MINUTES OF 1990 WSFS BUSINESS MEETING

The World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting at ConFiction was held in three sessions, scheduled at 10 A.M. from Friday, Aug. 24, through Sunday, Aug. 26, 1990, in the Maris 1 Hall of the Netherlands Congress Centre, The Hague. (A scheduled Monday session was not needed.) The officers for all three sessions were: Bruce Pelz, Presiding Officer; George Flynn, Secretary; Ben Yalow, Parliamentarian; and Richard Katze, Timekeeper.

The meeting was called to order at 10:06 A.M. An attendance list subsequently passed around was signed by 49 people (not including the officers listed above). The meeting began the preliminary consideration of the agenda, which at that time consisted of 15 items.

For these and other proposed amendments to the WSFS Constitution, this session could do no more than set time limits for debate at the Main Business Meeting (Saturday and Sunday).

ITEM 1 ratification of amendment to allow skipping a NASFiC if "None of the Above" wins on the first ballot in NASFiC site selection.
Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution, Article III, Section 6, to add
(4) "If ‘None of the Above’ shall win on the first ballot, then no NASFiC shall be held and all voting fees shall be refunded."
-- In response to an inquiry, the Chair ruled that if "None of the Above" won on a subsequent ballot, the Business Meeting would decide what to do. The default tine limit for debate would be 6 minutes; times of 2 and 10 minutes were also proposed. The proposed debate times were then voted on: 10 minutes, 2 votes; 6 minutes, 9 votes; 2 minutes, many votes.

ITEM 2 ratification of amendment to require additional financial reports by Worldcon committees.
Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution by replacing the last sentence with:
Each Worldcon Committee shall submit an annual financial report, including a statement of income and expenses, to each WSFS Business Meeting after the Committee’s selection. Each Worldcon Committee shall submit a report on its cumulative surplus/loss to the next Business Meeting after its Worldcon. In the event of a surplus, subsequent annual financial reports regarding the disbursement of said Worldcon surpluses shall be filed at each year’s business meeting by the Worldcon Committee, or any alternative organizational entity established to oversee and disburse those surpluses, until the surpluses are totally expended or an amount equal to the original surplus has been disbursed.
-- Default time limit, 20 minutes; 5, 3, and 10 minutes also proposed. 20 minutes, 1 vote; 10 minutes, 7 votes; 5 minutes, majority.

ITEM 3 ratification of amendment to allow Hugo nominations only by Worldcon members as of December 31.
Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution by adding the following to Article II, Section 18, sentence 1, following the words "each member of either the administering or the immediately preceding Worldcon": as of December 31 of the previous calendar year.
-- Default time limit: 6 minutes; 1, 10, 17, and 33.5 minutes also proposed. 33.5 minutes, 0 votes; 17 minutes, 2 votes; 10 minutes, 4 votes; 6 minutes, 16 votes; 1 minute, 13 votes.

ITEM 4 ratification of amendment to raise the maximum initial conversion fee to attending membership to twice the voting fee.
Moved, to amend the WSFS Constitution by adding the following to Article I, Section 5 by replacing "This fee must not exceed the minimum voting fee" at the beginning of sentence number 4 and inserting in their place "This fee must not exceed 2 (two) times the voting fee".
-- Default time limit, 6 minutes; 2 and 10 minutes also proposed. 10 minutes, 1 vote; 6 minutes, 26 votes; 2 minutes, fewer votes.

ITEM 5 Four-Year Lead Time Amendment. This item was conflated from two separate motions, only one of which was distributed. The first, by Kevin Standlee and Jeff Canfield, was as follows:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS Constitution as follows:

1) In Article III, Section 1, strike out "three (3)" and insert "four (4)".

2) In Article III, Section 6, replace subsection (1) with "(1) Voting shall be by written ballot administered by the Worldcon following the one which selected the non-North American site, or the NASFiC held that year, if there is one. Ballots shall be cast at the administering convention or by mail. Only members of the administering convention shall be eligible to vote."

3) In Article III, Section 4, strike out "and as set by the administering convention but no earlier than the close of the corresponding Worldcon voting for a prospective NASFiC bid." and insert "and, for a prospective bid, no earlier than the last day of the calendar year preceding the year in which the administering Convention will take place and no earlier than the close of the convention which selected the non-North American site making a NASFiC election necessary."

