Report from the Grand Council: December 2004

A. COMMITTEE ACTIVITY

The council spent the majority of this quarter completing the deliberation on,
and re-writing of, the Grand Council Charter. Considerable headway was made this
quarter such that the re-write is now complete, attached and ready for review by
the Board of Directors. Some discussion commenced on reviewing the current Grand
Council list with the possibility of upgrading the system currently used. More
discussion will ensue on this issue during the next quarter.

B. COMMITTEE STATUS AND COMMENDATIONS

Recognition is given to the exemplary work of formatting and procedural review
as well as the additonal of the web version for reference done by David
James/Kwellend-Njal. His assistance was crucial to the timely completiton of the
charter re-write.

C. PUBLISHABLE SUMMARY

The Grand Council Charter is ready for publication pending review by the Board
of Directors..

D. REQUEST FOR THE BOARD

None.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Pilcher, Secretary SCA:James Llewellyn ap Gruffydd #31393 Barony of Seagirt,
Tir Righ, An Tir

tpilcher@shaw.ca (250) 995-8526

Attachment:

Grand Council Charte Re-write

I SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE GRAND COUNCIL

A. The Grand Council (GC) will consist of a body of volunteers, diverse in
knowledge, experience, and geographic origin. The primary purpose of the GC is
to examine specific issues put before it by the Board and return actionable
recommendations to the Board on these issues. It will do so within reasonable
time limits set by the Board.

B. The GC may also examine other issues on its own initiative, again always with
the goal of producing actionable recommendations. However, each project must be
managed so that the GC can appropriately discuss and make recommendations on all
it has been asked to consider.

C. The GC will primarily discuss matters that affect the modern administration
of the SCA. Sometimes such matters may also affect the Society's medieval
recreation as well, in an ancillary fashion.

II RELATION TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

A. The GC is an advisory committee to the Board of Directors and has no power to
enforce the recommendations it makes. The GC is made up of Society participants
from a large cross section of the populace and the diversity of its membership
is an asset to the Board. The Board of Directors considers the proposals and
recommendations of the GC in open session.

B. The Board will designate one director to serve as Ombudsman and Liaison to
the GC.

C. The Board will submit topics to be discussed to the GC. In addition, GC
members will propose topics for discussion, however those proposed by the Board
will take priority.

D. Should the GC need more information during its deliberations, the Chairman or
members appointed by the Chairman may request the information from the
appropriate parties or ask the Board for clarification. When seeking information
from officers other than the Board the Council's ombudsman must be copied on the
request.

E. Reports will be submitted to the Board for each quarter as specified below.

F. In order to meet report deadlines and ensure that the report accurately
reflects the Council's intent, the Secretary will post a draft report at least
two weeks before the Board's deadline. It is strongly advised that a modified
draft, if needed, be posted at least one week before the deadline, and a vote
for approval of the report start then, with the understanding that results of
the report's approval vote to be added before it is sent.

G. The results of the GC votes, both Action and revised Preliminary (should such
have a vote) will be included in the next GC quarterly report to the Board.
Dissenting members of the GC may request that the Secretary include their
dissent in the GC report, or may make a separate submission to the Board.

H. This document will be made available to all who request it. It may be amended
at any time by the GC. Amendments are provisional until approved by the Board of
Directors.

III MEMBERSHIP OF THE GC

A. To maintain geographic diversity on the GC each kingdom is entitled to a
voting member on the Grand Council. The individual Kingdoms are responsible for
the selection process for their prospective representative. Once selected,
Kingdom representatives are bound by the same conditions as the "at-large"
members. Kingdom representatives are not bound by any geographical constraints,
save those imposed by the selecting Kingdom itself.

B. The nominating committee is a permanent sub-committee of the GC. It consists
of at least three people and may include GC subscribers who are not members of
the committee. If the nominating committee includes people not members of the
Council, then a majority of the committee must be members of the GC.

C. The remaining "at large" voting members of the Grand Council shall be
selected by the nominating committee. This committee is responsible for ensuring
that enough members exist to support a full quota of officers and to fulfill the
purpose of the Grand Council. The nominating committee shall commence selecting
replacement councillors if they deem the need exists or under direction from the
Chairman.

