Town Council

The Town Council is the governing body of the community on board the Ingenuity.

Membership
The Town Council is currently composed of six members:
 * Melor Terrek, formerly the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of Griesh.
 * Calla Solari, one of the leads of the Ingenuity project, formerly a representative of the IUSC
 * Korrinne Zephyr, a scientist who specializes in exoplanet research
 * Maks Edelmere, the head of engineering on the ship
 * Jori Sett, the husband of Captain Mariel Omeda
 * Galyn Hayward, the ship's doctor.

Formation
The council was formed immediately after The Final Transmission by Melor Terrek in order to provide government to the burgeoning society on the Ingenuity. The initial five-member council was presented to the inhabitants of the ship the day after the Final Transmission, and a shipwide referendum was called to ratify it. The referendum passed with greater than two-thirds of the vote two days later, on mission day 280.

Prior to the creating of the council, a weekly knitting circle was the primary meeting time for civic-minded passengers to discuss the state of the ship. When the council was created it largely co-opted these meetings, replacing them instead with town halls.

Notable Decisions
Some notable acts of the Town Council are summarized below.

The Noodle Incident
The Noodle Incident is the colloquial name for a disastrous early decision made by the Town Council. Shortly after its formation, the council ordered the cooks to alter the ingredients in many of their standard dishes (most memorably the pasta). Unfortunately, this led to multiple people getting sick from lack of essential vitamins. Eventually, the ship's doctor, Galyn Hayward, discovered the cause of the sickness, and was able to remedy the situation.

The ship’s citizens were furious at this uninformed decision, and many pushed for the doctor to be added to the council. In an attempt to save face, the council accepted the new member. To date, this is the only time the council's membership has changed since its creation.

Other decisions

 * One of the first decrees made by the council was to lower the ambient temperature of the ship by two degrees, in order to conserve fuel.
 * The council collaborated with the ship's engineers to put room lights on timers in order to save fuel. The lights now fluctuate subtly based on how many people are in a room, and the time of day.
 * The council moved the Semester in Space classroom to the science wing of the ship, clearing the room for use in hydroponics. Several scientists were also moved into shared offices for the same reason.
 * The council created monthly community dinners, where each dinner was themed based on traditional recipes from the islands of Unda. The next dinner is scheduled for mission date 581.
 * The rotation of islands so far has been Ilona, Ilesar, Tekal, Griesh, Laku, Helmi, and Merraska. The next scheduled dinner is from Chanost, followed by Nezuma.
 * To help deal with the lowered temperatures, the council created a sign-up sheet for the knitting club. This allowed people to request that warm clothes, etc. be made for them in an equitable fashion.
 * After a while, the ship began to form a small economy based around trading rations instead of money. To head off malnutrition as a result, the council declared some types of rations tradable and others untradable.

Day-to-Day Operations
The council hosts weekly town halls, during which anyone is free to speak their mind and make suggestions. Town halls are typically run by 2-3 members of the council.

The council itself meets twice a month to discuss recent events and propose new legislation, much of which is based on input gathered from town hall meetings. These meetings are closed-door; nobody besides council members and the ship's captain is allowed unless they are asked to speak before the council.