Chancellor Laws and Duties

Closed forum for all Representative Assembly members. Everybody is allowed to see government in action, but posting and replying is restricted to RA members only.

Moderator: SC Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
Lyubov
Veteran debater
Veteran debater
Posts: 252
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:53 pm

Chancellor Laws and Duties

Post by Lyubov »

What can we do to help clarify and simplify the Chancellor’s duties? What can be done to distribute the workload to make it more manageable? As I understand, the Chancellor themselves only discovers their duties in the process of one or two terms and then must make judgments over which parts of the written law are necessary and important. The 32nd RA is fortunate to include two former Chancellors among its members, who might be able to give insight on this topic.

User avatar
Kyoko
Pundit
Pundit
Posts: 303
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:23 pm

Re: Chancellor Laws and Duties

Post by Kyoko »

The following is written from my perspective as Chancellor for the 30th and 31st Terms. And as a current member of The Representative Assembly.

1. I would oppose any diminution of the current actual powers of the Chancellor. The balance of actual powers is already strongly tilted in the favor of the Representative Assembly.

2. With regard to the bulk of the Chancellor's job, which is bureaucratic, delegation should be permitted by the Chancellor, BUT at the Chancellor's discretion within the scope of their duties and obligations as set out in the Constitution and the laws.

Example:
1. An important part of the Chancellor's job is to facilitate the timely payment of tiers and to send legally mandated notices at specified intervals to the citizen who is in arrears. And to perform the eviction if that point is reached.

2. Timely tier payment is the responsibility of our citizens and, obviously, a crucial element in the financial health of the CDS. And thus has been historically assigned to the Executive Branch of our government, specifically the Chancellor.

3. When I first became Chancellor I was told that it was the Chancellor's job and could not be delegated. I have since discovered that in the past it has been delegated. This is an example of a task that could be delegated at the Chancellor's discretion (see #2), but should not be mandated by The Representative Assembly.

There are many other aspects of this issue of potentially re-framing the Chancellor's job, but as indicated I strongly oppose any removal of actual powers or the required delegation of any of the Chancellor's tasks.

CDS Citizen
User avatar
Rosie Gray
Forum Wizard
Forum Wizard
Posts: 2046
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:47 am

Re: Chancellor Laws and Duties

Post by Rosie Gray »

In my mind, the problem of making the Chancellor's duties more manageable isn't so much about the actual law that dictates the powers and responsibilities; it's more about the perception of what those duties are to someone coming into the position. And, it is about the amount of assistance that the Chancellor receives from their designated PIOs and EMs.

People bring different skill-sets to the position of Chancellor and it's unlikely that one person is good at everything that the position requires.

Many people seem to think that the Chancellor can do whatever they want when in office. This is untrue (obvious if you have read the Constitution of the CDS and the laws pertaining to Chancellor) but to those who haven't paid that close attention the perception seems to be that the Chancellor is some kind of royalty that can do whatever they want, or perhaps that the Chancellor becomes a kind of chief decorator. I think that the Chancellor is more like a combination of Mayor and Ambassador, but also has administrative duties that can be perceived as boring, repetitive, clerical. It can be very time consuming and there is not much in the way of perk to make it feel worthwhile.

While it is true that the Chancellor can allocate duties to their PIOs and EMs, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Chancellor to accomplish everything in the laws. A Chancellor can assign their PIO to create and promote all of the events, but if that PIO or PIOs don't actually do the work, either because they didn't take it seriously enough, something happened in RL to make them unable to follow-up, or because they don't possess the necessary skills, then it falls back to the Chancellor. The same can be said of land management - the writing of notecards and other communications to delinquent tier payers is a good example. It requires timeliness, diplomacy, and consistency. It requires good communication skills. And, above all, it is imperative to the CDS that it be done so that the finances of the community remain as stable as possible. We depend on these follow-ups to ensure that people pay up when they are supposed to. This is critical to the success of the Chancellor and the community. Even if this job is allocated to an EM, it is still the responsibility of the Chancellor to ensure it is done.

During my time as Chancellor during the 28th term, December 2017 through May 2018, I had a difficult time keeping up with the land management. There was not enough help from the EMs in keeping up to date on the setting of land when people bought or sold, and I spent many, many hours doing just that one job. It left little time for me to concentrate on anything else. I also didn't have enough help with the marketing and events, and it was not because I didn't try to get help. It was just too much for one person to do, but I did my best at it. (And to those that did help, I'm very grateful). I only use these as examples of how it can be; not trying to complain.

So, what to do?

"Courage, my friend, it's not too late to make the world a better place."
~ Tommy Douglas
User avatar
Lyubov
Veteran debater
Veteran debater
Posts: 252
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:53 pm

Re: Chancellor Laws and Duties

Post by Lyubov »

Thank you Kyoko and Rosie for your extremely valuable personal insights, learned from personal experience in the position. I would like us to continue to discuss these issues and possible solutions.

Post Reply

Return to “Representative Assembly Discussion”