NATIONAL
ARMY SECURITY AGENCY ASSOCIATION
Board of Directors Meeting Report
May 17, 2003
Board of Directors (BOD) Roster:
Seat #6-William Luker- Chairman
Seat #1- Bill Jacobson- PX
Seat #2-Lon Mitchell- Vice Chairman
Seat #4-Charlie Ziehl- Past Secretary
Seat #5-Wayne Atwell-Treasurer
Seat #3-Larry Ridgway- Information Technology (Webmaster)
Seat #7-Duke Dodge- Secretary
Report of May 15, 2003 BOD Meeting: (Secretary)
I. Meeting Call to Order (Chairman) at
9:00 PM (EST).
II. Roll Call (Secretary):
All present. Other obligations prevented our Webmaster, Larry Ridgeway, from
attending the complete meeting. We
adjusted the agenda to accommodate him.
He completed his Website Report and left the meeting at 9:41 PM.
III. BOD Disposition of Past Reports
A. Reading of Last Meeting Report
(Secretary)
The February 20, 2003, Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting Report was distributed
to the BOD as an attachment to today's meeting agenda by the Chairman. The
previously reviewed and approved Report was posted on the NASAA Website on
February 27, 2003.
Chairman's Note - All meeting
minutes/reports will be circulated among the BoD by email. A concise synopsis will be posted to the
Website once approved. Minutes/reports,
once posted to our site, are official.
B. Treasurer's Report (Treasurer)
The Treasurer's Report was attached to the meeting agenda by the Chairman. The
report shows a balance of $ 6,439.23 in the Treasury a/o February 28, 2003. The
Treasurer's report was approved as written, without discussion.
Chairman's Note - Meetings are held
every other month; however, effective immediately, the Treasurer, Wayne Atwell,
will prepare reports on a monthly basis.
Each will be circulated among the BoD by email and, upon approval, be
posted to the Website. Reports, once
posted to our site, are official.
IV.
Assorted Reports (Summarized for the benefit of the membership)
A.
Website Report
·
The BoD continues to work on site enhancements. At Wayne's suggestion, a new feature has
been added called DATELINE and he
provided the first input. We hope the
membership will keep us busy with contributions. Duke has volunteered to provide the second one.
·
We've been having trouble with some member-requested
links. The Webmaster reports that link
problems have been corrected. Larry
requests to be notified if anyone continues to have a problem.
·
The BoD has always wondered what features the membership
likes and areas where the membership may feel there are flaws. Constructive criticism is always welcome. The Webmaster notified the BoD that our site
provider has tools that provide for site analysis and will provide samples to
the BoD ASAP. The BoD is going to take
advantage of any tool we can as we continue to improve the site.
·
The Webmaster was asked if he is receiving and posting
reunion news from the membership. He
indicated that he has been soliciting information and that postings are
current.
·
The subject of hacking was raised. There is no evidence of any deliberate attempt to hack in to or
to interfere with our site. The
Webmaster is comfortable that our provider has good controls in place to
prevent problems.
Chairman's Note - It has been said, in
other ways and places, that we need membership participation in site
development and maintenance. We worry
about what the membership thinks when material has the appearance of being
outdated and/or of not frequently being updated. Our site is huge. We need
ideas and your input, particularly if it comes in a form that can be posted as
new data on the site. We don't have
anyone that can handle the day to day effort it would take, for example, to
keep the Antenna Field alive and well on a continuous basis.
B. PX Status
· Jake submitted his PX Inventory Report to the BoD via e-mail on May 3, 2003. The report tabulated the type, and quantity on hand of all the patches and stickers that are on sale at our PX. He reports that his biggest seller is the "LFCF" NASAA sticker and that it's time to reorder. The report was accepted by the BoD, without exception.
· As a business practice issue, the need for a formal vote to authorize reorder of PX stock was raised. The BoD determined that maintaining inventory did not require a vote. Normal practice will be to reorder when a stocked item is 50% depleted. The S-4 is to send an FYI email to the BoD members when we reach that point so that expenditures can be deferred if funds are short.
Chairman's Note - Dollars
earned will be posted to the monthly Treasurer's Report. Inventory reports will not be posted to the
site. If anyone has a compelling reason
for wanting this information, please let the BoD know and it will receive due
consideration.
C. Membership
· The Treasurer advised the BoD, via an May 14, 2003 e-mail, that the membership number is still hovering around 500.
· During every meeting the BoD grapples with how to retain and attract new members. The foolproof solution still eludes the BoD. The Secretary continues to send renewal notices when Re-Ups are due. BoD members jointly agreed that it would be nice to find some way to entice the new generation of SIGINTers to get involved. Suggestions are welcomed.
