Patrick, Did you read the job description? Almost everything you were talking about below IS in the job description (job expectations, time commitments, etc.). So, why would somebody apply for a job that they are unable/uncommitted to do? Also, how are the RALOs supposed to know which of their elected reps are performing or not? They have NO idea who shows up to which f2f meetings. They have NO idea if they are attending all of the calls and managing the WGs, either, without performance evaluations being done in a timely manner. If things were run as you suggest, being elected becomes a popularity contest with no need to actually DO anything! :) D Darlene A. Thompson Community Access Program Administrator Nunavut Dept. of Education / N-CAP P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0 Phone: (867) 975-5631 Fax: (867) 975-5610 E-mail: dthompson@gov.nu.ca -----Original Message----- From: alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Vande Walle Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 5:22 AM To: ALAC Working List Subject: Re: [ALAC] Draft Agenda for ALAC ExCom meeting of 15th July Dear all, I will not try to quote every message that appeared on the list in the past 12 hours. We should be reminded that 2/3 of the ALAC are *elected* representatives. If a decision has to be made regarding the removal of some individual from the ALAC, this should be the decision of the group that has elected him/her. How this is happening is the RALO's business. It is not up to the ALAC to set up its own court. I do challenge the idea that "they should work because their travel is funded". Expenses reimbursement is not a salary, and ALAC members are not on ICANN's payroll, ie they are not employees. This funding does not compensate for unpaid leave, loss of business, either. This being said, I agree that whoever is willing to apply for a volunteer position needs to deliver to the best of his/her ability. But this is only a matter of respect of one's own commitment to the community. What constitutes one's "best of his/her ability" is highly subjective. In that respect, I think the job description should clearly indicate what time commitments and skills are required to some level of detail. For example, the time schedule of the monthly teleconference call should be mentioned, so people get not caught up by surprise if this happens in the middle of their business day. My perspective regarding performance indicators is that they could provide an indicator to the ALSes whether or not they should reappoint a representative to the ALAC. However, it is not the only one. The job description is another useful input for RALOs. RALO sometimes also elect people on other criteria like gender or sub-regional balance. In the end, the "perfect" ALAC member is the one that suits the RALO, not necessarily one that suits other ALAC members. Regarding NomCom appointees, I think much of the above applies, too. Any information the ALAC can input into the NomCom process to help them nominate the right ALAC member will certainly be much appreciated. As for the ExCom, I think it is a useful tool for the ALAC to have a bunch of people who are willing to commit extra time to expedite urgent business *when needed*. However, a permanent ExCom is not a good idea, especially because we have monthly meetings. The odds that something urgent happens between two teleconferences seems rather limited, to me at least. Patrick -- Blog: http://patrick.vande-walle.eu Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/patrickvw _______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann .org At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: http://st.icann.org/alac