[Ansteorra-announce] [Announcements] President's Report October 2011

[ea at sca.org]

October 22, 2011


Greetings: 

This is the President's report of the actions taken at the SCA, Inc.'s and is subsidiaries most recent Board of Directors meetings, held October 15, 2011 in Seattle, Washington, in the Kingdom of An Tir. This material may be freely distributed, and those receiving it are strongly encouraged to share this information with the general membership. Permission is hereby granted to reprint all or part of this report in Kingdom, Principality, and local newsletters. It is requested that the source of the information be identified as "from the President's Report of the August 2011 Board meeting" and that, as far as possible, exact quotes be used. Please note that this report is NOT the official Minutes of the Board meeting. In case of any discrepancy between this document and the approved Minutes, the Minutes are binding. Any inaccuracies in reporting contained herein are my own. 

Subscriptions to the Board Minutes are available from the SCA, Inc. A subscription includes this report in addition to the Minutes approved at the meeting. 

Have fun.  Make our game fun for everyone, every day!

Respectfully submitted, 
Thomas (Tom) W. Hughes
President, SCA Inc. 

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President 

At the request of the SCA President, Tom Hughes, the SCA Board of Directors approved the appointment of Margaret Polson and Rebecca vonGroot as the Legal Committee Chairperson and as Secretary of the Legal Committee respectively.

The Board approved that Electronic Newsletter access be granted to members of SKA Drachenwald.  SKA members in Finland and Sweden currently receive Drachenwald’s “Dragon Tales” as their kingdom newsletter. By allowing them access to the e-newsletter website, they too will have the option to choose between paper and electronic versions of their newsletter. Without the Board’s motion to allow this, they will continue to be required to purchase paper versions at the highest cost to both them and the Society. 

I want to commend all those SCA members and volunteers who continue to make our game fun for everyone.  Lisa Mohr stepped up as the Interim Sovereign of Arms. She has done an outstanding job during the short time in the office.  Lisa May has been most helpful in providing the SCA President and the SCA with last minute pro bono legal support.  We thank Children’s Officer, Nedra K. Dunton, known in the SCA as Ardenia ARuadh for her work over the past four years as SCA’s Children’s Minister. Also, I would like to commend Paul Newton, Sir Omarad the Wary, for his service as Society Marshal.  Finally, I wish to commend Kim Harvey, Countess Kenna, in her role as Society Seneschal.  This past quarter, we have asked to her take on a large number of tasks which she has handled with style, grace and a great sense of humor.

The SCA is now 45 years old. Plans are underway to hold a 50th Anniversary event celebrating our game.  Kingdoms interested in hosting this prestigious event are encouraged to submit their bid to the Society Seneschal.  We have been blessed with a huge number of qualified and interested members in taking on and applying for the positions of Society Seneschal and Society Marshal.  We will be selecting successors to these positions shortly.

Vice President of Information Technology 

Aaron (Rusty) Lloyd, Vice President of Information Technology requested that the Board review the business case on Tablet Computer adoption. He wanted to know from the Board if this is a project we should work on further implementation or if it should be tabled at this time.

The E-newsletter sitemap and mockup were reviewed. This architecture was developed to provide the interfaces between the kingdoms and the SCA Corporate server for use in electronic newsletters.

There were two new policies approved by the Board for the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology.  These are summarized below.

1.    Electronic mail inboxes: All mail to Society Officers will no longer be forwarded to personal electronic mail addresses. The officer must use and maintain a Society related electronic mail address.  While the officer may take advantage of the ‘store and forward’ capability, they must have an actual society email address.
2.    Usage of ‘aliases’ for Society email correspondence: This is to be discouraged whenever possible as it can lead to potentially sensitive email correspondence being stored entirely on a non-Society server. While the current crop of officers is currently ‘grandfathered’ in, over time we will reduce this practice significantly.

