Council Question Responses

Hello all,

Council have considered the questions put to us, please find our responses below. I thank you for having patience while we sort through this, discussion takes time.

1. Several members would like a thread here created by a council member that updates the temple as to what things are being voted on, when they will be voted on, and if the vote passed or not. This would provide transparency that the membership request without allowing them access to council discussions. In therory, this would be a locked thread so that no one could comment on it.

Council doesn’t vote on things often, and when we do it is usually preceded by a lot of discussion. In practice, votes do not occur until we are at a point where they will almost certainly pass. If many council members are in disagreement then something won’t be put to a vote, and indeed may never be put to a vote if we decide it’s not feasible or reasonable. We don’t feel that it would be helpful to post updates as to what we are voting on as votes occur fairly quickly when they do occur and the announcements soon after. We often have discussions but not everything is useful and often things are dropped. We actually feel that letting you know what we are talking about could cause more disruption and confusion, than clarity. We promise that everything that is decided is announced promptly.

2. Multiple members have made note of certain rules not being followed in regards to advancement. An example being that the rules say you advance after items a,b, and c are complete, but when those things are checked off, the temple has been disregarding those rules as written and holding people from promotion based on a single councilors opinion.

We believe that this is because of a misunderstanding as to the rules of the criteria of knighthood. While an apprentice must have completed the Adiv to qualify for knighthood, it is not and should never be the sole decider as to readiness. Evidence of application, understanding, and patience, should be seen in an apprentice before knighthood is sought, and the Educational Administration is within its right to request apprenticeships go on for longer. No decision is made by one person alone.

3. Several people want to inquire as to why there are councilors and people holding other temple offices, who have not been at the temple in months and in some cases over a year. It blocks others (and there are several) from becoming more involved with the temple. And on the same note, there are wonderful knights and councilors here who hold multiple positions (as many as 4) who do a fantastic job, but on the same hand, they also block others from becoming more involved with the temple.

We believe that a recent announcement to office holders will solve some of the issues with regards to this question. Office holders are now required to check in with Council monthly with an update as to the status of their responsibilities, and must inform Council as to leaves of absence or otherwise risk forfeiting their office. Some offices require a level of trust, particularly those where administration level rights must be held to operate them. To protect TOTJO, administration rights are not granted to many. If offices cannot be operated by those who hold them, those officers should come forward to say so.

We will be announcing a list of open offices soon, to which members may apply.

4. Almost everyone has mentioned either knight Edan or Master Rosalyn as being very deserving of some form of official recognition for all of their amazing work they do. I personally am of the opinion that with out these two wonderful women, our temple would have been in shambles months ago if not for their continued capacity to go above and beyond.

Both Ros and I thank you very much for the recognition.

5. There are system issues that have been present for working on almost a year now such as member photo albums still do not show up for most of our users.

We are in discussions as to the best way to resolve this. We know it’s annoying as it affects us too, but the site is large and cumbersome, and it is not always easy to either find the cause of, or to fix, issues when they occur.

6. There have also been several request for updates from the knights corps as to when the new ip might be ready, as well as when the Jedi service corps will become a thing. I personally explained to these members that there is no way at this point that we could provide an exact date for either, but mabye we could create a thread to post regular updates as they happen.

This item is down to the knights corp, and will be managed by the Knights Secretary and his assistant. However we recognise that obviously people would like to know what is going on, and we will see about having a thread to post updates as to where we are, even if the Corps are not in a place to share what it has come up with so far.

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I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that my email is at the bottom of every one of my posts and you are quite welcome to message me. While I am on Council, anyone who wishes to remain anonymous may do so with me, you just have to say.

Again, I thank you all for your patience.