AESC Meeting Minutes
2 April 2014
AESC MEETING MINUTES
2 April 2014
CALL TO ORDER @ 11:15AM
ATTENDEES: Kathy Moakler, Allison Chamberlayne, Debbie Rapp, Holly Scherer, Jackie Caldwell, Lynda Flowers, Anita Link, Connie Semonite, Priscilla Noah, Laura Putnam, Mollie O’Neill, Karen Anderson
LOCATION: The home of Priscilla Noah, 820 Arcturus-on-Potomac, Alexandria
MINUTES APPROVAL: The minutes for the February board meeting were emailed to the board on February 10, 2014. A motion was made by Mollie and seconded by Priscilla. The minutes were unanimously approved.
There were no minutes for March 2014, because the board meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather
PRESIDENT: Kathy Moakler
· Thanks to Priscilla for hosting and Mollie and Lynda for providing refreshments
· Rosemary has been having back problems so we wish her well. Thanks for organizing the Beer tasting.
HONORARY ADVISORS:
· Chief’s Spouse (Renee Bostick) - not present
· CSM Spouse (Vicky Groninger) - not present
· Civil Works Spouse (Joan Stockton) - not present
· Military Programs Spouse (Jackie Caldwell)
VICE-PRESIDENT: Rosemary Davis – not present, no report
SECRETARY: Allison Chamberlayne – no report
TREASURER: Debbie Rapp, The March Board meeting was not held due to inclement weather. The march Treasurer Report is included at the end of these minutes.
All receipts must be in by May 15th
1. Transactions: Checks (3), Deposits (3), Bank (Debit) Card (1), PayPal Transfers (4), Bank Fee (2)
2. Financial Status
Opening Balance: $19,452.29
Income: $ 1,853.14
Expenses: $ 1,991.83
Ending Balance: $19,313.61
PayPal Contingency $ 24.65
W&M Petty Cash: $ 200.00
W&M Inventory: $ 2,924.51
3. Treasurer’s Supplies: Ordered new checks and deposit slips. Updated the address on both items to reflect the current Chief of Engineer’s street address. Both checks and deposit slip information has to be the same address.
4. Membership:
New Member: 2 (PayPal - 2, 1 Extra Redbook)
Total paid members: 113
Continue to coordinate with Membership on tracking paid new members.
· Suggests two fee systems - full year and half year, start January 1st for half year
· Suggests adding $1 per membership for paypal, if you swipe using our card reader,(versus paying on line) the paypal fee, is cheaper
· Suggests the new membership application is removed from the web site in February or March and say that membership will open in the Fall. Be specific about what membership year your fee is for.
5. P.O. Box Rental Renewal: A check for $100.00 was submitted to the US Postal Service renewing AESC’s PO Box #6332, Size 1 (3”x5.5”). Renewal date: 31 Mar.
6. Reimbursement: Paid L. Putnam $102.38 for expenses with scholarship/awards.
7. V.P. Program: Beer Tasting event held at Mad Fox Brewing Company on 15 March 14. Twenty-six people attended the event. Ticket price was $35.00/person for cash/check and $36.00/person for credit card or PayPal Here. Thirteen people paid by PayPal Here. Service fee for $36 - ($0.97) and for $72.00 - ($1.94).
Income:
Ticket Sales: $ 455.00
Ticket Sales (PP): $ 468.00
$ 923.00
Expenses:
PayPal Fee: $ 12.61
Invoice $ 1,250.00
$ 1,262.61
$ (-339.61)
8. Knollwood Bake Sale: Was held on 19 Mar 14 at Knollwood.
Income:
Cash/Check: $ 450.00
PayPal: $ 22.00
$ 472.00
Expenses:
PayPal Fee: $ .60
$ 471.40
A donation letter was sent to the Army Distaff Foundation and Knollwood with a check for $450.00 for the Fellowship Assistance fund. Unfortunately, the proceeds from PayPal were not included in the original check. Same day that was identified, received a call from Priscilla Noah stating that she had received an additional check for $25.00 for the bake sale and would bring the check to the next board meeting. Upon receipt/deposit of the $25.00, a second donation letter will be sent to the Army Distaff Foundation and Knollwood for $47.00 - (PayPal monies plus additional donation). Total monies donated from Bake Sale will be $497.00.
9. Donation: The Engineer Command Council (ECC) donated $366.00 to AESC via C. Semonite. The implied intent of the donation was to put towards scholarships. Recommend giving donation to AEMA for general scholarship fund. C. Semonite has the contact information for the donor for a thank you correspondence letter she will forward that to Holly. The money was deposited into the AESC account but should go to AEMA. A motion was made by Lynda, and seconded by Mollie to donate the money to AEMA. Motion unanimously approved.
