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Board of Managers 2013 Meeting Minutes

November 12, 2013 meeting

 

 

Rupert Cutler reported on the Preston Memorial status. The account currently has $57,544.12. On 10/22/13, Rupert and David Hill met with the Botetourt County Board, to good reception. On 10/24/2013, a major feature article by Luanne Rife appeared in the Roanoke Times. John Bradshaw expressed concern that Chapter member donations were less than he had hoped. He will prepare a Preston Memorial newsletter in November to stimulate donations.
 
Duane Lenart reported 33 guests attended the 10/19 dinner, 21 of them Chapter members or wives. This is well less than planned. Discussion of the viability of weekend evening meetings ensued. It was decided that 6 meetings will occur on the third Tuesday of the month at the Shendoah Club, with May being the evening banquet.
 
Phil Sheridan reported that the raffle of the donated $150 Kroger gift card, conducted at the October 19th dinner, raised $300.
 
A $100 donation toward a bust of Bob Slaughter at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford was approved.
 
The Nominating Committee reported that Rupert Cutler has been selected as the candidate for Historian, to replace David Wright, who is resigning.
 
Reverdy Wright presented the revised By-laws. They were approved with minor changes. He will present them in final form to the membership at the 11/19/2013 meeting. Final vote will occur at the January 2014 meeting.
 
The Chapter was represented in the Veterans Day parade using Spurgeon Keith’s car, with Pat Green and Duane Lenart riding with Spurgeon. Pat Green reported the DAR will be sponsoring a wreath laying in Dublin on December 14 or 15.
 
Allison Blanton will conduct a 2-3 hour Roanoke area historical tour for those Chapter members who are interested, using our own cars, probably in January, possibly after the January luncheon.
 
At the suggestion of Spurgeon Keith, a $100 award for each of the Chapter winners of the JROTC, Essay, Oration, Poster, and Eagle Scout competitions was approved, to encourage participation. The Chapter’s Bronze ROTC medal will be awarded to cadets who earn their school’s enhanced JROTC Cadet competition. Our Eagle Scout certificates will be awarded only to Scouts who enter our Eagle Scout Scholarship contest.

 

October 8, 2013 meeting

 

Spurgeon Keith reported on the enhanced Junior ROTC award, which requires an essay. This program has had very little participation statewide. Spurgeon, who is the state chairman for this program, has contacted all of the local high school JROTC instructors to ask for their cooperation.
 
Treasurer’s report by Fulton Galer: $6,362.41 in the operating account, and $57,166.37 in the Preston account.  A proposed budget of $4,500.00 for the 12 months ending 8/31/2014 was presented and approved unanimously.
 
Rupert reported on the Preston Memorial status. He is scheduled to present to the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors on 10/22. He is currently engaged in writing the text for the vertical panels for the site.
 
Duane Lenart has completed the arrangements for 5 educator guests, in addition to the speaker, for the 10/19 dinner. A Chapter host was selected for each one. 3 questions were selected for the table discussions, with fine tuning to be performed by Duane. Phil Sheridan has organized a raffle of the donated $150 Kroger gift card, to be conducted at the October 19th dinner, for $10 per donation.
 
Reverdy Wright will be requested to make final changes to the By-laws and present them in final form for a vote at the next meeting.
 
A member directory will be distributed to Chapter members, after updates for additional email addresses, held by Spurgeon, have been completed.
 
Chuck Poland was commended for his Chapter report at the VASSAR semi-annual meeting.
 
The Chapter will be represented in the Veterans Day parade using Spurgeon Keith’s car, with Pat Green and Duane Lenart riding with Spurgeon.
 
Duane Lenart will get with Allison Blanton to develop a proposal for a Roanoke area historical tour by the November meeting.
September 10, 2013 meeting
 
The Website and the Phone Operation are both in full swing. John Cahoon will require some additional funds. He’ll submit his requirements to Fulton.
 
Treasurer’s report by Fulton Galer: $5,398.33 in operating account. $57,050.33 in Preston account.  The YTD budget is well ahead of annual target, except that we have opted to pay Hill Studio $2,500 from our account, rather than draw from the Preston Memorial account.  Report approved unanimously. Budget item submissions are to be made to Fulton before the October BOM meeting.
 
Rupert Cutler’s report on the Summer tour showed 45 participants, over half not SAR members which is very good for our relations with other groups in the community. Income was $2,100, expenses were $1,850, net profit was $250. Profit to be donated to the Preston Memorial. Report unanimously approved . Rupert has agreed to take on planning for next Summer’s tour.
 
Rupert reported on the Preston Memorial. A site survey has been completed at a cost of $1,000. This has resulted in the need to revise design concept, which Hill Studios has done. The goal is to present the final design to the County in their October or November meeting. Botetourt County has funded $7,500 and the Preston family has funded $5,000. The county may appoint a citizen advisory committee.
 