The VP of IT sends his warmest thanks and commendations to Renee Signorotti and Dori Andrepont for their ongoing critical work on the E-newsletter project. Please also commend David Weiner, David Dewbre and Marla Lecin for their valuable day to day work to keep our technology and associated services running, as well as their emergency work and work on mission critical projects (server migration, email issues). Lastly, please commend Adam Zabell for his excellent work on the Tablet Computer business case.  In addition, we have 2 specific commendations for work on the migration project: David Dewbre (Alexander Tryon) and Lewis Tanzos (Tanzos Istvan).  David was instrumental and did a lot of the heavy lifting for the bulk of the migration.  If it wasn't for him, it wouldn't have been as easy, smooth or early.  Lewis assisted in the migration of the heraldry websites and did most of the testing of them as well as being the liaison to Laurel.

Society Seneschal 

The Society Seneschal, Kim Harvey, was asked by the Board of the Directors to make policy interpretations on two items at the July 2011 board meeting.  Policy Interpretations were requested on the topics of same sex baron and baroness and on same sex royal consorts.  Her review of these two items follows in detail.

Corpora Section V.  Territorial Barons and Baronesses

A.  Appointment and Removal - The crown shall appoint a territorial Baron and/or Baroness according the laws and customs of the kingdom when a branch is granted baronial status, or whenever a new Baron and/or Baroness is required.  The Barony's opinion on the matter must be requested and received in writing, and the appointments must not be substantively opposed by the populace of the barony.  Territorial Barons and Baronesses are officers and must maintain appropriate membership status.

In researching this issue it was noted that in the late 1980's the then board of directors discussed and ruled on this issue in regards to the Baronage.  This issue was reviewed from the written word and compared to Crown and the Qualifications set in Corpora for Royals and Royal lists.  It clearly states "consort of the opposite gender" in the Qualifications of Royalty.  In the above mentioned section regarding Baron/Baroness this is not mentioned.  The law reads according to the laws and customs of the kingdom.   That being said, the Society Seneschal made the following recommendation.  That the current Board of Directors take note of the previous actions of the Board of Directors of the SCA, and take no action.  It is up to the individual kingdoms and said kingdoms’ law as to how this section of Corpora is interpreted.  Kingdoms have the right to decide by insertion in their own kingdom law the gender qualifications of the territorial baronage.  The Board of Directors upheld this interpretation.

The Kingdom of An Tir requested a change to Corpora regarding same sex Consorts for Royal lists.

Corpora states in the Glossary- 
Consort: The member for whom the combatant fights in a Royal Lists.
Royalty: The persons who hold the offices of Sovereign or Consort of a kingdom or principality.
The heirs to those positions are also considered royal, but Corpora uses the terms “royalty” and
“reigning royalty” interchangeably, and only to refer to Sovereigns and Consorts.

Section C- Branch Designations- It clearly states that Kingdoms are ruled by Kings and Queen and a Principality is ruled by a Prince and Princess. 

Corpora Section IV. Royalty 
 B. Qualifications-
Each competitor in a Royal List must fight for a prospective consort of the opposite gender.

All combatants in Royal lists and or Principality lists must be of the opposite gender.  In order to change this rule the SCA must establish cause and follow the process for changes in Corpora. The Board upheld the Society Seneschal’s interpretation that any changes to allow same sex consorts must follow the process for changes to Corpora.  (Additional information on this subject is presented below in the Census 2010 topic.)

The Society Seneschal commended the Pennsic 40 staff and special thanks to Baron Devon for a job well done.  “A special thanks to James Doyle for all of his hard work as the kingdom seneschal of the Outlands.  Enjoy your break!  Cosmo Craven - Have fun with your new job! But promise to help out your incoming seneschal...I know you will.  Thanks to Bill Colbert for his efforts in the kingdom of AEthylmearc.  Thanks to Robert Hedstrom from Drachenwald for all of his hard work and effort in keeping several countries happy.  Thanks and enjoy your deserved rest.  Thanks to Master David for his hard work as Caid Seneschal and for continuing his efforts when he stepped down.  Thank you for the work and extra effort!  Mitch Steck, thank you for listening when I needed to vent, being a calming force on the Board of Directors and for loving the game like you do.  It was an honor to get to know you over the last few years.  I know you are going to keep working remember reports are due January 15th, 2012.”

