The goal of this AIP idea is to establish a clear understanding of the current responsibilities of the Special Council. The Ape Foundation and the current SC are asked to provide this information to the community within 15 days of this AIP passing in the form of a written document that clearly outlines the day-to-day responsibilities, requirements, and expectations of the SC members.
Motivation
Election season has amplified the focus on the Special Council role and compensation. The community and current SC have evolved the perceived responsibilities of the role to a point where they are no longer in line with how they’re outlined in AIP-137. This disconnect is causing a significant amount of confusion both within and outside the DAO.
The written description of the role in AIP-137 includes these expectations:
attend weekly, or on an as-needed basis, council meetings
review AIPs at meetings or by email
commit 3 or more hours per week or as sufficient time as needed to the role
a key function of Special Council members is to work with and assess AIPs and their authors
What was originally a board of directors type role with a minimal time commitment has evolved into what the current SC members describe as a full-time plus job. Given the significant responsibility and compensation for the role, mixed with the lack of transparency on what exactly this role entails, let’s harness this renewed focus on the SC as a chance to clearly define the role and its place in DAO governance.
One of the DAO’s Guiding Values is Transparency. The DAO will have the opportunity to improve its governance process with transparent communication around the role of the Special Council.
Specifications
ApeCoin Discourse Forum
Steps to Implement
The Ape Foundation and the current SC are asked to provide this information to the community within 15 days of this AIP passing in the form of a Forum post in the Special Council section that clearly outlines the day-to-day responsibilities, requirements, and expectations of the SC members.
Timeline
The Ape Foundation and / or current SC will create a forum post detailing the role of the SC within 15 days of this proposal passing.
I agree that full clarity on this is needed, and that the current responsibilities of SC being performed are likely far more than outlined in AIP-137. This would have my support.
It was never anything like a Board of Directors role. Board of Facilitators, maybe? Steering Committee?
Terms matter. A Board of Directors makes and actions / delegates every impactful decision relating to the company, controls disbursements, hires and fires, and are ultimately responsible for those decisions. A BoD also has proper and transparent oversight, accounting and auditing, Shareholders have no say.
SC doesn’t make or action / direct decisions on its own, has no transparency, oversight, accounting or auditing, and can’t reasonably be said to be responsible for the bad decision / votes of the token holders which have all of the say on operations, disbursements, hiring and firing.
Totally agree with transparency. Very long overdue.
Agreed. The reason for the confusion is that it’s defined as a, “Board” on the website:
THE BOARD
A special council on the APE Foundation (the DAO’s “Board”) provides, at the behest of the ApeCoin DAO members, oversight of the Foundation administrators. The purpose of the Board is to administer DAO proposals and serve the vision of the community. It meets on proposals requiring administrative review under ApeCoin DAO rules. The initial Board serves a term of six months, after which DAO members will vote annually on Board members.
Hopefully this AIP will provide a path forward to clarifying the role and responsibilities.
Hello. I am suprised by this request. As paid Steward in Q1 & Q2 of this year, @badteeth you worked with Special Council to replace administrators and gain a further understanding of the activities surrounding the Foundation Company. To my knowledge, you worked closely w/ special council.
Can you share some details about your experience as WG0 Steward? And share any attestations as to the workload you’ve seen special council perform? Do you believe its worth upending the structure as suggested in objective #2? And what ramifications could that have on stability of operations?
Not sure what my WG0 experience has to do with the SC role. The DAO is evolving, the lack of clarity around the SC role is clearly a pain point that needs to be addressed.
This isn’t a judgement on the SC, if anything they’ve gone above and beyond in the role. At the end of the day I believe it’s important that we have clarity around all elected positions.
@0xSword i agree with @badteeth here. His experience as a steward may count. But he’s not the only member of the council. The details based on the AIP for the special council might not have been enough. Some sort of clarity on his roles as well as every member of the council might help. Then again, other members could voice out if they have any challenge with their role.
Yes, I view this AIP as a response to the general level of confusion in the community at large about the actual responsibilities of SC members (beyond what may be publicly listed.) This feels especially pressing when it comes to the discussions around SC salary. IMO it’s hard to form a “fair” viewpoint on what an SC should be paid, if their full list of roles and responsibilities are not transparent.
I like this idea. More clarification as the roles have evolved, this will avoid some fud from the community and outside once roles are clearly defined. I do not have experience with the DAO as I am fairly new here, but I bet understanding what each individual does and how much time they spend on their tasks, how much they bring to the DAO would help everybody understand the council better.
Wanted to clarify that while I worked with the SC during my time as an elected WG0 Steward from Jan-Apr this year, I did not serve as a member of the Special Council. Thank you,
I like the idea a lot. The original scope of work was very minimalistic described & most of our Special Council members said they were working more than full time. It would be good to know what priorities they’re spending their time etc.
Also, it would be nice to have at least every Q some progress reports, what they achieved with their time and role, or something like that. Continuously, not only before another voting phase.
very important