Re: [gnso-travel-dt] Clarifying the calculation of funds provided
Since this proposal would go into effect some time in 2009, the funds would be divided equally among the 4 stake-holder groups who could then decide if they wanted to use the funds to send their counselors or other members to the meetings (and assuming NCAs are funded). The stake-holder groups should also decide at what level of support to give their representatives. Some may want to only use economy travel, some may only want to send only the GNSO counselors, some may want to fund the airfare for one member and the hotel costs of another. The point is we want to leave it up to the individual stake- holder groups to decide how to use the funds allocated to them. Bearing in mind transparency and accountability is expected from each stake-holder group. So I agree with the "common sense" talk with ICANN to allocate a specific amount that can be utilized at the discretion of each stake- holder group. Robin On Oct 15, 2008, at 10:16 AM, Ken Stubbs wrote: Ken Stubbs wrote:We should try a "common sense " talk with ICANN.. It would seem to me that they would be happy to accept a practical common sense solution thatis supported by all parties..If we can show full support here it would seem to me that ICANN would be please with this "non contentious" approach to resolving the issue.Ken Stubbs.. Greg Ruth wrote:It looks like our WG has uninamous agreement on a sensible way forward. I think probably the biggest remaining issue for us to resolve is how to divide up the funds budgeted for GNSO travel support among the 6 constituencies. And of course that requires a clear understanding of where the travel budget numbers come from in the first place. Thanks for bringing this up, Tim.I believe that we'd pretty much agree on an equal distribution to each constituency. But the ICANN travel support procedure, as written, provides for 10 "slots" per ICANN meeting and specifies an all-or-nothing funding policy for each slot. Of course, 10 is not evenly divisible by 6.Perhaps we can get ICANN to allow us the flexibility we'd need to make equal distributions to the constituencies. But I'm not sure exactly what form this should take. The simplest solution (and probably best use of the funds) would be to divide the budget by 6 and give each constituency an equal dollar amount budget of its own. However, that is potentially problematic. Presumably the ICANN travel support procedure is intended to fund 30 person-trips (besides chair and NCAs) per year to ICANN meetings. Hopefully, careful stewardship of the funds by constituencies would enable *more* participation than that, but miscalculations could result is less particiaption (e.g. runing short of funds for an expensive 3rd meeting). Moreover, any departure from the all-or-nothing policy (e.g. partial support for an attendee) would entail an extra accounting burdern for ICANN, not to mention the attendant negotiations with ICANN staff (e.g. what if my constituency wants its attendees to stay at a cheaper hotel to conserve funds?)As a fall-back, sub-optimal solution, we could allot 5 full person- trips per year (3*10/6) to each constituency. Not my favorite option, but easier for the Corporation. Your thoughts?Greg ----- Original Message ---- From: Tim Ruiz <tim@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: gnso-travel-dt@xxxxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 11:31:38 AMSubject: [gnso-travel-dt] Clarifying the calculation of funds providedIn the revised procedure as posted at:http://www.icann.org/en/topics/travel-support/revised- procedure-11aug08-en.htmIt says in the last few bullets of 2.1: -- ICANN will allocate sufficient funds so that the Chair, NomCom appointees, and half of the remaining counselors will receive travel support (again, travel support could be used to support other-than-counselors) -- The Chair is assumed to use Business class air travel; remainingtravel is budgeted at economy rates. Average airfares are assumed to be$2,000 economy and $6,000 business. -- Average total per-diem is assumed to be $2800/meeting. Actual perdiem amounts will be published for each meeting, based on internationalstandardsAlso, look at the chart. The number of supported travelers is arrived atas [NCAs + Chair + HalfofCouncilSize].I think there's a math problem in the chart, but based on all the above the calculated amount appears to include the Chair (at business class) and NCAs. That's important to note as we define the process for dividingthe funds across constituencies. The funds to divide then might be something like [FundsProvided - ChairTravel - NCATravel].Personally, I still prefer that no funds are provided for business class for anyone. Regardless of the amount of work anyone does otherwise, the trip is just as long. It seems a waste to use up the equivalent of threein economy for one in business. If the Chair is an NCA, maybe. If theChair is a constituency Councilor then let the constituency decide. Thefunds to divvy up would then simply be [FundsProvided - NCATravel]. Tim No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.comVersion: 8.0.173 / Virus Database: 270.8.0/1726 - Release Date: 10/15/2008 7:29 AM IP JUSTICE Robin Gross, Executive Director 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451 w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: robin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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