D. New Members must either post to the Council mailing list or otherwise contact
the Clerk before they will be added to the roster. If they do not do so within
thirty days of their appointment, the Clerk will inform the appointing body and
the new member.

E. Appointments to the Grand Council are for a three (3) year term.

1. All terms are counted as starting on May 1 of the year of appointment.

2. A member of the Grand Council may serve two consecutive terms so long as they
continue to meet the obligations of membership.

3. At the end of their second consecutive term members must resign their
position and wait one full term (three years) before they may be reappointed.

4. At no time may any member of the GC have served for more than six years in
any continuous nine year span.

F. Councillors anticipating a prolonged absence may take a leave of absence from
the GC.

1. Councillors are required to inform the clerk prior to a leave of absence.

2. A leave of absence may extend past one year only with published approval of
the Chairman or Executive Committee.

3. Votes or roll calls during a leave of absence will not be counted against the
representative.

4. For vote results and quorum calculations the size of the GC will be the
current number of seats filled minus the number of councillors absent on leave.

5. Reinstatement upon return is on notification to the clerk either directly or
posted to the list.

6. Time on leave does not count as time on the Council with regards to term
limits.

7. If a councilor is unable to rejoin at the end of their leave their seat will
be considered vacated effective the start of their leave of absence and filled
at first opportunity.

G. Resignation from the Grand Council is via email to the Clerk and the Chairman
or posting to the list. Kingdom appointees must copy the appropriate Kingdom
officer so that a new appointment can be made.

H. Missing two consecutive votes or roll calls without substantiation shall be
considered a resignation in lieu of a written notice.

I. The resignation of a Kingdom representative will be conveyed to the
appropriate Kingdom officer or Their representative by the clerk so that a
replacement may be selected.

IV GRAND COUNCIL MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES

A. Members of the GC have the following responsibilities:

1. Actively participate in GC discussions and decisions.

2. Either vote on, or actively abstain from, proposals put before the GC.

3. Frequently discuss the issues facing the GC with Society participants in
whatever forum(s) are appropriate (SCA-related mailing lists, newsgroups,
meetings, at events when doing so does no harm to the medieval ambiance, etc.)

4. Consider all sides of discussions and options presented and provide
recommendations based on those discussions

5. Attend GC meetings if at an event where a meeting is held. Meetings could be
held at Pennsic, Estrella, Board Meetings, Known World events, etc.

B. Officers: (drawn from the members of the Grand Council for one year terms,
ending May 31st).

1. Chairman: Leads and keeps discussions on topic, tracks and keeps agenda,
schedules discussion of and voting on proposals, chooses members of work groups
and committees when the number of volunteers exceeds a convenient size

2. Deputy Chairman: substitutes for Chairman if needed

3. Secretary: Writes and sends quarterly report to Board. Publishes rough and
semi-final draft to mailing list at set intervals before report deadline. Is
encouraged to post monthly summaries of the GC agenda and current subjects of
discussion, with contact information, to the GC website, Rialto and Kingdom
email lists, and Kingdom newsletters. (Whether the newsletter actually carries
the information is at the discretion of the editor.)

4. Clerk: Maintains rolls, removes inactive members and informs relevant parties
of removals and reminds them of their right to elect replacements.

C. Staff positions supporting the GC are as follows. Unless otherwise stated,
these positions may be filled by personnel who are not members of the GC.

1. Moderator. Approves relevant postings to the mailing list by moderated
subscribers. Any GC member may also post messages from moderated subscribers at
their discretion. The moderator, if needed, should be a member of the GC.

2. Archivist. Maintains records of discussions.

3. List Administrator: Maintains mailing list or other forum as needed. Responds
to requested changes in staffing and subscriptions as requested.

4. The jobs of Archivist, and Mailing List Administrator and Moderator may be
combined with other positions or offices, but need not be.

D. To avoid excessive concentration of workload and power, it is undesirable for
the Chairman, Secretary, or Clerk to serve on the nominating committee.

E. The jobs of Archivist, and Mailing List Administrator and Moderator may be
combined with other posts or each other, but need not be.