It is that time of year when many groups start to move indoors in parts of our kingdoms, but others are going outside to play.  My last report challenged members to bring in one new person.  I can say I have managed to meet my goal in that I have contacted several new folks and they are interested in attending.  I once again, challenge you...bring in a new member.  This is a great time of year to travel.  Bring a new person along and show them the ropes.  With gas prices slowly going down, we can all be on the move again.   Go out there and visit a group you are unfamiliar with.  See their customs; maybe you can adopt some for your own groups.  Have a great fall!

Census 2010 Committee

The Census 2010 Committee Chairman, Eric Langhans, requested that the Board approved publication of census data covering Peerage Options and Same Sex Consorts.  The Board approved the release of the data to the SCA Website and encourages members and participants in the SCA to review and comment on the data and information.  The Board is reviewing options pertaining to options available regarding the results and of the census data and is soliciting comment on possible options.

The entire Census Committee pulled together to provide the findings with Max Melson taking the lead o collating all of the information and putting it into a publishable format.  Many thanks go to Wendy Erisman and Julia Smith for doing the initial analysis on these high profile topics.

Vice President of the Corporate Office 

The Vice President of the Corporate Office, Renee Signorotti, had no requests for board actions or policy interpretations.  She commended Gloria Woodard (Honor of Restormel) our Society Chronicler for her thoughtful attention to the Blackfox awards.  She ensures that the spirit of the award continues.  

After three years and three new hips, we have to say “good-bye” to Mitch Steck.  It’s been a pleasure working with you.

Publications Manager

The Publications Manager, Dori Andrepont, had two policy interpretations which the Board upheld.  These cover the following items.

Wikimedia Images: Wikimedia does not provide “any warranty regarding the copyright status or correctness of licensing terms.”  Images from that site cannot be used directly on SCA websites and in SCA publications.  Images from stock photography or clip art services can continue to be used as long as all the terms of usage are met and the source is credited.

Period Images Mechanically Copied: Every individual image used needs to be researched (and that research retained with the office, if the image is used), and that there isn’t any “blanket” policy that will fit.  The reason behind this is the source of the image: it may have been a photograph that was scanned from a book and the book (including the images) will likely hold a copyright, or the photographer may hold rights to the image, or some combination of variables that we cannot predict.  Of course, this applies to similar sites as well. The simplest solution is to read the fine print.

The Society Chronicler commends Charles Anderson, Chris Conner, Jennifer Heise, Marla Lecin, Dar’C O’Neal, Stacie Tibbetts and Gloria Woodard.  Finally, Dori says “thanks” to Theresa Anderson, John Fulton, Leslie Luther-Fulton, Rusty Lloyd and Renee Signorotti.
 
Tournaments Illumintated issue 180 will be mailed October 7.  The over-sized issue of The Compleat Anachronist will be delayed in mailing with a revised mailing data of October 14 to 20, 2011.  The Society Chronicler notes that the nominations for the Blackfos Awards were amazing and it was challenging to choose the winners.  The Society Webminister reports that the overall SCA web presence is good.  This quarter’s work on SCA.org included the typical content updates, handling requests from kingdom and corporate officers, and a change to the operation of the on-line membership system.  The Archive continues to receive many SCA publications but would like to receive copies of all of them.  The SCA Special Collection and Archive at the University of California at Riverside requests items including past and current copies of kingdom laws and any arts and sciences publications.

Society Chronicler 
The Society Chronicler, Gloria Woodard, had no new requests for board action, no policy interpretations, and no requests for new policies.  She thanks Lady Theresa of Cahir and Mistress Nicholaa de Bracton for their helpful commentary in reviewing the proposed policies.  Thanks to all of the Kingdom Chroniclers (in reviewing the Blackfox nominations), Master Christopher MacConing (for making the new Blackfox tokens), Magister Riordan MacGregor (for his help in getting the nominations and winner listing ready for publication in Tournaments Illuminated) and the judges who helps choose the winners.  Always, thanks to Dori Andrepont, Renee Signorotti, Rusty Lloyd, John Fulton, and Mazelle Attiya for being so supportive and helpful.