10. Projected Operating Budget for 2014-2015: Request for ALL board members - please review your board position’s projected income/expenses for the 2014-2015 board year. Please submit your projected income and/or expenses to Treasurer NLT April’s board meeting.
11. Budget Committee Meeting: Wednesday, 21 May 1830 hrs. Participants will be contacted by Treasurer
12. Financial Review of Books Meeting: Wednesday, 28 May - TBD. Participants will be contacted by Treasurer
13. Webmaster Renewals:
4/18/14: 1 yr Domain Name Registration @ 14.99/yr
4/18/14: 1 yr Domain Privacy Protection @ 10.99/yr
*** Both for Armyengineerspouses.com
Automatically renew 15 days prior to the expiration date listed above.
AEMA CHAIRMAN: Holly Scherer
· Right now in our account we have approx. $9,000 to use for AEMA scholarships. After my conversation with Laura I hear there may be more funds being donated to AEMA from AESC.
· I need to reach out to John Morris, Jr. to request a check for $3,000 for this year’s GKM Scholarship recipients.
· I would like help in reaching the Morris family to discuss transferring the money market accounts to the Morris family trust fund (or what ever the official name is). In order to do this I believe we need to sit down with the Morris family and work up an agreement to follow through with the commitments we (AEMA) entered with each GKM Scholarship recipient. I would like for one or two other members of the Executive Board to attend that meeting with me.
· Our AEMA money is not generating enough money to maintain the $4k per year commitment to our nursing students. We would like to give the $34k back to the family trust. Moved to transfer the GKM scholarship fund back to the Morris family to administer. Laura moved and Lynda seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
· Connie brought up that the graphic of the Morris family notecard is gone. During conversations with the Morris family, she requests that they be asked if they had access to the graphic. Also, she is under the impression that a percentage of the sales of this card should go to the GKM scholarship.
· Both of the above need to happen in the next 3 weeks. Two of the Money Market accounts will be maturing on 5-30-14. If we want to transfer this money then we need to meet and talk about how to move forward.
SCHOLARSHIP CHAIRMAN: Laura Putnam
Past Month: committee met on 3/11/14
· Received, processed and scored definitive values of 81 scholarships.
· Coordinated volunteer committee to score: Awards/Achievements/Honors; Sports; Extra-Curricular/Volunteer Activities; Employment; and Leadership. Each member was tasked with scoring just one portion, e.g. Sports, for all of the 81 scholarships to ensure a consistent frame of reference for each application.
· Received essay tally from our selected readers.
· Created a ranking spreadsheet with different worksheets showing the process of tallying the values for each portion of the scholarship, highlighting a Total Score for all.
· Met with Holly, reviewed ranking spreadsheet and compiled scholarship recommendations.
Upcoming Month
· Vote on the number of scholarships to award and monetary amounts of each. As I understand it there is about $14,000 available to award. Holly and I recommend 9 scholarships at $1000 each ($9000 total) or $1500 each ($13,500 total) each. Kathy moves that we give 9 $1000 scholarships. Seconded by Lynda. Motioned passed unanimously.
· Prepare “regret” letters for those who will not receive an award. Holly will prepare “congratulations” letters for those who did.
· Prepare certificates for those receiving scholarships.
Receipts Submitted
· Staples Files, Folders, pencils, staples, fasteners, paper – $102.38 (received reimbursement in March)
Just for fun: 2014 Scholarship Application Info
· 85 Applications received – just four were ineligible. 2 Reserve Engineers and 1 National Guard Engineer sponsors not on active duty. One dual Marine Couple.
· Applications were received from 28 of the 50 states as well as the European overseas locations. The most applications were received from Oregon (9) and Alabama (7). (AE-5, AK-3, AR-1, CA-2, GA-2, HI-1, IA-1, KS-1, KY-1, LA-1, MD-2, MN-4, MO-2, MS-3, NC-4, NJ-4, NM-1, NY-4, PA-3, SC-1, SD-1, TN-4, TX-3, VA-4, VT-1, WA-4, WI-2)
· Of the 81 completed applications, 21 have military sponsors with 12 currently serving, 9 retired from active duty and 3 applicants whose sponsor retired from active duty and is currently employed by USACE. 60 of our applicants have civilian sponsors currently employed by the Corps. 17 Officer sponsors (7 retired), 4 Enlisted sponsors (2 retired)
· Seven of our applicants chose to be considered for the GKM award. The highest scoring GKM applicant fell within the top 30 of scoring applicants.