Provided that:

a) If ratified, this amendment shall take effect with the site-selection elections of 1993. The 1993 Worldcon shall select the sites of the 1996 and 1997 Worldcons, and prospective bids for both those years must be filed with the administering convention prior to the close of the 1992 Worldcon. If a non-North American site is chosen for 1996, the 1993 Worldcon (or NASFiC, if applicable) shall select the site of the 1996 NASFiC. If a non-North American site is chosen for 1997, the provisions of section 2) above, if ratified, shall apply.

b) Insofar as is logically possible, the amendments contained in this motion are severable and may be ratified independently of one another.

The second motion, by Louis Epstein, Mark Blackman, and Bill Burns, was designated "Site Selection Extension" and was as follows:

MOVED, to amend Article III of the WSFS Constitution as follows:

In Section 1, change "three (3)" to "four (4)".

In Section 6, change "the then-current Worldcon" to "the Worldcon following the one at which the overseas Worldcon was selected".

In Section 8, change "three (3)" to "four (4)".

Since the two motions had the same purpose, the Chair combined them into one, adding the last part of the second motion ("In Section 8...") as section 4) of the Standlee/Canfield motion, and submitting the latter as amended to the meeting.

Mr. Sacks objected to consideration; the objection failed by a vote of 14-many. Mr. Standlee accepted the Chair’s change in his motion. -- Mr Epstein moved to amend, to have the amendment take effect in 1992, with 1996 bidders filing by the end of 1991. This amendment was defeated, with only 1 vote in favor. -- Mr. Yalow argued that, if section 1) failed but 2) and 3) were adopted, the NASFiC lead time would be reduced. Mr. Standlee responded that 3) can’t pass without 2); 1) and 2 are independent; 4) goes with 1). The meeting agreed with the latter interpretation, and the Chair so ruled. -- Default time limit, 20 minutes; 10 minutes also proposed. 20 minutes, 4 votes; 10 minutes, many.

ITEM 6, Deregulation of Hugos, proposed by Colin Fine and David Elworthy:

MOVED, to amend the WSFS constitution by replacing Article II by the following:
Each Worldcon shall arrange for the award and presentation of one or more Science Fiction Achievement Awards (Hugos), in a manner consistent with the tradition and dignity of the award.

Mr. Sacks objected to consideration: the objection carried by a vote of 34-5, and Item 6 was killed.

ITEM 7, Best Original Artwork Hugo, proposed by Rick Katze and Sharon Sbarsky. The language on the agenda was as follows:

MOVED, to add the Hugo Category of Best Original Artwork, with language as on the 1990 Hugo Ballot. Exact language to be considered housekeeping.

(This is slightly cleaned up from the text actually submitted.) At this time the makers submitted a revised text as follows:

MOVED to amend Article II, by adding a new section:
Any original piece of artwork first published during the previous calendar year. It may have been published as a book cover or interior illustration, or in a prozine, semiprozine or fanzine which would be eligible for a Hugo. The artist may be either an amateur or a professional.

Default time limit: 6 minutes; 10 and 2 minutes also proposed. 10 minutes, 5 votes; 6 minutes, 20 votes, 2 minutes, fewer votes.

ITEM 8, Lifetime Achievement Hugos, proposed by Donald E. Eastlake, III, and Donald E. Eastlake, IV:

MOVED, to amend the constitution of the World Science Fiction Society by adding the following to Article II:

Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy: An individual or closely associated team of individuals, for recognition of lifetime professional achievement in the field of science fiction or fantasy. No person shall be eligible for nomination in this category if they have won this award in any of the previous twenty (20) years or if they are being specially honored by the Worldcon administering the awards.

Secret Master of Fandom: An individual or closely associated team of individuals, for recognition of lifetime non-professional achievement in the field of science fiction or fantasy. No person shall be eligible for nomination in this category if they have won this award in any of the previous twenty (20) years or if they are being specially honored by the Worldcon administering the awards.

Mr. Epstein moved to replace the first half of the second sentence in each paragraph by "Winners of this Award shall subsequently be ineligible for nomination". After some discussion, the text of the amendment was clarified: to replace the first part of the second sentence by "No person or persons shall be eligible for nomination in this category who have previously won this award or if they are...". The amendment as modified was passed. -- Mr. Dashoff moved to strike the Secret Master of Fandom section: failed 13-many. -- The Chair ruled that the two parts of the motion were separable at any time. A motion to separate them was made and passed, many-few.

