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The Class Executive Committee met at Palmer McGrew’s home on 2 August 1999.
Members present:
Members absent:
Minutes of the previous meeting on 5 April 1999 had already been approved and submitted to the class on 19 April 1999.
Item 1. Selection of a new Chairman. Palmer McGrew was selected EC Chairman by acclamation. There was consensus that there should be a specific term for the position, possibly three years, but no decision was taken. This matter will be resolved before the next class annual meeting.
Item 2. Nomination of trustees for the Perpetual Fund. A nominating committee comprised of Dugan, Harlem, Herb Johnson and McGrew drew up a slate of nominees from people nominated by the class for the four classmate and the one descendent trustee elected positions. The classmate nominations are: Weckel, Harlem, Gillette, Lee Miller, Hutton, Turner, Brintnall and Bunker. A ballot will be submitted to the class this month for a vote. In order to comply with the provision in the Perpetual Fund bylaws that requires the terms of the first elected board be staggered, it was decided that the terms of the trustees would be determined by the number of votes received. The person receiving the greatest number of votes will serve the longest term of six years, the next highest five years, and so on. As for the two appointive positions, LT Rob Shaw, First Captain of the Class of 1998 has agreed to serve in the position from a class ending in 8. No one has yet been selected to fill the position of recent graduate serving at West Point. On the latter, there was consensus that "recent " should cover Tacs and Ps in the grade of captain or below.
Item 3. Healthcare. All but one of the votes cast by the class were in favor of the health care proposal prepared by the EC. No reason given for the one dissenting vote. Based on this, the EC has a mandate to move forward. Brintnall and McGrew reported on a discussion held earlier that day with representatives of TROA. TROA was extremely pleased to have our support. Following there was a discussion of the general issue of health care, Tricare, Senior Tricare and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP). Brintnall was assigned the task of drafting a strategy.
Item 4. Class business meetings at minis. Following a general discussion of what constitutes a class meeting, and who should conduct it, and distribute the results, it was agreed that nothing need be done to codify business discussions at minis, nor will such discussions be considered official class meetings. However, if classmates want to discuss particular items and use that forum to brings these issues to the attention of the Class Executive Committee, the mini organizers would be encouraged to facilitate such an exchange.
Item 5. Moving the Major "A" plaque from the gym to the First Class Club. There are class plaques in the Old Cadet Gym with the names of major "A" winners. John Palmer suggested moving the ’58 plaque to the FCC. Following a discussion of the merits of the proposal, to include premium on wall space at the FCC and the theme of "every man an athlete", the Secretary was tasked to write a letter to COL LeBoeuf, Director of OPE, asking that the class plaques, all of which are to be temporarily removed during the gym’s renovation, be remounted at an appropriate location. If it is decided not to remount them, ’58 would like its plaque so that it could be placed in the FCC.
Item 6. Changing the tax status of the Class Fund. Lawton presented the merits of changing the status of the Class Fund from 501(7), a fraternal organization, to 501c(19), a veteran's organization. The major advantage would be that donors might be able to claim a charitable deduction for contributions to the class admin fund. Some classes have done this. There were a number of questions on the merits of such a change. Lawton was asked to provide more information at the next EC meeting.
Item 7. Developing a relationship with ’83. During the recent class leaders’ conference, Lawton and McGrew were approached by the newly elected president of the class of ’83, Mark Morehouse, and asked if ’58 would, in effect, be ’83’s mentor. We could help them by passing on what we learned by trial and error. The reason they approached our reps was the reputation for leadership enjoyed by ’58. We determined that such a relationship would be good for both classes. It was decided to accept ’83’s request.
Item 8. Including a ’58 widow on the EC. We have made several attempts, not very successful, to bring the widows of classmates closer to the class. One way to make these efforts more effective could be to include a widow on the EC. Such a presence could make our outreach efforts more successful and could also bring a useful perspective to the EC on other issues. However, there is no provision in our current bylaws for such a position. As a first step, a class widow will be asked to serve as an ex officio advisor to the EC with a later determination as to whether to seek a change in the bylaws.
Item 9. Class contribution to WP-ORG. WP-ORG provides a great service to ’58 and all West Point classes. For this we are grateful. WP-ORG also needs contributions to maintain this service to us. In discussing whether or not to make a contribution from class funds, the consensus within the EC was that ’58 is already way ahead of the pack and that no class monies should be used for this purpose.
Pete Brintnall, Secretary
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