Upper Staff Guide

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There are three main upper staff positions on Solastella. Details are as follows.

First Minister

The First Minister is the head admin of Solastella and is in charge of running the site, deliberating on official matters, and making sure that the site runs smoothly. They lead and coordinate staff matters, working on new systems and features for the site at all times. There is only ever ONE First Minister at any time, and they have the ‘admin’ account on the site. First Ministers are elected into their position.

Minister

Ministers are a rank below the First Minister. Although they have many of the same practical powers that the FM does, Ministers do not have all of them, including the ability to delete members, for example. Ministers are also elected into their position. Elections are held at the discretion of the current First Minister, and once elected, a Minister cannot be removed from their position unless elected out (e.g. if another candidate gets more votes than them).

There are a maximum of THREE Ministers at any time.

Governor

Governors are not quite a whole rank below Minister, though they are slightly less powerful. They have more or less the same powers, though they lack a few of them. Unlike Ministers, however, Governors are not elected into their position, instead they are appointed by the First Minister directly, and the First Minister can also remove them from their post if they are deemed to be unsuitable.

There are a maximum of TWO Governors at any time.

Elections

The FM can opt at any time to have a smaller upper staff than the maximum of six.

Elections for First Ministers work as follows. When an election is called (this is due either to the wishes of the incumbent First Minister or if there is a vote of no confidence called by three of the remaining upper staff. If there are fewer than six Upper Staff members, this threshold is lowered to be half, rounded down, of the number of upper staff members), all candidates have one week to declare their candidacy, while the existing First Minister has one week to declare that they will not run. This should be done through PM to the existing First Minister.

The election conforms to the rules of Instant Run-off Voting. After one week of voting (during which time, an upper-staff member MUST PM all site members informing them of the vote), the results are examined. If no one candidate has over fifty percent of the total votes, the lowest ranking candidate is eliminated from the competition and the vote is re-run.

If the FM must leave under extraordinary circumstances, they can elect an interim FM (usually the Minister with the highest margin in their election) to the post. This interim FM is expected to call an election as soon as is appropriate for the FM post, while an election for the open Ministerial post should begin immediately.

Elections for Ministers work as follows. Under normal circumstances, an election will be declared every three months (in March, June, September, and December), and each candidate wishing to run has one week in order to declare their candidacy by way of PM to the First Minister. When this has occurred, a poll will be set up listing all of the candidates, and voting is required by all members, for the election poll will also double as a consensus; there will be a neutral "None of the above" option for those who wish to exercise their right not to vote, but participation in the poll is mandatory to save one's account from deletion. Depending on how many positions are open, the top one, two or three candidates will be given the position. Each time there is a ministerial election, existing Ministers will be automatically entered in the running unless they declare their non-candidacy to the First Minister. If they do not achieve a place in the top three (or fewer, as appropriate), then they will be removed from their post.

"In the event that a Minister resigns before the end of their three-month term, protocol will differ depending on whether they have resigned within the first, second, or third month of that term. If they resign in their first month, the ministerial candidate who came in second place in the most recent election will be appointed as Minister unless they decline the position, in which case the third place will be promoted, and so on. If they announce resignation in their second month, staff members will have a week to nominate themselves for a quick staff-only vote for a new Minister, and the winner of the poll will become Minister until the next official election after the third month. If they announce resignation in their third month, a normal site-wide election will be held early. In all cases, the resigning Minister must give a week's notice before officially being demoted from their position, allowing the proper protocol to be put into action.
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