[council] FW: term of office for chair

["Chicoine, Caroline G." <CCHICOINE@thompsoncoburn.com>]

Per our teleconference call last Thursday, this email is to advise you of
the NC Chair nomination and election schedule as well as my proposed motion
for changes to the NC's Rules of Procedure.  

 

Nomination and Election Schedule

Nominations and endorsements can be emailed to council@dnso.org from 2/4/02
- 2/13/02
Election will be held on NC teleconference 2/14/02.



In deciding how to phrase my proposed amendment to the current Rules
ofProcedure for the DNSO (version 4) adopted by the Names Council on 26
February 2001 (see
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/20020117.NCprocedures-v4.0.html), I reviewed
the entire rules and considered the useful comments in our call this
morning.  I believe there are essentially two competing interests with
respect to rotating NC Chairs.  On the one hand, we want to afford all
Constituencies the ability to act as NC Chair. On the other hand, we want
some consistency and stability so the NC does not lose momentum. The current
rules regarding the NC's Chair's term and election are as follows:

"1. Names Council Chair
1.1 Election.  The NC Chair will be elected by the members of the NC by
simple majority vote and will hold office for a period of six months. One
renewal, subject to a fresh vote, of six months will be allowed. A retiring
Chair will not be eligible for re-election for a period of one year."

There was some support on the call for possibly extending the term to 12
months.  Personally, I think this is a good idea.  I am not aware of  any
elected position at least in the U.S. which carries such a short term, and
as Tony Harris pointed out, we elect our DNSO Board members for a three year
term.   However, by doing so, I realize that there may be some concern that
if we make a bad choice (clearly not relevant in the case of Philip), we
would then be stuck with the NC Chair for an entire year.  I therefore
reviewed the entire Rules of Procedure, and noticed that while there are
provisions for the removal of a Supervisory Chair (see below), there are no
such provisions for the NC Chair.  

	"7. Removal of the Supervisory Chair or Working Group Chair 
	In the event that the WG Chair:
	a) acts contrary to these rules and procedures or beyond the scope
set forth in the Working Group's terms of reference, 	or
	b) fails to achieve interim results then the Supervisory Chair after
consultation with the Names Council, upon the reasonable request of one or
more Working Group members, shall have the authority to remove and hold
elections for another WG Chair. In the event that the Supervisory Chair: 
		a) acts contrary to these rules and procedures or beyond the
scope set forth in the Working Group's terms of reference, or
		 b) fails to fulfill the responsibilities of a Supervisory
Chair, as set forth above, then the Names Council shall have the authority
to remove and appoint another Supervisory Chair."

I am also concerned that there may be instances where the election may be
delayed or the current NC Chair's term is up and no one else wants to run
for the Chair.  Therefore, even if we keep the restriction regarding
reelection after the renewed term, I think we need to have a provision that
allows the NC Chair to continue to serve until his or her successor.

In light of the foregoing, I believe (1) extending the initial and renewal
terms, (2) leaving in the restriction about no further reelections, but (3)
putting a caveat that the NC Chair shall  continue to serve until his or her
successor would be appropriate.  Therefore, I propose the  following
amendments and additions to the Rules of Procedure (the deletions being in
brackets [] and the additions being in all caps):


1.1 Election.  The NC Chair will be elected by the members of the NC by
simple majority vote and will hold office for a period of [six] TWELVE
months.  One renewal, subject to a fresh vote, of [six] TWELVE months will
be allowed.  A retiring Chair will not be eligible for reelection for
another one year term beyond the renewed term for a period of one year.  IN
ANY CASE, HOWEVER, THE NC CHAIR SHALL SERVE UNTIL HIS OR HER SUCCESSOR.

1.3. REMOVAL OF NC CHAIR. 
IN THE EVENT THAT A TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY OF THE NC BELIEVES THAT THE NC CHAIR
SHOULD BE
REMOVED FROM OFFICE, THE NAMES COUNCIL SHALL HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REMOVE
THE NC CHAIR AND ELECT A NEW NC CHAIR.

THIS AMENDMENT IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UPON ADOPTION AND APPLIES TO EXTEND
THE TERM OF THE NC CHAIR HOLDING OFFICE AT THE TIME OF ITS ADOPTION.



Under this proposal, if Philip were nominated and elected, his term would
only be extended 6 months since 6 months of his renewal term has already
elapsed.

So we can meet the nomination and election schedule, can I please have
everyone's comments no later than January 28th so I can put together a final
version of the proposed motion based on the comments I receive on the 29th
and give people up until Feb. 2nd to review and conduct an online vote on
Feb. 3rd before nominations open up on the Feb. 4th?