RE: [bc-gnso] FW: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open council meetings

["Ron Andruff" <randruff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike,

 

I find this posting and the attached background material to be of serious
concern regarding the needed respect and regard for the full BC membership's
interest, and involvement in the Policy Development working processes. 

 

Your comment: 

 

"A small and growing group of privileged observers, none of whom are elected
or appointed to represent anyone but themselves and/or their specific
organizations, are increasingly taking an inordinate amount of Council and
Staff time.  In effect, they are a "Shadow Council" that follows the Council
from meeting to meeting, taking advantage of a privilege they ought not
have.  This must stop, effective immediately."

 

Your response is wholly inappropriate until you bring such a topic into the
BC and have a discussion with the membership about the concerns that you
have about the ability of the Councilors to achieve and fulfill their
responsibilities, and what proposals you have for making changes, when these
changes have implications that impact on the membership itself, as this
clearly does.

 

I believe that it is clear that a discussion within the BC membership on
issues like this must be held BEFORE you take independent action. Last
night's gathering of the BC members would have been an excellent opportunity
for you to raise your concern, and for the BC members in attendance to have
discussed your concerns, and considered what guidance they would like to see
put forward by their elected councilors regarding proposing changes in the
'practices' regarding the working groups held over the weekends. 

 

Adding in these additional working sessions, I believe, was initiated some
time ago, before you were an elected Councilor, and the 'rules of practice'
have evolved over time, and changed somewhat from Bruce Tonkin as chair, and
Avri Doria as chair. However, many BC members -- like myself -- pay their
own costs and expend equal volunteer time to following ICANN's work;
participating on working groups; reviewing and commenting on various ICANN
documents, beyond the areas that the BC councilors are responsible for --
including the budget, strategic plan, operating plan, reviews of the
organization, etc.   While I pay my own freight, your travel, accommodations
and food is fully paid.  I wonder who the 'privileged observer' is here!



While the work of elected councilors is of significant importance to the BC
membership, the involvement and participation of members is more than
equally critical, if there is to be any ability for the elected councilors
to take positions for their constituency. 

 

I would like to invite BC members here at Seoul (and those who read this
post from their home location) to send me their list of topics for the ad
hoc gathering at 18:00 today.  We had a great session last evening, and I
think it illustrates the value of participation by the members. 

 

Thank you,

 

RA

 

 

Ronald N. Andruff

RNA Partners, Inc.

220 Fifth Avenue, 20th floor

New York, New York 10001

 

www.rnapartners.com 

V: +1 212 481 2820 x 11

F:  +1 212 481 2859 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Mike Rodenbaugh
Sent: 2009-10-24 21:19
To: bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bc-gnso] FW: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to
face open council meetings

 

Fyi below from the Council Chair, in response to the attached email string

begun by me, and subsequent discussion of Council this morning.  I have had

these very strong feelings for a long time now, and various less formal

efforts to remedy the situation have not been effective.  

 

The Council appears nearly unanimous in support of the concept that

Councilors should be given every opportunity to speak at Council meetings,

and any public comment periods within the weekend meetings will be

structured more as they are in the large public Council meetings held on

Wednesday of the ICANN meetings.  This is an effort to make Council more

efficient, and to allow Councilors to do their jobs without constant

interruptions from non-representative individuals.  Of course, there are

many other opportunities for such individuals to voice their comments and

questions through the GNSO's bottom-up, open and transparent policy

development practices, including the BC's internal practices.

 

Mike Rodenbaugh

RODENBAUGH LAW

548 Market Street

San Francisco, CA  94104

(415) 738-8087

http://rodenbaugh.com 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On

Behalf Of Avri Doria

Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:37 PM

To: Council GNSO

Subject: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open council

meetings

 

 

Hi.

 

After this mornings meeting I wanted to confirm several actions that I took

away from the meeting:

 

1. the seats at the table for open council meetings will be reserved for

council members, liaisons and relevant staff.  Chair, vice-chair

(s) and staff will request that others take the observers seats.  For future

meetings name placards will be requested to those to be seated at the table.

 

2. the observers will be requested to queue at the microphones, and the

chair will be responsible for giving them the floor at appropriate points,

though precedence for speaking will be given to those around the table.

 

3. any further changes to the practices at open meetings will be discussed

by the new council at its discretion.

 

Please let me know if I have misinterpreted the will of that meeting.

 

a.