ITEM 8A (Master of SF and Fantasy): Default time limit, 20 minutes; 3, 6, 10, 1 and 5 minutes also proposed. 20 minutes, 0 votes; 10 minutes, 6 votes; 6 minutes, 23 votes; 5 and 3 minutes, a few votes each. --

ITEM 8B (Secret Master of Fandom): Default time limit, 20 minutes; 10, 5, and 3 minutes also proposed (the Chair declined to hear a proposal of 1.37 minutes). 20 minutes, 2 votes; 10 minutes, 16 votes; 5 minutes, 19 votes; 3 minutes, 4 votes.

[In preparing Saturday’s agenda, the Secretary further edited the phrase "who have previously won" to "if they have previously won" in both items.]

ITEM 9, Sunshine Amendment, proposed by Donald E. Eastlake, III, and Jill Eastlake:

MOVED, to amend the Constitution of the World Science Fiction Society by adding the following to Article I:
"Any member of the Society shall have the right, under reasonable conditions, to examine the financial records and books of account of all future selected Worldcon Committees and the two immediately preceding Worldcon Committees."

Mr. Jaffe moved to insert "the current Worldcon Committee, " before "all future": passed many-none. -- Default time limit, 6 minutes; 10, 4 and 2 minutes also proposed. 10 minutes, 12 vote; 6 minutes, 19 votes; 4 minutes, 17 votes, 2 minutes, 7 votes.

ITEM 10, One Person = One Vote, proposed by Kevin Standlee, Rick Katze, and David Berry. This appeared on the agenda in the form:

MOVED, to amend Article III by adding, as the third sentence of Section 1: "Corporations, Associations, and other non-human entities may vote for site selection, but may only cast votes for ‘No Preference’."

[It should be noted for the historical record that became informally known as the "Teddy Bear Amendment", for reasons which need not concern us here.] The makers submitted the following revised text:

MOVED, to add to Article III, Section 2:

Corporations, associations, "Guest of" memberships, and other non-human entities may vote for site selection, but shall be allowed to cast ballots only for "No Preference". No person shall cast more than one ballot for anything other than "No Preference". However, this shall not prevent the delivery of other ballots cast by eligible voters. A "Guest of" membership must be transferred to an individual human being before it can be used to vote for anything other than "No Preference", and the transfer must be accepted by the administering convention.

[The original text of this motion is in the possession of the Secretary: the underlined passages are additions or substitutions (both "shall" phrases originally read "may") in a different handwriting. I believe these changes were made in consultation with the podium staff before the motion was formally submitted to the meeting; at this late date I can’t swear to the exact sequence of events. --G.F.]

Mr. Bloom proposed that "non-human" be changed to "artificial"; the makers accepted this amendment. A proposed change to "artificial and/or non-human" was not accepted. -- Mr. Sacks moved that the motion be referred to a committee for a day to produce a clean text. This was passed, and the Chair promptly appointed the makers of the motion as the committee [who in turn delegated the job to the long-suffering Secretary].

ITEM 11, Report of the WSFS Mark Registration and Protection Committee. A written report was distributed; the text is attached to these minutes.

Nominations were for the three seats on the committee being vacated at the end of ConFiction. (No more than two members could be elected from the Eastern Zone of North America, two from the Central Zone, or one from the Western Zone. Any number of non-North American members could be elected.) The following were nominated (all nominees subsequently accepted nominations in writing):

Kent Bloom (East) Bob Hillis (Central) Martin Hoare (non NA)

Sasha Miller (West) Liz Gross (Central) Dalroy Ward (East)

Gary Feldbaum (East) Rick Katze (East) Sue Francis (Central)

Colin Fine (non-N.A.)

ITEM 12, Report of the Special Committee to Codify Business Meeting Resolutions. A written report was distributed; the text is attached to these minutes, and should be consulted for the following motions:

Rules Compilation Committee Continuation (report, p. 1). Resolution passed, nearly unanimously.

Liposuction Amendment (report, p. 2). -- An objection to consideration was made and failed, few-many. Mr. Standlee moved to separate the amendment into its four parts: passed. (The four resulting motions, designated as 1 through 4 in the report text, are hereafter referred to as Items 12A through 12D.) -12A: Default time limit: 6 minutes; 1 and 3 minutes also proposed. 6 minutes, 3 votes; 3 minutes, many. -- 12B: Default, 6 min; 1 and 3 min also proposed. 6 minutes, 2 votes; 3 minutes , 24 votes; 1 minute, 17 votes. (A recount between 3 min and 1 min gave the same result, 24-14.) 12C: Default, 6 min; 3, 1, 4 min also proposed. 6 minutes, 5 votes; 4 minutes, 6 votes; 3 minutes, 30 votes; 1 minute, 6 votes. -- 12D: Default, 6 mins; 3 and 1 min also proposed. 6 minutes,. 1 vote; 3 minutes, 21 votes; 1 minute, 17 votes.

