Robins Post
Society of American Military Engineers
Board Meeting
20 August 2014
Board Members:
President Col Craig Johnson Present
Vice President Mike Coats Present
Treasurer James Griffin Absent
Secretary Esther Lee-Altman Present
Asst Secretary MSgt Melissa Broussard Absent
Directors
Membership VACANT
National Liaison Nancy Manley Present
Programs Ken Branton Present
Laurel Cordell Absent
Education and Mentoring Eric Robinson Present
Financial Kevin Long Present
National Security Joe Ballard Present
NCO/Sr Enlisted VACANT
Events/Small Business Steve Hvizdzak Absent
Sustaining Membership Kathy Chaffin Absent
Others
Col Craig Johnson, the Post President, initiated the meeting at 1100 hours.
Upcoming Meetings:
The next General Meeting has been scheduled for September 2014.
Programs/Program News:
All programs are filled with the exception of the Post tour scheduled for November. Mr. Ken Branton asked for suggestions from the Board and one suggestion was having a representative from the Department of Transportation come speak to the Post about the giant road project by Hwy 96 and Hwy 247 that will be re-routing two well used highways used in this area.
Finance:
The Post Treasurer was not present at this meeting but he did send a financial report to the Board for their review. The only expense since the last Board meeting was the purchase of food items for the July meeting. Currently, there is about $1200 in the checking account and about $4000 in savings.
Mr. Kevin Long gave an update on the Post’s investment account where he stated that the account is on track and there were little changes from the last update.
Post Membership:
No update was given.
Emergency Preparedness:
Mr. Joe Ballard stated he has already been in contact with the HQ AFRC Security Forces Directorate to confirm their presentation scheduled for September. He has also sent the Board via email a spreadsheet tracking the various requirements for the Emergency Preparedness streamer. Mr. Ballard stated that the Post was on track with these requirements.
Education and Mentoring:
Mr. Eric Robinson stated that he, Dr. Mogge, and Col Johnson visited with the Dean of Engineering at Mercer University in July to speak with him about the potential of standing up a student chapter of SAME. The Dean seemed receptive to the idea and Mr. Robinson is currently working with the school on securing a faculty advisor that will be the bridge between the students and the Post. Mr. Robinson’s plan for this initiative is to build up a solid plan of execution this fall and to roll out the plan in the spring semester, which he will need 2 or 3 good meeting topics to get the students interested. Mr. Robinson asked for some suggestions for these and some suggestions included presentations on job opportunities, career path choices (what are their options?), information on internships, and electronics as this is a hot topic right now. Another suggestion was to have a combination Student Chapter/Post meeting with the Mercer Research Institution since this group already has an established student chapter. This way, students become exposed to various professional organizations like SAME that could potentially complement their careers once they get out of college.
Events and Small Business:
Mr. Mike Coats stated that he has already started planning for the Fall Golf Tournament. The date for this event has been scheduled for 9 October with a rain date scheduled for 16 October. Mr. Coats will speak to the Post at the general meeting today to ask for sponsors and get people interested in signing up for this event.
SAME National:
No update was given.
General Topics:
Col Johnson and a young member, Capt Sigan Wilson, attended the Post Leaders Workshop which Col Johnson gave a quick update on how things went. He stated that Capt Wilson jumped right into the conference and made many new connections within SAME.
Bold = Board decisions Italics = Tasked actions to be taken