Report from the Grand Council: July, 1997

To the Directors, Greetings.

During the last quarter the Council reorganized itself under its new charter from the Board, chose new officers, and drafted in new members. In response to a request from E. F. Morrill for a report on Board election mechanics and costs, it gave that task to a subcommittee. The subcommittee expects to have an implementation plan ready in time for the full Council to make a report and recommendation for the October Board meeting. With the assent of Susan Early, the Council began investigating what effect, if any, the Board's proposed new policy on alcohol would have on the normal conduct of events in various parts of the US. Following a request from the Board for more concise proposals, the Council drafted a condensed version of the "World Proposal". It also considered some additional issues in its own initiative, and submits the following for Board response:

1. Items Requiring Board Action

Condensed Version of"World Proposal": The Board asked for more concise reports and proposals. A condensed form ofthe "World Proposal", containing more specific projections of the financial impact,was drafted and sent to the Board. The Council asks the Board's assent to posting itto the Rialto and various Society lists. It is also offered for as wide publication aspractical, as discussed at previous Board meetings. A copy is appended.

Links on Board Web Page Requested for "World" and Other Proposals: The Council believes that it would increase exposure for this and other proposals if links were listed along with other "Items on which the Board seeks your input" on the Board's Web page. While proposals are also listed on the GC page, it costs nothing to give people an extra chance to see them.

Are There Other Topics the Board Wants the GC to Address? A report on Board Election mechanics and costs is in subcommittee, and the Council is investigating the potential impact of the proposed new policy on alcohol. These are the only outstanding issues the Board has so far asked the Council to consider. The GC will be relying much more on subcommittees, andexpects to be able to cover more topics at one time than in the past. While itscharter allows it to examine other issues on its own initiative, the Council wouldlike to know of specific issues the Board wants addressed so they can be given priority.

The Council makes the following suggestions on its own initiative:

Please Post Board Proceedings and Preliminary Agenda to Board Web Page: The Council recommends that the Board have both the Board proceedings and the preliminary agenda for the next meeting posted on their Web page as they become available. This would seem to be a fairly painless way to improve communications between the Board and everybody else.

Pat McGregor (Siobhan) offers to coordinate such technical assistance as may be required to accomplish this.

Expanded Outsourcing RFP Offered, Does the Board Want One?: Dave Schroeder (Bertram of Bearington) has suggested that the Outsourcing Request For Proposal (RFP), as written, may not have had all the information necessary to ensure that the responding proposals were of the quality that the Society needed. He would like to work with the corporation to prepare an expanded RFP. His proposal is appended to the end of this report: (End ofItems Requiring Board Action)

2. Detailed Status Report: Other Work Done by Council:

Council Reorganized under New Charter Following its authorization under a new charter in April, the Council chose new officers, drafted in new members, and began examining issues put to it by the Board. The officers most likely to interact with the Board are:

Chair: (Controls agenda, pounds gavel, assigns subcommittees when needed) Steve Muhlberger (Finnvarr) STEVEM@EINSTEIN.UNIPISSING.CA Secretary (Drafts reports to Board and general Society membership) Will McLean (Galleron) wmclean1382@aol.com Clerk (Maintains roster of active GC members, informs relevant persons of vacancies) Janna Spanne (Catrin) janna.spanne@kansli.lth.se Archivist (maintains records of GC discussions and proposals) Margo Lynn Hablutzel (Morgan) Hablutzel@compuserve.com

Report on Election Costs and Mechanics: In Progress The subcommittee has begun work, and has submitted an interim report. The Council has not yet debated or endorsed the conclusions of the subcommittee.

Interim Report by Greg Rose (Hossein) The GC has referred the matter of determining a method whereby the membership can participate in electing directors of SCA, Inc. to a subcommittee.That subcommittee has begun review of the recommendation forwarded by the GC to the Board regarding direct election in order to develop a complete implementation plan for consideration.The consensus of the subcommittee is that direct mail of ballots to the membership is the only fair and effective means to affording all members access to the process, but a significant number of other implementation issues are still under discussion. The subcommittee expects to report an implementation plan to the GC in sufficient time for the GC to make a recommendation for the October Board meeting.

3. Summary The Grand Council (GC) reported that it had reorganized itself and chosen new officers and members in accordance with its new charter from the Board. It has begun work on a report on Board Election mechanics and costs, and began investigating the potential impact of the proposed new Society policy on alcohol. It asked the Board to take the following action: Assent to the distribution of a condensed "World" proposal for comments Assent to links to this and other proposals for comments on Board Web Page Inform the GC of other topics the Board would like addressed Begin posting Board Proceedings and preliminary agenda on Board Web Page Respond to offer to assist with an expanded Outsourcing RFP

Respectfully submitted

Will McLean (Galleron de Cressy)
29 Sam Hill Rd,
Malvern, PA 19355
(610) 827-1360 mclean1382@aol.com
Secretary, GC.

Appendix: Offer to Develop Expanded Outsourcing RFP by David Schroeder

What I'd like to do is rework the RFP to expand on it and give firms the context they need to provide us with more than their "let's expand membership and provide services" standard spiel. Because we primarily need clerical and support services and because we have the ability to define required, measurable service levels, I think we still may see some benefits from examining outsourcing in more detail.

So I guess what I'd like "authorization" or "permission" to do is to prepare a revised RFP and circulate it and see if we get any more useful responses.

I don't need much...Here's the list:

- A copy of the most current annual budget/expenditures

- A copy of the membership numbers for the various categories of membership corresponding to the time frame of that budget/expenditure list, including info on publication subscription numbers

- An estimate of the number of new vs. renewal memberships

- An approximation of the number of work hours put in by category of worker during that time period for the people doing data entry and for Renee

- An estimate of how much time is spent each quarter getting stuff prepared for the Board meeting

- An approximation of the change (growth/decline) in membership between the period covered and today

So if we have actual expenditure information for 1996 now, by budget category, I'd like those numbers plus the number of members and subscriptions for 1996 (at year end) plus a rough idea (even just in Full Time Equivalents) of how many people in addition to Renee it took to process stuff, plus the work needed to support the Board plus whether or not we're bigger or smaller and approx. by how much now.