Minutes from 11-20-99 - Northshield Coronet

In Attendance:

I. Exchequer Discussion

• A. HRM Finn's opinion is that Lord Balthazar (Mark Weiland, Appleton, WI) is a hard-working, well-meaning officer who just got in over his head, and that Lord Balthazar wished to get the office in shape before resigning, which is laudable.
  
  At Armorgeddon in September, HRH Finn and the Stallari discussed asking Lord Balthazar to resign, rather than being removed from office, after a long period of communications breakdown and failure to report as requested by the Stallari. Mistress Guenievre spoke with Balthazar to negotiate such a resignation, but communication broke down between Guenievre and TRM's Finn and Tamara in the busy period surrounding wedding plans for the two couples. Balthazar was never told that the for his resignation that he suggested was not acceptable. In the meantime, at the Curia after Crown Tourney this October, TRM's removed Lord Balthazar from office, Master Price was brought in as the interim Exchequer and Balthazar was notified of the decision. Balthazar contacted HRM Tamara, indicating that he was never informed about the compromise's unacceptability and was never asked nor allowed the chance to make other arrangements. It was agreed that the situation could have been handled better and Lord Balthazar was allowed to resign instead of being removed from office.
  
  A final conclusion: make sure that every person involved in a dispute receives full consideration and due process, and try not to put the Crown in these types of situations.
  
  
• B. Mistress Guenievre spent the previous weekend with Master Price going over the Northshield files and books. It appears that Lord Balthazar had done little more than write checks and make some deposoits in the past four months. The last bank statement that Lord Balthazar reconciled was for the close of May 31, 1999, and the last ebtry in the computer was on June 15, 1999. Guenievre reported that the Exchequer's 2nd quarter reports are missing entirely. (We are not sure if the report was ever file d with Kingdom, although a memo from the Kingdom Exchequer seems to indicate that it was received but the group copies are not in the files and neither is there a file copy of the report submitted.)
  
  There was a $2000.00 deposit (approx.) in October, consisting of $900.00 for the Trust Fund and other funds from Principality fundraising sales. There was also a $2500.00 deposit (approx.) the day before Master Price took over, which included checks from February and March (which may or may not end up being still-dated). Lord Balthazar had indicated to Mistress Guenievre that he planned to spend October updating the books, but apparently did not manage to do so, as the only work done before turning over t he files was to make the deposits indicated. More positively, Northshield does have money in its accounts. It was noted that here is a check to an internet service that is being followed up on, as it was not a budgeted item and no one ina ttendance had recollection of submitting the invoice for payment.
  
  For the record, misappropriation of funds was NEVER an issue, and everyone was in complete agreement on this item. Lack of communication and cooperation were the key concerns at the time.
  
  
• C. Viscount Alasdair asked that the Stallari please quash any incorrect information and rumors stemming from the incident. Princess Kelinda noted that it was distressing that the issue took this long to resolve.