Geoff -
I believe your re-wording of the motion as described and justified below is
appropriate, and so I am changing my vote to "disapprove" pending such a
re-wording.
However, at least part of the discussion so far has suggested that such
actions would create a precedent, put us on a slippery slope, etc. etc. The
reality, in my opinion, is that that precedent has already been set by the
actions we took some while ago to support the then Chair of 802.20.
Regards,
Tony
-----Original Message-----
From: ***** IEEE 802 Executive Committee List *****
[mailto:STDS-802-SEC@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Geoff Thompson
Sent: 12 January 2010 1:22 AM
To: STDS-802-SEC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [802SEC] +++ 10 Day EC Email Ballot +++ Exec Secretary T&L
Funding
Colleagues-
Some further thoughts of mine on this motion.
I think it is a bad idea for several reasons.
For some of these reasons, I hope that Paul will rule it out of order in
its current form.
1. I think paying Buzz for his expenses for past meetings is a bad idea
and a bad precedent. Buzz (like the rest of us) should decide to come
to meetings or not on the basis of whether or not it is affordable to
him, either through sponsorship or out-of-pocket. I don't think Buzz (or
anyone) should pay for attending a meeting on the speculation that he
might get 802 to pay for it afterwards as an unbudgeted expense.
Therefore I believe that paying for Buzz's expenses for November 2009
should be declared to be out of order or, at a minimum, a separate
motion to be considered at an in-session meeting (presumably March).
2. I see no urgency in the decision as to whether we pay for the
reimbursements under discussion for July and afterward. Therefore, that
portion of the motion and the discussion thereof should be declared
out-of-order for this e-mail ballot and deferred until March.
If those actions were followed, then the only appropriate action for
consideration at this time would be a one-time motion (hopefully not to
set a precedent):
*To provide for reimbursement of reasonable and customary expenses
(e.g. airfare, hotel, meals, etc) of the Executive Secretary for the
March 2010 Plenary Meeting.*
I strongly believe that paying for officer expenses sets us up for a
major change in the way 802 operates and that further operation in this
mode should not take place without an explicit and considered change to
our by-laws to allow 802 to pay for certain specified expenses for
particular officers. This should not be done without full discussion in
the Working Groups and with an accompanying financial impact analysis.
We will be setting a precedent that others will rush to take advantage
of. Many of our officers have been self-employed at one time or
another, myself included.
The fallout of something like this is that effectively 802 could end up
paying the expenses of all of its officers except for those whose
employers decide to cover expenses. This would significantly change the
nature of 802 as well as have a significant upward impact on meeting
fees. This would also have to be approved or at least allowed by the
IEEE-SA.
Best regards,
Geoff
Geoffrey O. Thompson
Chair, 802 Emergency Services EC Study Group
Member Emeritus, 802 Executive Committee
GraCaSI Standards Advisory Services
<thompson@ieee.org>
+1.540.227.0059 (Google Voice)
On 1/11/10 7:06 AM, John Hawkins wrote:
Dear EC members,
I should have brought this up in November, but alas it didn't get
done. Apologies in advance for cluttering your inboxes with another
email ballot.
Paul has delegated the conduct of the IEEE 802 EC 10-day ballot on the
following motion to me.
Motion:
The EC approves the use of IEEE 802 resources for reimbursement of
reasonable and customary expenses (e.g. airfare, hotel, meals, etc)
for Buzz Rigsbee, the IEEE 802 Executive Secretary, for the following
plenaries, or until he is replaced, whichever is sooner:
- 2009 November plenary
- 2010 March, July, November plenaries
Such reimbursement will be not to exceed $1,000 per plenary, averaged
over the period
Moved: John Hawkins
Seconded: Steve Shellhammer
Start of ballot: Tuesday 12th January, 2010
Close of ballot: Friday 22nd January 2010, 11:59PM EDT
Early close: As required in subclause 3.1.2.2 'Electronic Balloting'
of the IEEE project 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee (LMSC) Operations
Manual, this is notice that this ballot may close early once
sufficient responses are received to clearly decide a matter.
Rationale:
- As most of you are aware, Buzz has now formally retired from Boeing
and therefore has lost them as source of support for attending our
meetings. Fortunately for us, Buzz is willing to continue his service
as Executive Secretary for the IEEE 802. Given the complexity of this
function, and the significant time and commitment involved, this is a
positive for us.
- The motion proposes that we cover his expenses, at least in part.
Mostly these would consist of airfare and local transportation, but
may also involve hotel/meals in certain instances. Note that hotels
often "comp" Buzz's room expenses given his role in negotiating
contracts on our behalf, but there could be an exception here or there
so I'm leaving the motion open to that possibility. Note also that we
are limiting the commitment to actual expenses, not to exceed $1,000
per plenary on average and would be limited to the listed sessions
requiring new approval thereafter. This is modeled after the approach
we used with supporting Arnie's T&L a few years ago, and certainly is
a level we can handle within our current budget.
- I have communicated with Paul and Buzz and we agree that this is
not a long-term solution, as Buzz will someday desire to "retire"
from IEEE 802 as well. We agree that a succession plan is needed and
are investigating the best way forward there. This will be a difficult
function to fill with a volunteer, as it involves little
technical/standards work, and yet consumes significant time and
commitment. Since Buzz is willing and able, I think this is a wise
investment of a limited amount of our funds in the short term.
Regards,
John
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