Over the past several weeks, there have been increasing clamors for reform and/or abolition of the Local Council, in recognition of some failures of the previous several terms of the Local Council to deliver on governance objectives, structural concerns about entrusting "moderation" to elected officials, and general disquiet about the messy and spammy state of most RMB activity. Most of these concerns have been aired via Discord, namely in the #legislators-lounge, #government-discussion, and #minion-plaza/pieclave channels.

Due to this general disquiet and dismay, along with the re-opening of nominations for the March 2022 Local Council election due to dissatisfaction with candidates and their reform agendas, proposals for the abolition and reform (via separating governance and moderation) of the Local Council have been proposed. In the ensuing Discord debate, it has become clear that there is a belief among some that the LC will work out its problems in the upcoming term -- after all, there's been such a clamor about it!

For me, the ideal solution is a functional and reformed LC, which delivers on governance objectives for the gameside while preserving the possibility of gameside self-determination. In order to begin this discussion, I already offered suggestions on Local Council reform in this The Southern Journal article but ultimately the Local Council has to take the lead on such efforts. Due to the lengthy history of the LC's failure to deliver on such objectives, I am skeptical of promises for reform, and in that I think I am not alone.

That said, I think the Assembly can put concrete pressure on the LC to make meaningful steps towards reform in the upcoming term. I am proposing an Assembly Resolution to threaten abolition or substantial modification of the Local Council at the Charter-level if the Local Council cannot implement major reform efforts during this upcoming term:

Quote:

Assembly Resolution on Local Council Reform Efforts

A resolution to set deadlines and consequences for Local Council reform efforts

The Assembly of the Coalition of the South Pacific,

Recognizing the Charter mandate of the Local Council to "encourage activity on the gameside, and administrate itself on issues unique to the in-game community",

Concerned that the Local Council has historically fallen short of meeting this goal,

Noting as evidence for this the generally thoughtless and "spam" nature of most activity on the regional message board, the lack of initiative by Local Councillors in hosting regional events or media on gameside, the lack of broader legislative or executive activity on the gameside, and the lack of motivation or political energy stemming from the regional message board to rectify these flaws,

Hoping that the Local Council can address these issues itself, thus maintaining the general principles of gameside self-determination, while resolving issues which affect the prosperity of the entire regional community,

Hereby:

1. Requests that the Local Council enact meaningful reform, within the March-July 2022 term, that generates a suitable gameside governance structure and substantially addresses the shortcomings identified in this resolution.
   
2. Declares intent to consider an amendment to the Charter to abolish the Local Council, should meaningful reform not be successfully enacted within the requested date.

(Note: I am not sure how the Law Standards Act applies [if at all] to such a Resolution. Please let me know if I should reformat.)

Open to thoughts and suggestions (especially on wording of the proposal).