PaxLair Council is Formed   

Event Held: 11/11/1999
 

From PaxLair Message Board:
Council Kick-off Ceremony -- open to all -- Thursday, November 11, at 7PM Eastern Sky in the North Tower of PaxLair behind Luigi's and the Saloon.

About a month's worth of work went into discussing the role and starting membership of the PaxLair council. At the beginning, I asked for volunteers who were interested in helping frame the council. I did not approach anyone to be on the framers group because I sought to see who would show interest and lean forward. I sought to have the framers come together freely without expectation, and led by their own energies and ideas.

I was very pleased about 14 people responded and then actively worked together for a month discussing concepts of a large council, small council, authorities, advisor roles, events creation ideas, and membership.

I was most pleased at the diversity of people interested in aiding PaxLair with the council concept. Many of the framers were not of PaxLair itself, but regular visitors or those who do much for the entire shard.

Last Friday, in a meeting with the framers, I selected the starting council. This was a collaborative effort, not a closed selection by myself or my chancellors. The starting council membership does in fact involve many of the framers who wish to continue the work of developing this council by carrying out and testing their ideas within our town. There are a few seats still open on the council so there can be an even larger cross section of interest involved. The council chairperson is working quickly to fill these last seats, based on guidance from me and the council members, hopefully before our kick-off ceremony this Thursday night. The council is now responsible for its own membership, and the membership can change over time.

The council membership will be announced at a ceremony in PaxLair on Thursday, November 11, at 7PM Eastern Sky in the North Tower of PaxLair behind Luigi's Pizzeria and the Saloon. Speeches will be given by myself and the chairperson to explain more about the council's role and offer time for question and answer. The north tower will become the seat for the council, where they will hold their meetings with the public.

Ostakker, our tailor and webmaster, will create and post a PaxLair web site page Thursday night showing the basic charter of the council and its membership. I will give you a preview of some thoughts that will be on the web page.

There are now three aspects to our official representation within our town and the realm.

1. I, the Mayor, focus primarily on long-term goals and situations. I am directly assisted by the Chancellors. Such long term things are considered usually more than a month out into the future, or significant trends by nature. I generally do not focus on specific events or daily activities. My primary role is to continue to maintain and foster the vision of wide cooperation and opportunity for all interested in PaxLair.

2. The council focuses primarily on mid-term goals and situations. These are trends and things that deal with relations between groups of PaxLair, regular events, history and lore of PaxLair, and advisement to me and people interested in PaxLair. In other words, the council helps carry out the vision of PaxLair in the mid-term, stimulating interest and offering more opportunities to all people through a town environment. The council is therefore an advisory group and an implementation group, designed to be independent of the Mayor's office.

3. The Chancellors of PaxLair focus primarily on the short-term goals and situations along with directly assisting me in the long-range mission. They are involved in day-to-day interactions between people and the town. They are direct advisors to me and to the council, and work specifically as an extension of my role within the community.

I do sincerely believe the addition of a PaxLair council to our overall town framework is a good move. All three aspects I just described involve people from a variety of backgrounds, interests, guilds, and groups. That is the PaxLair way. PaxLair is not a guild town or a closed town requiring membership to become involved in various things. Anyone can participate. The council is designed to help people participate, grab their dreams and turn them into reality.

I welcome comments and feedback before I formulate the initial description of the council charter and framework tomorrow morning.

Sincerely,

Winfield, Mayor of PaxLair

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