Council Minutes - 4 March 2006

(Draft) Minutes of a Meeting

of the Council of InternetNZ

Level 10 Exchange Place, 5-7 Willeston St, Wellington

8.35am on Saturday 4 March 2006

Status: Draft

WELCOME FROM CHAIR: The President opened the meeting at 9.35am and noted that it was good to be in the new facilities.

1. ATTENDANCE:

a. PRESENT

Colin Jackson (President)
David Farrar (Vice President)
Chris Streatfield (Treasurer)
Michael Wallmannsberger (Secretary)
Simon Riley
Michael Sutton
Grant Forsyth
Rodney Prescott
David Harris
Mark Harris
Peter Macaulay
Janet Mazenier
Sean Weekes

b. IN ATTENDANCE

Keith Davidson (Executive Director)
Jordan Carter (Research & Policy Officer)
Debbie Monahan (Domain Name Commissioner)
Frank March (Chair NZOC)
Ann Urlwin (Chair NZRS)
Nick Griffin (General Manager NZRS)
Nick Wallingford (Technical Policy Officer)
Susi Fookes (Project Administrator)

2. APOLOGIES

Jennifer Northover
Peter Macaulay for leaving early
Grant Forsyth for lateness

3.                   Declaration of Councillor interests

Councillor interests are as published except for the following amendments to declarations:

Cr Mark Harris is now engaged by DIA
Cr Mazenier is involved with the Digital Strategy
Cr Weekes is involved with DIA
Cr Sutton has a patent for sale in the USA
Cr Prescott is harassing the Ministry about spectrum that has a hole in it

4. Consideration of agenda

A discussion on the Fee Setting recommendation will be in committee. Also the Public Policy committee report under the consent agenda may go into committee.

5. Budget and Business Plan Discussion

The Executive Director introduced the draft Budget for 2006/07. Noting that a Tiger Team of Executive Committee members and staff has divided the draft Budget into three levels of priority, this is purely to create a starting point for Council.

9.48 am - Council went into Committee.

9.50 am - Cr Forsyth arrived.

9.57 am - Council came out of Committee.

The Executive Director continued his presentation, giving a brief description of each line.

Cr Prescott noted that the budget does not show income from the access grid, the Executive Director noted that it will not be complete this financial year, therefore will have no effect.

Cr Riley noted that all advertising should fall under a communications plan, however there is no plan in place. Cr Weekes agreed with this.

International travel was touched on. Cr David Harris suggested that focus should be on the Pacific, Cr Riley and the Executive Director agreed.

The Secretary asked why the significant depreciation, the Executive Director answered that it is for the access grid.

Cr David Harris asked why the Technical Scholarship is it now proposed to be part of the Technical Capability Development Fund, rather than a separate line item in the budget. He feels it may be a problem as people are now aware of the scholarship. The Chair of Technical Ctte (Cr Michael Wallmannsberger) explained that it is for ease of management of Technical Committee funds. Also there was a query as to whether the Fund itself should fall under priority two or three was discussed, it was noted that this should be revisited.

Cr Sutton asked how the allocation of funds for the broadband monitoring was formulated. Cr Prescott said that he did not believe that it should be in priority three at all. The Executive Director noted that there is potential to split this in half to go into both priorities two and three.

Cr Forsyth noted there is no budget allocation for membership recruitment.

The President concluded this portion of the meeting by noting that the budget shows the vast work of the staff and considerable work of the Executive Committee and thanked them for their efforts.

10.42 10.52 am Morning tea break

6. NZRS Report

Anne Urlwin introduced the NZRS report. She briefly commented that finances are ahead of budget for the quarter, and that NZRS are confident that they will achieve the year end budget. Anne noted that it is not recorded in the written report that the next dividend is on track and that it will come through to InternetNZ by the end of March. She also directed attention to the other significant financial flow of $300,000 for the sponsorship for the ICANN Wellington meeting.

The Secretary asked what risks had been considered by the Company in the fee setting recommendation. Anne stated that it has been developed from a business as usual type budget. Cr Sutton asked how depreciation is covered. Anne said that in terms of technology, it is covered reasonably aggressively.

RN 01/06 (President/Cr Prescott) THAT the third quarter report from NZRS be received.

CARRIED

Abstention: Vice President

7. NZOC Report

Frank March introduced the report. He noted that the NZOC have had one meeting since the January report, and that that meeting considered the domain name fee setting issue.

The Vice President congratulated NZOCs handling of the deauthorisation of the registrar.

11.00 11.06 am Council went into Committee.

RN 02/06 (President/Cr Macaulay) THAT Council thanks the NZOC and the DNC for dealing with the recent deauthorisation and supports all action taken by those parties.

CARRIED U

RN 03/06 (President/Cr Mark Harris) THAT the NZOC Reports form November 2005, December 2005 and January 2006 be received.

