P: I have been having problems with turn around time with some of the regional staff.  I tracked everyone down at SWRE and asked that communication be a little more expedient amongst the staffers.

C: Once the ARC Technology is chosen, I think it should be considered that they staff an ARCA List to handle all of the list mod duties for the regional lists. As of late, subscriptions to lists, and the amount of time it takes to get onto a list is a little bit long.

C: There have been steady number declines of 1-2 members on over 90% of the reporting chapters for this month.

C: The lists have made it almost impossible to determine whom reported on time this month. The coordinators are being taken on their word.

C: There were over half a dozen reports that went to the lists this month that I did not receive.  My email account shows no bounce activities, and no problems. Is this list wide?
A: I'm not sure, Anna.  I did not receive any bounce messages from your account that came from Mailman; however, I was getting "message delayed" and "undeliverable" messages from my ISP's mail daemon when sending you stuff, even though you told me you were getting messages.  You can always check the list archives if you're not sure whether or not you're getting copies of the reports.

Q: I have an Independent CC, Torie Tinder from CA-059 Hold the Cheeze. This coordinator religiously filed her reports every month, but they were being sent to the wrong place (former regional staffer). She turned in 14 months of reports, and I am not able to backdate her any prestige for fulfilling her duties with minimal to no supervision. The chapter has run smoothly. I am suggesting that either she be backdated a mimimum of 25 prestige per month, or is given a lump sum in the exceptional service catergory.  She was quickly responsive once I got ahold of her, and she had truly believed that regional had just stopped communicating. It is like a chapter from Lost World.
A: We'll take care of it; get me the months of the missing reports and I will make the Prestige Awards in the next RC Report.

Q: Elections are not being executed by the regional staff in a timely manner. What can I do more than I am already to enable these? May I have permission to run some of them myself without farming them out to the arbitration staff?
A: The ARC-Arbitrations are to be involved in all elections for their area of supervision; just as I am to be kept in the loop on them as well.  Do not run any elections without the ARC-Arbitration for that area acting as a Proctor for the election.  As for having them run in a "timely" manner, that is somewhat subjective.  Your "timely" may not be their "timely," or even my "timely;" remember, they have other responsibilities (outside the Club) that may take priority in their lives.  Members of OUs should be willing to understand when that is the case, and make adjustments as necessary, as should you by setting an example for them.  None of us works full-time for the Club, except for Mr. Bailey, and until we draw a salary, we should not be expected to put our real lives on hold to run things in a "timely" manner.  Nothing we do in the organization is so important that it cannot wait a short while if need be.

A: I'll look forward to it, Jamie.

C: I had a great time at SWRE! It was good to meet all of you face to face finally.

C: SWRE was an enlightening experience.

C: Steven Whitelock will be transfering into a chapter. Have we gotten confirmation that this has been completed yet? The Verification number for his MC7 audit is MG2004050001
A: I have not received a transfer request for Mr. Whitelock; please have him submit one.

C: I'm compiling an FAQ for the CTS for those coordinators who have asked for one. I expect it to be completed by the end of the month.
A: Thank you; I am sure that will be well-received and is necessary.

P: Anna Quinn seems to think that there are a number of independant members of the region who do not show up on my list. If so these people have not reported since Shannon Quinterro was in office. Can we get a list of members from the WW Membership Registration who did not list a chapter or domain when they signed up/renewed?
A: When I served as ARC-Outreach, I believe I had 14 members I was tracking.  You may want to ask Ms. Quinn to provide you a copy of one of my old reports and see who was on the list at that time.  I've been given a copy of the membership information for the Region and we'll be working on prepping OU reports for the Region; it should include those who are not attached to an OU as well.  This is a project I am hoping Ms. Quinn will be able to get to when she returns from her vacation in June.

Q: Any extra work you want to heap on my plate let me know. I would be happy to help out the office of Prestige if they need an extra hand.
A: Make your offer to the ARC-Prestiges.  They may take you up on it.

Q:I have had queries from chapters in regards for the turn around time for SWRE2004 Prestige.
A: As I stated at Closing Ceremonies, if the information was provided to me within the week of closing, and in the proper form (entered into the DB), I could generate the necessary reports and have the Prestige out within a week.  That has not been the case.  It took longer to get the volunteer information from the SWRE Staff, and it was not entered into the DB, which means I will have to do it by hand myself.  It's unfortunately, going to take some time.  I do not have an estimated completion time at present.

