Provisional Civil Offices of Smoke River

It having become necessary to distinguish authority exercised through custom and necessity from authority formally recognized by the settlement, the following offices are entered into record.

These offices represent duties already undertaken during the establishment of Smoke River and are hereby recognized on a provisional basis until such time as a permanent civil government is established.

Thomas Mercer

The Settlement Coordinator shall call general meetings when matters affecting Smoke River as a whole require consideration.

The Coordinator shall oversee Common Works authorized by the settlement, communicate needs and decisions among the recognized civil offices, and coordinate matters requiring the attention of more than one steward.

Where immediate danger or necessity prevents delay, the Settlement Coordinator may act on behalf of the settlement, provided such action is presented for review at the next general meeting.

Isaac Hale

The Magistrate shall hear disputes brought before the settlement, apply laws and rules duly adopted by Smoke River, record findings and orders, and maintain the judicial record.

The Magistrate shall not establish new law solely through judgment where no prior authority, rule, or adopted standard exists.

Matters requiring creation or amendment of law shall be returned to the settlement for proper consideration.

Samuel Kim

The Agricultural Steward shall advise upon matters involving cultivated land, shared agricultural resources, planting schedules, communal crop requirements, farming roads, water use, and other agricultural concerns affecting Smoke River collectively.

This office shall not grant authority over privately held crops or fields except where their use materially affects common land, shared water, roads, or other settlement resources.

Wesley Brock

The Range and Livestock Steward shall oversee matters involving common grazing arrangements, range maintenance, shared livestock protections, herd safety, and other livestock concerns affecting the settlement collectively.

Ownership and control of privately held livestock shall remain with the lawful owner except where use of common land or settlement resources requires shared regulation.

Micah Whitaker

The Steward of Works and Grounds shall coordinate maintenance and repair of common roads, bridges, crossings, public structures, settlement grounds, and other works authorized for the common use of Smoke River.

The Steward may supervise labor assigned to Common Works and shall report completion, damage, shortages, or other matters requiring further action.

These offices do not create new responsibilities so much as place names and limits upon responsibilities already being carried out.

Each person named herein has previously performed substantially the same work by agreement, necessity, custom, or general acceptance of the settlement.

Formal recognition shall not be interpreted as permanent possession of an office by the person presently holding it.

Authority belongs to the office and not permanently to the individual first entrusted with its duties.

The offices recorded herein shall remain provisional until Smoke River establishes a permanent method for selecting, retaining, replacing, or removing those entrusted with civil authority.

The settlement must further determine terms of service, eligibility for office, succession, participation in civil decisions, and the proper division of authority between officers and residents.

The recognition of these offices shall not itself constitute the final government of Smoke River.

Procedures for making law, judicial authority, punishment, representation, residency, voting, removal from office, and succession remain to be established.

Until such matters are decided, these offices shall operate only within the responsibilities described above and under the continuing review of the settlement.

These offices are entered as provisional civil offices of Smoke River, being formal recognition of responsibilities previously exercised by necessity and general consent.

Entered by Isaac Hale, Magistrate of Smoke River, following meeting and agreement of the founding households.