Members of the Appeals Panel generally serve for a period of six months. I've chosen to ignore that term limit for this group of Appeals Panel members because I truly enjoyed working with each of them and did not want to lose their contributions to my team. As a result, the current Appeals Panel members have served for over a year.

There is a misconception that the Appeals Panel is simply an "on call" position. That is, people think that this is a position that people sit in and don't have to do anything unless there is an actual appeal. That perception is incorrect, at least during my time as Justicar. I have endeavored to use the members of the Appeals Panel more as magistrates that assist me with the ongoing development of the Chamber of Justice. To that end, the Appeals Panel members have helped me with projects, given me important feedback, and been part of a team effort over the last year.

Pel gave great feedback to me while I was in the process of revising the Covenant. Pel gave instrumental feedback on many portions of the revised Covenant, including the Appeals Panel sections. His feedback helped to shape a new Appeal Panel portion of the Covenant that will be a boon to the future of the CoJ and club as a whole. Specifically, Pel provided 17 comments on the Covenant that focused me on questions a normal member might have when reviewing the document. For example, he had questions on the nature of the suspension of a member subject to an Order of Advanced Incarceration that led me to make clarifying changes to the text. He prompted me to require the authority to give executive penalties to be clearly enumerated by the Grand Master. He also helped me clarify the strange idea that leaders of independent units are considered part of the Dark Council but are not technically on the Dark Council as per the Covenant. In all, his suggestions were very-well thought out and helped me bring clarity to the document. In addition to the above, Pel, has taken it upon himself to take the introductory discussions that we held when he was appointed and develop it into a draft manual that will eventually help ease the transition between Appeals Panels. The manual has some work to go, but the basics have been included and I will not need to start from "square one" on it.

I have been grateful to have Pel on my staff and can only thank him through this small effect. I hope to work with him again in the future.

Thank you,

Jac

Jac Cotelin, 2016-10-25 02:27:40 UTC