C: It seems that prestige has become the major issue amongst the regional staff.  I have been told this is also coming from the general membership, but due to my limited contacts in the region I cannot say for certain.
 

C: As has been requested by many of the ARC's I'd really like a document drawn up, from national, stating all the exact policies that it uses during audits.  Too many people have a vague idea and no one seems to be 100% certain and that is causing problems.
Once thats done, I'd like the exact same thing from regional.   I know Peter and I have been working on something, but untill we see what National's exact policies are, we should not complete the regional version as it may go against national.
A: I believe National has things documented on the ANC Prestige Website, but other than ask, there's nothing we can do.  As for Regional, it's in process now, Matt.  Hope to have it finished soon, but I do not believe it will be contrary to the existing National policies.
 
C: I know that I stated earlier this week that I was going to step down in a few months, but I have decided to do so sooner.  I will be working with Peter on this.
A: Mr. Hirsch tendered his resignation after filing his report; his absence will be felt on the staff and I'm sure by the Region.  I hope to have a new ARC ready by the end of the month.

Q: For those members with really, really old prestige that has no records, is there a way to track this down?  Or shall I treat it as unverifiable prestige and account for it accordingly?  This, for the record, means that I question the member about the prestige and ask for more verification than simply the log.  It does not automatically mean that I will remove the prestige, only that it requires further investigation.
A: We can check with the ANC-Prestige's office for records that we might not have.  If they cannot find them, then it is the member's responsibility to obtain verifications (which can be either copies of the old OU reports, or e-mails from the awarding coordinator -- not their present coordinator -- attesting to the fact that the Prestige was duly awarded).  If they cannot provide those, then we need to get a list of that Prestige, submit it to me with a request for it to be approved, and I will evaluate the line items and determine if they are appropriate for award.  This process only applies to General items though; Regional and National items must have verifications.

C: Writing a prestige report while under the influence of pain killers is a super bad idea.  Somebody might think there is some creative accounting going on.  For the record, I hurt my back and wussed out and took meds for it.  I also quit smoking and attended SWRE.  Not an easy month.  As such, I did more research work than actual logs.  One reason was that only recently did I recieve a log that could actually BE completed and another reason was that I really didn't want to ransom a MC class for a smoke.  It was really tempting for at least a whole 10 seconds.
   Just a very serious note to end this rather lighthearted missive.  I am not out to get anyone.  I try very hard to give members everything they have and more.  Does this mean that I will deny prestige?  Absolutely.  Does it mean that I will do so frivolously?  No.  Please, please, please, learn to ask for help.  Go to the ANC Prestige website and use it faithfully.  Do not send a log to regional for review until you have gone to this website and followed the directions.  If you have questions, ASK.  If you need help verifying prestige, ASK.  Please send these questions to the SW-Prestige list and be prepared to wait a few days for contact.  We will try to respond quickly, but this research is very much of a needle in a haystack.  We will probably find it, but it may take some time. 
A: I think this is important for the members to understand: the ARC-Prestiges are not out to get them, or strip them of Prestige.  Similarly, the members need to remember it is their responsibility (and has been for many years) to maintain their Prestige logs and verifications.  While we are here to help them find verifications when they do not have them, we don't have the resources to hunt down every item for every member, and doing so takes time away from processing MC Reviews and Audits, which just lengthens the time it takes to get them done.  The upcoming Prestige Review Policy should be out shortly and will address some of these issues.

P: RC Column.
A: I'm not going to say it; you know what I'd say and you're probably tired of hearing that from me..

C: It was really nice to meet everybody in person at SWRE.

C: Congrats to my new ARCA Nick Demeter, he is awesome!

1. Setting up a system for accepting Prestige Logs for Audits.  The key goals of this system is to display the current queue to the membership, to be able to provide members with a way to check if their logs have been received, where the log is in the process (waiting, being reviewed, etc.), see who is handling their Audit, and see an expected completion date.
2. Setting up a similar system for handling Arbitration issues.  This system will require security so that only those involved in the Arbitration will have access to any of the information.
3. Setting up a system to allow Coordinators to submit their monthly reports on the Website.  The system will parse the reports to extract demographic and all other relevant data to provide overall reports for myself and the ARCs in order for us to better do our jobs.  This system will also serve to archive the Chapter and Domain reports on the Regional Website.
4. Redesigning the Website to give it more of a "professional" look. A new ARCA has been brought on-board to handle this, Nicko Demeter, and some of the mock-ups he's done are very exciting.  As we have lost other talented Web developers to the National and Tech Development staff in the past, I am asking the National staff to please not try and lure him away.
5. Mapping all the Chapters and Domains on pages on the Website that will allow members to find organizational units by their geographic location.