V. Old Business
A. PX Items
1. New ASA Patches and Caps
· Duke introduced recommendations for our "Vendor Direct Sales" section of the PX. Two new ASA patches (ASA Cold War Veteran Patch & new ASA Korean War Veteran Patch) have been designed and are available for sale by Hoover's Manufacturing Company. Hats with patches attached may also be purchased. Color pictures of the new patches were forwarded to the BoD, via e-mail, prior to the meeting.
· Individual patches will cost $ 4.95 plus shipping and handling.
· A Cap with an attached patch will cost $ 14.95 plus shipping and handling.
· The BoD voted to add the patches and/or patches and hat to our "Vendor Direct" site and will post pictures ASAP. Sufficient information will be provided on the site to enable members to fax or phone their orders to Hoovers. Online ordering is not available, but may be at a later date.
· The BoD addressed use of a disclaimer for vendor direct sales. The Vice Chairman volunteered to write the disclaimer and forward it to the BoD for approval at a later date
2. Jackets
Background from February 20,2003 BoD Meeting
The Treasurer sent the BoD members pictures of JACKETS via a January 19, 2003
e-mail. Wayne proposed that the NASAA Website offer a lightweight jacket that
would be made available through "Vendor Direct Sales" supplier,
Evergreen Designs (they make the Polo Shirts now offered on our Website). Discussion stalls because of the difficulty
in establishing the Logo designs to offer and to determine the set-up/art work
costs. The purchase of a jacket with
Logo is a customer relationship with the vendor. NASAA fronts the cost of set-up and artwork.
Chairman's Note - Set-up
and Artwork costs are an issue. Average
cost per design is $250. If the jacket
goes for $50 (+/-), and art/set-up goes for $250, and only one member buys a
jacket with that design...that's a $300 (+/-) jacket!
· The BoD voted to make a jacket available on our "Vendor Direct Sales" branch of the PX. The cost of the jacket will be $50 (+/-) and subject to change.
· The Logo selections remain a working issue. As existing artwork can be used without cost to NASAA, Wayne will contact Evergreen to find out what is available.
· A jacket and available designs will be posted to the "Vendor Direct Sales" section of the PX ASAP, including pictures.
Chairman's Note - For the
benefit of new members or first-time visitors, our PX is 3 branches. First, we
stock small items. Second, we provide
members access to vendors willing to deal in ASA related goods in our
"Vendor Direct Sales" branch.
Vendor Direct Sales are directly between the vendor and you the
customer. We make every to establish
quality standards going in, but cannot guarantee what the vendor provides. If there is a problem, let us know, but
working the fix with the vendor is between the customer and the vendor. We haven't been shafted yet. Finally, ASA links are our 3rd branch. Here we provide you links to ASA
clubs/groups that already have stuff available. We provide a service by helping you find them and they win
because you did. ASA All the Way!
B. F2F PLANNING
The Vice Chairman attempted to get BoD agreement on a time period for holding
the 2003 Face to Face (F2F) meeting of the NASAA Board of Directors in Helena,
Montana. Scheduling conflicts this summer necessitate need to table a F2F this
year. The F2F will be an event to be
re-considered at a later date, not forgotten.
VI New Business
· The Chairman made a motion to have the by-laws changed to add two additional BoD seats specifically to be occupied by past or current members of INSCOM. Due to the time constraints of the meeting, it was agreed to review and discuss the merits of the Chairman's motion via e-mail.
· The Chairman informed the BoD of a recent visit to Ft. Huachuca during which time he met several former ASAers and a NASAA member (both husband and wife are members). He made contacts that may significantly improve ability to get historical data on our site. More info will be made available to the BoD through e-mail.
· While at INSCOM, the Chairman mentioned our difficulty holding meetings by keyboard from all across the country. A highly placed former ASAer may have a working solution that will permit meeting via audio/video chat mode. How to do it is a working issue. This may entail purchase of video cams and headsets for members of the BoD (@ $60 +/- per BoD member). This equipment would be passed on when BoD membership changes for any reason.
Chairman's Note - INSCOM
personnel are eligible for full membership in the NASAA. We need em to get involved, to join, and to
maintain our heritage. We need to get
the youngsters involved. It's time to
mend broken fences and make the family whole.
That family is the folks that did and continue to do the SIGINT mission,
regardless of what the call themselves.
VII Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned by the Chairman at 23:00 EST
Respectfully submitted:
Don Dodge, Secretary
NASAA