| Board of Directors Meeting State Museum, Harrisburg February 9, 2002 The meeting was called to order at 12:25 p.m. by first Vice-president, Paul Raber. There was a quorum present (attendance attached/1 proxy). The minutes of the last meeting were accepted as distributed on a motion by Mark McConaughy, seconded by Catherine Spohn. The Treasurer, presented a written and verbal report. The reports reflected the projected and actual budgets for 2001 and 2002. Corrections were necessary for the inclusion of grant monies and the cost of only one journal publication in 2001. Paul has alerted the board of the possibility of reaching the taxable income limit for reporting to the IRS. We will need a close accounting to manage grant money and income to avoid taxation. Kurt Carr presented the Elmer Erb Report updated as of January 2002. The fund is reasonably profitable now after the losses from last year's stock market investments. OLD BUSINESS Revision of the SPA Constitution-Committee chair, Verna Cowin, reported the last input from the chapters to reflect a need for a senior citizen category in Article X Membership. A motion was made by Doug Stine to include this category in the constitution revision, seconded by Mark McConaughy. PASSED Verna asked for a motion to close the two year revision process and place the document up to the vote of the membership at Annual Meeting in April. This motion was enter by Ed Dlutowski, seconded by Doug Stine. PASSED 2002 Archaeology Month Planning- Amanda Valko presented for the board?s approval the prototype layout of the poster developed with the help of the Army Corp. Engineers for the 2002 poster featuring the Leetsdale site. The board has expressed its approval with the inclusion of the usual donors for Archaeology Month being listed on the poster. We have asked also to have permission to use the theme of the poster throughout for bookmarks, and the cover of the Archaeology Month Events Calendar, as well as educational materials being developed for use with the membership and educational outreach programs of the SPA and PAC. Number of posters, deadlines for printing and final sponsors details are being discussed at this time. Mark McConaughy representing PAC will communicate their needs to Amanda before finalizing this project. President Philip Perazio arrived to conduct the remainder of the meeting. Chapter Forum on Membership-Ginger Dlutowski reported on the outline for the forum that she and Mary Alice Graetzer have put together as a workshop at Annual Meeting. Many suggestions from board members were incorporated in the format for discussion. They included, education opportunities with home school organizations, awards of student memberships as prizes for essay contests, etc., Career Prep programs at the local Community Colleges, and educator in the workplace projects in the local school systems. It was decided to ask the program chair to reserve the time slot after lunch on Saturday for the workshop to be presented to members. All chapters are asked to designate a representative to this forum. The forum will be an open workshop and all members are asked to participate. Increased membership is necessary for the SPA and its chapters to remain viable. This is an opportunity to exchange ideas and develop handout materials for membership promotion. Private Collections Policy-President Philip Perazio reported on the growing need to develop a policy to advise collectors of the proper disposition of artifact collections so that the cultural resources will not be lost. The obvious reluctance of the collector to have items leave the local area was expressed with mixed opinions from board members. Due to regulations of state Vs federal rights to certain artifacts, there are many gray areas that need to be defined in a policy of recommendation from the SPA. To this end the board has determined to form a collections conservation committee to research and establish a working policy for the society with guidelines for local historical societies and collectors. The suggestion was made to steer local historical groups to the grant process for funding of collection cataloging and curation. The president will ask Stephen Warfel to chair the committee with volunteer members approved by the president as follows: Bill Johnson, Donna George and Paul Raber. T-shirt sales promotion-Ed Dlutowski and his committee wore samples of the clothing that can be purchased with the embroidered SPA logo and name. With the board?s approval, an assortment of clothing will be available for sale at Annual Meeting with order forms for future purchases. A motion was made by Bill Johnson to provide $912 as seed money to purchase an initial supply for sale and display, seconded by Amanda Valko. PASSED NEW BUSINESS John Shrader Memorial-Catherine Spohn reported on the January 6, 2002 memorial service held for John. She brought copies memorial books from the service for the Society and members of the board. The service was well attended and a number of people in John?s archaeology ?family? spoke of their personal experiences with John. John?s absence will be felt by many. Jean Cutler, Bureau for Historic Preservation spoke on the
use of grants and National Register Sites to emphasize Pennsylvania?s archaeological
sites and to increase public support for archaeology. She emphasized
educational programs for the promotion of archaeology in the state in conjunction
with Archaeology Month and other year long activities. The SPA's
membership forum is planning to use educational opportunities as a part
of the plan for promoting membership in the SPA. Ms. Cutler suggested
the reintroduction of recorded archaeological sites for consideration for
the National Register. Since this process has been less than successful
in the past, it was decided to choose a good site from those files previously
offered to resubmit. Ms. Cutler also suggested that supplemental grants
for this project be submitted to PHMC by the April 1st deadline. Since
the past Historic Preservation Plan in Pennsylvania has been ?structures
over sites?, the grant applications will have to address the importance of
the sites to the Historic Preservation Plan and with luck to a National Register
Site. Sites from the files will be revisited with Fishbasket and the Wylie
Site as possibilities. Ms. Cutler also suggested that the Society send
a letter to the Governor thanking him for his continued support of the budget
for historic and archaeological grant funding. The president agreed
to send a letter from the SPA. Elmer Erb Nominations- Two positions are up for election at Annual Meeting for trustees for six year terms. Kurt Carr has agreed to stand for re-election and the chairman has suggested another candidate. That candidate has been contacted and acceptance of the nomination is awaited. If there is no acceptance the board will need a nominating committee. The March newsletter will carry the slate for election. Tracking Life Members- Treasurer, Paul Cowin was looking for a way to track life members to ensure they are receiving their mailings and the journal. It was suggested that a return postcard be included with the mailing of their membership cards to confirm addresses. This can be done since this is a first class mailing which will be forwarded and not the usual bulk mail. We will try this method in the next mailing cycle. 2002 Annual Meeting-Call for papers- There are a few time slots left for the program at Annual Meeting. Contact Mary Ann Mogus, program chair to present a paper. The membership forum workshop has asked for a slot on the regular program for their workshop. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 2:55
p.m. Respectfully submitted, Judy M. Duritsa
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