Other non-Website-related Projects include:

1. Running various Domain Coordinator elections.
2. Membership recruitment drive and materials contest.
3. Introduction of the new "SWR Champions" program.

There are currently no other Regional Events being planned for our Region through the end of the calendar year, though we are on the cusp of several Domain Events with TINHARE in Phoenix, the Annual Garou Campout in L.A., and Midsummer's in Salt Lake City.

Ongoing:
Service: Donations of time to local events and charities will earn prestige based on a per hour block of time.
Pet Food:  Due to the ENOURMOUS success of the Pet Food Drive, it will be continued throughout the year and into 2005.
Yearly Charity: The official Charity for the SouthWest Region for year 2004 is Eagle Tail Mountain Wolf Sanctuary.  Please visit thier site at www.eagletailmountain.com

P: Members that are tracking prestige properly as well as in a timely. Officers not yet taken the required tests.

A: Any Coordinator or Storyteller who has not passed the Test of Membership has already been removed from office by the National Coordinator.  Any Coordinator who does not pass the Test of Coordination by June 30th will also be removed from office by the National Coordinator. Seeing as how the Test of the Storyteller has just been released, Storytellers have until the end of August to take and pass this test before they will be removed from office.  If your Officers are still holding their offices, then they have passed the required tests to hold those offices or else they would be removed.

P: Trying to get myself added to the Regional Coordinator lists since I've recently taken this over.

A: Send a message from the e-mail account you want subscribed to: us-sw-coord-request@camarilla.white-wolf.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line to initiate your subscription request.  You will then receive a Request for Information (RFI) message in response.  Return that message with the required information and you will be given access to the list.

P: Have a member of my Domain who forks out Thirty Dollars a Month to support a National website. Is there anything I can do to award him for bonus prestige or perhaps move the site to a White Wolf server? (Waiting Two Months, never answered.)

A: This matter was, in fact, addressed in the March 2004 Regional Coordinator's report, which was published prior to your April report deadline.  Please review the Regional Report for answers to questions prior to asserting they were not answered.  The answer given in last month's report is quoted here:

  " Prestige for a National Website would need to come from the National Coordinator's office.  I would recommend contacting Mr. Contreras' office about this.  Contact information can be found on the USNC Website.  At the local level, there are no Prestige Awards you could make for this service to the club, unfortunately.  Moving the site to the WW Servers would also need to be addressed with the National Office."

P: The last report I had access to is from January (it is quite possible that no reports were filed in February or March), and this report is based off of that one.  I have removed the following members from the roster as I have not received new expiration dates from them:
ARC-Admin: No reports were filed in February or March. There is a 90 day cap limit on backdating prestige without regional or higher permission. You may want to confer with your members and make sure it is backdated by your May report cycle.
A: If you need to backdate Prestige Awards more than 90 days, compile a list of what needs my approval and include it in the Problems section of your May report.

P: Still waiting for proctors on DC election. Three months later..
A: Please contact Ms. Quinn for assistance with this.

P: Still waiting for Regional approval on member transfers. Matter originated in March, Domain approval for transfer was given before SWRE, with DC request to expedite the transfer. No word at all as yet..
A: Has the necessary paperwork been submitted to the Regional Office yet?  Without a Prestige Log, Character Sheets and XP Logs (all of which should be audited at the Domain level prior to sending them to the Regional Office) being submitted for auditing at the Regional level, the transfer will not proceed.

P: All three problems above have one common thread. Lack of timely response from Regional. Inre the DC election and member transfer, I've decided that despite my own concerns with these matters, I'm tired of waiting, so I've approved the transfer and will turn things over to someone as far as DC duties.
A: As per the Membership Handbook, you are not authorized to approve any transfers that need to go beyond your Domain.  The members-in-question are still part of your OU and will remain such until we are able to audit all their records and contact the Coordinator(s) of the OU(s) the members will be moving to.

