[Cynnabar] Proposal to amend Cynnabar's Financial policy

[Matt Lagemann via Barony]

Overall I like the changes. I agree that the people at the meeting should
be able to approve minor budget items in one evening. In my four years of
meetings, I cannot recall a single time a budget item of $50 or less was
ever an issue.  I don't see how this could be easily abused since anyone
the group trusts as Seneschal can decide that it needs three meetings or
point out that this is another request.

Personally, if I had any qualms with the proposal, I would say this:  I
don't think it goes far enough.

I would like to see this for any expenditure under $50 regardless if they
are an officer.  The same restrictions would apply (must be occasional, is
not guaranteed, etc.).  Rarely are small budget items brought up by non
officers, but I think it is worth considering.  For instance choir and
dance practice are not ran by officers.  What if they need supplies (choir
more likely than dance)? Just a thought.

One thing to stress:  This does not mean that you can see someting under
$50, buy it, and then bring it to the Barony with a guarantee that you will
be reimbursed.  At that point you would be purchasing something with a risk
that it will not be approved.

To Lady Bree's point:  My concern is that not every officer needs the
money, but the exchequer will have to keep a seperate set of books to keep
track of the $650 allocations.  It is not a bad way of doing it, but I
think with our financial stability and overall good stewardship of the
money, Finn's suggestion fits our needs better.

Ermenrich

On Sat, Sep 20, 2014 at 3:55 PM, Cynnabar Seneschal via Barony <
barony at cynnabar.org> wrote:

> My answers for Sir Gregoire’s questions:
>
>
>
> Final discussion or any adjustments to my proposed wording will be done at
> the meetings.
>
> Is there a proposed number of times an item can be brought up after it is
> shot down once? [Finn] – Is this really a concern? What’s to stop someone
> doing the same thing now with the existing process? This is where a good
> seneschal should step in (if this ever happens) and say this was already
> decided upon by the group and move on.
>
> Is there a limit to the number of $50 requests that can be made per unit
> time? [Finn] – No. And it was done on purpose. The key word is
> ‘occasionally’. This is to get the point that it should not be a
> common/frequent item, but at the same time we should allow proposals that
> may happen quickly back to back due to the need/situation at the time.
> Trying to timeframe this into specific unit/time blocks can create
> rules-lawyering (opps, you have to wait another 2 weeks before you can ask
> that!) or even hamper simple requests that are may be needed (Hey, can we
> get $20 to help with fighter food at a demo next weekend?). On the other
> hand someone making $50 requests every week should be questioned why and it
> should be readily apparent that something is not right. Thus the group
> still needs to approve.
>
> Is there a minimum number of people required to be present to pass the
> request? [Finn] – Same was what is required for every group approval on
> our current 3-meeting process.
>
> Does this still follow consensus, or is it an absolute vote? [Finn] –
> Consensus, as normal.
>
> If there are more feedback or suggestions, please let me know!
>
> -Finn
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Barony [mailto:barony-bounces at cynnabar.org] *On Behalf Of *Greg
> Less via Barony
> *Sent:* Friday, September 19, 2014 6:40 PM
> *To:* Cynnabar Seneschal
> *Cc:* Barony of Cynnabar
> *Subject:* Re: [Cynnabar] Proposal to amend Cynnabar's Financial policy
>
>
>
> Hi Finn-
>
> Just as many non-Cynnabar people are on the email list as Facebook.
>
> A few questions that come immediately to mind:
>
> Is there a proposed number of times an item can be brought up after it is
> shot down once?
>
> Is there a limit to the number of $50 requests that can be made per unit
> time?
>
> Is there a minimum number of people required to be present to pass the
> request?
>
> Does this still follow consensus, or is it an absolute vote?
>
> Thanks,
> Gregoire
>
> On Sep 19, 2014 6:32 PM, "Cynnabar Seneschal via Barony" <
> barony at cynnabar.org> wrote:
>
> Greetings  one and all.
>
>
> We had discussed earlier at a business meeting ways we can help speed up
> approving some smaller expenditures by officers in carrying out the duties
> of their office. Several ideas and ways to do this were brought forth.
> However, it kind of went by the wayside for a bit. A couple of items came
> up recently that has rekindled me thinking about this. Normally, I would
> just bring this up at a meeting, but since the change I am going to propose
> below will update our only “official” document (our Financial Policy), I
> wanted to give the chance for the larger group to give some feedback on
> this.
>
>
> Please note: I am NOT putting this on Facebook. Many, many people that are
> not Cynnabar are part of that group, so please keep this conversation to
> the Cynnabar e-mail list or in person.
>
>
>
> In short, the below update to the Financial Policy is to speed up minor
> purchases by officers. The reason for this is to remove some of the
> bureaucracy and unnecessary burden for minor items. But to still have the
> budget items proposed and allow the request to be reviewed and approved (or
> denied) by the group. Many ways were discussed previously on how to limit
> (via wording/restrictions) these requests so they don’t get abused. In the
> end, keeping things simple and trusting both the officers in their role and
> the group in general to know when things are being abused should help
> curtail any issues. Thus my wording below of “occasionally request” is
> there on purpose.
>
>
>
> The proposed addition to the Cynnabar Financial Policy:
>
> 2. ii. 3. Group officers may occasionally request minor expenditures (up
> to $50 or so) for carrying out the duties of their office. These minor
> budget line item requests can be requested by the officer at a business
> meeting and then approved or denied by the participants at that same
> meeting.
>
>
>
> Feel free to give feedback here or to me directly on adding this to our
> Financial Policy. This will be brought up at a regular business meeting and
> run through the normal 3 meeting discussion/approval process to make the
> final decision.
>
>
>
> In service,
>
> -Finn, Seneschal.
>
>
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