MINUTES
CASSARLAUX Board Meeting April 17, 2015
Meeting Called to order by President Karen Carlson at 9 AM.
Present: Board members Karen Carlson, Karen Faulkinbury, Coreena Ross, Un Hui Yi Fosdyck, Conni Barker, Lisa Gregory,Karen Dodd, & Karen McKelvie.
Minutes of November meeting were read and approved as read.
President’s Report: Karen C. will be passing on the president’s book to Lisa. The CASSARLAUX pins have run out, and she is dealing directly with the vendor. She will receive a quote Monday April 19. It was decided to order 100. Karen C asked Un Hui to contact the SAR webmaster to change our address on the website. Tomorrow we will need a motion from the general membership to change the signatories on the Congress Fund, and will need a copy of the motion in the minutes to send to the fund administrators. Tomorrow afternoon, the old and new officers will have a training meeting following the Memorial Service. Karen would also like to arrange for ongoing, regularly scheduled audits of the treasurer’s records and the Congress Fund. Auditor is to be a current CASSAR officer or a CASSAR past president.
1st VP: Karen F. reported that the speaker will be Abigail Adams, aka Judith Helton.
2nd VP: Coreena will break away tomorrow right after the general membership meeting to set up prize table. Other board members will help her. Coreena needed a hotel room to store the raffle items and Karen C. offered her room.
Presentation from NSSAR immediate past president Joe Dooley: Joe appeared to thank us for our annual, ongoing support for the NSSAR American History Conference every year since it began, and to tell us we have a year off. The major expenses are stipends and travel, lodging and food for the presenters. He has received a major donation this year for ½ the cost of the conference. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association is co-sponsoring the conference this year, and is providing lodging and food for the presenters. Between those, the cost of the conference is covered this year. The conference is a high-level academic one which creates a peer-reviewed publication of the papers presented. For the first time, scholars who are foreign nationals will be presenting (professors from major French universities, including the Sorbonne). A group in France, with American contributions, has built a reproduction of Lafayette’s flagship the Hermione, and the conference has been scheduled to coordinate with the arrival of that ship at Mount Vernon. Next year, the conference may be in California and address Spanish Revolutionary War participation. Joe is working with a professor at UCSB.
Treasurer: We are now on the same fiscal year as the men, the calendar year. The cost of mailing our newsletter is about ½ the cost of the annual dues. Karen Dodd mails it. The budget was approved in November, so Lisa distributed a report on where we are. Currently, our checking account contains $6488.48. There will be several checks written this weekend to the winners of the youth contests. It contains one new item from prior years, $250 to host the hospitality suite at the national Congress. Un Hui squeezes every penny, but it is difficult to run on the $750 provided by the men. We will reimburse Un Hui up to $250 for expenses she incurs over the $750. For many years, it has been the only hospitality suite at national Congress. Karen D gave a history of it. It was begun by the Magerkurths to show easterners that we Californians are “good people.”
Lisa raised an issue with respect to checking charges. Bank of America charges us $17 per month for checking, as they have only personal and business accounts and we are not personal. $17 is the lowest business rate, and we must pay it any month we go below $5000. Can we go to a credit union and get an account that is free or less expensive?
MOTION: Authorize Lisa Gregory and Karen Carlson to investigate credit unions or other financial institutions that will give us free or lesser-cost checking, authorize Lisa to move the account to reduce our costs. If they find such an establishment, e-mail the details to the board for an electronic vote of approval. PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Registrar: Karen Dodd reported that we have about 44 paid members for this year. She left on 23 people from 2013, since members come and go. There are 38 non-renewals. She has received numerous phone calls from women who have complained about various things. Tomorrow, Karen Carlson will solicit suggestions for things the members would like to see/do at our general membership meetings.
Historian: Un Hui said that the scrapbooks are up to date, and she is now doing #6. She added the 2014 SAR Conference on the American Revolution to the scrapbook. She has also added photographs, newsletters and minutes from the fall 2014 BOM meeting. She has also sent these items to the CASSAR webmaster and they are posted on the website.
Congress fund report: Karen C. distributed the financial report for the Congress Fund, whichhad a balance of $20,525.03 as of March 31, 2015. Overall average return has been 4.81%. There will be a motion tomorrow to modify signatories. This fund was set up years ago to help the men, who often did not have enough money for Congress. Because of problems with other states running the national Congress, the national office now runs the Congresses to minimize problems. National now makes the ultimate decision on venues. Its representatives were in Orange County a few weeks ago.
Nominating Committee Report: Karen C. announced the following nominations for 2015-16 officers:
- President: Lisa Gregory
- 1st VP: Conni Barker
- 2nd VP: UnHui Yi Fosdyck
- Secretary: Karen McKelvie
- Treasurer: Karen Carlson
- Registrar: Karen Dodd
- Historian: Janet Brown
- Chaplain: Presidential appointment
The nominees on the slate were approved by unanimous acclamation.
OTHER: Trudy Burt, a new general member, introduced herself.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Conni Barker, Secretary
1