Safeside Association

Board of Directors/Executive Council Meeting

1 Aug 2016

 

                                            

OPENING REMARKS:

 

President Jerry Nelson opened the meeting at 1330, in the Base Defense Group Conference Room, Moody Air Force Base Georgia.

 

President Nelson introduced Colonel Kevin Walker, Commander, 820^th Base Defense Group and presented him with a Safeside Association Challenge Coin. President Nelson invited Colonel Walker to provide introductory remarks.

 

Colonel Walker provided a brief overview of his career, particularly, his previous association with the 820^th BDG and Safeside. Colonel Walker pledged that he would do everything allowable under the law and Air Force Instructions, to promote the Safeside Association and its mission.

 

After Colonel Walker’s inspiring remarks, President Nelson thanked all the attendees for being there. President Nelson emphasized how proud he, and the other Safeside Association members are of the fantastic job the young Safesiders are doing in their deployed missions.

After President Nelson’s remarks, he had each of the Board Members introduce themselves and tell which unit they were representing.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

·       Secretary Gary Jones read the Minutes from the 2015 Meeting. Rick Adams made a motion that the Minutes be accepted, as read. Motion was seconded by Bill McGraw. Motion passed. (CLOSED)

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

·       Membership Chairman Rick Adams briefed on current Membership and retention rates. We now have 43 members from the 820th BDG and its subordinate Squadrons. This is an average increase of 11 per year for the past two years.

         

·       Rick Parsons asked if the Safeside name or logos were copyrighted or trademarked.  President Nelson provided a lengthy explanation of our effort to incorporate, which also included trademarking our name. Apparently, a company in Texas has already trademarked “Safeside” but was willing to sell it to us, for a 6-figure fee. Obviously, we declined. We feel like we can use the name, with impunity, since the name was first used by the Department of the Air Force, in 1966. (CLOSED)

·        

·       A motion was made by Rick Parsons, and seconded by Pete Villarreal, to determine if we can trademark the shape and design of the Safeside decal tab. After some discussion, it was determined that our vendor for the decal would probably have right of first refusal, for pursuing a trademark on any item he markets. It was deemed not to be feasible for the Association to pursue a trademark, for reasons noted above. (CLOSED)

 

·       Rick Parsons briefed attendees on the 820^th BDG initiative to form Chapters, as a way to promote Membership. Attendees applauded Rick and the 820^th BDG for their initiative. (CLOSED)

 

·       Pete Villarreal opened a discussion about whether to allow commercial vendors to have links on our web site. Some benefits were described but it was determined that those vendors would actually be competing against our BX sales. Additionally, there could be some presumption that the Association would be responsible for the quality of and prompt delivery of the vendor’s merchandise. The attendees agreed we shouldn’t allow competing links, on our site.  (CLOSED)

 

·       President Nelson commented that a large part of our operating budget comes from BX sales, especially during Reunions. Piggy-backing on the discussion, Bill McGraw made a motion that we front-load funding for the BX to add inventory for the Reunions. Mr McGraw opined that additional inventory will translate to additional sales. The motion was seconded by Gary Jones. An amount, not to exceed $1,000 will be “fenced” to increase the BX inventory. Lead time for procurement and delivery of the items, necessitates that we press ahead with this, as soon as we firm up the Reunion dates. (OPEN – OPR: Mr Nelson, Mr Villarreal, Mr Parsons and Mr Silhavy)

 

·       Senior Airman McCray introduced herself as the new Newsletter Editor. She emphasized the need for relevant and interesting articles and photos. Future issues will include a “Falcon’s Rest” column or side-bar, to acknowledge the passing of Safesiders. It was also determined that the Newsletter will continue to be distributed free of charge.

 

·       There was a brief discussion of our web page. We determined that it is impractical to have live streaming or a Blog for our web site. We don’t have the bandwidth to have live streaming of Safeside events. A Blog must be updated at least once daily. We don’t have the resources to do that. We will also be adding a link for Members or Visitors to our web site to be able to contact our Veteran’s Service Officer for advice on VA Claims.

