MINUTES OF MEETING

ALBANY-SARATOGA BASE, USSVI

Location: Mohawk American Legion Post 1450 Clifton Park, NY

  Meeting Date:  January 19, 2005

• The regular meeting of the Albany-Saratoga Base was called to order by CDR Singleman at 7:05 p.m. with 16 members present.
• The first order of business was the installation of 2005 Base Officers. Outgoing CDR Singleman administered the oath of office to the new officers. They are CDR – Bob Ondek, Sr. Vice CDR – John Cook, Jr. Vice CDR – Mike Stoneback, Secretary – Jim Irwin, and Treasurer – Fred Carlson.
• The Chaplain offered a prayer and the crew saluted the colors and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
• The Muster List was passed around for all present to sign along with a copy of the minutes of the previous meeting for all to read.
• The Bell was tolled for Boats lost during the month of January.
• All members present stood and introduced themselves and the boats they served on.

There were no WWII Veterans present but a word of thanks was given for their service.

The Base Secretary reported there was a quorum present.  The minutes of the previous months meeting have been either mailed or e-mailed to the members and therefore the reading of these minutes of was waived. A motion was made by Al Singleman and seconded by Fritz Feldhaus to approve the minutes.

The Base Treasurer’s report gave his report for the months of December and January. The ending bank balance for the Base is $9604.04. A motion to approve the report was made my Mike Stoneback and seconded by Frank Dorchak.

Additionally a report was given on the status of our Memorial Fund. The balance in this fund is $701.16. This fund will be used to fund our Submarine Monument that will serve as a memorial for all New York State submariners lost while in service of their country.

Discussion of Executive Board Meeting

CDR Ondek reviewed items that were discussed at the Executive Board meeting held earlier this month.

• CDR Ondek passed out a sheet listing all Executive Board members and Committee Chairmen.
• Possible changes in Tolling the Boats done at meetings – video, slides, eliminating the music. We will work to find the best combination that result in a quality ceremony.
• The possibility of re instituting telling “sea stories” and viewing episodes of the Silent Service television shows. Also, having guest speakers and/or presenters at the meetings.
• We need a new Base Librarian as Bruce Mitchell spends winters in Arizona. Also needed are a publicity chairman and some folks who are willing to be photographers at our Base functions. Finally, a Base Historian is needed. If you are interested contact CDR Ondek.
• Frank Dorchak has donated a banner with the USSVI Creed on it. We will mount this on the dais at each of our meetings to assist members with reciting the Creed.
• A permanent meeting place was discussed. The Mohawk Post American Legion in Clifton Park has offered us their larger meeting room to accommodate our growing membership. (114 at last count)  The Adirondack Post American Legion in Saratoga Springs is large enough and offers us the use of their kitchen facilities. A few of the local Elks were checked out and require a payment for use. 
• Also, we would like to hold a public Tolling of the Boats Ceremony as we did two years ago in Saratoga. The location of the Ceremony needs to be decided upon. 
• It was previously decided that any profit from the Convention would be place into the Base Memorial Fund. We would like to insure the money is in some type of interest bearing account. We will have some financial consultants appear before the membership to help us determine our options. Also on this topic we hope to designate this account as a 501 (3) (c) fund and divorce ourselves from National with respect to this undertaking. This would allow us to be in direct control of our Memorial Fund and not be subject to having all our financial dealings go through National. We have an attorney who is investigating this matter for us at no charge to us. 
• Although there are several possible locations for our planned Memorial the preferred spot is in Saratoga Springs on Rt. 9 just past the new Marriott Hotel. CDR Ondek is going to schedule a meeting with the appropriate people to discuss our plans. Frank Hardick gave a short presentation on what the Memorial will look like and Al Singleman talked about the procedure we need to follow to get a sail from the submarine recycling program.

 New Business

 One of our newer members Ken Schunk made available to the membership a number of posters of “The Evolution of the US Navy Submarine Force”. These posters had been given to him by John Crouse who is a curator at the St. Mary’s Submarine Museum in Georgia as a donation to our Base.

The 50 – 50 drawing was held and Will Asher was the winner. He donated his winning to the Memorial Fund.

 A motion to adjourn was made by Tom Glenn and seconded by Fritz Feldhaus.

 The next regular meeting will begin at 7:00 on February 16, 2005.  This meeting will be held at the American Legion Post 1450 on Grooms Road, Halfmoon, NY.

 Submitted by:
Jim Irwin
Albany-Saratoga Base
Pride Runs Deep

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