Minutes from 5-1-2004 - Northshield A&S

Stallari Meeting:

1. TSH
1. Triple the salaries of all officers. ;-)
2. Officers’ handbooks—Need to be ready to give to TRM at Investiture/Crown Tourney next week. Let Fiskr know where they are by then.
   1. Herald will most likely be a draft
   2. Marshal has 5 different handbooks to look over.. Will have draft ready next week.
   3. Exchequer & Chirurgeon are mostly Society plus NS policies.
   4. MoAS is based on Libbet’s draft.
   5. Seneschal’s is done. 11 pages Copies distributed.
   6. Chronicler, nearly done. Draft passed around.
   7. Handbooks need to be approved by Society. TRM want to see them. Courtesy copies to MK officers.
3. Officer reporting structure. Does everyone have his or her structure in place? Reporting schedule, deputies. Should be online. Check Northshield.org and report corrections to Bettina. Please have all deputies’ contact information available online.
4. No other committees exist other than Regalia Committee.
5. Regalia Insurance. Regalia will be the responsibility of the Royalty. They sign for the regalia when they step up. It will be recommended that incoming Royals take out an insurance rider on homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. Also, recommendation will be made that incoming Royals check with a financial advisor.
6. Northshield now has a separate BOD ombudsman (John Williams—Duke John)
7. Request for dual citizenship has come to the attention of the Coronet. Topic tabled for further discussion on- line.(Secretary’s note: This was never resolved on- line.)
8. Treaties. Re-endorsed every reign.
9. Crown/Coronation dates. Separate A&S and Crown. Avoid Memorial Day weekend.
   1. How much gap between Coronation & Crown? 1 month?
   2. May-Coronation, June-Crown. SeptemberCoronation, October-Crown. Approved.
10. Motion made for a policy. The first full weekend of any calendar month will be reserved for use by the Northshield Royalty. Any other group must petition the Crown for use of these weekends from this time forward. (Any group currently on the calendar is set and will not be changed.) Approved.
11. Group audits. Proposed policy that the Exchequer audits every group every two years.
    1. Policy. Two people counting gate after event. Two signatures. Signed off by Seneschal, Exchequer. Preferred that the two signatures not be from the same household. Approved
    2. Better enforcement of double signatory on accounts need to be done. Some banks will not do it. Many banks will not enforce it.
    3. Regional exchequers needed. They should not be group exchequers. Regionals will be responsible for audits. Regions will reflect other offices.
       1. Eastern—Wisconsin & Upper Michigan
       2. Central—Minnesota & Ontario
       3. Western—North Dakota, South Dakota, & Manitoba
    4. Better checks & balances are needed on the local level.
12. Any decision made online should be included in the minutes (from this time forward). That being said, the following decisions were made during online discussions:
    1. Margalit Medicus approved as incoming Chirurgeon
    2. Sayf al-Qamar Tarik ibn Abdullah as incoming MoAS
2. TE
1. Changing officers at Investiture. MoAS, Chirurgeon, & Exchequer. All officers will then do “Pledge of Service”.
2. Short Stallari meeting as soon as the Tourney is over in Royalty Room.
3. Seneschal
1. Seneschal’s Handbook is done. 11 pages
2. Chatalaine’s Handbook is done and in Fiskr’s hands. It’s 35 pages.
3. Minister of Youth. Amytis will be stay on through July and application will stay open until then.
4. Chatelaine—Two applicants— Eliane de Halevy & Hamish Nesbitt: Eliane approved.
5. Skerrstrand—Proto-Incipie nt to Incipient. Approved.
6. Darkstone—Moving from incipient college to incipient shire. Approved.
7. When we go to Kingdom, no proto-incipient level will exist. Two levels of status will exist (prefull status and full status.) Term for the pre- full status will be called colony, outpost, homestead, etc. as determined by the proposed groups. Viability must be proved to go for full status.
8. Julio d’Gavan will be Deputy Seneschal for New Groups.
9. Official statement by Master Fiskr: “We have a situation with the Exchequery in Castel Rouge. The incoming Exchequer has found a discrepancy in gate receipts, bank statements, and reports. This matter is being investigated to determine whether the situation is incompetence or fraud.” The group’s status is not in jeopardy.
