FW: [council] FW: term of office for chair
On behalf of Grant Forsyth and myself, as BC reps, I submit the following comments. Marilyn Cade -----Original Message----- From: Chicoine, Caroline G. [mailto:CCHICOINE@thompsoncoburn.com] Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 4:41 PM To: 'council@dnso.org' Subject: [council] FW: term of office for chair 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? BC inputs to Chair election res with changes accepted.doc BC inputs to Chair election res.doc |