Seneschal’s Spotlight: Business Meetings

I wanted to cast a spotlight on our Business Meetings because there are some misconceptions as to their purpose and who is “allowed” to attend. In order to address some of this, I had started including the following paragraph at the end of the information about the next Business Meeting:

The Officers of the Debatable Lands are elected by the membership and is made up of members of the populace, just like you. The Officers are responsible for ensuring that the policies of the Kingdom and Barony are followed and are accountable to the populace of the Debatable Lands. The Business meeting is open to everyone in the Barony and attendance by the populace is encouraged. Have a thought you’d like to share with the Officers? Email seneschal@debatablelands.org.

This is absolutely true. Everyone is invited to attend Business Meetings and everyone is encouraged to do so. Attending gives you the opportunity to understand more about the non-profit business side of the organization and an opportunity for the populace to hold us accountable as Officers.

To give you an idea of what happens at an Officer’s Meeting, here is an annotated version of the general Agenda that we follow for each meeting:

Meeting opens at 8:00 p.m
The Seneschal announces that we are going to get started. This is done as close to 8:00 p.m. as possible. Prior to the Seneschal starting the meeting, they will have already checked off who is in attendance and listed who else is attending the meeting. This is to create a record of which officers have attended, if there are any proxies (which I will explain in a moment), who those proxies are, and to ensure that the record of who attended the meeting is as accurate as possible.

Proxies are someone that is representing the officer for the purpose of the meeting. They would also carry the vote of that officer and cast it appropriately for any known business.

This is a copy of the attendance record for a recent Business Meeting. As you can see, we have run remote sessions in the past, but we have not done that for a while. Look for an announcement about that coming up soon.

Approve Minutes
The Officers of the Barony are responsible for reading the minutes of the previous meeting prior to the next meeting. The minutes are made available prior to the following meeting, at least three days before the meeting. They are posted again the day of the meeting. Anyone attending the Business Meeting should also take the time to review the minutes. This will help give you a sense of context to some of the discussion and will also allow you the ability to ask any specific questions that you may have about what was done in the previous meeting.

Officer’s Reports
Each officer of the Barony then gives a report that is recorded into the minutes. Often when an officer is unable to attend, they will send a pre-written report that is then either read into the minutes or included in the minutes as a cut/paste of what was sent by the officer. This is where we talk about what we’re doing, what plans are coming up, events that have just happened or may be coming up. Anything that pertains to the officer’s area of responsibility.

What about Guilds?
Guilds are defined in Corpora as:
E. Unofficial Entities
In many kingdoms, there are groups in which many people participate but which are not formally recognized by the Society. These can range from highly structured guilds to loosely associated camping groups. Entities that fall into this category can have many names, including but not limited to households, guilds, ships, and clans. Although these entities are not recognized by the Society in any formal way, some kingdoms have awards that can be given to these groups. Because they are not official Society groups, unofficial entities cannot sponsor Society events.

This does not mean that guilds are not important, because they are. This means that guilds are free to structure themselves in any way and are free to engage the populace in whatever way that they believe best serves the populace. It also means that guilds can dissolve or create themselves as needed without paperwork or any official intervention. People who are not members of a guild are in no way restricted from doing any art or science for which there may or may not be a guild for. It’s a learning opportunity like so many things in the SCA. We encourage guilds to report at the Business Meeting, but they must contact the Seneschal prior to the meeting to be placed on the Agenda.

What about Baronial Positions?
These positions include Gold Key, Iron Key, Steward, Signet, Dark Pages Editor, Historian, and Minister of Youth. These are also unofficial positions, some of whom report into the Exchequer because they have Baronial property that must be accounted for and reported on yearly. We also encourage Baronial Positions to report at Business Meeting, but also must contact the Seneschal prior to the meeting to be placed on the Agenda

After Officer’s Reports a number of things may be on the Agenda:
Reports from Guilds and/or Positions
Event Reports – Income generated (or not generated) by any events held since the last Business Meeting. Given by the Exchequer.

Letters of Intent – We choose our Officers by vote. The way to get on the ballot is to send in a letter of intent to the Office you wish to volunteer for, copying the Seneschal. The Seneschal’s office requires a letter to the Seneschal with a copy sent to the Baronage. ANYONE may vote in an election for any position as long as an officer does not call for an Officers Only vote.

Event Bids – Any event bids that you have to bring before the Officers. It is preferred to have event bids at least two weeks prior to the Business meeting so everyone has time to review it and include a link to it in the published agenda. Only members of the Financial committee may vote on the final approval of funding for any event.

Budget Meeting – We hold our annual budget meeting in April of each year and everyone is invited to come and discuss how we are planning to spend money in the barony in the upcoming year. This is also a great place to discuss what kind of fundraisers can be done for the Barony prior to clearing it with the Kingdom Exchequer. Only members of the Financial committee may vote on the final passage (or not) of the budget. BUT everyone may put in a funding request and may engage in the discussion about how Baronial funds are to be spent to ensure that their opinions are heard.

How to know what to vote on?
Our Baronial Policy states:
Unless otherwise stated, decisions of the officers are by consensus of the people attending a scheduled officers meeting at which a majority of the Officers are present. An individual may cast only one vote. Officers may be represented by proxy.  Only the members of the Financial Committee may vote on financial decisions.  Any Officer may call for an Officer Only vote, in which case each Office gets one vote, with a simple majority of the votes cast deciding the issue.

Close Meeting
To close the meeting, someone must move that we vote on closing the meeting, then second it. Then a vote of simple majority is taken and the meeting is adjourned if the majority agrees to it.