Purchase of inkjet printer cartridge for use by Duane Lenart in printing luncheon programs was approved. Cost will be about $85, once or twice annually.
 
Phil Sheridan will organize a raffle of the donated $150 Kroger gift card, to be conducted at the October 19th dinner, for $10 per donation.
 
David Wright needs printed copies of Luncheon programs from Duane Lenart and Newsletters from Spurgeon Keith for the book he is organizing for the Chapter.
 
Chuck Poland will report at the October BOM meeting on the possible distribution of a member directory to chapter members, as was done at some time in the past, and as is now done with the roster to chapter officers.
 
Registrar report (by Charlie Coale): as of July we had 11 new members, and Danny Huffman is actively working on 3 more. Spurgeon Keith has about 20 emails relating to members, which Chuck Poland will check on.
 
Chuck Poland will represent the Chapter at the VASSAR semi-annual meeting in Alexandria.
 
The Chapter will be represented in the Veterans Day parade using Spurgeon Keith’s car, with Pat Green, Duane Lenart, and Charlie Coale riding with Spurgeon.
 
Duane Lenart: The speaker for the September 17th luncheon will be Allison Blanton, President of Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation. For the October 19th dinner, it will be Dr. Lorraine Lange, Superintendent of Roanoke County Schools. In addition, we plan to have a round table discussion with several area educators on how the SAR can work with them to contribute to more effective teaching of history, and increasing participation of youth in SAR essay and oration programs. For the November  19th luncheon, the speaker will be Valerie Jabbar, Vice-President of Merchandising of the Kroger Company in Roanoke.
 
Phil Sheridan on awards: The 5th grade poster contest for 2014 will be on General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox”. For 2015, it will be on the Northwest Passage. The Knight Essay contest is aimed at grades 9-12, and the Rumbaugh Oration contest more at grades 11-12. Phil will be working with schools in our area with a target of December finalization. The Junior ROTC and enhanced Junior ROTC (which includes an essay) awards have a target of March finalization.
May 14, 2013 meeting

Treasurer’s report by Fulton Galer: $5,650 in operating account. $51,932 in Preston account. 
Chuck Poland and Fulton Galer will prepare a proposal for use of PayPal from the website for donations to the Preston Memorial and to the Chapter by September (commission will be about 2.5%).
Email and Roster: after considerable discussion on the need for current addresses, email and phone numbers for members, as well as updates and access to the NSSAR database, Charles Coale and Danny Huffman will resolve this issue.
Phone operations: John Cahoon has been briefed on the phone website. He requires a current member phone listing to make it work (see above).
The family of deceased member William S. Humbert III was sent a sympathy card.
On May 4th, our Chapter participated in the Citizenship oath ceremony for 20 children of naturalized American citizens at Smithfield Plantation.
The Chapter has received the 2012 Flag Appreciation Certificate from VASSAR.
A possible car pool trip Austinville, site of the signing of the Fincastle Resolutions, on Saturday August 3, 2013 was selected. Rupe Cutler and John Bradshaw to investigate and confirm.
Future meetings:
• 5/21/2013 Member Luncheon
• 9/10/2013 Board of Managers
• 9/17/2013 Member Luncheon
• 10/18/2013 Board of Managers (offsite, tentative date)
• 11/12/2013 Board of Managers
• 11/19/2013 Member Luncheon
• December, 2013 No meeting

April 9, 2013 meeting



John Cahoon was appointed coordinator of the new phone notification system.

Chuck Poland was elected chapter secretary by the Board of Managers.

After a discussion of whether it was proper to share the chapter roster, it was reported that the roster is already available to all officers via the NASAR website.

Duane Lenart gave a brief report on the preparations that have been made for the Ladies Night Banquet to be held on April 20, 2013, at the Shenandoah Club. Coale, Sheridan, Keith and Lenart met for a work session to finalize the plans which include:

  •   The menu, flowers, sound system, projector and place cards for the head table. 
  •   Judy Pendleton will ensure that name tags are available for guests.  
  •   Jeanne Bollendorf, Executive Director for the Historical Society of Western Virginia will be the guest speaker.

​Spurgeon Keith presented a suggested comprehensive plan for the construction of the Preston Memorial, including a timeline with three phases. His plan calls for the project to begin site preparation in April 2014 and be completed in September 2014. A detailed copy of the plan is available from Spurgeon.

John Bradshaw reported that $7,500 had been earmarked by the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors for the memorial in their 2013/14 budget. A motion was also approved to allow John to keep a record of all donations that come to the Fincastle Resolution Chapter from organizations or citizens of Botetourt County, so that appropriate recognition can be made at the site of the final memorial.

President Coale reported that chapter business requires a May meeting of the BOM. That meeting will be held on May 14, 2013.

Summer Programs and tours were suggested that include Smithfield Plantation, Monticello, and the mines at Austinville, Virginia.

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