ITEM 13, Report of the Worldcon Runner’s Guide Editorial Committee. Mr. Sacks, denying that he was the committee chairman (as listed in the Souvenir Book, p. 138), reported that the committee had decided to publish a newsletter, but that nobody ever got up the energy to do anything. He moved to continue the committee, with "___" as chairman. David Berry first volunteered, then withdrew his name, then [I think] volunteered again. With or without a name in the blank, the motion passed. [Because of the uncertainty as to whether this committee actually exists, it was omitted from the list of Business Passed On published in Chicon PR4.]

ITEM 14, Report of the Hugo Preservation Committee (omitted from list in Souvenir Book). -- The Chair (Mr. Pelz) reported that the committee was still doing work and contacting people, and needed to send out letters. -- A motion to continue the committee was made and passed. [Also omitted from list published by Chicon.]

A motion to adjourn was made and passed at 11:16 A.M.

ITEM 15 on the agenda was "Worldcon Reports". Subsequent, to Friday’s adjournment, the Noreascon Three financial report was turned in:

Noreascon Treasurer's Report as of June 30, 1990

ASSETS

Current Assets Current Total

Cash in Framingham Savings Bank 8706.28

Cash in Bulk Mailing account 137.28

Cash in ConFiction account 16.60

Cash in Australian account 182.26 (1)

Cash in Canadian account 9722,28 (1)

Cash in Dutch account 886.44 (1)

Cash in Bank of Boston 26792.21

Cash in Noreascon Cash Bank 2033.26

Advance accounts (aggregate)

personal advances +2,988.93

NESFA +20298.94

Net advances 23,287.87

Capital Equipment 6143.72

(Depreciation 7162.23)

Total Assets 77908.20

Note 1. Subject to change due to currency conversion

NET WORTH TOTAL (since 1986)

General N3 Income 17918.70

Membership Income (2) 388835.38

Art Show Fees (3) 23229.50

Artists’ Income and taxes (remaining undisbursed) 3319.08

Mad 3 Party Income 4310.00

Dealer Income 32012.50

Over/Under Account +862.75

Program Book Income 8390.00

Donation Income 1111.00

Closed Income (Progress Reports 1 through 7) 4296.00

Brunch Banquet, Party Supplies & Comped Room Income 32030.05

Sales to Members & Taxes 37440.10

Total Income 553755.06

Administration/General/Officers’ Division Expenses

General 65376.05

Staff Reimbursements 4119.98

ConFiction 434.31

Magicon 0.00

Extravaganzas Division Expenses

General 98721.59

Louis Wu’s Birthday Party 3637.25

Facilities Division Expenses 149688.45

Hynes 89 Division Expenses 58923.98

Program Division Expenses 10624.89

Services Division Expenses 74161.28

WSFS & Art Show Division Expenses

WSFS Expense 3169.48

Art Show Expense 6989.60

Total Expenses 475846.86

Note 2. Income reduced by membership refunds.

Note 3. Income reduced by payments to artists

The meeting was called to order at 10:03 A.M. Mr. Katze was late so the Chair appointed Judy Bemis as timekeeper pro tem.

ITEM 1 No discussion. The question was called, and the amendment was ratified many-few.

ITEM 2 Mr. Standlee moved to strike the second half ("In the event of a surplus..." to the end). Over Mr. Sacks' point of order, the Parliamentarian ruled that this would create a lesser change and was thus a permissible amendment. Mr Standlee’s amendment failed, few-many. -- The word "filled" (Souvenir Book, p. 137) was corrected to "filed". -- (At 10:12 Mr. Katze arrived.) The amendment was ratified, many-few.

ITEM 3 An amendment was proposed to change "December 31st of the previous calendar year" to "January 31st of the same calendar year". This was ruled to be a lesser change and was passed. -- The amendment as amended was ratified many-few. [The Secretary subsequently changed "same calendar year" to "current calendar year" for clarity.]

ITEM 4 Mr. Berry moved to change the default voting fee from $20 to $15; this was ruled out of order, as constituting a greater change. The amendment was ratified, many-few.

[Items 1 through 4, having been passed by two consecutive Business Meetings, are now part of the WSFS Constitution.]

