The role of the State assembly Coordinator is serve as liaisons between the Federation and their State Assembly during this organizational process.
The Coordinators, both State and County, work for the Federation. They are not elected State or County officials, nor are they appointed by the State Assembly. As they work for the Federation, the Federation has the hiring and firing responsibility. They try to honor the desires of the local assembly, but sometimes it is not in the best interest of the assembly to do so. The important thing to know is that the Federation always has the Assembly’s safety as its number one priority, so their actions will always be in line with what is best for the Assembly. Excerpted from Article 3296 “The Status of Coordinators and How to Withdraw”
Because Coordinators “work” (translation = volunteer!) for the Federation and play such an important role, they must be vetted by the Federation before assuming the position. This goes for both county coordinators and state coordinators. For State Coordinators, this means a Continental Marshal vetting. For County Coordinators, a continental Marshal vetting is not required.
In many states, or even larger counties, it can be a good idea to have a team of co-coordinators with complimentary skillsets to get the job done more effectively.
Coordinator Job Description
From Article 2899: “The Trouble in Utah”
“The Coordinator is acting as an organizer for the Assembly. Think of them as an Administrative Officer. Coordinator is not a Public Officer per se, but rather is in the nature of an expediter, someone knowledgeable to act as a rallying point for the group and its activities. As such, the Coordinator does bear some considerable responsibility for assisting people in making the transition, getting their paperwork in order, and helping to guide the Assembly on its way forward.
The Coordinator’s job is not easy. It requires a basic love of people and of country and a flatfooted dedication to getting this job of gathering people together, educating them, helping them complete their paperwork, and then, together, forming the four (4) basic parts of their State Assembly: General Assembly (for everyone) , International Assembly (for State Citizens), Jural Assembly and Courts, and Assembly Militia.
But the most important thing about a Coordinator is that they must be honest and inclusive and stand above “politics” and paranoia.
They must remember that we are all in this together, and that no State will stand alone. They must make it their business to be peacemakers and worthy leaders.”
Read more from Article 2899 – “The Trouble in Utah” by Anna Von Reitz
From Article 2905 – “Organizational Goals,”
“As a Coordinator you are naturally a member of The State Assembly in your State of the Union, working for The United States of America to bring your Assembly into Session and build it into a competent, confident, educated, and properly organized “public body politic”, which will serve your State of the Union and speak for it on both local in-state matters and international matters. While working for the Federation, a Coordinator will act as a State National and refrain from direct participation in votes concerning international matters.”
Read more from Article 2905 – “Organizational Goals”
Why is a Coordinator a State National and not a State Citizen?
If you think about it, a State Citizen holds an office in their state or county and therefore has an allegiance to their state. The Coordinator position exists at the Federation level, not the state level, so holding this position does not make you a State Citizen.
From Article 3014 – “Orientation for Newbies”
“All our State Coordinators function as State Nationals on assignment for the Federation. The Federation is not the Federal Government. The Federation is an instrumentality of the States of the Union combined. As a result, there is no presumption of any conflict of interest owed to a foreign government on the part of our Coordinators, but they still do not function as State Citizens until they retire from the position of State Coordinator or the position naturally sunsets once the entire Assembly structure is up and functioning properly. “
Read the entire article 3014 – “Orientation for Newbies”
This means that as Coordinator, you cannot hold any other offices in the assembly with one exception. A Coordinator can also serve as a Recording Secretary. This is because a Recording Secretary can be either an American State National or an American State citizen. If a man or woman serves in both capacities, he or she is serving as an American State National.
Qualities of a Great Coordinator
A good coordinator must be very organized, should have great communication skills – both oral and written, and must be able to be fair and unbiased when dealing with people and situations.
People will often come to you first for information, and everyone deserves to be treated fairly and with respect.
If you are looking for a position of power and influence, you are in the wrong place. The job of the coordinator is a temporary, volunteer position that sunsets once we are assembled.
Your greatest success will be to make your job obsolete!
Responsibilities of a State or County Coordinator
Coordinators have a big job to do. In addition to having a solid foundational understanding of what we are – and what we are not – here are some of the things you may find yourself responsible for, depending upon whether you are a state or county coordinator:
- Overseeing and managing the formation of the four Pillars of your Assembly (discussed later, in the Assembly section of this manual)
- Responding to new inquiries, answering questions and pointing people to educational materials. (Inquiries through the TASA website will automatically be routed to you based on the inquirer’s county)
- Keeping a well-organized database of all nationals as well as new people who request information
- Vetting/sorting newly landed men and women to help identify if this is the right Assembly for them and if so, where their skills and talents might best be used (your Recording Secretaries will be invaluable partners in this!)
- Organizing your General Assembly meetings
- Distributing information to the people on your state/county
- Maintaining records of all meeting agendas, minutes and recordings that you will later pass on to a formal record keeper
- Overseeing the Recording Secretaries and the Land Recording Functions for the State (State Coordinators)
Technical equipment and skills required
- Computer and basic computer skills
- Printer/Scanner
- Basic word processing and spreadsheet skills
- Knowledge of an email program well enough to create groups for contacts and folders for organizing emails
- Good sense of how to organize lots of information in a logical file structure for record keeping
Things a Coordinator needs to know inside and out
- The bottom-up structure of our government
- The Four Pillars of our Assemblies
- Qualifications for someone to become an American State National or an American State Citizen
- Where to direct people to find information
- Descriptions of and qualifications for Assembly Offices
- The difference between an American State National, and American State Citizen, a U.S. National a U.S. Citizen, and a citizen of the United States
