The January 2005 Board of Directors meeting of the Forest Fire Lookout Association was called to order at 8:43 on the 15 January 2005 at the George Washington / Jefferson National Forests headquarters, 5162 Valleypointe Parkway, Roanoke Virginia. The officer presiding was Chairman Keith Argow. A quorum of the board was present, including:
Keith Argow, Chairman
Steve Cummings, Keystone (Pennsylvania) Director
Ray Grimes, Secretary
Rob Hoeye, Archivist
Henry Isenberg, Eastern Deputy Chair, Southern New England Director
Bob Spear, New Jersey Co-Director
Glen Stapleton, Virginia Director, Meeting Host
Gary Weber, Treasurer, North Idaho-Montana Director
Jerry Buchanan, Facilities Engineer (retired), George Washington / Jefferson NF.
Bill Campbell, retired FS, George Washington / Jefferson NF.
Ralph Glover, retired Deputy State Forester, Area representative, West Virginia.
Glen Stapleton, extended a welcome to the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. At 1.8M acres, it is the largest forest East of the Mississippi. The forest provides water reserves, timber, and recreation to the area. We will be touring several lookouts on Sunday.
Jerry Buchanan spoke about the history of the local lookouts encountered during his career with the Forest Service.
Isenburg moved approval of the minutes of the 2003 January Board of Directors meeting at Mt Alto, Seconded by Weber. Motion passed.
Isenburg moved approval of the Clear Springs Eastern Conference minutes, Seconded by Spear. Motion passed.
Chairman Argow presented the agenda for the meeting.
The newsletter distribution is closing in on 900. There are currently 795 paid membership with a full distribution of 856, up 82 from 1/1/04. There were 100 new members through American Resources (where the membership form on the web and brochure are sent).
Converting the past issues of news letter into PDF is progressing well. When complete they will be available on CD.
Cummings moved the removal of “interim” from the current editors title. Seconded by Spear. Motion passed unanimously.
There were 16 ballots returned for the 2005 election. Chairman Argow appointed a Tellers Committee of Ray Grimes, Secretary and Bill Campbell, an FFLA member who is not a member of the Board to count the ballots and report to the Board.
There were 16 ballots cast, all nominees were confirmed.
Western Deputy Chair: Dave Bula
Secretary: Rob Hoeye
Historian/Archivist: Bob Spear
Grimes moved the acceptance of the election Seconded by Spear. Motion passed.
Isenberg reporting for both committees. The current AnswerMan e-mail volume is averaging 150 a week. Most e-mail is expressing appreciation of the effort of the FFLA. Spam continues to be a factor. The AnswerMan has been able to be ahead of the virus curve. There will likely be a need to continue with a budget for a virus SW upgrade. E-mail questions seem to come through many paths. It is deemed OK that there may be many responses to the same question. There have been no comments about lack of response.
The web master has been out recently, which is the cause of the lagging updates to the website. The web coordinator is looking to upgrade the site.
Committee Chair Spear reporting [see attached Grant’s report]. There was only one fund request for 2004, for Two Hundred Dollars ($200) to Marty Podskotch for the Utsayantha firetower. This raises the question, “why such a low turn out?” One possible reason is that people do not like filling out paper work, even as simple as the paper work is. A second reason, “lack of awareness” was suggested. A discussion about a web page of recent restorations followed. It was observed that for larger projects Two Hundred Dollars ($200) may not be large enough to be attractive.
Chairman Argow reporting. Two Chairman’s Awards, one East and one West, were presented in 2004. The Newman award went to Kathy Ball, Buck Rock Foundation founder and central CA director, at the Western Conference in Truckee last October.
Weber reporting [see attached treasurer’s report].
The NHLR count stands at 599. Keith presented the NHLR certificate for Silver Creek Fire Tower to Cummings. There continues to be two NHLR related websites, www.lookouts.net and www.firetower.org. At this time Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey and North Dakota have all their standing lookouts listed.
No reports at the time of this meeting from: Kentucky, Minnesota, Delaware, Maine. They are attached as of the week following. Reports from New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were summarized by the Eastern director [see attached reports]. The 2005 Eastern meeting will be held in Rhode Island in July. Bill Starr has been appointed the New York state director, replacing Podskotch who is moving to Connecticut. The website now have individual pages for each of the following Eastern areas: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OH. The Eastern director reports that New Hampshire has a new fire chief, Brad Simpkins.
Very good reporting [see attached reports]. One hundred percent (100%) of the western chapters reported. Northern Idaho director Weber reports that he will be working on a webpage to replace links to Rex’s www.firelookout.com pages for his area. North Idaho director Weber also reports that the Lookout Cookbook is off to the publisher, some of the proceeds will contribute to National and North Idaho account. Oregon is still the largest chapter by membership in the US.
Treasurer Weber presented two budget proposals: One with, and one without, a dues increase.
A discussion concerning the use of the additional funds to be raised by the proposed dues increase. Several absentee directors have expressed their concern that there be justifiable reasons for an increase. A concern was expressed that the restoration grants are not being exercised because of their meager amount, and that the available fund be raised enough to make them significant and therefore desirable to grant writers. Another concern expressed is the potential loss of some members because of a dues increase.
