The aim of this document is to set out procedures for how the city is run, including how decisions are made and implemented.
Definitions
Citizen
For the purpose of this Constitution, the definition of a "citizen" is any premium member of Catan who is located in Katimavik Bay.
Mayor
The Mayor is the person elected by the city to peform the role of Mayor for the current game period. All references to the Mayor in this Constitution refer equally to the Deputy Mayor nominated by the Mayor to act in the Mayor's absence.
Executive Council
The Executive Council consists of the Mayor and any citizens who hold a specific position of responsibility within the City. A list of the current Executive Council, including a brief summary of their duties, shall be published on the city's wiki site. The Executive Council is a descriptive title only. With the exception of the powers held by the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, members of the Executive Council hold no additional rights or privileges over other citizens.
Catan Council
The Catan Council is made up of the Mayor, First Deputy Mayor and the 13 citizens who have contributed the most in city and guard donations over the past 28 days.
Council
All citizens of Katimavik Bay are considered members of Council. As such they are entitled to participate in dicussions in the skype Council chat and to vote on motions posted on the wiki site.
Elections and Appointments
Mayor
The Mayor shall be nominated and elected through the Catan forum, as per Catan rules. Shortly before end of each season, the Mayor must open the nominations folder in the forum and inform all citizens of the procedures and deadline for nominating and voting for the new Mayor.
First Deputy Mayor
The first responsibility of the new Mayor is to nominate at least one Deputy Mayor. This Deputy Mayor (know in Catan as the First Deputy Mayor) must be informed to other cities and the COW administrators through the Mayors' forum and must be confirmed in the Town Hall. If the Mayor considers it appropriate, elections may also be held for the position of Deputy Mayor.
Other Members of the Executive Council
Other members of the Executive Council are appointed by the Mayor through a process of matching volunteers to the vacant positions. There is an expectation that volunteers for Executive Council roles will remain active citizens within the city for the whole of the current game period and that they will be members of the city skype chats.
Decision Making and Voting
With the exception of city expansions, the principle method of carrying out a vote shall be through a wiki forum vote.
For a vote to be considered legitimate, it must meet the following criteria:
- Any citizen can table a motion but the vote must be formally opened by the Mayor. The Mayor must be notified (by Catan message or through the skype council chat) as soon as a motion is tabled so that the vote can be opened and communicated to all citizens.
- The motion must include a deadline for voting, which must not be less than 48 hours from the date in which citizens are notified of the motion.
- Where a motion contains a range of different options, the motion must make it clear how to record your vote (eg a simple yes/no or option (a)/(b)/(c) etc.
- The Mayor must notifify all citizens of the motion by Catan mail. The mail must include a link to the vote, the deadline for voting and instructions on how the vote should be recorded.
- The Mayor must simultaneously record the opening of the vote in the skype council chat, together with a link and the dealine for votes.
Votes will be decided by a simple majority of votes cast at the expiry of the published deadline. The Mayor will make a final post of the conclusion of the vote in the wiki forum and inform all citizens and the skype council chat of the decision.
With the exception of the passing of the Constitution, all motions and votes agreed by Council shall be relevant to the current game period only and decisions will need to be reviewed at the start of each game period. This is in order to take account of changes to membership, Catan rules, growth of the city and changing priorites.
Selection of Expansions
As per Catan rules, the selection of expansions shall be conducted through a simple majority vote. The Mayor is responsible for opening the vote for the next expansion in good time to ensure that the vote is concluded before completion of the current building project. The Mayor must inform all current members of the Catan Council when the vote is opened by Catan mail and include any options and recommendations on the vote, based on any prior discussions carried out in the skype council chat.
An exception to this rule may take place for the selection of the city's first expansion of each season, where the building will be selected based on a wiki forum vote.
Distribution of Town Gold
Town gold is earned through the Town Hall and through success in city activities such as touranments, dice and riddle. The distribution of town gold will be carried out by the Mayor based on criteria agreed by Council through a wiki forum vote. A new vote to set the criteria for distribution of gold must be carried out at the start of each new game period.
Reserves of gold may, however, be used at any time without a vote if the Minister of Defence deems it necessary to make emergency guard donations to save the city from barbarian attack. In such cases, the gold shall be transferred to the current Minister of Defence to make the necessary guard contributions on behalf of the city.
Means of Communication
The Executive Council uses a number of means to communicate with its citizens, all of which have a role to play within the City.
Skype Chat Groups
There are three skype chat groups within the city. The skype council chat is reserved solely for discussion of official council business in order to provide an easy record of council discussions. In addition, there is a riddle chat group designed to stimulate ideas for the riddle and a general chat group where citizens can arrange trades, set up games and discuss any issues of general interest. Any citizen can be included in any of these chats at any time by sending their skype details to any Member of the Executive Council.
Wiki Site
The wiki site is the principle forum for recording information on the city. A link to the wiki site must be sent to all new citizens when they first join. The Minister of Information has primary responsibility for updating the wiki site.
Catan Message
Catan message is the only way to ensure that we reach all citizens. Key messages, including links to the relevant wiki page or other sites, should be sent to all citizens through Catan.
City Priorities
Council will hold regular discussions on the priorities for the city in terms of expansion, defence and of personal assets. These may include recommendations on the need to make city or guard donations and on capping housing and other expenditure in order to ensure safety. The outcome of these discussion will be communicated to the rest of the city through the wiki and Catan messages.
Whilst these priorities are agreed in the best interest of the city and its citizens, they represent recommendations only and are not intended as mandatory directions on how to play the game.
