Minutes
SMA Alumni Association/Foundation Board of Directors Meeting
October 12, 2001
The following Board members were present:
Thomas E. Phillips (President)
Stuart P. Smith (Vice President)
Thomas A. Davis (Treasurer)
Alvan S. Arnall
William A. Leeman
Donald W. Tobin
John Hooser
Brocky Nicely
- The following Board members were absent:
Mark J. Orr (Secretary)
Dominick A. Dalbo
Robert Parrino
Fred C. Burner
Eugene K. Ehmann
William J. Kearns
Kit A. Regone
- Others attending:
Fred C. Thompson (SMA Alumni Association Executive Director)
Doris Thompson (SMA Alumni Association Secretary)
A meeting of the Staunton Military Academy (SMA) Alumni Association/Foundation Board of Directors was held on October 12, 2001 at the SMA-VWIL Museum in Staunton, Virginia.
President Phillips called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM EDT.
In the absence of Secretary Mark Orr, President Phillips approved Mr. Alvan Arnall as secretary of the meeting.
The minutes of the July 27-28, 2001 Board meetings were approved with the exception that Mr. John Hooser is to be shown as present at the July 28, 2001 Board meeting.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Tom Davis reviewed the August 31, 2001 year-end, unaudited financial statements of both the Association and Foundation with the Board of Directors and answered a number of questions relating to them. He also advised that he and President Phillips would be meeting with a lawyer to discuss if there was any legal necessity to maintain both an alumni association and foundation in view of the activities now being carried on. They are also going to determine if Virginia corporate law allows Board of Directors meetings to be held via the Internet.
Finance Committee Report: Mr. Arnall, Chairman of the Finance Committee, expressed his opinion that it was important to build an unrestricted endowment. However, he agreed with Vice President Smith that certain accounts could be restricted subject to changes by the Board of Directors.
Executive Director’s Report: Fred Thompson gave the Executive Director’s report, a copy of which is attached to these minutes. His report revealed that the last weekend of July had been reserved at the Holiday Inn Resort & Conference Center for the 2002 SMA Annual Reunion. President Phillips mentioned that the SMA Memorial Wall would be dedicated at next year’s reunion.
Memorabilia & Inventory Report: Vice President Smith reported that Mary Baldwin had offered some space (either 10 ft x 12 ft or 10 ft x 14 ft) for the storage shed items.
On a motion that unanimously passed, the Board approved giving away all yearbooks in excess of the two complete sets and those on display in the museum.
Scholarship Committee: President Phillips advised that he was going to attempt to obtain an extension of the dollar-for-dollar match (up to $5,000) on contributions to the Foundation in support of the SMA Leadership Scholarship based on distribution of the next Kablegram. Mr. Arnall advised that his contribution in August was intended to go towards the $5,000 match. It was agreed that tax receipts would be sent to the purchasers of Brick Pavers and the SMA History videotape. The videotape tax receipt would be for the amount of $40, since $10 was more than sufficient to cover the Foundation’s cost to produce the tape and shipping & handling fees.
Museum Committee: Mr. Nicely, Museum Committee Chairman, recommended the production of a “cadet store” for the sale of SMA sweatshirts, ball caps, etc. He reported that there was going to be a local alumni reception in the museum soon. He discussed having seasonal displays.
Mr. Nicely next addressed the selection of individuals to be honored with plaques on the Memorial Wall. It was agreed that a committee to the Board would submit three nominations per year for approval. Any plaques paid for privately or by third parties would also require approval by both the committee and the Board. The first nominations are to be submitted to the Board at the February 4, 2002 teleconference Board meeting. The Memorial Wall Committee will be comprised of the following:
- SMA Museum Committee Members
VWIL Commandant
VWIL Cadet (Senior)SMA Alumni Directory: There was discussion on producing a new SMA Alumni Directory. Fred Thompson and Mr. Leeman are going to pursue a new alumni directory through Harris Publishing Company in New York. It is believed that Harris will do this at “no cost” to the Association/Foundation. There was a discussion about including several pictures of the museum. This project was unanimously approved by the Board on the basis of “no cost” incurred by the Association/Foundation.
SMA Web Site: Mr. Hooser reported on a proposal from Secretary Orr for a new SMA Web Site. He explained that content would be controlled. Secretary Orr is designing the site and Mr. Hooser showed a preliminary design. Out of several domain name choices, the Board chose www.smaalumni.org for the web site URL. (Note: this detail was not provided to Mr. Orr, so the purchased URL will instead be: www.sma-alumni.org). The web site is planned to be on line by December or early January 2002. Annual cost will be $193.95. The Board unanimously approved the SMA Web Site proposal.
Annual Reunion: There was agreement that the name badges for the Annual Reunion need to have much larger names on them than was the case last year, with possible emphasis on the first name.
SMA Alumni Association By-Laws: Secretary Orr submitted the following changes to the SMA Alumni Association By-Laws, which were unanimously approved by the Board:
- Article VI, Paragraph 6 – the word “Reestablishment” is replaced with the word “Scholarships”.
- Article VII, Paragraph 1 – the word “standing” is replaced with the word “permanent”.
- Article VIII, Paragraph 3 – ” ex-officio” is deleted from the first line and “of the
Board of Directors” is deleted from the second line.Kablegram: Development of a Kablegram via electronic publishing was discussed. Secretary Orr has been working closely with the publishing company to produce the next Kablegram electronically. He has obtained several article submissions via email and scanned others for editing. If successful, the “alumni” will begin producing the Kablegram in the future, leaving one less thing for the SMA office to do. The next Kablegram is scheduled for a mid-November mailing.
New Business: President Phillips read a letter from an alumnus proposing that VWIL graduates be brought into a joint SMA-VWIL Association/Foundation. There was a concern expressed about ultimately turning over the SMA Foundation to MBC graduates who could, and probably would diminish SMA displays in the museum and lock the scholarships into MBC. It was pointed out that if SMA Alumni established a permanent endowment, there would probably always be an interest within Staunton, such as the Staunton Historical Association, to keep the museum going indefinitely and beyond the lives of all SMA alumni. Also, planned giving might attract less interest. On the other hand, there was some expression of support of a VWIL inclusion. It was pointed out that this would help lock in the present location beyond the current lease. Also, it would immediately bring in alumni who were over twenty years younger than any current SMA alumni, and as long as the VWIL program was in existence, each year younger alumni would be added to have an interest in the museum and scholarships. The issue was tabled for further discussion during a teleconference Board meeting on February 4, 2002 at 7:00 PM.
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 PM.
Alvan S. Arnall
Secretary of the Meeting