All Kingdom Newsletters are running smoothly.  The nominations for the Blackfox Awards were amazing and it was difficult to choose the winners.  The nominations and winners will appear in the Fall issue of Tournaments Illuminated.

Tournaments Illuminated Editor

The Tournaments Illuminated Editor, Dar’C O’Neal, had no requests for board action, no policy interpretations, and no requests for new policies.  The TI staff continues to serve the magazine faithfully and effectively.  Art Director Dori Andrepont contributions are invaluable.  TI issue 180 will be mailed October 7, 2011.

Compleat Anachronist Editor

The Compleat Anachronist Editor, Jennifer Heise, had no requests for board action, no policy interpretations, and no requests for new policies.  Joyce Morris is commended for her unfailing support and responsiveness and Dori Andrepont is commended for all her support.

Society Webminister 

The Society Webminister, Christopher Conner, had no requests for board action, no requests for new board policies and no commendations.  He did have policy interpretations which the board upheld.

There have been two instances where non-recognized web sites have used or are currently using web services (web hosting) paid for with SCA funds.  These web sites do not comply with all Society and Kingdom guidelines.  Therefor they should not be allowed to receive web services as recognized sites do.  The Board upheld this interpretation.

The overall web presence of the Society continues to change as officers reach term limits, existing technologies are updated or become outdated and new technologies become available.  He encourages any and all persons with ideas, comments or feedback to reach out to Local, Regional or Kingdom Webministers.

Corporate Treasurer 

The Corporate Treasurer, Mazelle Attiya, had no policy interpretations or requests for new policies. She presented a draft version of the 2012 budget which is still in-process.  The Board of Directors approved the Corporate Treasurer’s requests to approve Corporate Resolutions to open bank accounts for the new subsidiaries in New York, Maine, Mississippi and Rhode Island.  These resolutions were developed after the US Internal Revenue Service issued tax payer identification numbers for these subsidiaries.  The resolutions represent the required delegation of authority from the Board to the local brank exchequers to open new bank accounts under the Patriot Act requirements.

The Treasurer commends the Society Exchequer, Owen Shribman, and the Kingdom Exchequers for their work in completing the 2010 Consolidated Kingdom Domesday report.  Four more subsidiaries (Maine, Mississippi, New York, and Rhode Island) are nearing completion.  Within the State of Mississippi, the SCA event called “Gulf Wars” will become a separate subsidiary form the rest of Mississippi.

Society Exchequer

The Society Exchequer, Owen Shribman, had no requested board actions, policy interpretations, or new policies. Owen commends Aaron (Rusty) Lloyd for all his help in moving the office of the exchequer to today’s technology.  He has been actively helping in setting up our SharePoint system.

The Exchequer thanks all of the Kingdom Exchequers in the daunting task of completing the consolidated doomsday reports.  With several new exchequers, and many turnovers within the kingdoms, this year became very challenging, yet successful.

The Society Exchequer commends all of the Kingdom and Local Exchequers in their efforts in moving their groups to new back accounts in the subsidiaries.  We are working on getting a bigger push in reducing the backlog in the Non Member Surcharge reporting and payments that are outstanding.  As always, the kingdoms and exchequers offices continue to look for improvements in process and procedures and should have some modifications within the coming months.

Laurel Sovereign of Arms

The Laurel Sovereign of Arms, Patrick Anderson, requested that the Board revoke the Volunteer Agreement covering intellectual property and software development passed by the Board in December 2010; the Board approved this request of board action and further declared that any such agreements executed to date as “null and void” and directed the President and in-house council develop a plan of action for the future.  Goal is to work with SCA’s volunteers to encourage their continued support and to provide a non-exclusive, royalty-free, paid up, and non-revocable perpetual license in this area.  