· Top nine highest scoring AEMA applicants:
o 1 Army sponsor currently serving
o 1 Army sponsor retired
o 8 Corps of Engineer employee sponsors
o 1 Army sponsor retired and currently employed by the Corps
o 9 states represented (AL, CA, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OR, WA)
o 5 females, 4 males
o 5 scored 10 of 10 for GPA, 3 scored 9
o 1 scored 10 of 10 for SAT/ACT (34 ACT)
o Averaged 8.88 of possible 10 on the essay compared to 8.39 for all
o applicants
o All scored 17 points (out of 20) or higher for Awards, etc.
o None of the top nine experienced a move during their 4 years of
o High School
o 1 applicant maxed points (5 out of 5) in Leadership, 3 scored a 4.
· PARLIAMENTARIAN: Roz Riley - not present, no report
· MEMBERSHIP: Jackie Caldwell
· Redbook - due to weather and other meeting inconsistencies, this is our first opportunity to look at the Redbook together. Thanks Jackie, the format is great. The changes to the annual activities page were great.
· A question was raised as to whether national guard and reserve members are eligible for membership and AEMA awards. We will discuss at next meeting
· Consider giving all members at. Knollwood and The Fairfax honorary membership. We should not require dues from these members. We will discuss at next meeting
HOSPITALITY: Lynda Flowers
· Sent condolence cards. Roz's father (both when he died and when he went to hospice)
· May meeting will be at Laura's. Allison will provide refreshments.
· June meeting at Renee's (June 3rd). She will provide lunch. This is a joint board meeting (both incoming and outgoing board members)
· Lynda will send pat O’Neill a note in regard to the recovery from her fall. She sustained a shoulder injury.
NEWSLETTER: Karen Anderson
· Deadline for submission: April 25th
· Needs pictures of beer tasting
· Needs to publish slate - This month’s castle gram was delayed in order to include both the slate and the scholarship information
WEBMASTER: Susan Wright - not present, no report
FACEBOOK: Elizabeth Hill - not present, no report
CIRCULATION: Kara Anderson - not present, no report
RESERVATIONS: Anita Link
· Anita will make name tags for scholarship event Sunday May 4th. Please make RSVP by date with enough time for Anita to complete this task and ship to coordinator.
WAYS AND MEANS: Connie Semonite
Past Month:
• Processed, filled and mailed all Internet orders.
• Continued inventory preparation – wrapping, pricing, boxing,
labeling, etc.
• Maintained inventory tracking
• Input and updated merchandise on web-site
• Created 2014-15 Budget
Current Issues
· There will be no ways and means table at the scholarship luncheon
· Brainstormed ideas on how to offer member discount online
· May 21-22 SAME conference in Orlando - Connie will drive down and sell at the event.
· Passed out a inventory sheet indicating what items she would like to order
· Connie moved to spend $1750 on new ways and means inventory. Allison seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
· Connie suggests we need a tri-fold brochure with club information. Something to give buyers when/if customers ask. Looking for a volunteer to create. We will ask Karen to see if she can handle this. Kathy will contact her. Funds for this would be from publicity
Upcoming Month:
• Research Williams/Morris notecards
• Continue inventory requirements
• Coordinate SAME – Orlando – May ‘14
NOMINATIONS: Bette Meuleners/ Pat O’Neill - not present, report emailed
· As per AESC’s Constitution and By-Laws, in March the Nominating Committee presents a slate of officers for the upcoming year (2014-2015).
· At the April function, we conduct our election. After the election, the newly elected President appoints the committee chairmen, often with the help of the Nominating Committee.
The following are the committee’s nominations for the elected officers:
President – Connie Semonite
Vice President/Secretary* – Allison Chamberlayne
AESC Treasurer – Kathy Moakler
AEMA Chairman/Treasurer – Holly Scherer
*Allison volunteered to switch to the VP position and still cover the duties of the Secretary until a new volunteer is found. If you might have an interest in taking over as Secretary, please let Bette know!
· The Nominating Committee will give the new President the names of volunteers for most of the committee chairperson positions. If you’re interested in being on the board, we do have a few empty slots ... let Bette Meuleners know! The committee chairpersons will be announced in the Castle Gram.
· Tentative appointed committee chairpersons:
AEMA/Scholarship -- Laura Putnam
Membership -- Jackie Caldwell
Parliamentarian – Roz Riley
Welfare/Services --Kimberly Oborski
**Ways and Means/Castle Boutique --
Hospitality -- Lynda Flowers will stay for now
Reservations -- Anita Link
Media Team--