SPI bylaws overhaul: new discussion draft

Hi everyone,

I've attached a PDF with a draft set of SPI bylaws to replace the current set,
for your discussion and input. It's based on the draft which Bdale sent to
spi-general earlier this year, with certain changes:

1) Tried to take into account the various feedback I remember from the prior
discussion.
2) Preserved our existing practice of making directors contributing members by
virtue of their position during their time in office.
3) Fixed various grammar and language issues, and probably worsened some
document formatting issues unrelated to substance that would be fixed for a
final draft.
4) Retained a more modest-threshold version of the members' current say on
bylaws amendments, but combined that with Bdale's desire for the board to be
able to make amendments with low hassle when the members don't object, and to
handle any urgently needed amendments on a short-term provisional basis with
extra checks and balances.
5) Better implemented our existing intent to stagger the board's terms of
office evenly across several years, partly by reference to an option in NY
state law but with a bunch of extra nuance and detail.
6) Any changes I forgot to include in this summary. I didn't leave anything out
intentionally, of course, but this is a reminder to review the whole document.

Looking forward to hearing what you think and iterating as necessary! Once we
get to a point where reaction is generally positive and the remaining feedback
is minor, I'll address any such minor feedback, involve SPI's lawyers to get a
properly compliant final draft, and propose a vote for the board to send to the
members. This vote will not happen this month but could be any future month,
depending on when we get to that point.

Thanks for your feedback.

- Jimmy Kaplowitz
jimmy(at)spi-inc(dot)org