The Board approved a change to the Administrative Handbook for the Laurel’s office.  The Laurel also requested guidance on a potential copyright issue.  “Heraldstick” software gathers heraldic articles from various web sites automatically and stores them on a computer.  In essense, it makes it easier to gather these articles.  The Board directed Laurel to work with the VP of IT and the Publications Manager to develop a course of action to resolve is issue and report back to the Board by the January 2012 board meeting.

The Laurel Sovereign of Arms had no new policy interpretations.  He did state that he is looking into changing the reporting cycle for herald rosters.

Laurel commended Lisa Mohr, Countess Elizabeth de Rossignol, quondam Laural Queen of Arms (twice), Pelican Herald, Laurel.  Her Excellency has be a source of good advice.  She is a font of common sense, good humor, and has the ability to cut through sticky situations with grace.  To sum her up with one of the best accoldade he has, “She’s going to stay on my speed dial list.”

On average, the submission process resolves 285 submissions per month.  We are continuing to ba able to process and resolve submission in under a year.  Overall, Laurel’s two main goals right now are to finalize the new and revised Rules for Submission.  In additon, we are working on attepting to find an education deputy to help work with the Kingdom Principal Heralds to find teachers for heraldic classes in their kingdoms.

Chatelaine

The Society Chatelaine, Liz Georges, had no requests for board action, no policy interpretations and no new policy requests.  She commends Brianna MacLukas (Jane Dary) for making teaching at Atlantian 30 year such and easy proposition.  She thanks Renee Signorotti for making attendance at the Board meeting so easy and to Aaron (Rusty) Lloyd for driving her around all weekend.

The census results offer us a great opportunity to begin dialogue about recruitment and retention in the SCA.  She is looking forward to further and deeper review of the results.  Kingdom officers continue to look for ways to inspirec their local officers and populace, but struggle with getting individuals to report on time.  All that said, the Kingdom officers continue to impress her with their enthusiasm and commitment to seeing the SCA become more effective at recruitment and retention.

Society Marshal

The Society Marshal, Paul Newton, had a request for board action concerning waivers for equestrian activities.  This request was returned for further work.  The board deemed that the Society Marshal’s request of board action regarding the resolution of problems around waivers and authorization card effective dates to be within the purview of his office and directed him to take actions necessary to resolve the matter.  The Society Marshal’s requests to change Corpora and the Marshal Handbook were returned for father work.

The Society Marshal commends Duke Eringien for his thorough and tireless administration of the Equestrian Marshallate.  He also commends Master JP for YEARS of work and sacrifice to help make siege warfare safe and fun.

Things in the Marshal’s office are running smoothly this quarter.  He reminds marshals that all experiments must follow the guidelines dictated in the Marshal’s Handbook.  Also, participants need to be mindful of their own health and capabilities when participating in martial arts, especially in hot weather.  Hydrate often, take rests.  Fight safe, fight often.

Chirurgeon

The Society Chirurgeon, Angelia Myers, submitted her second and third quarter reports.  She had no requests for board actions, new policy interpretations, and no requests for new policies in both reports.  Multiple Kingdom Exchequer offices changed over during the past six months.  All transitions appear to be running smoothly.

Arts and Sciences 

The Society Minister of the Arts and Sciences, Leslie Falzone, had no requests for board actions, no new policy interpretations, and no new policy requests.  She commended Countess Dulcia MacPherson (Elizabeth Bair Brooks) MOAS for the Kingdom of Trimaris, for her hard work and dedication to the job.  She also thanks and commends Mistress Keja Tselbnika (Karina Bates) for all her hard work as MOAS for the Kingdom of Ealdormere.

Grand Council

The Grand Council submitted their report to the Board of Directors with 10 new actionable recommendations which the board is considering.  The Grand Council has requested that the Board provide feedback to the Council on each of their reports with the aim of working more effectively.

Legal Committee

The Legal Committee has two outstanding matters under consideration and was assigned three new questions this quarter.  New matters assigned this quarter include a review of corporate policies and procedures for the purpose of determining standard format for such policies and procedures and a recommendation as to the policies that should be drafted and adopted by the corporation as a baseline; consolidation of all investigation and sanction procedures into a single document for ease of reference; advisability of online storage of certain corporate documents; and questions of law concerning whether certain Board of Director actions may be taken via email.

