I'll let Greg speak for himself, as the committee chair. However, a concern was to prevent the repeater coordinator community from getting their undies in a bunch because they tend to distrust the ARRL and to believe that we want to take over their jobs and make a mess of things. Also a concern was to discourage any industry efforts to badger the committee to endorse specific brands of gear. By keeping the initial part of the committee's work within the Board, Directors could be informed about the issues (historical, technical, and sociological) without pressure from conspiracy-theorist coordinators or from self-interested equipment industry folks. The next steps, whatever the Directors decide those should be, ought to be taken in an atmosphere of transparency. Maybe the Board will decide to release this report to the public as a step in that direction after you've absorbed the info and thought it over together. 73, Kay N3KN