Request for Waiver from the Chancellor

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Callipygian
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Request for Waiver from the Chancellor

Post by Callipygian »

Please provide your observations on the following:

Request for the issue of waivers

As you will know I have been pleased to appointed Sudane Erato to act as Treasurer for CDS as part of the Executive Branch team. This continues a long standing arrangement of previous Chancellors. As required by the NL 5-5 Treasurer Act and NL 5-6 Estate Owner Act I request that the SC grant waivers for Sudane Erato to continue as Treasurer.

I believe two waivers are required, the first to allow Sudane Erato as EO to hold the appointed office of Treasurer of CDS. The second to allow Sudane Erato to act as Treasurer while being the EO, an administrative position in the governed entity in which she serves. I ask for this as the law does not allow her to hold both positions without a waiver from the SC.

I have extracted the references to this requirement from the two laws below

NL 5-5 Treasurer ACT
‘The position of Treasurer shall be understood as a “civil service” type position. The citizen holding this role will not occupy any other elected or administrative position in the governed entity which he/she serves, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. She/he shall be appointed by the Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the RA, and shall jold their position until they may resign or removed for cause. Any such planned transition shall be of a duration of no fewer than 60 days to allow for reestablishment of accounts and the transfer of funds.’

NL 5-6 Estate Owner Act
‘7. The EO will receive no compensation for the office. In addition, the EO will be prohibited from holding any elected or appointed office in the sim government, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. The only compensation provided will be the ceremonial title “Owner of the Sim”.’

It is my understanding that questions related to this request were raised at a meeting of the RA on July 4th.

Discussion of this might best be held when all issues we are being asked to address can be reviewed together.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd
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Re: Request for Waiver from the Chancellor

Post by Callipygian »

In reading the transcript of the second RA meeting of this term, it became apparent that Gwyn's motion to send a request to the SC was not seconded or voted on, so no request will be forthcoming. Therefore I will post my observations on this and invite the other members of the SC to do likewise.

In reading the RA, there also seems to be some confusion regarding the RA and SC roles in the issuance of approvals and waivers, and some misreading of the law. Since the petition only quotes small sections of the laws, and some of the discussion might benefit from seeing the full text, I will post it here.

NL 5-6 Estate Owner Act

ESTATE OWNER

The Estate Owner (EO) is a function defined both by Linden Lab policies and by the system of governance of the sims comprising the CDS.
In the eyes of LL, that person (it must be a single RL person) “owns” the sim (meaning they have bought the right to authority over the sim) and must pay monthly tax on the sim. In addition, they are the sole holder of the right of “Reclaim”, the ultimate authority exercizable in a private island sim.
In the eyes of the governance of a CDS sim, the EO receives the funds needed to satisfy the monthly fee to LL. In addition, the EO must duly execute actions within his/her sole ability to perform, resulting from decisions of the various authorized entities of the governing system. These shall be primarily any actions required to be performed on the “Estate” menu, and shall also include “Reclaim” parcels. Many of these roles can be delegated to various Estate Managers. Paying the monthly fee, and reclainming land, cannot be delegated.
To ensure the performance of these necessary functions, the following is proposed for the office of EO.

The EO shall be a citizen of a sim within the CDS and shall be appointed by a majority vote of the SC. An EO may serve for one sim or multiple sims.
The EO shall serve for life, or until they resign, or until they are removed for cause by a 2/3 vote of the SC.
The EO shall be replaced for any of these reasons only with a three month transition period to allow for transfer of sim ownership. The position may NEVER be vacant.
In the event of an unanticipated or unexplained absence of the Estate Owner, provision will be made for the sharing of sufficient personal information with a member of the SC so that the account can be accessed and sim ownership transferred on an emergency basis. Should this happen, LL shall be requested to perform an immediate transfer.
The EO shall receive funds each month to pay the monthly LL fee and to retain a balance of one month’s monthly fee in reserve. The payment shall be made by the sim authority (the Treasurer) in a form and fashion specified by the EO, which may include conversion fees, Paypal charges and the LL transfer fee when required. Each month, the EO will report all receipts and disbursements, as well as the balance of their account with the sim, to the Treasurer. The EO is not considered to be an “account” of the sim; the sim does not own all funds contained within the EO’s avatar. Rather, the EO functions as disbursement agent.
When circumstances require it, the EO will receive instructions from various of the duly constituted authorities of sim governance to perform necessary actions. In some cases, the EO will appoint Estate Managers, on the instruction of the appropriate authorities, to carry out these responsibilities. An example would be “Marshalls of the Peace” designated to ban as needed recalcitrant avatars. In other cases, such as “reclaiming” land, the EO themself will be called upon to perform this duty. All requests for such services will be logged by the EO, including the name of the requestor entity, and published monthly.
The EO will receive no compensation for the office. In addition, the EO will be prohibited from holding any elected or appointed office in the sim government, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. The only compensation provided will be the ceremonial title “Owner of the Sim”.

