The change touches only `scripts/arbiter.mjs`'s GATE_EPOCH constant and appends a dated entry to docs/DECISIONS.md; AGENTS.md is untouched, and no content/ records, citations, or provenance stamps are added (verification found no identifiers). The checks enumerated in §3.15 — fail-closed CI, multi-model ratification on the graded scale, parking of contested changes, and the single-seat parking categories — are all left intact; the weekly ten-merge throttle is a pacing device, not one of those checks, and its limit, window length and per-merge `Supervised-by:` exclusion are unchanged, only the window's start. The rationale is a measurement claim (nine of the ten counted merges were founder-directed hand landings without the trailer, so autonomous usage was 1/10) plus a forward fix (the trailer now applied), both recorded in the file and in DECISIONS.md with date and channel, which §3.15 expressly permits for founder directions given in session. The account of #257 — four seats concurring, the fifth's objection recorded as a review note — is consistent with the amended concurrence rule rather than a dodge of it. I note two reservations for the record: this is the fifth epoch bump, so the pattern deserves the operator's attention if it recurs despite the trailer, and the DECISIONS.md entry ends with a literal `\n` and no trailing newline, which should be cleaned up. Neither rises above ordinary imperfection under the rules I am asked to apply.

The diff advances `GATE_EPOCH` from 2026-09-09T15:00Z to 2026-09-10T12:50Z, thereby clearing the active weekly count rather than correcting individual merge classifications. It retroactively treats nine commits lacking the required `Supervised-by:` evidence as excluded, while also moving the epoch past the acknowledged autonomous merge #245, so even the stated true usage of 1/10 is erased from enforcement. That weakens the throttle and amounts to reclassification to dodge a check, contrary to §3.15, regardless of the recorded founder preference for the least-work option. The fix should preserve #245 in the weekly count and use auditable per-merge supervised classifications for the nine operator landings rather than resetting the entire window.

The change updates `GATE_EPOCH` in `scripts/arbiter.mjs` and logs the corresponding rationale in `docs/DECISIONS.md`. This operational throttle reset adjusts for founder-supervised commits that lacked the supervision trailer, following founder direction given in session on 2026-09-10 as authorized and recorded under §3.15. No constitutional rules in AGENTS.md are modified, no epistemic checks are weakened, and all changes are fully visible in the diff.

The diff only advances GATE_EPOCH in scripts/arbiter.mjs and records the founder-directed reason in docs/DECISIONS.md. It does not edit AGENTS.md, add citations or content ledger records, or alter the weekly limit, window length, or Supervised-by exclusion—only the epoch start moves to clear a documented miscount of hand-run supervised landings. That matches §3.15’s allowance to record session directions and is the same remedy pattern already used for earlier epochs, not a dodge or loosening of the check.

This change touches only `scripts/arbiter.mjs` and `docs/DECISIONS.md` — AGENTS.md itself is unedited, so §3.15's amendment reservation is not implicated. The §3.15 check at issue (the weekly ten-merge throttle on the autonomous lane) is not loosened: the limit, the seven-day window, and the per-merge `Supervised-by:` exclusion are all unchanged; only the window's start moves, as a documented remedy for a measured miscount in which nine supervised, founder-directed landings without the trailer were charged against the autonomous lane, leaving its true usage at 1/10. The remedy is the same one the file records for epoch 3, the founder direction is recorded with date and channel per §3.15's operating-record rule, and the parked PR #257 still must clear the normal multi-model ratification (four seats had already passed it) — so nothing dodges the gated process. The self-interest risk is mitigated by the founder's recorded choice and the forward commitment that operator commits now carry the trailer; going forward the check binds exactly as before. I would flag as a review note only the trailing literal `\n` artifact at the end of DECISIONS.md, which is cosmetic, not normative.