Changes

Consuls may style themselves differently as circumstances permit, especially when dealing with those outside the Society who may not be familiar with the term "consul". "Executive Director" is generally preferred for this, and may be employed by either Consul.

Consuls work under a [[Contract|Consular Contract]], renewed (usually with revisions) for each calendar year. For a brief period of unrest, their contract was month-to-month, but that now is behind us.

Their contract includes an honorarium. This is mean to compensate them for the space used by the Society within their home, and for the additional expenses of operating Society equipment. It is not meant as compensation for their time—they serve as volunteers.

The honorarium was set at $2 for 2007, doubling each year thereafter. In practice it has been increasing in a 1-2-5 sequence, thus the ninth year of the contract will be $1000 each rather than $512. This has been done with the knowledge and agreement of the Board. Consuls stand ready to revert to multiples of two if the Board wishes.

The logic for the exponential honorarium is that at the time the first contract was signed, $2 was a significant fraction of Society reserves. The predictible increases were intended to give the Society both the incentive and the time needed to obtain a Headquarters outside the Consuls' home; not to impoverish or take over the Society (though should this continue, that would be the effect). Consuls will negotiate lower increases if the Board demonstrates concrete progress toward the goal of an independent Headquarters facility.

In general, the duties of the Consuls is to perform all work of the Society under the direction of the Board. This includes some specific roles:

It has also become customary for one of the Consuls to deliver a "[[State of the Society]]" address at the [[Annual Membership Meeting]]. Often the Board will direct that copies be distributed to either the Board or the Membership.

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