Descriptive notes for taxonomy terms, without using the taxonomy admin page

Hello,

I've run into a problem I feel sure must have a simple solution, but which has so far left me completely stumped.

I'm building a richly structured site with several interlacing vocabularies. Views renders long lists of items for each term. The editor will also need to add a descriptive note to many of these terms, as and when he needs to, and this is the obstacle I've stalled in front of...

The editor's technical prowess is too limited to let him venture into the taxonomy configuration, which could otherwise have painful consequences for the site structure, so I've decided to avoid using fields for terms there. Instead, I considered creating a new content type 'Notes' and letting him choose which term to associate each with using a term reference field. But since it's impossible to have a cross-vocabulary term reference I quickly found this would mean creating a note content type for every vocabulary--very confusing and messy.

What am I missing here? I'm sure this is a common requirement--and was even before fieldable terms arrived. But what is the best way of dealing with it? Or is there an alternative solution I'm simply missing?

Sincere thanks to anyone able to guide me.