that invest a lot of time and effort
that don't get to vote. Also, as we've seen it's not just getting hit by the bus - from what I've
seen it is more the rule than the exception that at least one voting member finds they can no longer serve or
they just aren't investing the time. I think it would also be possible for the 11th to participate
in discussions, provide input, etc. and just not vote. Although, I think that would be up to the
particular nomcom, as is a number of other decisions in terms of how engaged anyone that isn't a
voting member is in the process - e.g., some nomcoms actually have the past chair in interviews.
As chair, I didn't even feel it was a necessity for me to be involved in all interviews. I did sit
in on some where we did not have sufficient voting members available.
[/MB]