P: Not receiving responses up the chain on membership audits submitted as far back as January.  I have three members awaiting audits, Jesse Heinig, Brian Tinder, Torie Tinder.  Plus I want to get our whole chapter submitted for reviews so they can be "In the system".
A: Please check the Prestige Audit Queue Website at http://denim.bbboy.net/nickelsanddimes to determine where your members are in the process.  Remember, one ARC-Prestige resigned in January and there was lag time in replacing him.  Also bear in mind that the ARC's have real lives which take priority over their Club duties

P: Haven't heard anything regarding my prestige from the entire last year since I was unable to submit reports.  Do I get anything for spending two months recreating every single one?  Do I get anything from March 2003 on?  I never received information on my prestige for last month when the report was received on time.
A: Addressed in this report; see the ARC-Admin questions in Section I of the report.

P: Two members still awaiting information on their old prestige that was never in the computer from House of the Silver Crescent 1997-1999, Brian Tinder, Torie Tinder.
A: I am not sure from your statement what exactly you need.  Please contact the ARC-Prestige office for any assistance you need in tracking down old awards, or if you have specific questions.

P: A Disciplinary action by the DST is being reviewed by CC Mario Kellert to assess whether or not a Coordinator punishment is warranted for the member involved.
A: It sounds as if this will be resolved at the local level; however, if you need assistance, contact the ARC-Arbitration for Nevada.

P: The members of my domain and I'm sure others require that any regional specific policy be readily available to the membership. I am aware that the SW-ARC Web is in the process of being replaced. When can we reasonably expect a website containing those policies?
A: We are working on the new Website currently.  When it goes live, a message will be sent to the SW-Region and SW-Coord lists.

P: I'm concerned that we seem to have a number of members moving in and out of our domain over the last month. I have yet to see any paperwork cross my desk other than Jennifer Anderson's in regards to this. I should in theory be seeing Prestige Records forwarded to me from the Regional level for these people initiated by the originating CC's. I am not.
A: Transfers into and out of your Domain that do not cross your desk do not happen, as they require your approval.

Q: Directed to RC - At the time of Feb 2004 - Sharry Morrison, was still acting as DC for V4P, although the chapter/domain was dissolving. She received a correspondance from the RC-Peter Savas, stating that after she remits a final report for the Month of Feb 2004 she would receive Prestige for her final months duties as presiding coord. She did send one in, however it was not listed/found on the 02/2004 SW Regional Report. She has yet to receive any further follow-up. I have her as having a pending recommendation for Feb2004, and unable to solidify her log. Please advise.
A: To begin with, there is no such thing as a "pending recommendation;" either an Award is made, or it is not.  You should never place a line item in a Prestige log until an actual Award is made.
   As for Ms. Morrison's final Prestige award, it appears to have been an oversight; perhaps Ms. Quinn did not receive a copy of the report, so there was no recommendation in her monthly report.  I have asked her to review the Report I received and make a recommendation, which will appear in the May 2004 RC Report.  I apologize for this oversight, but we do make mistakes from time-to-time.

Q: What kind of paperwork does a member who's name changes have to go through to get their membership info changed correctly.  I have newlyweds.
ARC-Admin: If they change it on the white wolf website, send an email to membes services and cc their regional admin person then they are fine. If you are referring to Jen Driscoll, she already covered the bases.
A: Changes should be made on the White Wolf Website.  Those will trickle-down into the Membership Database.

Q: On what date should we start filing claims for membership cards never received?
A: This item was addressed in the March RC Report.  Please consult that report for an answer.

Q: In regards to the national survey currently being conducted. Can we get an exact web address of where the 5 national Prestige will be awarded for it as well as an expected date for it?
A: This item was addressed in the March RC Report.  Please consult that report for an answer.

Q: Can we make sure that any policy changes handed down in the form of email have the subject [Policy Change changes or additions via filters and archives that is not posted on the regional website or the ANC-Prestige website?
A: Policy changes will always be posted to the Website (when the new one is live).  We attempt to send advisories to the SW-Region and SW-Coord lists when these changes are made.

Q: The members of my domain and I'm sure others require that any regional specific policy be readily available to the membership. I am aware that the SW-ARC Web is in the process of being replaced. When can we reasonably expect a website containing those policies?
A: This item was addressed above in the "Problems" section..  Please do not repeat questions in more than one section of your Report.

Q: What is the ETA on the National Prestige Database?
A: This item was addressed in the March RC Report.  Please consult that report for an answer.

Q: What is the ETA on the Membership Confirmation Database?
A: This item was addressed in the March RC Report.  Please consult that report for an answer.

A: Noted. Thank you.