Council meeting 2026-01-30

--- title: Council meeting 2026-01-30 tags: ["council", "triage-meeting", "minutes"] date: 2026-01-30 discussion: https://rust-lang.zulipchat.com/#narrow/channel/392734-council/topic/Meeting.202026-01-30/ agenda-url: https://hackmd.io/GYpSetAoSla7mcK7IjFDbw --- # Council meeting agenda - Meeting date: 2026-01-30 ## Attendance - Council members: - Observers: ## Meeting roles - Facilitator: TC - Minutes: Tomas Sedovic ## Check-in (Not minuted.) ## Consent to agenda The proposed agenda dedicates most of the meeting to discussing how to spend Project funds for supporting maintainers (#245). This reflects the interest expressed in prior meetings and the fact that we haven't yet had a deep discussion on this topic. The other nominated items (#256 on consensus forms, #261 on Foundation staff updates) are deferred to the next meeting. After two brief updates (PM and RFMF), we'd spend roughly 40 minutes on maintainer funding, organized into four discussion topics: 1. Purpose and philosophy (10 min) 2. Program structure (10 min) 3. Selection and process (10 min) 4. Oversight and coordination (10 min) Does anyone have concerns with this plan or other items that should take priority today? ## Announcements or custom items (Meeting attendees, feel free to add items here!) ## Nominated issues ### "Update on program management program" leadership-council#161 **Time estimate:** 4 min - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/161 - **Labels:** T-leadership-council, I-council-nominated, A-program-management The second PM candidate has accepted and will start on Monday. TC and Tomas will meet with him to get him up to speed. Thanks to Joel Marcey at the Foundation for coordinating from their side. ### "Discuss Rust Foundation Maintainers Fund" leadership-council#242 **Time estimate:** 4 min - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/242 - **Labels:** A-foundation, I-council-nominated The RFMF committee has been meeting regularly, with Jakub elected as lead. The committee plans to reach out to team leads and organizations with existing maintainer programs to learn from their approaches. ### "Discuss how to spend funds for supporting maintainers" leadership-council#245 **Time estimate:** ~40 min - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/245 - **Labels:** I-council-nominated, A-budget **Budget context:** The Council has approximately $153k in unallocated funds for 2026. The grants program budget ($118,673) was rolled into the council budget this year, which is one source of these funds. This is the main discussion item for today. We need to develop a framework for how the Council might use these funds to support maintainers. **Discussion topics:** 1. Purpose and philosophy (10 min) 2. Program structure (10 min) 3. Selection and process (10 min) 4. Oversight and coordination (10 min) TC and Eric are working on a proposal; this discussion will help shape it. ## Nominated issues not addressed in this meeting ### "Document which forms of consensus are appropriate and when" leadership-council#256 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/256 - **Labels:** I-council-nominated This issue arose from the 2025-12-19 meeting when there was uncertainty about whether a verbal poll during the meeting was appropriate for budget decisions. Eric noted this is related to issues #31 and #71. Jakub suggested documenting which things require formal FCP vs. treating other discussions as vibe checks. ### "Requesting staff updates from the Foundation" leadership-council#261 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/261 - **Labels:** T-leadership-council, I-council-nominated Follow-up from the 2026-01-16 meeting. The PDs were to discuss internally and report back on how they want to handle sharing Foundation briefing documents with the Council. James suggested giving the PDs time to discuss before any FCP; the question is about what the PDs can share proactively with the Council. ## P-high issues ### "Review and organize overall project team structure" leadership-council#33 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/33 - **Labels:** S-active, P-high, A-project-structure ### "Document and improve processes for interaction with the Rust Foundation" leadership-council#41 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/41 - **Labels:** S-active, A-foundation, P-high ## Issues that need a council decision ### "Figure out a strategy for licensing considerations" leadership-council#24 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/24 - **Labels:** S-needs-decision, A-legal ## Active issues ### "Document the council's internal decision making process" leadership-council#31 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/31 - **Labels:** S-active ### "Establish team charters" leadership-council#44 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/44 - **Labels:** S-active, A-project-structure ### "Find homes for launching pad teams" leadership-council#118 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/issues/118 - **Labels:** S-active, A-teams, A-project-structure ## Pending PRs on the leadership-council repo ### "Allow messages from observers during meetings" leadership-council#110 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/pull/110 - **Labels:** T-leadership-council ### "rust-foundation-project-director.md: use more clear language" leadership-council#215 - **Link:** https://github.com/rust-lang/leadership-council/pull/215 ## Call for clarifications Should any points discussed in the meeting be clarified? ## Check-out (Not minuted.)