2008 BOD Meeting Minutes
61st Annual Reunion, Springfield, Missouri, September 20, 2008
Meeting called to order by President Spicer at 8:15 A.M. Chaplain Carpenter offered the blessing. Pledge of Allegiance recited.
Attendees: Gene Spicer, President; Mel Frederick, Vice President*; Wes Morrison, Dir; and John Klump, Dir. Visitors: Tom Thiel, Editor; Larry Gay, Historian; Byrd Schrock, Quartermaster; Glenn Carpenter, Jr., Chaplain; and Sal Schillaci.
The quorum requirement of five was not fulfilled.
Absence of Secretary/Treasurer: President Spicer reported that Sec/ Treas Maggio had been advised by his physician to not travel and was not in attendance. He asked Editor Thiel to take the minutes.
Minutes of 2oo7 Meeting: President Spicer read the minutes of the 2007 Board of Directors Meeting. Dir Morrison asked that the phrase “complete editorial control of the publication” be struck, stating that the BoD has control of what appears in the Taro Leaf. It was pointed out that this refers to editorial control and that Editor must have freedom to make these day-to-day decisions. Mr. Morrison said he was not saying that BoD wished to review publication before going to printer but that certain items, e.g., minutes and bylaws should be carried. President Spicer said that it was his decision to not carry bylaws. Dir. Morrison withdrew his objection and minutes were accepted as read.
Financial Report: Only the July 2008 was available and discussed. There was extensive discussion of travel expenses incurred. There was no action taken on the financial report.
Taro Leaf Editor Report: Editor Thiel presented a report on the Taro Leaf . There was extensive discussion about cost of the Taro Leaf and financial status of the Association. Dir. Morrison had accumulated examples and associated costs for various veterans’ publications. While most of these were lower than the current $2.56 cost of the last issue, they also had distributions from twice to several times the distribution of ours making comparison difficult. Hist. Gay suggested that the production of the Taro Leaf be handled like any business. Ed. Thiel took the example copies, and will continue to explore means of lowering costs, but reported that membership has overwhelmingly said to keep type size and quality and do whatever else is necessary. Finally, he said that the Association should begin thinking now about a new editor. For personal reasons he needs to begin winding down.
Membership: Sal Schillaci suggested we could increase membership through a regional or local effort to issue press releases to local media. In response to a question, he proposes that these press releases center around a local function, a meeting or social get together. His concept is that most former 24th Division members are not aware of the Association and would join if they were.
Quartermaster Report: Quartermaster Schrock gave
a verbal report of his activities.
Aloha Banquet Prize Drawing: Chaplain Carpenter reported that
donations for the prize drawing were approximately $18,000 with
$5,000 obligated for the ten prizes. V.P. Frederick suggested that
next year we offer ten $400 prizes. Agreed.
Nomination of Officers: Nomination Committee Chairman Hagen (not present) had emailed his Committee’s (Tom Thiel, Dan Rickert, Dave Rives and Billy McFarland) recommendations. For President; Mel Frederick; for V.P., Sal Schillaci; and for Secretary/ Treasurer, none (the committee could find no one). It was agreed to accept the committee’s recommended slate and to ask current Secretary/Treasurer Maggio to stay on until a replacement can be found. We will continue to advertise in the Taro Leaf.
Verbeck Award: V.P. Frederick chaired the Verbeck Award Committee, (Ed Farmer, John Klump, Wes Morrison, Eric Diller, Ken Dillon and Joe O’Connell). V.P. Frederick asked for nominations from membership, and then forwarded these to the committee for review and acceptance. Four members were nominated; this year’s winner was the overwhelming choice.
Reunion Site Selection for 2010: Sal Schillaci offered Buffalo, NY as the reunion site for 2010. Accepted. Reunion Brat to continue to manage.
Membership Dues: President Spicer recommended that dues be raised to $25 annual and $200 life. Deferred to the new officers.
Association Supplies: Dir Morrison said that Sec/Treas Maggio has an accumulation of easels, charts, and maps etc., which were formerly used at Reunions. QM Schrock will contact Mr. Maggio about sending them to Schrock. Dir Morrison said he thought that the use of the push pin map to enable attendees to mark their homes at the reunion was good and should be reactivated; Editor Thiel suggested that this might be automated from the registration forms and displayed on a video screen. [We also should have a means of finding one another at the reunion.]
Wine Auction: President Spicer asked for members to assist in the auction of the wine donated by an Indiana winery near him. The labels had the 24th insignia and identified all the campaigns of the Division.
President Spicer adjourned the meeting at 11:25 A.M.
Submitted by: Tom J. Thiel