 

·       Bobby LeFever briefed on the need to maintain an accurate inventory of historical artifacts displayed at the 820^th BDG and the SF Museum. Mr LeFever further discussed the need to develop a “contingency plan,” for the artifacts,  in the event the 820^th BDG is deactivated or relocated. (OPEN - OPR 820^th BDG)

 

·       Dave Pierson suggested that we emplace a memorial bench at the Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, to recognize Safeside members, past, present and future. Mr Pierson provided handouts, showing a bench design and the proposed location. It would be co-located with the Vietnam Security Police Association, Air Force Security Forces Association, SAC Elite Guard Association benches, at the Defender Memorial statue. Mr Pierson has already done the preliminary work with the Museum Curator (Ms Lynch) and has the cost estimates, including design, purchase and perpetual care. A motion was made by Gary Jones and seconded by Bill McGraw, to proceed forward with this project. Funding will be accomplished through fund raisers, donations and the Association Treasury. (OPEN: OPR – Mr Pierson, President Nelson)

 

·       Mr Villarreal mentioned that we need a new Historian. Dr Jack Brokaw, our Historian for many years, recently passed away. (OPEN)

 

·       Ray Silhavy, Association Treasurer, gave an overview of the Treasurer’s Report. Our opening Balance, on 1 Jan 2016, was $15,111.75. That included funds in our bank and Pay Pal accounts. Through June 30^th, we have received $1,618.50 and disbursed $1,196.90, leaving a balance of $15,533.35.  We have a BX inventory of $2,809.29 and a non-BX inventory (coin boxes, etc) of $1,848.72, for non-cash assets of $4,658.01. The Association’s total cash and non-cash assets are $20, 191.36. A motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was made by Bill McGraw and seconded by Dave Pierson. Motion approved (CLOSED).

 

·       Mr Silhavy mentioned that we “lost” our IRS Tax Exemption because we had not previously filed a tax return. That issue has been fixed. President Nelson thanked Mr Silhavy for his diligence and effort, in cleaning up our tax exempt status. (CLOSED)

 

·       Mr McGraw suggested that we obtain pins/coins to commemorate the 50^th and 20^th Anniversaries of the 1041^st SPS-T and 820^th BDG. There was a discussion about the cost for design and acquisition of the pins/coins and whether we could recover our costs. The discussion failed to generate a Motion, so it died on the floor. (CLOSED)

 

·       Mr Villarreal indicated that, in the past, we had sent flowers, not to exceed $100 cost, whenever a Member passed away. He pointed out that the Vietnam era members are an aging group, and we would be unable to sustain that program, without depleting our Treasury. The program has been discontinued. We will still send a card, to express our condolences and affix a plate on the Memorial, at the 820^th BDG. (CLOSED)

 

·       President Nelson asked Mr Parsons to discuss possible dates for the 2017 Reunion with the BDG and Squadron Commanders. Mr Nelson stated that we preferred a date, when the 822^nd BDS was in Garrison, since we haven’t been able to have a Reunion while they were on station. (OPEN – OPR: Mr Parsons)

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1510.

 

                                                                                         

 

JERRY R. NELSON, President                         GARY A. JONES, Secretary

 

 

LIST OF ATTENDEES

Colonel Kevin Walker                            

Jerry Nelson, President

Pete Villarreal, Vice President

Gary Jones, Secretary

Ray Silhavy, Treasurer

Rick Adams, Membership Chairman

Bobby LeFever, 820^th BDG Representative

Rick Parsons, 820^th BDG Representative

Matt Howard, 820^th BDG Representative

Dave Pierson, 821^st CSPS Representative

Bill McGraw, 822^nd CSPS Representative

SRA Ameera McCray, 824^th BDS Representative & Newsletter Editor