At present, the administrative structure of the Society is in the process of being normalized by efforts of [[Consuls]]. These efforts are not widely understood and are therefore often unappreciatedand unsupported. They hope this Vision will articulate their aims more effectively.
# The members in [[Good Standing]] elect the members of the [[Board|Board of Directors]]
# The [[Noble Company of the Rose]] is headed by the ''[[Magister Rosae]]'' (MR) who is elected from that groups members in Good Standing by those members, with Board confirmation, and the ''MR'' names the officers from that group's membership, also with Board confirmation.
As our membership the number of members has remained stagnantsince 2007, it has become increasingly difficult to find candidates to stand for Director. While it was not long ago that the size of the Board was reduced from fifteen to nine, it may soon be time to consider additional reductions.
'''Proposal: The Society should consider linking the number of [[Directors]] to the size of the membership, with the maximum number of Directors capped at the odd number equal to or next smaller than one tenth the number of regular and life members as of 1 January, with a minimum of five and a maximum of fifteen.'''
This suggests that if the membership (presently in the 80s) drops to 70, that the size of the Board might be reduced to seven members. Conversely, should the membership increase to 110, then the size might be increased to eleven. In either case, some amendment of the staggered election cycle would be needed, and a neutral method for implementing the change will be needed.
The change in size can be implemented either through a [[By-Laws]] amendment, or by a 4/5 vote of the Board to change the number of [[Directors]].
An interesting note comes from reviewing attendance. Attendance as a percentage of the Board generally increases as the number of Directors decreases. Even more interesting, the average attendance for a 15-member Board and a 9-member Board was the same: five. This suggests that increasing the number of Directors is unlikely to have much impact on the size of the working Board. It also suggests that vacancies on the Board are not a significant challenge, so long as a quorum can be obtained from the remaining Directors.
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The [[By-Laws]] permit the creation of an [[Executive Committee]] as a smaller version of the Board, with very broad authority to act when the Board does not meet. The original motivation for this was two-fold: first, when meetings are held in person, it is difficult and expensive to bring Directors together on a frequent basis; second, the large Board had become unmanageable, with a majority being non-participants. Given that the meetings are now largely held via teleconference, and that the size of the Board has been cut, neither argument remains.
'''Proposal: The Society should discontinue the use of the [[Executive Committee]], and consider removing the option from the [[By-Laws]].'''
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