MINUTES OF MEETING – December 1, 2015

WEST POINT SOCIETY OF DENVER

Board of Directors Meeting

MINUTES OF MEETING – Tuesday, December 1, 2015

American Legion Post 1, 5400 East Yale Avenue, Denver CO 80222

1.       Call to order – Bob Walcott at 11:40 AM

a.       Eight Board Members in  Attendance with a ninth voting electronically (Dave Jackson), making a quorum.  Present were: Tom Carroll ’78, Joel Martin ’01, Bob Walcott ’78, Dave Ketter ’84, Lou Schroeder ’59, Robby Robinson ’68, Lindy Blackburn ’69, Sam Thiessen ‘73

b.       Mike Euperio ’03 attended again as a guest.  He is a prospective board member.

2.       Approval of minutes – Minutes from October 6^th meeting were approved. 

3.       Treasurer’s Report – The Treasurer’s Report emailed earlier by Treasurer Dave Jackson ’73 was reviewed along with the preliminary budget for 2016.  The budget will be voted on for approval at the January Annual Planning Meeting.

4.       Admissions Update – Carroll

a.       257 files were opened for the Class of 2020, 147 are still active including 8 letters of assurance statewide – 5 in the WPSD area.  25-28 statewide candidate acceptances are expected.

b.       Tom commented that overall ACT/SAT scores of applicants fell slightly from prior years.  Board members who sat on Congressional Candidate Review Panels this year also observed this general trend, with fewer standout applicants than last year.

c.       Tom reported that 13 College Fairs were attended this year and considers them to have been very productive.

5.       Distinguish Society Award Application – Robinson

a.       Robby reviewed a partially completed application handout with the board in detail.  He commented that the AOG form lends itself to micro-management for pursuing objectives compared to prior years.

b.       Consensus by the board was that Congressman Mike Coffman would make a good Friend of West Point nominee – A DSA meassure.  Lindy will ask Coffman if he would accept our nominating him for this distinction.

6.       Army-Navy Game – Walcott/MacDonald

a.       Bob circulated a flyer that will be emailed for the December 12^th event at the Sports Column on Blake Street in downtown Denver with the USNA Alumni Association.

b.       Jason Conner ’02 paid for Spirit T-shirts for the game at a cost of $94.60. The board voted to approve reimbursing him for this amount.

7.       Founders Day – Walcott

a.       It was noted that the current budget includes a payment to the University Club to reserve it for our FD event.  Bob will make this reservation payment.

b.       Bob reported that Vince McDermott has not yet confirmed our request for the Dean, BG Tim Trainor, as our FD guest speaker.  WPSD Vice President Brian MacDonald ’83 is the Dean’s classmate and might be asked to contact him if confirmation is not soon forthcoming. 

8.       Parents Club –Walcott

a.       Bob reported that the Parents Club will co-sponsor the Colorado All Service Academy Ball in Colorado Springs, at the Broadmoor, December 27, 2015.  No WPSD board members are planning to attend the Ball at this time.

9.       Quarterly Meeting Program – MacDonald/Walcott

a.       Sam reported that 1LT Shaye Haver, female Ranger stationed at Fort Carson, is on a deployment rotation schedule and might not be available as a Quarterly Meeting speaker for the next 12 months.

b.       Lindy suggested that we might be able to get Congressman Coffman as a speaker, and thought he would accept.  He will ask Mike Coffman if he would be our guest speaker for the next Quarterly Meeting.  There was a general consensus that Congressman Coffman should be nominated as a Friend of West Point and that a certificate to that effect be presented to him at the Quarterly Meeting. 

10.   Old Business

a.       Robby asked if we were doing anything with the Summer Leadership Session program at West Point.  It was pointed out that no one had applied for the program the last several years.  It was observed that a potential candidate who attends the SLS has an advantage when going before a Congressional Academy Candidate Panel, having shown strong interest is USMA.   

11.   New Business

a.       Lindy raised the issue that Jim Harrington ’62, WPSD Board Member Emeritus, had commented on in an email regarding the low number of paid-dues members.  Past efforts on increasing dues payment and possible new efforts were discussed.  This will be further discussed at the Annual Planning Meeting in January.

b.       Future WPSD meeting locations were discussed.  The board agreed that the current location, American Legion Post #1, was acceptable for our five meetings planned for 2016.  Lou moved the board approve paying up to $30 per meeting for the entire year’s five meetings, which passed.  Bob will negotiate with the Post for this purpose.

c.       Lindy requested that an email blast go out to the membership requesting names of those interested in becoming WPSD board members.  Bob said we will do this.

12.   Annual Planning Meeting

a.       The Annual Planning Meeting is scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, January 19, 2016, at Piccolo Restaurant.  Lou will check on reserving the space.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 PM.

Sam Thiessen took the minutes in the absence of the Secretary.