F. The Chairman, Secretary, Clerk and the Nominating Committee together form the
Executive Committee (EC). If offices become vacant before the end of a term, or
there is no candidate for the office when officers are elected, the EC may
appoint replacements to fill those posts.

1. For voting purposes, the EC has four voting members.

a. Ties will be broken by the Chairman.

b. A quorum of the EC shall be two members

2. If no Council member is willing to fill an office, the EC may appoint someone
from outside the GC to the office.

a. Outside appointees should be familiar with the Council's work and a
subscriber to the mailing list.

b. Outside appointees not excluded by E.2.c become Council members upon
appointment.

c. Appointees who would be excluded from Council membership due to term limits
may hold an office in a non-voting capacity.

d. Non-voting officers shall yield their office as soon as a regular Council
member is available and willing.

G. The Officers who form the Executive Committee should be chosen by vote of the
entire Council. If there is only one volunteer for a position, a formal vote is
not required. The other posts may be appointed by the Council, or by the
Chairman with the consent of the EC.

V WORKING GROUPS

A. The GC may choose on occasion to send some topic or subsection of a topic to
a subcommittee or working group. Calls for volunteers for working groups will be
posted to the GC list. Any member of the GC may be a member of any working
group. Any deviation from this membership eligibility must be approved by the
Chairman of the GC and posted to the main GC list.

B. Each working group shall set its own means and method of communication and
shall not use the main Council mailing list for their deliberations. Working
groups may, at their discretion, give the power to post directly to that working
group to any person they think may help complete their assignment.

C. Working groups will chose a Chairman and a Secretary, who may be the same
person. The Secretary will post a brief monthly summary of the status of the
working group's deliberations to the main list, and be responsible for an
archive of that working group's deliberations.

D. Working groups may set their own policies on communication, but are urged to
keep their deliberations as open as practical. A record of deliberations of all
Working Groups must be provided to the Archivist and should be made available at
the GC web page and/or other readily accessible site(s).

E. It is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Working Group to inform the
Chairman of the GC when the proposals of the Working Group are ready for the GC
as a whole. The Chairman of the GC will consider the state of the current work
on the main list before directing the posting of the working group's proposals.
Delays of more than 14 days must be noted to the GC list.

VI PROPOSALS

A. Working Groups and individual members of the GC may submit proposals to the
full council after consultation and approval of the Chairman.

B. Proposals should be labeled either Preliminary or Action, and should include
summaries of alternatives considered and why they were rejected.

1. Preliminary Proposals will include the basic assumptions and statements of
principle under consideration.

2. Action Proposals will include the structure of a Preliminary Proposal as well
as details required for implementation.

C. Preliminary proposals will be discussed by the GC. The Council may suggest
wording changes or additional proposals as it sees fit. When the GC Chairman
deems discussion complete any of the following actions may be taken on advice
from the Council as a whole:

1. call a vote on all seconded proposals 2. form a new working group to explore
a given question 3. send the proposal(s) and any counterproposal(s) back to the
original or another working group 4. allow the GC to drop the topic 5. other
action as appropriate to the situation.

D. Action proposals will be discussed by the Council as a whole. Based on this
discussion the proposers may adopt suggested changes, withdraw the proposal(s),
or request a vote to gauge the proposal's acceptance. If the proposal is not
withdrawn the GC Chairman will call a vote when the discussion is complete.

E. The GC will vote using a system of abstain, YES, yes, 'no preference', no and
NO to indicate the strength of individual opinion. With the Council's support
the Chairman may call a vote using other methods, including ranked/preferential
(1-n) and simple YEA/NAY as appropriate to a particular question.

VII OPEN DISCUSSIONS

A. The forum the GC uses for its discussions shall be open to anyone wishing to
follow the discussion.

B. The Council may elect to restrict posting of messages to the forum as it
believes best serves its purpose. Options include, but are not limited to:

1. Council members themselves 2. Council members and approved others 3. Most
subscribers with limited moderation 4. Open to all subscribers.

C. The Council is free to change its position on posting as needed by the GC and
the topic under discussion.

D. When moderation is in use the moderator(s) must use judgment in approving
messages for posting. Any member of the Council may post appropriate messages
sent to them.