While it was opined during the RA meeting:

I see this goes much much deeper. Because of conflicting laws, some of our citizens now believe that there are 'roles appointed for life'. There is, just one: the SC members. No others are SUPPOSED to be 'appointment for life', much less without any checks and balances.

Clearly the EO position is ...'for life, barring resignation or removal for cause...'. The law also states clearly that " the EO will be prohibited from holding any elected or appointed office in the sim government, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC." Therefore a waiver is needed for the EO to also serve as Treasurer. Since the EO and Treasurer positions have been held by the same citizen for as long as both roles have existed, it can be assumed that a waiver was originally issued for this, but no record of it remains. To correct this I suggest the following would be appropriate:

'The SC issues a waiver for Sudane Erato, Estate Owner, to also hold the position of Treasurer, until such time as her position as Treasurer ends.'

The law regarding the Treasurer's position is:

TREASURER

The responsibility of the Treasurer is defined as follows:

The Treasurer shall oversee and be responsible for the receipt and disbursement of all money received by the City and for the investment of money received by the City.
It shall also be the responsibility of the Treasurer to assure that the fiscal integrity of the City is protected and that all funds are accounted for, whether revenues from taxes, rental charges, user charges, fees, grants, gifts, or any other source and that expenditures comply with applicable Linden Labs TOS’s, City TOS’s, City Constitution and Laws, City Policies, Administrative Policies and Procedures, court orders and any other mandates affecting expenditures of funds and the management of the City.
In addition, the Treasurer is responsible for establishing controls which will prevent any expenditure of funds which does not meet the requirement of this policy. Violations or attempted violations of this policy are to be reported to the AC, RA and SC(or their successors) immediately upon detection.
The Treasurer shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control procedures that include but are not limited to:
Proper authorization of transactions and activities.
Adequate documents and records.
Adequate safeguards over access and use of assets and records.
In order that the City present fairly and with full disclosure its financial position and results of operations, the Treasurer is responsible for establishing and maintaining an effective accounting system that will result in the:
Identification and recording of all valid transactions.
Description on a timely basis of the type of transaction in sufficient detail to permit proper classification of the transaction for financial reporting.
Measurement of the transaction’s value in a manner that permits recording of its monetary value in the financial statements.
Determination of the time period in which the transaction occurred to permit recording of the transaction in the proper accounting period.
Proper presentation of the transaction and related disclosures in the financial statements.
Policy Regarding the Treasurer
The RL person, in the form of their principal avatar, must be a citizen of Neufreistadt, as defined by the founding documents.
The RL person must establish an alternate avatar; that is, one different from their primary SL persona avatar. This alt avatar shall be technically a bank account of the governing entity”. All funds of this “Treasurer avatar” are and shall remain the property of Neufreistadt, until the termination of the Treasurer’s term in office, at which time they will be transferred to a newly appointed “Treasurer avatar”.
Likewise, should the governing entity decide to continue accepting US$ payments, the RL person must establish a Paypal Business account with the buisness name corresponding to the governmental entity which the Treasurer serves. This account, too, shall be technically a bank account of the governing entity. All funds of this Paypal account are and shall remain the property of Neufreistadt, until the termination of the Treasurer’s term in office, at which time they will be transferred to a newly appointed Paypal account.
The Treasurer must disclose their RL contact information in confidence to another Citizen of their own chosing in case the untoward should happen to the Treasurer. In this eventuality, access to the Treasurer’ alt account and access to the Paypal account would be necessary.
The position of Treasurer shall be understood as a “civil service” type position. The citizen holding this role will not occupy any other elected or administrative position in the governed entity which he/she serves, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. She/he shall be appointed by the Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the RA, and shall jold their position until they may resign or removed for cause. Any such planned transition shall be of a duration of no fewer than 60 days to allow for reestablishment of accounts and the transfer of funds.
Duties of the Treasurer
To pay to the Estate Owner, in a timely fashion, funds sufficient to cover the sim’s monthly obligation to LL, along with associated costs which may in incurred.
To handle real estate transactions under the direction of the appropriate government bodies of Neufreistadt; e.g., to receive applications from new members and existing citizens for the purchase or transfer of sim(s) land; to prepare necessary the deeds, to guide applicants through the process to ensure transactions are properly executed, and to keep accurate public records regarding the sim(s); the land, the parcels, the ownership configuration, and the obligations of each citizen regarding their monthly fee.
To handle the financial transactions under the direction of the appropriate government bodies of Neufreistadt; e.g., to collect revenues, disburse expenses, transfer and exchange currency, and to maintain the necessary in-world and RL accounts needed to administer City funds in both L$ and US$.
To maintain a financial system in a manner consistent with RL standard accounting practices, using standard double-entry bookkeeping principles.
To maintain an open reporting and record systems which provides the Citizens of Neufreistadt information regarding the financial status of the city and land ownership data. However, RL information regarding Citizens, e.g., contact information, paypal account information, etc., shall be kept private.
To cooperate with the bodies of government as established by the citizens of Neufreistadt in carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the office and to work with any special Committees established by such bodies to develop and implement suitable oversight systems.
To provide other duties as assigned.