CARRIED U

Debbie Monahan briefly explained the work done on the Dispute Resolution Policy. Frank March then requested sign off on the formal policy.

Cr David Harris congratulated the NZOC on the policy, noting one exception; the fees set are in his view too high. Frank March said that the fees were brought to Council before they were integrated into the policy. Cr David Harris noted that there are two differing liability statements and recommended that it is looked into.

The Vice President noted that the principle is appropriate. He asked what high level communications there will be to educate the public about the new system. The Domain Name Commissioner said that there is a whole strategy in place. Some of the actions planned include: writing articles in various law publications; speaking to Intellectual Property organisations; doing a presentation at the International Trademark association meeting in early May.

RN 04/06 (President/Vice President) THAT the proposed Dispute Resolution Policy be approved.

CARRIED U

11.25 am 12.20 pm Council went into Committee.

8. Fee Setting Recommendation NZOC and NZRS

There was extensive discussion on the fee setting recommendation.

RN 05/06 (Secretary/ Cr Macaulay) THAT Council endorse NZOC policy that domain name fees should be stable and reducing over the long term.

CARRIED

Abstention: Vice President

RN 06/06 (Secretary/Cr Mark Harris) THAT the .nz domain name fee remain at $1.75 plus GST per domain name per month for the forthcoming year.

CARRIED U

12.24 1.30 pm Council alone time, followed by lunch.

RN 07/06 (Cr Mark Harris/Treasurer) THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2005 be received and adopted as a true and correct record, AND THAT reports listed in the consent agenda be received and any recommendations therein adopted.

CARRIED U

RN 08/06 (Vice President/Secretary) THAT Council appoints Alistair Dickson and Janet Mazenier to the Public Policy Committee.

CARRIED

Abstentions: Grant Forsyth, Janet Mazenier, Mark Harris

9. Matters Arising from the Minutes

RN 09/06 (Vice President/Secretary) THAT e-votes be received and adopted as part of the records.

CARRIED

Abstentions: Mark Harris

10. Executive Directors Report

The Executive Director introduced his report.

RN 10/06 (President/Cr Prescott) THAT the changed timing of the IPv6 Forum from March to July/August 2006 be noted.

CARRIED U

RN 11/06 (President/Cr David Harris) THAT the net payment of $12,719 for PIP funding relating to the ICANN and NZNOG meeting be approved.

CARRIED U

RN 12/06 (Treasurer/Secretary) THAT payment of up to $4,000 be approved, as partial funding in conjunction with AUT, to facilitate May meetings in Auckland and Wellington to further socialise the World Internet Project with the local Internet community.

CARRIED U

Council briefly discussed the Your Internet is our concern advertising. It was agreed that while they advertisements were good, but noted that Council would have preferred to be alerted to them prior to publication.

RN 13/06 (Treasurer/Cr Prescott) THAT budget of $30,000 be approved for expenditure on advertising the expenditure of revenue earned from .nz registrants.

CARRIED U

The Executive Director introduced the additional items of his report.

RN 14/06 (Cr David Harris/Secretary) THAT up to $10,000 for a contribution for a joint project with TUANZ be approved.

CARRIED U

There was brief discussion on Council accommodation; currently the IBIS hotel is used.

Cr Weekes, Cr David Harris and Cr Macaulay saw no problem with the IBIS. While the Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer believe CityLife represents better value. The Executive Director noted that he is not seeking a resolution but will take note of the comments.

The Executive Director touched on the ICANN meeting. He told the group that the Prime Minister will not be opening the meeting and that an issues paper, outlining InternetNZs collective position on a range of matters before the ICANN meetings, is to be circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting.

It was decided to move the issue of the funding of the proposed TCDF to later in the meeting.

RN 15/06 (Treasurer/Prescott) THAT the report of the Executive Director for March 2006, including the Project Status Reports to 31 January 2006 (apart from TCDF) be accepted.

CARRIED U

11. Technical Capability Development Fund

The Secretary spoke on the TCDF, highlighting the difficulty of budgeting for the unknown. He suggested the best way forward on the TCDF would be to give the Technical Committee the authority to roll up existing initiatives, put a realistic budget together, and with clear criteria the responsibility to use the money in the best way.

The Treasurer saw the process as back to front. The Vice President responded that he sees the proposal as simply saying that items will go to staff for filtering, then to the Technical Committee for recommendation, then back to staff for sign off.

The Secretary concluded the discussion by saying the proposal is entirely appropriate. Staff should do the work. He suggested it is unfair to ask a staff member to make a judgement call. This should be the job of the Committee.

RN 16/06 (Secretary/Cr Macaulay) THAT Council endorse the concept of the Technical Capability Development Fund to be managed and accounted for by the Technical Committee.

CARRIED

Against: Treasurer, Cr Sutton

Action Point: The Secretary to consider this feedback and develop criteria for the TCDF, and then arrange for an e-vote to endorse these if required.