Committee Report (out of order)

Mr. Hillis orally delivered a supplement to the Mark Registration and Protection Committee report (q.v.): Work is also being done on Canadian registration; this involves a problem as to whether WSFS is a "society" or an "association" under Canadian law. -- He also promised that Mr. Dennis would file a financial report; this was done, and the report is included here:

Financial Report, Mark Registration Committee

All amounts are in US$

The committee will soon be paying $980.00 to our British Patent Attorneys for UK filings. We anticipate contributions will be received this year from Noreascon III. We hope to limit expenses in Canada by doing some of the filings ourselves.

Submitted by Scott Dennis, 25 August 1990

ITEM 5 Mr. Standlee moved to extend debate time by 5 minutes; defeated. -- The four-year lead time amendment failed, 23-26. -- Mr. Sacks proposed a committee to study the site-selection lead-time problem; the Chair expressed his belief that a committee wouldn’t help.

ITEM 7. -- Mr. Katze (1990 Hugo Administrator) read letters of endorsement from Don Maitz, David Cherry, and David Lee Anderson. He reported that the best-artwork category received the lowest number of votes on the nominating ballot, but was somewhere in the middle on the final ballot. -- It was ruled that a new cover on a previously-published book would be eligible. -- Mr. Russell moved to strike the last two sentences (beginning "It may have...") - passed many-few. -- A change of "piece of artwork" to "piece of science fiction or fantasy work" was accepted by all. -- Mr. Sacks proposed inserting "and distributed" after "published". This was ruled out of order, time having expired; Mr. Sacks appealed, then withdrew his appeal; a motion to extend debate time by 5 minutes was then passed. Mr. Sacks attempted to change his amendment’s wording to "distributed in a literary form", but this was not accepted by the seconders. Mr. Katze pointed out that "published and distributed" would exclude 3-D art. Mr. Sacks’ amendment failed.

At this point the Chair requested 3 minutes to informally explore the meeting’s wishes. He thereby ascertained that the meeting wished to have such an award; that they did not want it limited to 2-D art; and they did not want to restrict the manner of the art’s appearance. -- Mr. Sacks objected forcefully to the manner in which the Chair stated these questions. The Chair threatened to eject Mr. Sacks. Mr. Sacks accused the podium staff of being biased. The Chair apologized to Mr. Sacks for his threat. The Secretary was requested to summarize these statements in the minutes.

The motion as amended was then passed, 40-10, with the proposed new section as follows:

Best Original Artwork: Any original piece of science fiction or fantasy artwork first published during the previous calendar year.

ITEM 8A (Master of SF and Fantasy). Mr. Russell moved to strike "or if they are ...awards.": failed overwhelmingly. -- Ms. Bemis moved to delete "or closely associated team of individuals": failed. Someone moved to strike "professional": failed. It was ruled that the award would not be limited to living people. The amendment failed, 21-29.

ITEM 8B (Secret Master of Fandom). Mr. Dashoff moved the previous question, which passed. The amendment failed, 9-many.

ITEM 9 It was ruled that all the costs of such an examination would have to be paid by the enquirer. Mr. Fine moved the previous question, which passed. The amendment passed, 30-20.

ITEM 10 The committee submitted the following new text:

MOVED, to insert a new section in Article III.

Only human beings shall be allowed to cast site-selection ballots for other than "No Preference", and no individual shall cast more than one such ballot. (this shall not be interpreted to delivery of ballots cast by other eligible voters.) "No Preference" ballots may be cast by corporations, associations, and other non-human or artificial entities. "Guest of" memberships must be transferred to individual human beings before being cast for other than "No Preference", with such transfers accepted by the administering convention

It was ruled that the amendment would apply only to site selection, not to Hugo voting. -- Mr. Russell moved to postpone consideration: failed. -- Default time limit, 20 minutes; no other value was proposed. -- Mr. Bloom proposed replacing both appearances of "human beings" by "natural persons": accepted. -- Mr. Hoare noted that British law requires that corporations have full voting rights; it was ruled that the provisions of the amendment would apply (as always) to the extent permitted by civil law. -- The question was called, and the amendment, as amended, passed 41-10.

Mr. Standlee moved to adjourn: passed overwhelmingly at 11:47 A.M. -- 47 people other than the officers signed Saturday’s attendance list.

The meeting was called to order at 10:02 A.M. -- 74 people other than the officers signed Sunday’s attendance list.

SITE SELECTION (special order of business). -- Roelof Goudriaan reported the results of the site-selection voting for the 1993 Worldcon:

Total mail-in ballots: 329

Total at-con ballots: 759

Total ballots cast: 1088

(3 invalid ballots, 1 invalid candidate) (write-ins omitted here)

2nd place