Crown Stallari Council Meeting, May 10, 2014
Present: Seneschal, Laws Clerk, King, Queen, Princess, Prince (Petranella/Vlad), Chronicler, Exchequer + deputy, MOAS, Maol Mhichil (as deputy to Polaris), Webminister, KEM
Business:
Polaris – nil (no pony required)
Exchequer – Debrief to TRH on current financial statu
Policy changes will be brought forward for consideration and further discussion prior to implementation.
Current issues: 9 groups are currently in breach of financial reporting requirements. Deadlines with corrective action steps have been sent to group exchequers. Unless resolved satisfactorily prior to 30 May 2014, groups will face suspension. Of the delinquent groups, several have had prior infractions of a similar nature. Moving forward, issues with groups is being tracked to identify pattern/repeat offenses and establish a corrective course of action to eliminate the recurring issues. Recommended: required training to be delivered within 3 months of a new appointment. Details of how to deliver this training under ongoing discussion.
Regalia budget - maintenance and repairs costs are already built into the regalia fund as it is currently written. No additional funds need to be allocated beyond this envelope.
Seneschal – A discussion of treaty arrangements has been brought forward again. Policy remains unchanged. It is the responsibility of the individual to adopt an address within the desired kingdom in order to be considered a member thereof.
Castel Rouge Baronial polling ongoing. Labels were incorrect but have now been fixed and materials have been sent out.
Officers day - bid received and accepted. Seneschal has a list of courses of one track in duration relating to the seneschal duties. This track will include a form of office hours for those wishing discussion time with the Kingdom Seneschal. Recommendation of a full course track for every office. Agreed.
NEXT ACTION: continue to solicit instructors and class suggestions.
Windhaven is approaching a baronial transition in November. Further discussions to clarify next steps pending. No further action required at this time.
Laws Clerk – nil
Earl Marshal – Q1report submitted. Event report submissions stressed as per previous minutes.
Forthcoming: Extra documents to outline current policy on each activity area.
Individuals will be given the capacity to print their own authorization cards. PDF files will be sent out for people to print their information as needed. The revised process will be faster and less expensive than the postal method currently in use. The electronic version can even be used in an e-format, allowing display on mobile devices.
Further discussion required on compliance issues that are outstanding.
Chronicler – This is the final year of her tenure. A replacement has been found (Arnbjorn). He has experience at several officer levels. Permission sought to engage replacement to ensure a smooth transition and right-fit of candidate. Agreed.
Currently seeking a new editor as Athena will be stepping down in September.
Some information from the IT office of the Society indicates that it does have the capability to push publications and is also working to do that. When this moves forward, it has the potential to resolve many of the ongoing access and readership issues that have been discussed previously. Older issues will be archived and may then be posted to the NS website for consumption.
MOAS – The competition criteria handbook is finished. Five laurels have been consulted to represent divisions. It has been sent to Crown for approval. It is a significant handbook. Discussions with laurels ongoing. Some concerns have been discussed. HrRM feels some areas are weaker than others. Agreed that it will be a work in progress. Suggested that the criteria debut at the Pas d' Armes. There is a plan to host hands-on training to show how to judge and how to enter based on these new manuals. Currently awaiting response(s) to a request for bids for an October A&S event as well as for a Spring event.
Seeking a library deputy to curate a list/collection of books to be housed on the website.
Seeking to create a War Wall (a sheet wall for use at Pennsic and Gulf Wars). Funds are available. The Pennsic version will be stored in the kingdom trailer. It will not be considered part of the regalia and therefore not stored nor tracked by Regalia Minister.
Webminister – The mailing list(s) will be shut down. Investigation of alternatives ongoing. A recommendation will be forthcoming.
Award recommendations pages have been under scrutiny. Creating a gap analysis. The form does not currently require author to input a reason for the recommendation. Changes will create an overhaul situation however work continues to implement improvements.
NEXT ACTION: Queen to continue working with web team to identify improvements.
Reminder: Web space for officers to put raw files is available. The area is secure but they are not information controlled documents.
Princess / Regalia Minister – Regalia photos need to be posted to the website to facilitate inventory and identification, in particular of missing regalia. Currently recreating a complete inventory. First stage is a photo gallery. Law Clerk notes that finding items is very important as missing regalia could result in banishment as it constitutes theft. It is expected that having photos posted will help to have items returned promptly. A checklist will also be created for future royalty to track items taken and returned.
Email list (Maol Mhichil) – Further to the Yahoo implementation of a policy that has upended mailing lists, there is no easy solution at this time. Recommended that official lists be migrated (Stellari and Peerage lists).
NEXT ACTION: Webminister to investigate and report on solutions. Not yet ready to move both lists and website. Lists will be moved first, then website will be addressed. New costs will be incurred and the Exchequer will be consulted when costs have been determined.
Royal peer list is not necessary and recommendation is to discontinue it.
A one-time dump of all archive material would be possible and will be discussed by webminister and Maol Mhichil.
Boke of Ceremony is ready to be moved to beta and is ready to be distributed. Seeking TRMs approval to do so.
NEXT ACTION: Moal Mhichil will send book to TRM to review prior to wider distribution.
NEXT ACTION: Queen to review and comment by end of June.
TRM –Email correspondences re: ongoing issues in the western part of the Kingdom have been copied to Laws Clerk and to Seneschal for further review and discussion.
NEXT ACTION: Laws Clerk and Seneschal to respond with comments as soon as possible.
(Moodles singing)
Meeting adjourned. Next meeting date not set.