Oliver, I think it somehow *has* to be this way due to governance model of Jenkins.
And as Stephen phrased it, the IRC meeting should preferably be only a rubber stamping event on things already discussed and preferably (mostly?) agreed on.
On such a subject even more possibly, I guess I would feel uncomfortable if that is only known and discussed during the meeting. (also because that meeting is not evenly easy to attend to the community members depending on many things like personal lives/organization, TZ, and so on).
So, +1 from also on the question. So that the subject can actually be tackled quicklier during the gov meeting.
My 2 cents
-- Baptiste