Universal Ship Cancellation Society, Inc.
Dedicated to the Collection & Study of Naval and Maritime History
Minutes of the 2005 Board of Directors Meeting
May 27, 2005
1. President Helman made opening remarks, speaking of the different activities at the convention and PIPEX show, urged the Board to speedily work through the agenda and presented the reminder that there are three reasons for holding a meeting: 1. To report on items, 2. For gathering information and 3. For making a decision.
2. The minutes of the 2004 BOD meeting were approved as distributed.
3. President Helman announced the meeting schedule for the show including the USCS Auction following the Awards Banquet. A Bravo Zulu was given to John Young for the fine work he did preparing the auction listing.
4. Secretary Shay summarized the membership statistics for the society: membership continuing on a slight downward trend, recruiting down for 2005, information requests down for 2005, the aging of members and membership efforts meeting with mixed success. The active membership stands at 1327 members, 1079 regular and 107 sustaining members, 94 life members, 39 family members, 6 honorary members and 2 youth members. There are 113 members in 16 international countries as well as in all 50 states. The lowest active membership number is #89 (Edwin Lyons) and the highest #11837 (Terry Miller.)
5. Treasurer Rawlins presented the Treasurer’s Report. Bob reported that the society is losing members though is gaining in financial reserves. The Log cost for 2005 was $1.32 per printed copy, reporting that the move to Leesburg printing has saved the society money. Allowing new members and renewing international members to pay via Paypal has been effective with an average of a 4% fee to Paypal. Bob reported that the Honeyman fund originally set aside to provide a reserve for printing of catalogs and publications will be rolled into the other funds when the CD matures. This will make reporting simpler and the fund is not required as the society is in good financial health.
6. Stewart Milstein reported that the Sales Circuit had a gross income of $14,000 for 2004 and was able to provide $3,500 to the society. In order to sell good circuit covers that did not sell, the BOD made a motion to pay 50% of cost (not to exceed $100) of a scanner so that Stewart can sell these covers on eBay. The motion was seconded and approved.
7. Rich Hoffner presented a summary of the USCS Chapter reports. 17 chapters filed reports, 5 chapters did not report; 1 of these chapters is a new chapter. Rich reports that recruiting efforts should take a look to see how chapters can help out. As Secretary I will provide any chapter a list of local members if requested.
8. Committee Reports:
a. Postmark Catalog Update: Dave Kent and Paul Bunter have converted the printed Postmark
Catalog to a CD format. Dave needs to complete the updating with 2004 ship’s data and
unpublished data and put into alphabetical order. The target for making the CD available
to the membership is at the end of summer 2005. The CD will sell for a price of $30.
Dave is still working with Receiving Ships and Squadrons for Volume 2. 2007 was set as
the release of the 6th Edition of the Postmark Catalog, available in paper and CD format.
Discussion was made about the CD cost to include a CD subscription to a limited amount of
new CD’s. Issues to consider for future editions of the catalog include cost, timeliness
of updates, format (medium) and subscriptions. President Helman offered a Bravo Zulu to
Paul Bunter for his work in converting the catalog to CD format. b. Postmark Classification Report: The use of ballot postmarks on naval ships without
post offices is a concern. Dave Kent proposed that Bob Rawlins, Dick Morain, Paul Helman and
Dave meet the MPSA (Military Postal Service Agency) in Washington in 2006 to learn more about
the use of these postmarks. The Board will then need to determine how to list these postmarks,
as an appendix in the catalog or listed in ship order. Dave reports the use of PVI postage meters
on ships. A decision on how to classify these is needed. The Board authorized the purchase of
a catalog from the Meter Stamp Society for Dave Kent to study the classification system. c. Cachet Makers Catalog: Bob Rawlins reports little progress on the catalog update and promises
a better update in 2006 as he will have more time to work on the catalog in the upcoming year. d. Savannah Booklet: The booklet was updated and printed, approximately half of the copies have been sold. e. Logs on CD: Paul Helman reports that this project is on hold to determine the best scanned format to
allow full searching. f. Disposal of Estates: Stewart Milstein will discuss with Larry Brennan prior to the next convention.
