Minutes

(These are draft minutes until approved at the next Council meeting)

Alabama Council of Chapters

Military Officers Association of America

Council Meeting Minutes

April 14, 2009

1. Opening Activities.

a. The meeting was called to order by Council President, Peter Brambir, at 1000 hours at the Maxwell AFB Officers Club, Montgomery, Alabama.

b. A moment of silence was led by Peter Brambir and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Charlie Marvin.

c. Those in attendance were: Peter Brambir, Charlie Marvin, Chris Phillips, Richard Erickson, Mike Golden, Barbara Stamper, Glen Dunlap, Charles Block, Steve Linder, Hal Hicks, Ralph Drake, and Jim Wallace. Additionally, we had two guests: Carrie Hightower (Huntsville Chapter – Chapter Auxiliary) and Joan Drake (wife of Ralph).

2. Old Business.

Richard Erickson presented the treasurer's report which was approved as presented. A copy was furnished to each chapter president attending and the record copy is on file with the treasurer.

Charles Block presented the minutes of the Council meeting of January 13, 2009 which were approved with modification.

The modification is: There was an extensive discussion about how to share any monies provided to the council from MOAA. A motion was made and carried that the Huntsville, Montgomery and Fort Rucker chapters with the largest number of new MOAA members (according to MOAA statistics) would receive $100. The remainder of the chapters would share the remaining $400 as follows: 1st place $200; 2^nd place $100; 3^rd place $75 and 4^th place $25. In the event of a tie the winner will be decided by a drawing. The cash awards will be presented at the 1^st Quarter meeting in 2010. Chapter Presidents or their representative will have to be present to win.

Legislative Affairs – very little chance of getting anything passed during this session. Five bills are currently sitting in committee and none of them deal with MOAA. The Congressional scorecard on our website has been modified to include a column that contains MOAA bills and their voting track record.

Peter Brambir notified us that the certificate of appreciation was in Congressman Mike Rogers’ DC office and he would attempt to present it during his "Storming the Hill" trip.

Gold Bar Program – National’s inventory isn’t able to handle the demand from chapters. There was discussion as to what, if anything, the Council could do to assist our chapters in getting Gold Bars for ROTC graduations. One suggestion was to have the Council extend "upfront monies" to each chapter to purchase the bars with the chapters reimbursing the monies once National pays them the $10 per new National member. Peter Brambir asked to table this motion until after his "Storming the Hill" session. This is one item he plans to address with National during his trip. (Peter also plans to address the lack of adequate inventory of JROTC / ROTC medals and the possibility of funding Warrant Officers Bars.)

Peter Brambir made two Presidential trips this past quarter. First to Ft Rucker for the 50^th Anniversary celebration and second to Huntsville for the induction of Officers program. He is scheduled to visit East Central AL (Auburn) in May and South AL (Mobile) in June. He still is looking for chapters to visit in July and August. Contact him if you would like the Council President to visit your Chapter this year.

3. New Business.

Peter Brambir announced that the Ed Burkhalter (Dothan) Chapter (AL11) is no longer a chapter in good standing within the Council and therefore has no vote in Council matters. The Chapter failed to pay their 2009 annual member dues to the Council. Upon receipt of 2009 dues the chapter will once again become a voting Chapter in good standing.

Peter Brambir is representing the Council and State at the annual MOAA "Storming the Hill" program. He plans to meet with our local government officials to push the Big 3 issues for the year is addition to discussing the Air Force refueling contract. Peter plans to record his trip and send each chapter President an overview of the event for dissemination at local chapter meetings.

Motion was raised and passed to increase the official travel fund from $400 to $800 per year. This fund is a "first come first serve" account which will pay the expenses of the Council Board after receipts are submitted. This account is to be used by the President to reimburse him for any "official" trip he makes to visit chapters. In the motion the Treasurer will move $500 from 2008 ‘travel of officers’ line item to 2009 ‘travel of officers’ line item.

MOAA National updating the Chapter Handbook and Charlie Block sent a recommendation to Lee Lange regarding MOAA’s award program. He was asking if MOAA would consider adding three certificates in the handbook: Achievement (signed by Chapter President), Commendation (signed by Council President) and Merit (signed by Council President). This might help the chapters with community involvement and may get the state council more involved in chapters as well.

Alabama Department of Veterans’ Affairs (ADVA) meeting notes are posted to the Legislative section on our website. The state VA Advisory Board is more than advisory in nature. It has been granted statutory responsibility by the state to make decisions and allocate funds. The board has 11-12 voting members that suppose to represent all veterans, not just individual groups.

Huntsville Chapter has the MWR at Redstone Arsenal making wooden pens (Freedom Pens) for wounded Soldiers for $4.00.

Suggestion was made to fund some type of project with monies contained in the Council budget. The Council would like to hear from all chapters as to what type of project they would like to see funded by the Council.

7. Next Meeting. It was announced that the next meeting of the Council will be on Tuesday July 14, 2009 at the Maxwell AFB Officer’s Club.

8. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 1310.

Chris A. Phillips

Chris A. Phillips

Alabama Council of Chapters Secretary