12. Strategic Plan

RN 17/06 (Cr Mark Harris/Treasurer) THAT the revision of the strategic plan is postponed until next year.

CARRIED

Abstention: Cr Riley

13. Budget and Business Plan Conclusion

Jordan Carter presented a draft budget comparison of the dividend options, and the Executive Director then made comment.

Cr Riley said that we would like to see the Communications as a one line item. The Executive Director agreed, however there would need to be a breakdown of the item. He also would like a staffing line included in each work area, so that the spreading of staff time can be recognised. Cr Macaulay noted that the Structural review should address the current approach.

The Secretary noted that 12 18 months of reserves needs to be retained. Cr Macaulay saw the 18 month reserve as a cover for priority one.

The President observed that hosting the ICANN meeting this year makes a dramatic difference in the budget.

The meeting went on to discuss whether additional revenue should be raised in the short, medium or long term. It was noted that the funds under discussion (raised by dividend from NZRS) are registrants rather than registrars money.

The Treasurer asked about the proposed $25,000 for the World Internet Project. The Executive Director suggested that most Councillors have not read this, as he imagined there would be a demand that this is priority one as it is so much what InternetNZ is about. There was call for those that read the report to comment. Cr Riley said that for InternetNZ not to participate would be an embarrassment. The Treasurer suggested it should fall under priority three. The Secretary thought $25,000 is too much to contribute. Cr David Harris suggested it looks to be a just a long term think tank. The Executive Director disagreed.

Council worked through each line and priority of the draft budget as presented, amending it, considering what level of financial support to provide and how this impacts the dividend.

RN 18/06 (Secretary/Cr Mark Harris) THAT the draft Budget, as amended, be adopted for the operation of InternetNZ from 1 April 2006, and built into a business plan for members consultation, and finally ratified by members at the AGM in July 2006.

CARRIED U

RN 19/06 (Cr Prescott/Treasurer) THAT InternetNZ set the dividend from NZRS for the 2006/2007 year at $1,400,000.

CARRIED

Abstention: Cr David Harris

3.37 pm Peter Macaulay left the meeting.

3.38 3.47 pm Afternoon tea break.

14. Project Highlights

Telco Regulation Submission to Govt

The Vice President briefed Council on the submission, and the direction it needs to take.

3.48 3.55 pm Council went into Committee.

RN 20/06 (Secretary/Cr Sutton) THAT a huge thank you go to those who worked on the submission.

CARRIED

Abstention: Cr David Harris

15. General Business

RN 21/06 (President/Secretary) THAT Council thanks Cr Mark Harris on his work on the Cleanfeed trial.

CARRIED with applause

Abstention: Cr Mark Harris

The table welcomed Cr Janet Mazenier to Council with applause.

Cr Macaulay asked if the next Council meeting be held in Auckland to coincide with the NetSafe party. Council noted this requested and made no decision on it.

Next meeting

The next Council meeting but one is scheduled for 23 June, clashing with the ICANN Morocco meeting.

It was agreed to reschedule the meeting to Friday 16 June 1 5.30 pm. Councillors noted that it is likely for the meeting to run over time and to include this in their travel plans etc.

Structural review

The Vice President led the discussion on the Structural review. He noted that a proposal should go out to members, with this to be followed by a formal decision at the April meeting. He would like to see one or two councillors to go onto a Task Force. The Task Force role would be to support the reviewer. Cr Mazenier and Cr David Harris volunteered to be on the Task Force.

Cr Forsyth suggested the review should start with certain assumptions for the reviewer to work with, i.e. should INZ be an incorporated society? The Executive Director noted then it would not be structural review, if we would like to delve that deep it should be called a full review, Cr Mark Harris agreed.

The meeting debated how the review should be approached.

Cr David Harris said that there must be consideration that INZ is a membership driven organisation. The Vice President noted that INZ is a different organisation than when it started and it will continue to evolve. He sees ongoing ten yearly reviews as vital to the organisation.

The Treasurer reminded the meeting that this is not just an exercise, it is to benefit the wider Internet community.

RN 22/06 (Vice President/Cr Mark Harris) THAT the Structural Review paper be accepted for membership consultation, AND THAT Cr David Harris and Cr Mazenier be added to the Structural Review Task Force.

CARRIED

Abstention: Cr David Harris, Cr Mazenier

Cr Forsyth thanked Council for the time worked together and wished all well. Council responded in thanking Cr Forsyth with applause.

Cr Mark Harris asked in accepting the Cleanfeed Investigation report was it adopted? It was not, it was agreed that it would next go to the Public Policy Committee for discussion and then adopted by a subsequent Council meeting.

Meeting closed: 4.30 pm

Next meeting: Friday 28 April 2006, 1.00-5.30pm, at Level 10 Exchange Place, 5-7 Willeston St, Wellington.

Signed as a true and correct record:

Colin Jackson, President, CHAIR