Executive Session

A.      Society Seneschal Applicants: By consensus, Chairman Vaughn stated that no action to be taken.

B.      Society Marshal Applicants: By consensus, Chairman Vaughn, this item is remanded to the November 2011 conference call.

C.      Katherine Golightly (Marion Golightly) Administrative Sanction Appeal -  The board voted to deny the appeal by Katherine Golightly (Marion Golightly.).

D.      Janis M. James (Sine Gunnsdottir) Appeal – The board voted to deny the appeal of Janis M. James (Sine Gunnsdottir). 

E.      R & D Request for Katie & Matthew Richardson - Chairman Leslie Vaughn recused herself from this issue.  In doing so, she passed the gavel to John Fulton.  The Board voted to instruct the the Society Seneschal to investigate allegations made by an outside attorney regarding Katie Richardson (Katerina O’Callaghan.  After the vote, Acting Chairman Fulton returned the gavel to Chairman Vaughn. 

F.      Michael Alberto (Miguel Alejandro De Las Corrientas) R & D Update - By consensus, Chairman Vaughn ordered that no action be taken.

G.      Kathryn Golightly (Marioun Golightly) Administrative Sanction – The Board voted to uphold the Administration Sanction imposed by Aaron and Rustique, King and Queen of Ealdormere, on May 3, 2011.  Also, the Board imposed a sanction upon Kathryn Golightly  (Marioun Golightly), prohibiting her from holding any and all offices for a period of five years, effective immediately.  

H.      David Findley Absolute Banishment -  The Board upheld the absolute banishments of David Findley imposed by Arch and Runa, King and Queen of The Middle Kingdom on August 11, 2011 and subsequently by Eikbrandr and Runa, King and Queen of the Middle Kingdom on September 24, 2011.  

I.      Malinda Terry (Malinda Hohen Van Kester) Exile from the Realm - Chairman Leslie Vaughn recused herself from this issue.  In doing so, she passed the gavel to John Fulton.  The Board voted to uphold the Exile of the Realm of Malinda Terry (Malinda Hohen Van Kester) imposed by Arthur and Gabriela, King and Queen of Atenveldt on September 17, 2011.  Seconded by Tim Jennings.  At this time Acting Chairman Fulton returned the gavel to Chairman Vaughn. 

J.      Robert Ogren (Brother Robert) Exile from the Realm – The Board upheld the Exile of the Realm of Robert Ogren (Brother Robert) imposed by Caspar and Cecilia, King and Queen of Meridies on August 23, 2011, and subsequently by Kenneth and Sabine, King and Queen of Meridies on September 20, 2011, and to begin an investigation into a possible Revocation and Denial of Membership.   

K.    Director Selection - By consensus, Chairman Vaughn ordered that this item be remanded to the November 2011 conference call.

L.    Director Confirmation - By consensus, Chairman Vaughn stated that there was no action to be taken at this time.

M.    Ombudsman Assignments

Chairman Vaughn ordered the following Ombudsman assignments effective as of the end of the October 15, 2011 quarterly Board meeting.     

Leslie Vaughn, Chairman - President, Society Seneschal, Corporate Office, Legal Committee, Executive Assistant

Mark Faulcon, Vice-Chairman - Æthelmearc, East, Information Technology, Middle

John Fulton, Director - Ansteorra, Marshal, Publications

Denise Hundley, Director - An Tir, Census Initiative, Grand Council, Grants, Northshield, Ealdormere, 

Tim Jennings, Director - A& S, Atenveldt, Artemesia, Board Recruiting, Caid, Heralds, West,

Lisa A. May, Director - Atlantia, Calontir, Gleann Abhann, Meridies, Outlands, Trimaris

Kim McAuley, Director - Chirurgeon, Drachenwald, Financial Officers, Lochac

Have fun.  Make our game fun for everyone, every day!
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