July 11th, 2025 Budget Comm Minutes

Attendees:

Name	Role
Phil Lewis	Former Voting Member
Kristijan Kowalsski	Voting Member, Tweag
Megan Hess	Voting Member
Gerard Moroney	Observer
Lloyd Duhon	Budget Secretary
Nico Cerny	Observer, Cardano Foundation Staff
Dave Dionisio	Board Member, IOG Staff, Budget Task Force
Mercy	Voting Member, WADA

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nTAZaeOz_FH9vNBFGTarBUW9kNZg_qNd5X4TFtRDnRw/edit?pli=1&tab=t.wha49926fis6

Agenda 1.16.25

• Imminent Treasury Withdrawal Deployment: The committee received updates on the final preparations for submitting all 39 governance actions, including the confirmation of the independent oversight committee, smart contract deployment, and the critical metadata review process.

• Enhancing DREP Engagement for Voting: Discussions highlighted the urgent need to motivate DREPs to vote on the numerous withdrawal actions, clarify the "non-vote equals no" rule, and provide user-friendly voting guides and dashboards.

• Strategic Planning for Future Governance & Committee Operations: The meeting touched on upcoming events like Rare Evo's Governance Day, the initiation of the budget process retrospective (including survey planning), and ongoing efforts to refine committee governing documents.

Decisions/Actions

Topic	Discussion	Action Items	Column 1
Attendance	Budget Committee Members: Chris Kowalsski, Megan Hess, Mercy. Intersect Steering Committee Members: Phil Lewis, Nico Cerny. Board Chair: Gerard Moroney. Observer: Dave Dionisio. Budget Secretary: Lloyd Duhon.
Rare Evo & Governance Day Event	Megan Hess inquired about Budget Committee events at Rare Evo. Governance Day at Topgolf on Thursday, August 7th, is free to attend, even without a full conference pass. It will include a budget committee panel following Charles Hoskinson's keynote.	Megan Hess to check the Rare Evo website for Gov Day details.
Oversight Committee & Smart Contract Deployment	Jack Briggs confirmed the five independent entities forming the Oversight Committee: Sunday Labs, Zerus, Dquadron, NMaker, and the Cardano Foundation. The smart contract is being deployed today (July 11th) after successful credential verification and testing.
Treasury Withdrawal Governance Actions	All 39 governance actions for treasury withdrawals are prepared and are targeting submission on Monday, July 14th. This timing provides a full 30-day voting period, avoiding an epoch boundary on Sunday. Phil Lewis (Anastasia Labs) is supporting with the 3.9M ADA deposits required.
Metadata Review & Consistency Checks	Jack Briggs shared that all 39 proposals' metadata is largely complete and green-lighted for constitutionality and consistency with the Ecclesia proposals. Minor interpretations were needed where original proposals lacked abstract/rationale. They are prioritizing submission of all actions back-to-back.	Committee members to review the metadata for consistency and interpretation. (Specific document link to be provided).
Amaru Proposal's Rapid Approval	The Amaru proposal passed in just over two weeks, setting a record for fastest governance action approval. This is seen as a positive sign for popular proposals in the upcoming batch.
Legal Contracts & Funding Disbursement	Legal contracts for vendors will be signed after funding is approved (ratified) on-chain but before funds are disbursed. Intersect will prioritize signing contracts for critical proposals like Catalyst and Cardano CF due to their immediate needs.
DREP Voting UX & Support	Nico Cerny described the GovTool UI with 39 individual tiles for voting. Concerns were raised about DREP fatigue and the need for voting guides and support material to help DREPs navigate the volume of actions.	Lloyd Duhon to produce voting guides/support material (potentially using Typeform for surveys) to aid DREPs.
"Non-Vote" Implication (Auto-No)	Dave Dionisio and Jack Briggs stressed that a DREP's non-vote on a 67% threshold proposal counts as a "no." This critical information needs broad communication to encourage active participation (even abstentions) rather than apathy. Megan Hess suggested exploring a requirement for DREP participation.	Committee members to actively promote messaging to DREPs emphasizing the importance of voting (yes, no, or abstain).
Retrospective Planning & Survey	The internal retrospective planning is ongoing. A community survey is planned, potentially in collaboration with Thesis and Dysmorphia (previous Cardano survey runners), using Typeform for better UX. Questions for the survey need to be developed.	Committee to prioritize developing survey questions for the retrospective.
DREP Voting Dashboard	Jack Briggs confirmed that a DREP voting/whipping dashboard will be spun up and shared with the committee to track voting progress and target outreach.	Jack Briggs to share the DREP voting dashboard with the committee.
Request for Metadata Comment Access	The current metadata document is view-only, hindering feedback. Lloyd Duhon will ask Ryan to enable comment access or serve as a conduit for consolidated feedback.	Lloyd Duhon to contact Ryan to enable commenting on the metadata document or offer to consolidate feedback from the committee/ISC.