Larry has agreed to discuss the proposal with a tax attorney. g. Inventory of Society Material and Recommended Safeguards: Paul Helman has nothing new to report on this
project but agrees that it is important. h. Web Site Committee: Neither Karl Zurn or Chuck French were available to report. Comments
were made that the web site is responsible for at least 25% of new recruits and that the site needs
to be regularly updated to remain fresh. Steve Shay has accepted the challenge to manage the site
and will be asking others for help and ideas. 9. Acknowledgements: 10. Future Conventions:
a. 2006 Convention, May 27-29: Dick Morain reports that Howard Tiffner has finalized arrangements with the 4 Points Sheraton in Bethesda, Maryland, room rates to be $90 per night, guaranteed 40 rooms Friday – Sunday, a hospitality room and meeting room. Arrangements are still being negotiated for frames for exhibiting. A request for volunteers to staff the USCS Society table at the Washington 2006 show that will be held at the same time will be made in the Log within the next 3 months. b. 2007 Convention, May 18-20: A commitment has been made to attend the Rocky Mountain show in Aurora, Colorado. Paul Helman, Bob Rawlins and Steve Henderson were to meet with Tim Bartshe during PIPEX to discuss needs. c. 2008 Convention, July 25-27: Member Bill Mitchell made a proposal to accept an invitation from the North Carolina Philatelic Society to meet in Charlotte, NC. A motion was made, seconded and approved to accept this invitation. d. 2009 Convention: Bob Rawlins is to pursue options with PIPEX, TEXPEX and SESCAL. 11. Old Business: a. Membership recruitment: Steve Henderson discussed the recruiting efforts being made; a mailing to APS members with ship interests, nominations for a free membership by 25 year members and a $5 bounty paid for each new member recruited by a current member. These programs have accounted for more than half of the new members in 2005 though new membership totals are down for the year. b. Mentor Program: Information about the Mentor program was posted on the USCS web site in August 2004. There has been little use of the program by members. c. Publications Committee: The decision to create a Publications Committee at the 2004 BOD Meeting has resulted in no action though there is a agreement that this is an important need. d. Oral History Program: There has been no formal action on the Oral History program. USCS member Joe Smith has done a oral history of Bob Rawlin’s naval career and he has offered to do a oral history of Bob’s USCS history and thoughts. 12. New Business: a. APS Military Room: It was proposed that the USCS make a donation of $1900 to support the Military Room being built at the APS headquarters. The room will be used for meeting, study and research. After discussion it was proposed, seconded and approved on a vote of 10-1 to donate $2400 to the APS to support this room. This brings the total donation to $2500 after donating $100 in January. b. Election Ballot Procedures: It was proposed to continue to insert election ballots in the Log with better publicity and to publish the vote totals in the Log. The inserting of ballots saves a minimum of $1000 per election and saves the Secretary time preparing the mailing. A motion was made, seconded and approved to publish the ballot on colored paper (if practical for the printer), continue to insert the ballot in the December Log in election years and to publish the vote total. c. Web Page Manager: It was proposed that a manager be assigned to work over the web page for continuous improvement. The need for keeping a fresh web site was discussed and it was proposed and agreed to that President Helman would seek a volunteer and appoint a volunteer to this position. (Update: Steve Shay volunteered to accept this position and notes that help from others will be needed as volunteers.) d. Mail Log’s to Wardroom: Past-President Herb Rommel suggested sending copies of the Log’s to the wardrooms on all active US Navy ships. (Herb has donated $100 to fund the activity.) It was suggested that the Logs be mailed only to the 13 US Navy carriers to see the response. It was proposed and agreed that USCS would send Logs for 6 months to each carrier, the first two Logs to be personal mailings to the XO, the next 4 mailings to be part of the regular USCS Log mailing to the addresses suggested by the XO’s or simply to the Wardroom. Herb’s $100 was accepted to fund this activity with Society funds to cover the balance if more than $100. President Helman will request Herb to write a personal letter than can be enclosed with the first mailing. e. Strategic Plan: President Helman recommended the creation of a committee to develop a strategic plan for the USCS. It was proposed and agreed to that Paul would request volunteers with approximately half of the members to be non-Board members in order to inject ideas from the membership. Submitted,
President Helman acknowledged Dick Morain for his leadership and service as a two term president serving four years, Bob Rawlins for his effort to move Log printing to Leesburg and saving the USCS $1000’s per year, Stewart Milstein for his work with the sales circuit which returned $1000’s to the Society and Laurie Bernstein who with the help of David Bernstein and Ned Harris also earned significant funds for the USCS. A special thanks to Richard Jones for his work on the Log.
Steve Shay, Secretary
6/2/2005