The relevant portion of this law is as follows:

"The position of Treasurer shall be understood as a “civil service” type position. The citizen holding this role will not occupy any other elected or administrative position in the governed entity which he/she serves, unless a waiver might be granted, on a case by case basis, by the SC. She/he shall be appointed by the Chancellor, with the advice and consent of the RA, and shall jold their position until they may resign or removed for cause. Any such planned transition shall be of a duration of no fewer than 60 days to allow for reestablishment of accounts and the transfer of funds."

The confusion regarding roles occurs around this law: the RA is stated to 'advise and consent' to the appointment, the SC to issue the waiver. Once again it can be assumed that a waiver was given, since the same citizen has held both positions, but no record of it remains. To correct this, I suggest the following:

'The SC grants a waiver to Sudane Erato to hold the position of Treasurer, recognizing that she is also the Estate Owner, until such time as she resigns or is removed for cause from the position of Treasurer."

I suggest that both waivers be recorded in the Forum under SC Announcements so that there is a record of their issuance.

In addition to the question of waivers, the wording of this petition has created debate in both the RA and the community around two issues. Since the RA has discussed asking for further clarification on these issues I will give my observations on those matters also, and invite all members of the SC to do likewise.

The questions appear to be:
'Is the position of Treasurer a civil servant' and following on to that question,'Does each Chancellor appoint a Treasurer of his or her choice, or does the Chancellor only confirm with the Treasurer that he or she intends to continue in that position'

I believe the wording “civil service” type position (bolding is mine) demonstrates that while the position of Treasurer may be seen as a part of the civil service, it has requirements that are unique to the role, and therefore it has its own applicable rules and law. That one of the duties is "To maintain a financial system in a manner consistent with RL standard accounting practices, using standard double-entry bookkeeping principles". would imply that there *must* be a separate standard for the holder of this office - RL professional standards apply, requiring a specific skill set and experience to fulfil the position.

NL 5-7 The Civil Service Act states:

"...
Civil service positions are established by legislative action by the RA and appointed civil servants may receive compensation provided by the Neufreistadt-CDS budget. Legislation will describe the position and duties but will not specify the individual that will fill that role.
Civil service members are appointed by the Executive Branch to fill a specific position established by law and serve for a term defined by that law.
..."

Since the Treasurer's position is 'with the advice and consent' of the RA, thus specifying who might fill that position, it was clearly intended that the role of Treasurer *not* be considered part of the regular civil service.

Even if the position of Treasurer were to be considered an ordinary civil service position, the Civil Service Act states 'Civil service members are appointed by the Executive Branch to fill a specific position established by law and serve for a term defined by that law'.

In the case of the Treasurer, that law states "... and shall jold their position until they may resign or removed for cause. ...".

It seems clear to me that the original appointment of Sudane as Treasurer is still in effect, since she has neither resigned nor been removed for cause. This means that any subsequent Chancellor would only appoint a Treasurer in the event that the current holder of the position resign or be removed; while Chancellors might choose to confirm with the treasurer that he or she wishes to continue on in that role (i.e. is not resigning), it is a courtesy or formality, not an appointment.

Callipygian

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: Request for Waiver from the Chancellor

Post by Soro Dagostino »

Thank you for the good analysis. I agree with your conclusion.

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Re: Request for Waiver from the Chancellor

Post by Lilith Ivory »

I fully agree too

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."
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