General Orders #12, Series 15-16
Christopher Johnston, State Commander
Page - 1
HEADQUARTERS
DEPARTMENT OF MISSOURI
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE U.S., INC
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 12
Series 2016-2017June 2017
(To be read or distributedat a regular Post meeting and filed)
1.The 2017 Department Convention will be held at the Ramada Oasis, Springfield, Missouri, June 8 – June 11, 2017. Hospitality room information will be mailed to District Quartermasters and posted on the Missouri web. Reservations for sleeping rooms become available on February 1. Currently, sleeping room reservations are restricted to a three (3) day stay and may be made by calling the hotel direct at 1-888-532-4338. Be sure to let them know you are with the VFW. Persons reserving three (3) days and later cancelling one (1) or two (2) will have the entire three (3) days cancelled. We do have an Overflow Hotel for anyone wanting to make a reservation for LESS than three (3) days, the hotel is: Holiday Inn & Suites of Springfield and can be reached at 417-865-8600.
2.A meeting of the Council of Administration will be held in the Ramada Oasis Convention Center at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June8. All business of the current administration will be concluded at that time.
3.All State hats and awards will be presented on Friday evening. If your Post achieved All-State, the Commander or Quartermaster has been contacted. Please plan to be there for the presentation.
4. The first meeting of the newly elected Council will be scheduled for Sunday morning. Attendance by Council members is required.
5.All Department Officers, District Commanders, and Committee Chairmen are reminded that they are to submit a written report to the State Adjutant covering their activities of the past year. This report may be forwarded directly to Department Headquarters or given to the State Adjutant after arrival at the Convention. These reports will be made an official part of the Convention minutes. This report should be concise and cover the highlights of the 2016 - 2017 year.
6.Department VFW Officers and Auxiliary Officers are scheduled to be installed in a joint installation ceremony on Saturday, June 10 at 6:00 PM. All Department Officers and newly elected District Commanders should plan to participate. Dress code will be Blues and Grays or suitable jacket and tie. Family members and guests are welcome.
7.All District Commanders are requested to be available to participate in the Memorial Service during the Joint opening of the Convention on Friday, June 9. Please plan to attend or assign an alternate.Dress code will be Blues and Grays or suitable jacket and tie.
8.Attention is called to Section 213, National By-laws, which covers arrearages for financial and other obligations. This includes failure to register a delegate to the 2016 National Convention or any other Department arrears. All Post Quartermasters were sent paperwork explaining the amount of Department delegate fees due for their Postin early May, 2017. Arrearages on the District level are covered in Section 420 of the Manual. Posts in arrearages, failing to submitALL (4) Post Audit reports for the 2016-2017 year or submit an election report for the ensuing year will not be allowed to vote at the Department Convention.
9.National Headquarters has not received the Report of Election of Post Officers from several Posts. Completion and submittal of the Report of Election is the responsibility of the current Post Quartermaster. If the Post has not held an election of Post Officers, as required by the National By-Laws, the Post Commander should immediately call a meeting of the Post for that purpose. It is very important that each Post submit a Report of Election as it contains information vital to the operation of the National and Department Headquarters. Unless the report is received, Post Officers will not be on the various mailing lists.
10.Newly elected District and Post Officers do not assume their duties until the newly elected State Commander is installed on June 10, 2017.
11.New Orleans, LA is the host city to the 117th VFW National Convention, July 22-26, 2017. Convention housing reservation forms will be made available and additional 117th VFW National Convention information will be added to the National Website as it becomes available. Convention registration and related information will be mailed from National Headquarters to the Post. The Post is required to register at least one delegate. The Delegate fee for the 1st delegate will be $25. A fee of $10 is due for each additional delegate. Post Quartermasters, please send in the $25.00 registration fee and register at least one (1) delegate as soon as you receive the registration forms. Don’t wait until July to send in your delegate fee.
12.Delegates to the National Convention should be elected at the last meeting in June; one delegate and one alternate for each thirty members or fraction thereof in good standing in the Post at the time of election.
13.Pursuant to Article II, Section 222, paragraph (d), subparagraph 4 of the National By-Laws and Manual of Procedures, all Posts are required to register and pay for at least one delegate to the National Convention whether or not anyone from the Post will be attending. Forms were mailed out in February.
14.Post Quartermasters are reminded that Article I, sec.104 of the National By-Laws states, “At least monthly, each Post shall transmit all dues collected as prescribed in the Department and National By-Laws”. Post holding dues for submittal after June 30 arein violation of the National By-Laws.
15.By-Law amendments submitted for consideration at the Department Convention are attached to this General Order and will be voted on during the General meeting on Friday Afternoon of the convention.
16. The following District meetings for the month of June are announced.
DIST / POST # / LOCATION / DATE / TIME / Representative2 / 2442 / Eldon / 06-24-17 / 9:00 a.m. / Jr. Vice Commander
7 / 2590 / Carthage / 06-24-17 / 10:00 a.m. / State Commander
14 / 3404 / Springfield / 06-17-17 / 9:00 a.m. / State Inspector
18 / 473 / Cabool / 06-17-17 / 9:00 a.m. / State Commander
17.The following appointments are announced for the 2017 Department Convention:
STANDING RULES COMMITTEEBY LAWS / RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE
James Thorpe, ChairmanRuben Armenta, Chairman
Paul Frampton, MemberLance Kellogg, Member
Jessie Jones, MemberNancy Cowan, Member
Official:By Order of:
Jessie JonesChristopher Johnston
AdjutantCommander