10. New groups forming in Brainerd (Wynandremer) and Bemidji. Both are currently part of Vilku Urvus.
4. Herald
1. Domesday was complete with only Border Downs suspended for poor reporting. The group fixed it almost as soon as it happened, so suspension lasted about 48 hours.
2. No suspensions this quarter.
3. Mistress Shana (Artemesia) is the new Laurel Sovereign of Arms.
4. Mikey will be going to Knowne World Heraldic Symposium paid for by the Middle Kingdom.
5. Herald’s office has been autonomous from the MK for over a year now.
6. Online commentary site is being used and other Kingdoms are watching it.
7. Splitting submissions office between Keythong (external submissions) & Compass (internal submissions)(new office). Compass will be Gabriel (Nordskogen). Gabriel is also the new Central Regional Deputy.
5. Chirurgeon (via telephone)
1. Douglas of York & Nikolai proposed as her Emergency Deputies: approved
2. Waterbearer will be Mikkel (from Jararvellir): approved
6. MoAS
1. New officer. Tariq.
2. Not a lot of changes planned.
   1. Lots of deputies (specific disciplines, regional)
   2. Revamping of A&S eventually.
7. Exchequer
1. Exchequer report passed out. Total in Bank Accounts is $38,909.50.
   1. Checking is not interest bearing.
   2. Savings & Endowment are now money market accounts.
2. Travel fund will be rolled over to Heirs if TSH do not use it all.
3. Regalia Committee—
   1. They have been updating their portion of the NS webpage.
   2. The committee is running well. Fielding most offers for regalia and questions and consulting Exchequer & Coronet/Heirs as necessary.
4. Reporting: Domesday was finalized in March. No major problems in reporting.
5. Two applicants—HSH Anne & Tarja. A decision was made and a recommendation will be made to Society & Kingdom. Decision will then be announced to the candidates. Hopefully changeover can occur next week at Investiture/Crown. (Note added later after candidates were informed: Greta Rahikainen [Gayle Bitker] was approved by Society and Kingdom and change took place on May 8, 2004)
6. Deputy for non-member surcharge is needed. Announcement and decision will be made by Gwen’s successor.
8. Marshal
1. Looking for more deputy for Armoured Combat. Deputy regionals will be under that person. Advertising in June Northwatch.
2. Youth marshals will be placed under specific discipline (separation of armoured & rapier). Will be advertising in June Northwatch.
3. Regionals will be first line for reporting.
4. Some reporting problems based on computer problems. June’s report will be essential.
5. Handbooks (all 5) are just about all done. Armoured and Rapier close to 80 pages each.
6. Mentoring program getting set up for marshals-in-training. Already in place for rapier and other disciplines will see it soon.
7. Marshals are hand-selected and set for Crown next week.
9. Chronicler
1. Draft of Handbook was passed out. Almost done and should be done next week. 19 pages.
2. Advertising policy for Northwatch as a Kingdom newsletter.
   1. Raw cost is $25 for a full page.
   2. Proposed charges: $90 (whole page), $50 (half page), $30 (quarter page), $20 (eighth page—business card size) Approved.
3. Current MK policy is most events get one-month quarter page free. Kingdom events are ½ page free for 3 months.
   1. Proposed: most events will get quarter page free for two months. Kingdom events are ½ page free for 3 months. Approved.
4. Page sponsorship (as per current Outlands policy) for $10/month. Accepted from groups or merchants. Approved.
5. Kingdom newsletter will be 11x17 folded booklet (like Pale).
6. Deputy for finances for newsletter will be deputy of Chronicler and we need one.
7. Who to monitor webministers?
   1. Webministers are deputies of chroniclers.
   2. Official websites need to be run through Northshield.org (ie: local group.northshield.org). Northshield will run the DNS, not the servers.
   3. Fiskr will notify Seneschals.
   4. Possible Kingdom information officer needed in the future (not tomorrow)
8. Risograph is having trouble. Is it worth putting $150 into service for it now for the next 5 months. Cost is approximately $55/month to print it.
9. Possibility of having it fixed and then selling it if worth it. Meeting adjourned at 11:58am.

Next meeting at Investiture/Crown Tourney. This will be a short meeting to introduce the new Heirs to the Stallari and will be held in Royalty Room. Next meeting after that should be at WW XI. Time and place to be determined.

On-line discussions in May & June: