One option recently floated last year to general acceptance was a cap on Headquarters rent equal to 4% of the Investment Fund per annum, contingent on the Board depositing 10% of gross revenues into that Fund and making no other withdrawals. This will prevent the expenses from exceeding the Society’s ability to pay, and the Metcalfs will be satisfied with this limit on rent as it would mean the balance of the Investment Fund would rise at an achievable rate. But this proposal would require firm and continuing action by the Board of a type not recently seen. It would also require the Board to generate the rent for the storage units from the General Fund. And it makes the unreasonable presumption that our situation will dramatically improve before the Metcalfs are no longer able to host the Society.
Another option that may have to be considered, particularly if the Society cannot elect a full [[Board]] or the [[Directors]] cannot elect a slate of working [[Elected Officers|Officers]]: Creating the office of [[Executive Director]] who would serve in place of the Board and Officers, relegating the Board to annual meetings to confirm the Executive Director. This has potential to work only to the degree that the perfect Executive Director can be found. Choosing the wrong one could quickly become fatal, and for this reason this option is to be considered high-risk.
I cannot offer my recommendation to the Board about which choices to make. This is only partly due to a conflict of interest. The big question you will have to answer for yourselves is, “How hard am I willing to work to ensure that The Augustan Society survives?” If the answer is the same as the present level of effort (especially considering our failure to muster a quorum for the August meetings), you need to chose a course of action that minimizes Board involvement. However, if you are willing to rise to the challenge — and it is a non-trivial challenge — then you should chose a course that calls for a significant and a significantly larger level of commitment from the Board, both collectively and individually. Your decision does not have to be taken today, but with each day’s delay your options become ever more limited.