ES - Deputy Needed

Padraig Ruad padraig_ruad at irishbard.com
Fri Sep 29 07:57:24 PDT 2000


Warning:  Factual information and personal opinion to follow.

>The rule is you must be a member who has access to a Black Star (not 
>necessarily be the recipient of one) to hold an office or be a deputy 
>for that office (since you may be called upon to take over the office).

FACT:  There is no such rule for local level deputies.  As a deputy is an unofficial position at local levels (at Regional and Kingdom levels there are a number of officially designated Deputy positions), how can you require official proof of membership to hold it?  And while a deputy may fill in temporarily for an officer, he or she CANNOT take over the duties of the office without being approved by the regional officer for that office.  No one can just "take over" or succeed to an office.  A bid for the office would have to be submitted just as under any other circumstances, and would have to be approved.  The deputy is there to help the warranted officer and to "close the gap" temporarily if something happens so that the warranted officer cannot fulfill his/her duties.  While both of my deputies are paid members, neither one would automatically become Seneschal of Loch Ruadh if I should die, become incapacitated, or kidnapped by extraterrestrials.  They would both have to submit bids to Baroness Dana as Central Regional Seneschal and await her decision.

<snip>
>Finally, if you can show us something to prove you have applied (a 
>cancelled check or a copy of a check ...) and you are otherwise 
>the choice for a deputy slot, we will hold the slot for you until the 
>membership card shows up. We have occasionally done the same for a 
>non-deputy position. We cannot really do more than that because 
>the proof of membership is required for legal and financial reasons.

FACT:  The legal and financial aspects are coved by the inherent structure of the SCA:  Local reports to Regional, who reports to Kingdom, who reports to Corporate.  As in any reasonable chain of command, this is decentralized so that the level above can take responsibility for the level below if something happens to the person in that position.  Deputies at the local level are helpers, and generally in the position of apprentices, learning the trade, so to speak, and finding out if they have a talent for and desire to hold a particular office.  There is no reason, legal or otherwise, to demand that a deputy be a paid member.  

OPINION:  Many folk who have not yet become paid members may find that being a deputy helps them to decide to become so.  I have been a paid member for many years, and I would encourage everyone who plays to be a paid member, because I think it is important to support the organization as a whole, even if I am not holding an office at a particular time.  However, when we start to demand that people become members in order to participate in general, we are going to drive away some who would have become paid members in time, because they felt excluded, or pushed into something, or just were not ready at that time to make the complete commitment.  Let people get their feet wet.  Some will become paid members as soon as they find us.  Some will take some time to decide to become paid members.  Some will never become paid members.  Some of the hardest working people I have known in the SCA have not been paid members, but they are always around to help with setup, tear-down, preparation and running things.  Should we require that everyone who helps out be a paid member?  I think we would sadly surprized at the smal number of people we would have left to do things.

Off the soapbox now.

Padraig
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Nunc Est Bibendum
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Politicians prefer unarmed peasants.


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