Minutes of the NCPHS Board of Directors Meeting: July 28, 2018 at CHARPEX 2018
ATTENDING: Frank Hall, Dick Winter, George Slaton, Scott Steward, Alan Vestal, and Harry Albert. A quorum of the Board was present.
The meeting was called to order at 2:25 p.m. by Frank Hall.
The 2017 minutes of the NCPHS Board of Directors Meeting held at Charpex 2017 on July 29, 2017, were unanimously approved upon a motion by Mr. Vestal and a second by Mr. Steward.
Harry Albert presented the Treasurer’s Report for the year ended December 31, 2017. He stated that the Society continues in sound financial condition thanks once again to our sustaining members, who contribute additional funds to support the society above their regular annual dues. The cash balance as of July 28, 2018 was 11,929.40. Mr. Albert also presented to the Board the Secretary-Treasurer’s budget for 2019. Mr. Steward offered a motion to approve the budget for 2019 projecting an operating surplus of $145. Upon a second by Mr. Vestal, the 2019 operating budget was unanimously approved. The board requested that beginning next year the proposed budget be sent to the board members in advance of the annual meeting.
The current membership is 125, an increase of four members since the previous year’s report. However, the report shows that there are 6 remaining unpaid memberships which are still being carried on the rolls. The Board requested that the names of these six individuals and the complimentary memberships be emailed to each board member for review. If, after review, no reason is found to maintain membership, then the status for these unpaid members should be changed to inactive.
At this time, Mr. Slaton suggested that the Society generate a list of NC regional libraries. Then with board approval, certain libraries could be sponsored for membership with the hope of generating new members through public access to the quarterly North Carolina Postal Historian. The board thought this idea worthy, and Mr. Slaton agreed to compile the list of NC regional libraries.
The board again expressed interest to provide a digital edition in addition to the printed edition of the North Carolina Postal Historian for interested members. The choice for a digital option is to be included on the 2019 dues notice. The Secretary-Treasurer is to compile the results and send to the board members. Mr. Winter continued this discussion noting that printing of the quarterly journal continues very satisfactorily at the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library, which has printed the journal for the past several years. Work is currently underway to update the Author-Subject Index published eight years ago. Mr. Winter requested Board members assist in seeking new first-time authors even though current authors have provided a good backlog of articles.
Mr. Winter presented an update on the North Carolina Postmark Catalog. The digitalization of the catalog began in October 2005. Presently, 98 of 100 counties are complete in addition to five major post offices (Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, and Wilmington). Only Yadkin and Yancey counties remain along with one major post office – Raleigh in addition to updates, required maintenance, and corrections.
Scott Steward gave an update on the status of the Society website. Mr. Steward reported that the North Carolina Postmark Catalog Update page is by far the most popular page on the Society’s website. Traffic continues to grow; there were 17k hits during July 2018, which is a new monthly record. Mr. Steward also noted that he hopes to get a project underway to add views of NC post offices to the current website. He requested that any post card of photograph be scanned and emailed to his attention.
The only new business was a request for the Secretary-Treasurer to send a list of members without email addresses to the board members.
The next meeting will be in Charlotte during CHARPEX in late July 2019.
The meeting adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
Prepared by Harry Albert, Secretary-Treasurer