Consuls have expressed a willingness to negotiate lower or no increases if the [[Board]] demonstrates concrete progress toward the goal of an independent Headquarters facility. To encourage this, starting with the 2016 contract, payment will be split in half; the first half due in January, and the second half in July, giving Consuls the opportunity to waive half the fee if the Society — in their sole opinion — has made significant progress toward moving out in the first six months. Should the rent be thus reduced, the following year's rent would be twice the reduced amount. Thus continuous progress would result in freezing the rent.
Another proposal that has been offered would cap the rent at the annual revenue of the Investment Fund, provided that the Society deposit ten percent (10%) of gross revenues into the Investment Fund. This proposal won't be worthy of consideration until 2019, at which point it would offer measurable savings to the Society.
With the upcoming termination of the office of Consul, contracts will still need to be executed annually for Headquarters space in the Metcalfs' home. They have expressed the intent to continue the fee schedule described above, including reductions in the event of significant progress by the Board toward moving out.
==Official Duties==
In general, the duty of the Consuls is to perform all work of the Society under the direction of the [[BoardPresident]] that is not assigned to others. This includes some specific roles:
* Attendance (by one) at each meeting of the Board
* Service as [[Editor-in-Chief]] of Society publications(though this will likely soon change to [[Production Editor]]
* [[Eagle Assistant Chancellor]] (previously the Eagle Administrator) for the [[Order of the Augustan Eagle]] in cooperation with the [[Eagle Council]]
* [[Rose Assistant Chancellor]] (previously the Rose Administrator) for the [[Noble Company of the Rose]] in cooperation with the [[Rose Council]]
That said, it is desirable that all duties that do not benefit from being performed at Headquarters be transferred to other volunteers. It would also be desirable to transfer some of their duties once a public [[Headquarters]] has been obtained and local volunteers become known.
It has also become customary for one of the Consuls to deliver a "[[State of the Society]]" address at the [[Annual Meeting]]. Often the Board will direct that copies be distributed to either the Board or the Membership. Not all such have been suitable for general publication.The 2017 address will be the last of these.
==Unofficial Duties==
Consuls' duty in this regard is thus to strengthen the [[Board]] so that it can actually manage the affairs of the Society, to develop volunteer chairmen who can carry out the work, to develop vice-chairmen who can step up at need, and to deemphasize the need for our services until we can be replaced by a clerk or two.
This work These unofficial duties will not be performed after the end of 2017, and some are being discontinued or deemphasized already. ==Alternative== There is a "Plan B" in reserve that provides for the [[Board]] to appoint a true [[Executive Director]] to assume all power and authority of the Board save his hiring and amendment of the [[By-Laws]]. A draft of an implementing By-Law has been in progress since 2007drafted, and would require member approval. The challenge here would be to find a suitable candidate, as such a role would move Consuls in the prognosis direction opposite of their desires. Considering they take some of the blame for the Society's recent decline, they suggest that a different candidate would likely be preferable. Consuls feel that this plan, especially if one of them is not goodto be named Executive Director, is the worst possible answer short of dissolving the Society.
There is a "Plan B" in reserve that provides for the appointment of a true [[Executive Director]] to assume all authority of the Board save his hiring and amendment of the [[By-Laws]]. Were one of us to be so anointed, it would have the effect of making the Society the "Metcalf Society" until such time as the Board is ready to resume its duties ... or we utterly fail to sustain operations. This plan will be proposed only as a last resort, as Consuls think it the worst possible answer short of dissolving the Society.
==Termination==