Introduction
In an effort to further decentralize and democratize the governance of the Moonbeam Treasury, an election process for Treasury Council members is being introduced. The elections will take place during the month of November 2023 as indicated in this Forum post. The Moonbeam Treasury Program Transparency Report has exhaustive information on the operations of the treasury and speaks to the current council members’ dedication to their work.
And now, to further decentralize and democratize the governance of the Moonbeam Treasury, the community is invited to participate in selecting the future council members.
Reasons for holding elections
Before moving on to the election process, the rationale not to enable the Treasury Track on the Moonbeam and Moonriver networks should be addressed. While Polkadot’s OpenGov feature is used in Moonbeam and Moonriver, it is configured to suit the specific needs of these networks.
1 . Limited Treasury Budget Due to Current Market Conditions:
First and foremost, given the current unfavorable market conditions, the Treasury budget is limited. It is essential to exercise financial prudence to ensure the longevity and sustainability of the ecosystem. By carefully managing the treasury budget, the financial health of our ecosystem can be protected.
2. Preventing Spam and Distraction:
Enabling the Treasury Track at this moment can invite spam and unnecessary proposals, which could distract the community from critical tasks devoted to nurturing the ecosystem such as reviewing and voting for Runtime Upgrades, Grants process, XCM proposals, etc. It’s vital that the community maintains focus on activities that foster ecosystem growth and development.
3. Protecting against malicious actors:
Early-stage governance can be vulnerable to manipulation by malicious actors. By not enabling the Treasury Track until the ecosystem is more resilient, the risk of governance exploits is reduced and it will ensure that proposals are considered with the best interests of the networks in mind.
Based on the reasons outlined above, electing Treasury Council members to manage the Moonbeam treasury for Q1 and Q2 2024, and act in the best interest of the network is a prudent decision, as the one-year track record serves as compelling evidence of this.
Treasury Council Election:
Since the inception of the program, the council has always contained a majority of community, non-Foundation members. However, their appointment was rolled into the governance motion which created the program. The current council consists of 5 community members:
- 2 Foundation Treasury Council Members
- 3 Non-Foundation Treasury Council Members
The proposal is to hold elections for the 3 Non-Foundation council members and the process will be as follows.
Election process:
Anyone interested in running for the Council should create a “Treasury Council Member Candidacy” post on the Treasury Proposals Category on the Forum between Nov 9 - Nov 15, 03:00 PM UTC. This includes the 3 existing non-Foundation members.
Format of the candidacy post:
- Name: Name of applicant
- Timezone: Timezone applicant resides in normally
- English Language proficiency: English language proficiency (based on the IRL scale)
- Qualifications: Education and work experience
- Background: Moonbeam background and track record
- Motivation: Motivation for applying
- Conflicts of interest: Disclose any potential conflicts of interests they may have that could impact them evaluating certain types of proposals
- Availability: How much time you can commit to the committee (anyone unable to commit a minimum of 10 hours will be automatically disqualified) and whether you have any general restrictions that would get in the way of attending regular meetings.
- Supporting information: Any other supporting information
- Code of Conduct: Applicants should affirm that they are in good standing in the community and will commit to upholding the code of conduct.
Eligibility criteria:
- Minimum IRL 3 proficiency in English
- Capable of spending the minimum of 10 hours per week
- Desirable qualifications: infrastructure operations, experience with software development, etc.
- Forum Trust Level 1
- Complete Delegate profile on the Delegation Dashboard
Dates:
Nov 9 - Nov 15, 03:00 PM UTC: Candidates post their candidacy post here
Nov 15 - Nov 21, 03:00 PM UTC: The community to provide feedback on the candidacy posts and ask additional questions of the applicants
November 23, 03:00 PM UTC: A weighted snapshot vote begins
November 30, 03:00 PM UTC: A weighted snapshot vote ends
The three candidates that receive the highest weighted votes and complete the Foundation administration review will proceed to the on-chain voting that will take place on 6 December, 2023.
Term: Council Members will serve from January 2024 - June 2024.
Compensation: Non-Foundation Treasury Council Members will be compensated 1500.00 USDC monthly for services provided to the Council.
