[UK-TUG] Payments made by UK TUG in 2020/2021

[Joseph Wright]

Hello Keiran,

> In this
> respect, a meeting dissolving the group should not be held through a
> public forum like this where the group are unable to confirm individuals
> membership to UK TUG. This issue came up at TUG 2021 where, the
> chairperson of the meeting was unable to verify membership status of
> participants.

UK-TUG Announce is not a public list. Subscription is limited to the 
UK-TUG members, and all UK-TUG members should be subscribed. It is 
therefore the usual forum for carrying out electron business of the 
group, and has hosted SEGM business in the past.

> I would also bring up that UK TUG has NOT had a AGM in the year 2021,
> meaning the current committee is breaching it's own constitution. I
> would encourage the committee to hold an AGM as soon as possible.

The Constitution makes provision for electronic special meetings, but 
not for the annual meeting to be held remotely. COVID restrictions 
prevented members attending a physical meeting for 2020. An absolute 
minimum of business was therefore performed: essentially to allow 
renewal of committee membership. Documents were circulated for 2020 AGM 
period: https://tug.org/pipermail/uktug-announce/2020q4/000266.html.

The Constitution requires a maximum of 15 months between AGMs. For 2021, 
the allowed gap between meetings would put a final date in early 
February 2022.

> If dissolving the group is necessary, the committee, should take note
> that if possible, to avoid providing funds to projects where committee
> members have a personal interest. This has been the case through motions
> proposed by the committee over the last 12-18 months.
> 
> This includes the following:
> LearnLaTeX (Joseph Wright) - <£6000
> Rpi 64 bit TeX builds (Payment made to Simon Dales, a committee member)
> - £200

UK-TUG has struggled to attract interest in funding from people not 
associated with the committee, as these members are generally active 
more widely. As is standard practice, no committee members take part in 
discussion of support for any projects in which they are involved.

Specifically on learnlatex.org, whilst I am the lead for the project, 
note that

- No money was requested for any of the people involved in the LaTeX
   content creation, only for web development
- The final cost of the work funded by UK-TUG was significantly lower
   than the limit set at the point of request for funding

Regards,

Joseph Wright