So, while this is very long and digs a lot into how we as an organization structure things down to the Baronial level, I hope that I have answered most questions that people may have about attending the Business Meeting. It is a completely open meeting that anyone may attend and you are encouraged to participate in this part of the organization just as you are welcome to participate in any other aspect of the organization.

If you have any questions, or need more information, please contact me, Odriana vander Brugghe at seneschal (at) debatablelands (dot) org.

Woodworking Guild Fall Schedule

This past Thursday, the Woodworking Guild of the Debatable Lands had our last planning meeting of summer, to figure out what we were going to do for autumn. Here is the plan:

Planning Meetings

These meetings are weeknight evening meetings, for the purpose of deciding what we want to work on next and when we’re going to do it. They are (roughly speaking) the second-to-last Thursday of each month,
7pm to 8:30pm, at the Panera in Oakland.

  • September 19th, 2019
  • October 24th, 2019
  • November 21st, 2019
  • December 19th, 2019

Workshop Days

These meetings are on weekend days, for the purpose of making things. They are usually on Sunday, from 10am to 2pm, in Ishiyama’s shop (1105 Shady Avenue, 15232).

  • September 15th, 2019
  • October 27th, 2019
  • November 17th, 2019
  • December 8th, 2019

All dates, times, and locations are subject to change, of course, but those are the plans.

Woodworking Guild Updates

We had another planning meeting on Thursday, May 23rd at the Panera in Oakland. We discussed the state of the banner stand project, possible future projects, and the meeting schedule going forward.

The banner stands are coming along, but the pieces still need to be sanded, finished, and assembled. To that end, we will be having another workshop day at Ishiyama Shonagon’s shop.

A completed banner stand
  • Sunday, June 2nd. – Workshop day to complete the banner stands. 10am to 2pm at Ishiyama Shonagon’s.
  • Thursday, June 20th – Planning meeting. 7pm – 9pm at the Oakland Panera.
  • Sunday, July 14th – Workshop day to help complete your projects for Pennsic. Time and place to be determined.
  • Thursday, August 22nd – Post-Pennsic meeting to discuss classes we took and plans for the Autumn. 7pm to 9pm, probably at the Oakland Panera.

A and S — NEW Location! – November 4th

A&S IS MOVING!

WHY?___The weather continues to limit our activities at Washington Boulevard, and the coming winter means we need an indoor space.

WHERE?___It is very exciting to be meeting at Protohaven! We will be able to do so many more things! This is a maker space at 214 N Trenton Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. It is a couple of miles from the martial practice field, very near Wilkensburg. See the website below for a link to directions.

WHEN?___Starting November 4th, we will meet there every first Sunday of the month from 1pm to 3pm. We may need to reschedule because of the weather or holidays, but there will be at least one A&S meeting every month, and possibly more.

WHAT?___Protohaven has lots of cool equipment, such as sewing machines, laser cutters, a wood shop, and tons of other things to play with. There is plenty of parking in the lot and on the street, and is accessible to all.

Possible projects include making keepsake boxes, armor stands, banner-painting, and making a frame to paint your banner on. Let’s hear your ideas!

WHO?___As always, everyone is welcome. Service animals are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER___Protohaven takes safety very seriously, and operation of the machinery is limited to those who have been taught how to use them. Fortunately, there are people to help us, and we will still be able to complete projects with their assistance.

See http://debatablelands.org/arts-and-sciences/ for directions.

In service to the dream,

THL Elss of Augsburg
BMDL Minister of Arts and Sciences

As always, if you need to contact me, text 724.759.3333 or email me at ansminister@debatablelands.org

Sunday Practice May 15 WITH Champions Tournaments!

The Baron and Baroness write:

Greetings to the Debatable Lands from Brandubh et Hilda,

The time has come to name new Martial Champions for our Most Excellent Barony. We invite all interested fighters and Fencers to join the tournaments, at any level, and from any place. However, only Debatable Landers and gentles with Green/Friendship Comets are eligible to become Champion.

We will be having tournaments for both Heavy and Rapier fighting, after the Barony meeting. May 15th, at the Washington Blvd practice site.

Our outgoing Rapier Champion is Dona Fredeburg. The format of the tournament is To Be Determined. We hope fighters of all levels will compete, from new fighters to White Scarves and Masters of Defense.

Our outgoing Heavy Fighting Champion in THL Lothar Hugelmann. As the out going Champ, he’s announced that it’s a regular double elimination tourney with a “span your shield” rule. Barons, Viscounts, Counts, Dukes, Chivalry, Please feel free to enter if you wish to be Champion.

In addition we need Archers! Lord Yoshi will be hosting an archery tournament to choose the Barony’s representative to the Scarlet Guard Challenge at the Guard Inn event in Hornwood on June 11. So tune up your bows to shoot in this engaging challenge.

We are truly looking forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers,
Brandubh et Hilda

Heavy and Fencing Practices Sunday

The Baronial Fencing Marshal writes:

Greetings,

After two weeks on the road fencing practice returns to its normal
location at the Environmental Charter School in Regent Square.

Doors open at 2, practice to begin after the Barony Meeting

If the weather continues to be nice we will be fencing outside.

Jorundr

The Baronial Knight Marshal writes:

Greetings fellow BMDLers…

Heavy fight practice will happen this Sunday at the usual winter location, the Environmental Charter School, 829 Milton Ave in Regent Square. Come on out and swing some sticks, and attend the Barony Meeting as well in the same location. Everything kicks off at 2:00.

Isenwulf

The Baronial Webminister hopes to see everybody there!