[WurmWald] Seneschal opening...any takers?

[Wurm Wald Seneschal]

Greetings from your soon-resigning seneschal!

As you are all aware of (if you've been coming to meetings or reading the
minutes, anyway) I am resigning as Seneschal. I am attending Grad School
full time this semester, and I will be unable to give school the attention
it deserves unless I resign from being Seneschal. My last official duties
will be performed at the September business meeting.

Currently, no one has stepped forward to become the new seneschal. To remain
a recognized SCA group, we *must* have the following officers: Seneschal,
Exchequer, and either a Herald, Marshal, or Minister of Arts and Science.

I've been in contact with the regional Seneschal (my boss) and I also had
the opportunity to talk to Countess Kenna, the Kingdom Seneschal, (my boss'
boss) at Pennsic. They are both very concerned about the future of our
group.

Right now, we have enough paying members to remain a Shire. However, we only
have a small handful of active members; those who have been coming to
meetings and participating locally. Especially because of the troubles our
group is having (and has had in the past), Countess Kenna is specifically
requesting that the new Seneschal be someone that would "meet with her
approval."

What does this mean? Well, the new Seneschal needs to be someone who is
familiar with the SCA (no brand-new people) and who can keep up with the
administrative demands of the job (file reports in a timely manner, maintain
contact with their superiors and members of their local group). They must
attend and run regular meetings, act as the legal representative of the SCA
on a local level and sign contracts with the modern world, and be at least
18 years of age and a paid member of the SCA. More immediately, it must be
someone who can take over the duties of signing contracts for the January
Maidens event. Countess Kenna has told me that I should stop signing any
contracts regarding Maidens, since I will not have been the legal
representative of Wurm Wald for quite some months once Maidens comes around.

What will happen if Wurm Wald does not produce a Seneschal?  Our group will
dissolve. I do not know the time frame under which this would occur, but it
would likely happen in just a few months. Another SCA group would need to
take over sponsorship of Maidens since we would no longer be recognized by
the SCA.

Now, if Wurm Wald dissolves, this does not mean that our local members would
have to stop playing in the SCA! After all, 90% of our paid members and most
of our non-paying members don't participate locally. I just wanted to
reassure you all of that, in case you needed it.  :-)

Our next business meeting is on September 12 at the Urbana Espresso Royale.
It is currently scheduled for 7:30 pm, but since I no longer work in the
evenings until 7 pm, it can be moved to earlier in the day. Officers, please
let me know what would work best for you. 7 pm? 6 pm? Whatever gets the most
people to show.

I may also to schedule a second business meeting in September, since there
will likely be a lot of discussion and questions about these potential
changes, and I doubt that everything can be covered in one more meeting.
Alexander de Seton (regional seneschal) is going to try to come to this
second meeting, so I don't know the date yet, but it will likely be on a
weekend since he would need to come from either the Chicago area or on his
way home from an event.

If you would like to become the next seneschal, I encourage you to come talk
to me, or email the regional seneschal at alexdeset at aol.com to discuss what
is involved. I'm copying bother Alexander and Kenna on this post, in the
hopes that they will give some input and also correct any misconceptions or
mistakes that I've made. :-)

In Service,

--Yana