[ARIN-consult] Consultation on Expanding the Size of the ARIN Board of Trustees

Tue Apr 10 09:59:06 EDT 2018

If we do decide to move forward with this, rather than having a complex process forever enshrined in Article VI section 4, might it not be more prudent to treat this as any other board shortage due to (e.g. resignation)?

That is, upon the decision to increase the board from 6 to 9, rather than phasing in over 3 years, instruct the nominating committee to expand the candidate slate in the next election and then process the election results as follows:
	The top three candidates receiving the most votes are elected to three year terms.
	The next candidate is elected to a 2 year term.
	The candidate receiving the fifth highest number of votes is elected to a 1 year term.

(This is already documented in section 7 of the bylaws)

This could be handled with minimal modification to section 4 (I suggest modifying section 3 to reflect “one third of each body” being elected each year so that it doesn’t require update every time we change the numbers in either body. Proposed resulting language:

Section 4. Terms of Service. The standard term of office of elected Trustees and Advisory Council members shall be three (3) years and shall comence on the first day of January following the completion of the election process. One third of the elected seats of each body shall be elected in rotating serial order each year. Trustees and Advisory Council members may be elected to serve multiple terms.

The proposed language for Article VI Section 1 paragraph b seems reasonable. I would propose, however, that to facilitate the use of the propopsed language in section 4, a new section be inserted between Section 2 and Section 3 as follows:

Section X. Changes in size of the Board or Advisory Council.

a.	Any change in the size of either of these bodies shall be accomplished by a corresponding change to the
	above sections of the bylaws (Section 1 b for the Board, Section 2 b for the Advisory Council).

b.	A decrease in the number of members of the body shall be accomplished by reducing the number of open
	slots in the next 3 elections (or fewer if reducing by fewer than 3 members). The number of slots shall
	be reduced by 1/3rd of the total reduction being enacted, with any remainder being added to the first
	one or two elections.

c.	An increase in the number shall be handled through the same process used to fill vacancies due to resignation
	or removal of a member from the body in question. (See section 7).

Alternatively, Section 7 could be modified to incorporate the above procedures and expanded to cover the additional use cases.

Owen

> On Apr 9, 2018, at 13:42 , ARIN <info at arin.net> wrote:
> 
> On 9 April, the Consultation on Board Size was amended to include the link to the proposed Bylaws amendment necessary to effect the proposed change: 
> 
> https://www.arin.net/about_us/bot/20180216/exhibit_e.pdf <https://www.arin.net/about_us/bot/20180216/exhibit_e.pdf>
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Communications and Member Services
> American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) 
> 
> On 4/6/18 2:14 PM, ARIN wrote:
>> In May 2017, the ARIN Board of Trustees proposed expansion of the size of the Board of Trustees in order to increase opportunities for diversity in the background of Board members, including geographical and gender representation. This proposal was the topic of an energetic community consultation with mixed outcome indicating both support and concerns with such a change. The ARIN Board considered the outcome of the consultation, but ultimately the measure did not achieve the four-fifths approval threshold necessary for changing ARIN's Bylaws. 
>> 
>> In February of this year, the ARIN Board discussed an additional issue related to the present size of the Board: specifically, the challenge that a smaller Board poses when engaging in strategic discussions, for example in regard to long-term direction or relationships with other Internet organizations. While many of these topics are discussed with the community prior to decision (e.g. formation of the NRO, support for the IANA Stewardship Transition), it is often up to the ARIN Board of Trustees to decide whether to explore these initiatives when they are at an early stage. There is a very wide diversity of the Internet ecosystem that can be affected by ARIN's strategic direction and this includes Internet service providers of all sizes and types (transit, access, etc.), Internet online and content industries, data center and cloud operators, educational and government networks, commercial firms, and civil society. While the Trustees elected by the community often have a broad knowledge of the Internet ecosystem, seven Trustees is a relatively small group to evaluate impacts across the entire Internet ecosystem. 
>> 
>> As a result of this discussion, the ARIN Board agreed to initiate a new community consultation to expand the number of elected Board members from six to nine, in order to allow for wider representation of the Internet community during Board discussions. 
>> 
>> *Board proposal:* 
>> 
>> ARIN should add three more elected voting seats to the Board of Trustees, raising the current six (two elected per year) to nine (three elected per year). New Board seats are to be added to the Board in a phased manner – one per year in the 2018 thru 2020 elections as noted below 
>> 
>>     * October 2018: 3 Board members will be elected for 2019; 8 Trustee board (9 if the appointed seat is used) 
>>     * October 2019: 3 Board members will be elected for 2020; 9 Trustee board (10 if the appointed seat is used) 
>>     * October 2020: 3 Board members will be elected for 2021; 10 Trustee board (11 if the appointed seat is used) 
>> 
>> We are seeking community feedback on this proposed change to the size of the ARIN Board of Trustees. This consultation will remain open for at least 30 days. 
>> 
>> Please provide comments to arin-consult at arin.net <mailto:arin-consult at arin.net>. 
>> 
>> Discussion on arin-consult at arin.net <mailto:arin-consult at arin.net> will close on 14 May 2018. 
>> 
>> If you have any questions, please contact us at info at arin.net <mailto:info at arin.net>. 
>> 
>> Regards, 
>> 
>> John Curran 
>> President and CEO 
>> American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
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