[Ponte Alto] Purposed Kingdom 12th Night Bid

[Michael C Emrich]

Greetings to the Populace of Ponte Alto from your Seneschal.

As many of you may know Lady Daria has asked to come talk to the Barony at
this month's business meeting to propose that we host Kingdom 12th Night
this coming January.  Lady Daria has approached her Barony of Stierbach and
they have passed on hosting the event.  I have informed Lady Daria that I
cannot in good faith support her proposal at the present time.  The proposal
would require significant changes and the overwhelming support of the Barony
and the Baronial Officers for me to feel comfortable signing off on it. I
would like to share the specific reasons for my position below. Know that I
did not come to this decision lightly but only after discussion with other
members of the Barony.  I have invited Lady Daria to come and lay her case
before the Barony at Sunday's Business Meeting, because I believe it is your
right to hear her proposal for yourselves.

1.  The timeframe is to short.  We have to have the bid in by the 15th of
the May.  I do not feel that this is sufficient time for us to address all
the issues of running a Kingdom level event of this magnitude.  I think this
is a decision that should not be rushed, but entered into after careful
thought and planning.

2.  Our calendar is presently full.  We are hosting a large camping event in
September, as well as events in November, February (Baronial Birthday) and
March.  Adding an additional event in January would be placing to large a
burden on the Barony.  This burden would be double by the fact that 12th
Night is the largest of all the Kingdom Events.  There is a serious risk of
burning out the membership of the Barony that I am not willing take.

3.  The budget as proposed will run more than is currently in the Baronial
Treasury.  The initial numbers for this event are about $4,500.00+.  Which
is about what we have in our account presently.  This is not taking into
account money that we will be spending on the above listed planned events.
Additionally, the Barony has monthly operating costs (fees for storage unit,
etc.) that must also be taken into account.  I do not feel that we can or
should take on this additional budget burden.

4.  Finally, though Lady Daria is clearly very enthusiastic and has worked
very hard to pull together a proposal in a very short time, she has not
autocratted an event in Ponte Alto, and has not held a Ponte Alto office,
and so as Seneschal I do not have enough direct experience with her  to
entrust her with such a large event. Let me make this absolutely clear:
this is NOT a comment on Daria's capabilities, only my lack of experience in
working with her.  Because this is such a high-profile event and would
consume a large amount of Baronial resources, I feel compelled to make sure
that the autocrat is someone that I and the other Baronial officers have had
a successful working relationship with.  Daria has regrettably not had the
opportunity yet to build that relationship with us.  Hopefully in the future
we may have that chance. Judging from her enthusiasm, Daria clearly has much
to contribute.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to seeing you all at the
meeting.

Respectfully,
Miles de Locwode
Seneschal, Barony of Ponte Alto