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Board of Directors
Washington, PA May 5, 2006 The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. by President Amanda Valko-Fritz. A quorum was present. (See attached attendance) The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as distributed on a motion by Ken Burkett, seconded by Bill Tippins. PASSED Treasurer’s Report—a written and verbal report was given by the treasurer. The expenses for the website, newsletter and new brochure were offset by the PHMC grant. Financial Discussion—the 2005-06 Budget was presented. The president will be pursuing a new grant during the next grant cycle from PHMC. Projects for the grant monies could be the National Register site, Archaeology Month educational materials and the website. The budget will be adjusted when we receive grant notification. Old Business Elmer Erb Permanent Fund/Reorganization—Kurt Carr reported on the financial state of the fund stating that the fund was not as profitable as in the past. The Elmer Erb Committee plans to pursue other, better investments as soon as the committee has its full membership. To that end, Kurt asked the president to appoint Roger Moeller to fill the unexpired term of Tom Kirshner. This was seconded by Paul Cowin. PASSED Election for new trustees will be held at Annual Meeting with Jim Herbstritt and Al Moore standing for re-election. The reorganization and new investment plan will be completed after elections. Membership—The treasurer reports that membership remains essentially the same with a slight increase. An influx of new memberships followed the Pennsylvania Farm Show display in January. The new promotional brochure seems to have been a good investment. Pennsylvania Archaeologist Status—Bill Tippins reported that the journal publication is essentially back on schedule. He thanked his editors, Bill Johnson, Verna Cowin and Paul Raber for their help. Keeping printing costs within the budget will be addressed in the future. Manuscripts for the fall issue are in hand. More will be needed for future issues. Verna Cowin entered a motion that the Secretary write a letter of commendation on behalf of the Society in appreciation for Bill’s accomplishment of getting the journal back on schedule, seconded by Doug Stine, PASSED Archaeology Month –SPA 2006—Amanda Valko reported that the committee would meet after the Board Meeting to discuss the SPA plans for Archaeology Month. The current problem is mailing in a timely fashion to ensure the educational items and posters are in hand early enough to be useful. Educational tools should be developed to reach our target audience of educators. Jim Herbstritt is in charge of the poster and is using the progression of points theme. This year will be the archaic point typology. Philip Perazio is compiling the calendar. All calendar entries must be to Philip as soon as possible with a deadline of June 30. Events after the deadline should be sent to the secretary for the SPA Newsletter and to the web-master, Brian Fritz for posting. Other suggestions were: a hand deliver packet to the legislative members and a proclamation by the Governor and possibly contact mayors of cities for similar proclamations. A chairman is needed for the committee. Annual Meeting Hosts—Mary Alice Graetzer thanked the Allegheny Chapter for hosting the 2006 meeting. The 2007 meeting is being hosted by the Forks of the Delaware Chapter in Bethlehem, PA. Date and details will be announced. The 2008 meeting will be hosted by North Fork Chapter. Ken Burkett entered a motion to schedule the Annual Meeting earlier in March or April to avoid conflicting with a variety of spring events. Since a March meeting would require a constitutional change, the motion was amended to the first or second week of April. A second to the motion came from Brian Fritz, PASSED. Ballot for Elmer Erb Trustees up for election at the Annual Meeting is as follows: Jim Herbstritt and Al Moore for six-year terms ending in 2012. Pennsylvania Farm Show--The SPA was well represented at the January Farm Show. The archaeology theme was well received with the dugout project being very popular with children. Informational handouts were provided by the SPA for distribution at the show and the return in membership seems favorable. If we participate in the future, we would like to provide a link to the Society’s website from the official PA Farm Show site, if possible. It would be another tool in raising our visibility. Consulting Party Report—The development of a standard treatment agreement for lithic scatter on small plow-zone sites was discussed by Ira Beckerman, Paul Raber (Philip Perazio was absent) and Steve McDougal. Philip Perazio and Paul Raber represented the SPAand PAC as members of the consulting party along with PennDot and PHMC. Discussion: § Responses of the consulting party partners do carry weight § A policy should not be forced upon CRM