The current Bylaws that govern DMP Executive Committee roles and responsibilities do not permit the use of special elections or special ballots for any changes to these Bylaws. This is not in keeping with the practices of our sister units and makes for a cumbersome process that requires a minimum of 15 months and up to 24 months to complete. While I was Chair of DMP, I suggested to the Executive Committee that we change our Bylaws to make special ballots for this purpose possible in the future; the motion was approved. The text of the existing Bylaws can be found on the website and the proposed changes can be accessed here (DMP Bylaws Update ). You will note that the proposed changes extend beyond the issue of special elections. These changes are required so that we comply with new APS governance policies. The DMP Executive Committee recommends approval of these changes by the membership.

As a first step, we have received approval from the APS Council for making these changes to the DMP By-Laws. The next steps are:

1. Public comment at the 2017 DMP Business Meeting, to be held Tuesday, March 14th from 7:00 p.m. at the March Meeting 2017 in New Orleans.
2. A vote by the membership on the proposed change to the Bylaws at our regular election of officers in the fall of 2017.

The Executive Committee invites any member in good standing of DMP to join us at the Business Meeting to make any comments on the proposed changes to the By-Laws. Comments by email (mitchell@anl.gov) are welcome and will be read at the meeting.

I look forward to receiving your comments or to hearing from you in person at the Business Meeting.

John F. Mitchell
Past Chair, DMP