It was proposed that a major portion of the new revenue would be used to upgrade the newsletter to a color cover and a higher grade of paper throughout. Another major portion would be applied to the restoration fund, providing up to five (5) Five Hundred Dollar ($500) grants. The remainder would go towards the cost of printing and distributing a run of brochures and decals for members.
Since the new dues amount will apply to those not yet billed in 2005, the revenue is estimated at 2/3 of what would be raised if all members paid the new rate in 2005. The use of the increase in dues would provide the following benefits to the membership:
Therefore the 2005 budget is proposed to be:
|
2005 FFLA Budget/$15.00 Dues |
Estimated additional funds available over 10$ dues |
Detail |
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|
Proposed |
|||||
|
Income |
|||||
|
Balance Forward |
$2,032.00 |
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|
Dues |
$11,000.00 |
$3,000.00 |
2/3rds of the members in 2005 |
||
|
Donations |
$200.00 |
||||
|
Merchandise Sales |
$1,500.00 |
||||
|
Total |
$14,732.00 |
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|
Expenses |
|||||
|
Newsletter |
$6,000.00 |
$1,200.00 |
Color cover, glossy paper throughout, Software |
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|
Chapter Distributions |
$1,600.00 |
||||
|
Brochures |
$3,000.00 |
$300.00 |
Real cost of brochures |
||
|
Welcome packets/decal |
$525.00 |
||||
|
Restoration Grants |
$2,500.00 |
$1,500.00 |
Allows more restoration grants |
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|
Merchandise Purchase |
$800.00 |
||||
|
Web page mgmt/host |
$150.00 |
||||
|
Executive committee |
$157.00 |
||||
|
Total |
$14,732.00 |
||||
|
$0.00 |
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Bob Spear moved to accept this 2005 Budget with dues increase. Seconded by Hoeye. Motion passed.
The “Lookout Disposition Policy”, drafted by Kathy Ball and recommended by Dave Bula [See attached] was presented and discussed.
Weber moved to adopt this policy, seconded by Hoeye. Motion passed.
The 2005 Eastern conference will be at West Greenwich Rhode Island the 19th, 20th and 21st of August 2005.
The 2005 Western Conference will be at McCall Idaho the 23rd, 24th and 25th of September 2005.
The 2006 Board of Directors meeting will be at the Magness tree farm, World Forestry Center, just South of Portland Oregon the 14th and 15th of January 2006.
Henry Isenberg moved to accept these dates and places, Seconded by Weber seconds, the motion passed.
New award, “Fire Observer of Merit” will be created.
The Association of Retired Forest Service Employees will hold a Centennial reunion in Portland Oregon the 4th, 5th and 6th of September 2005. The FFLA will have a display booth there.
The metal signs are out of print. The Association of State Foresters has turned down the opportunity for their name/logo to be included on the new sign. Chairman Argow is working to have a new batch of signs produced.
Chairman Argow presented a request from Keith Iseberg of Idaho, owner of Keith Iseberg F.I.L.M. Inc. Iseberg is seeking the help of the FFLA board in sponsoring a documentary about lookouts, “Fire lookouts, a PBS film.” Based on the available information the board did not endorse the project as it stands.
Steve Cummings noted that someone in New York State has produced a film about lookouts. He asked that the FFLA acquire a copy of it. It was suggested that each director acquire any film or video produced or otherwise created in there respective areas and submit it to the archivist for safe keeping.
A discussion about the scope of items the archivist should be required to collect ensued. Many perspectives on the results of expanding the scope to explicitly include film and any lookout related artifacts were expressed.
“The board recognizes the importance of video footage regarding lookout history. Each director is requested to send a copy of any video about fire lookouts in their chapter area to the National Historian for archiving in our permanent records.”
Cummings moved, Spear seconded. Results are 2 yeas, 1 nay. Motion passes by one.
Yea: Spear, Cummings
Nay: Weber
Abstained: Isenberg, Hoeye
Wyoming Director Lynch and the Western Heritage Company have proposed to create and market a belt buckle with the FFLA logo sculpted into it. The cost to the FFLA will be One Hundred Dollars ($100) to help with casting charge, the remaining cost will be provided by the Western Heritage Company. Five percent (5%) of the sale is to go to the National Budget and another five percent (5%) going to the Wyoming Budget.
Isenberg moved acceptance of the FFLA buckle proposal. Seconded by Weber. Motion passed.
The public celebration of the Forest Service’s century of service will be held June 23rd - June 27th and June 29th - July 4th on the capitol Mall in Washington DC. The Smithsonian will make its final selection of the participants this coming spring. Lookouts will be one of several facets included.
Several directors have asked for an “official” Certificate of Membership. A discussion of what the extent of the offering reviewed whether a certificate should go to all members or just those who request one. The printing and mailing costs are estimated to be Five Dollars ($5) each. Chairman Argow offered to design and print the certificates.
Steve Cummings moved to “offer an FFLA certificate, similar to the NHLR certificate, for sale for Five Dollars ($5) each to members”, seconded by Weber. Motion approved.
See the accompanying Proceedings for details
Upon motion by Weber, second by Isenburg, the 2005 annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Forest Fire Lookout Association was adjourned.
_______________________________ ___________________________________
Secretary Presiding Officer