partners. The handling of cases should be individual and flexible according to setting and site. § A face-to-face discussion with PennDot and PHMC would better serve the resource management than a cut and dry policy for handling these sites. § A study of approximately 3 years of “old” collections from these types of sites should enable everyone to know how much effort should be spent on sites. The study would produce uniform standards. § The proposed standards are not necessarily the view of PennDot, PHMC, or other agencies but an attempt to provide a standard to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act. § It would be worthwhile to all parties to develop a treatment agreement. § Discussion and continued meetings are necessary for agreement on standards. New Business Tax exempt status—Society Vs. Chapter—Doug Stine suggested the Society discuss the pros and cons of obtaining a 501 c 3 status for individual chapters or using the Society tax numbers at the chapter level. The tax-exempt status would enable chapters to apply for grants and obtain items for chapter functions, tax-free and to accept tax-exempt donations. Cumberland Valley is looking into a 501 c 7 status versus a 501 c 3 and awaiting a ruling. 501 c 7 appears to be a simpler version of the IRS tax-exempt status. Cumberland Valley will report back on their experience at the next board meeting. Discussion: § The Society cannot be liable for the activities of the chapters in using the SPA number. There is no way to regulate the lawful use of the number if all chapters have the information. § The Society would be responsible for grant reports and other financial reports such as 1099 for administering grant monies, etc. § The treasurer produced a break down of points for achieving 501 c 3 status that showed the complexity of obtaining and maintaining a non-profit status. § Further discussion will follow at the next board meeting. Awards Committee—Newly appointed chairperson, Catherine Spohn reported on the awards process for 2006. Archey and J. Alden Mason Award nominations were received. No other categories received nominations. A new award for a dedicated lifetime achievement was discussed. This would be an award for persons who faithfully preserved the archaeological legacy of Pennsylvania in some manner for a long period or their professional lifetime. This could be an archivist, writer or educator as well as a field person. This award would be a special, infrequent nomination for a person with a lifetime of achievement completed. Catherine will be working on a description for this award and bring it back to the board. Cost of the awards was discussed. Estimates will be obtained. New certificates will also be produced. Noel Stratton has offered to keep track of the chapters for the Frances Dorrance award for site recording if recorders will fill out the chapter affiliation information on the site recording form. She can then report to the awards chairperson which chapter has recorded the most sites for the year. National Register Nomination—Shade Furnace—Brian Fritz reported that the second draft is almost finished. He has more information to add including photographs. He is addressing the comments made on the first submission. He will report back on the progress. Native American Program Sponsorship—A request from Steve Warfel asking the SPA to sponsor the October 14, 2006 program in Harrisburg. This event would be promoted as part of Archaeology Month in the SPA Newsletter and on the website. A motion for financial sponsorship at the level of $500 was made by Paul Raber, seconded by Doug Stine, PASSED Archaeological Legacy Institute—An Oregon educational group promoting the Archaeology Channel has asked for sponsorship and monetary support from the SPA. PAC is supporting this project. We will investigate the activities and worthiness of the project and bring the discussion back to the next board meeting. Discussion for the Good of the Society Peabody Museum Letter—A letter addressed to Philp Perazio was received by the secretary. It was a thank you for support offered in 2002 to the Peabody Museum in their financial and philosophical fight to survive according to their original mission. The successful outcome was due to letters of support from organizations such as the SPA. Bob Nale is celebrating 50 years in SPA. He was not able to attend the Annual Meeting as planned due to illness. Anyone wishing to do so can contact Bob and let him know he was missed. Congratulations are due our 50-year veteran. Roger Moeller entered a motion that the SPA board of directors enable the Trustees of the Elmer Erb Permanent Fund to perform the necessary financial functions for the upcoming year, seconded by Kurt Carr, PASSED The treasurer has also requested an audit of the fund. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Judy M. Duritsa Secretary
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