Subject: Re: New version (04) of Problem Issue Document on its way

From: John C Klensin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 18:25:56 -0400

My apologies for being so late in picking this up -- and my 
surprise that no one else has.

My small excuse is that I am more comfortable raising it now 
that the person whose situation causes the comment is apparently 
on the road to a full recovery, for which I am personally very 
grateful.

Problem:   We have procedures for replacing an IESG member who 
resigns or otherwise becomes permanently unavailable.  We have 
no mechanism for dealing with the situation of an IESG member 
who, due to illness or some other serious personal or 
professional condition, becomes unavailable for an extended 
period.   It is unreasonable, and probably not in the IETF's 
best interest, to ask a person in that situation to step down. 
It is equally unreasonable to ask a co-AD, or someone else on 
the IESG, to pick up the load for an extended period of time 
(even though some co-ADs have done it, for which we should all 
be very grateful).

So I suggest (this is a pointer, not a proposed solution) that 
we need to think about a mechanism by which, if an AD becomes 
temporarily incapacitated for a time and to a degree that the 
AD, or a co-AD, or the IESG (details to be worked out as part of 
the solution), anticipates will be problematic, a temporary 
replacement or can be selected and seated.  If the disability is 
only partial (i.e., the AD can fulfill some, but not all, of his 
or her duties), there should be some way to select and seat an 
assistant or stand-in.

I have no idea whether similar rules should be available for IAB 
members, but I suspect so.

regards,
   john