Hi Everyone: I think this statement lacks reference to (and to a certain extent, contradicts) our goal of submitting “Board-ready recommendations” for final approval. The current statement appears (to me) that it is the Councillors’ duty to approve recommendations rather than to improve the likelihood of Board approval. I recommend replacing the final sentence with one that provides for: * Affording deference to consensus-based compromises, and * Taking steps to ensure final approval of the recommendations submitted to the Board Hope you find this helpful. Kurt On 26 Mar 2024, at 12:08 am, Ashcraft, Damon via council <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> wrote: All: See the IPC’s suggested changes below and in the Google document. First off, please note that we recognize the importance of working groups and the effort and time they put into policy development. We agree whole-heartedly that the Council should strive and aspire to vote along the direction a working group comes to during policy development. That being said, Council votes on policy for a reason and we always followed the working group recommendation there wouldn’t need for Council votes at all on policy—we could just allow the working group to handle the issue entirely. Also, some Council votes are directed (such as Susan and my votes) and others of you are to vote along the lines of your personal opinions. If we go with the statement as proposed, neither of the previous scenarios can necessarily work out as a Council member can’t vote against a direction in violation of a constituencies bylaws and it’s not appropriate to have a Council member vote in a manner against his or her conscious if that’s how they are directed to vote. The edits below do what I think we’re trying to accomplish—state what we aspire to do but not direct what we can’t. Looking forward to discussing this further. The members of GNSO Council strive to be effective managers of the GNSO Policy Development Process (“PDP”). As managers of the PDP, the GNSO Council charters Working Groups in a way that accounts for both relevant expertise and stakeholder diversity within Working Group membership, then oversees the PDP”s work throughout the PDP lifecycle. The GNSO Council recognizes that many deliberations occur within the Working Group during a PDP, and these deliberations lead to the consensus required for final policy recommendations. While individual GNSO Councilors and the groups they represent may not fully agree with the final policy recommendation text, they strive to support recommendations that follow the PDP’s consensus-building processes because doing so supports the broader multistakeholder model. Accordingly, when a Working Group delivers a Final Report with consensus recommendations to the GNSO Council, the GNSO Council will try to shall always seek to vote in favor of the policy recommendations.Accordingly, when a Working Group delivers a Final Report with consensus recommendations to the GNSO Council, the GNSO Council shall always seek to vote in favor of the policy recommendations. Thanks, Damon J. Damon Ashcraft office: 602.382.6389 | mobile: 602.510.1640 dashcraft@swlaw.com<mailto:dashcraft@swlaw.com> Snell & Wilmer swlaw.com<https://www.swlaw.com/> | disclaimer<https://www.swlaw.com/legal/email-disclaimer> From: council <council-bounces@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council-bounces@gnso.icann.org>> On Behalf Of Caitlin Tubergen via council Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 8:27 AM To: council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org> Subject: [council] Reminder to review Council Aspirational Statement by 25 March [EXTERNAL] council-bounces@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council-bounces@gnso.icann.org> ________________________________ Dear Councilors, This is a reminder to please review the GNSO Council draft Aspirational Statement here:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l6vnCp1njSgG0rfLVIwtpEcv953RyC4UAgL660LI..... Purpose of document: During the Council Strategic Planning Session, the Council agreed to “develop an aspirational (non-binding) statement to reflect that Councilors should not seek to undo bottom-up consensus-driven outcomes of GNSO WGs.” Deadline for review: Monday, 25 March When reviewing this statement, kindly add feedback in comment form only and keep in mind the statement is meant to be aspirational, not a directive. Best regards, Caitlin From: Caitlin Tubergen <caitlin.tubergen@icann.org<mailto:caitlin.tubergen@icann.org>> Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at 1:57 PM To: "council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>" <council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org>> Subject: Documents for tomorrow's GNSO Council meeting - Small Team Guidelines + Aspirational Statement Dear Councilors, Please find two documents that will be discussed during tomorrow’s GNSO Council meeting for Agenda Item 9: Any Other Business. 9.2 - Updated Small Team Guidelines: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j5vDURSuz65R1gZxgxLKsK9H5cI_ux0YixAP9XhS... * As a reminder, the Council discussed the Small Team Guidelines during its SPS and agreed to edit the guidelines to address some of the concerns articulated by Community members; namely, the Council agreed to remove references to “informal” in an effort to communicate that the work of small teams is conducted transparently and is an important tool in advancing the Council’s work. 9.4 - Aspirational Statement: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l6vnCp1njSgG0rfLVIwtpEcv953RyC4UAgL660LI... * As a reminder, the Council discussed developing an aspirational statement during its SPS. Specifically, the Council agreed to this action item: “Council to develop an aspirational (non-binding) statement to reflect that Councilors should not seek to undo bottom-up consensus-driven outcomes of GNSO WGs.” Leadership worked on the above first draft for your consideration. Thank you! Best regards, Caitlin _______________________________________________ council mailing list council@gnso.icann.org<mailto:council@gnso.icann.org> https://mm.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/council _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). 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