December 4th, 2024

Minutes of the Association’s 3rd Quarter (calendar year 2024) Board of Directors Meeting

 

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Attendees:

Chairman: William King

Vice Chairman: Chris Williams

President: Jeff Brodeur

Directors: Sean Kirschner, Dave Wilcox, Thomas Duncan, Toby Shirley, Jim Blankenhorn

Vice-Presidents:  Scott Estes

Honorary Sergeants Major of the Corps:

Robert Aldenberg

Business Manager: Shane Wolfe

Gift Shop Manager: Kevin Albrecht

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1831 – President opened the meeting identifying everyone in attendance and the fact that the meeting contained enough voting members of the Board in order to facilitate a quorum. He then mentioned that the proposed budget and corporate sponsorship would be key talking points of the meeting

1840 – The President turned the meeting over to the Chairman for his opening remarks.  The Chairman made mention of the updates in the development of the Senior Advisory Group

1841 – The President opened the discussion of Old Business.  Topics identified were the upcoming election in March as well as the installation of those selected officers in July

1842 – The President opened the discussion of upcoming key dates.  Identified the March Board of Directors meeting, Best CBRN Warrior Competition in May, Regimental Week in June, Joint Protection Conference Exhibition (JPC Expo) in May

1845 – The President introduced the Business Manager who gave an update to the 2025 JPC Expo.

1849 –  The President opened the discussion regarding the 2025 calendar year budget.  Topics mentioned were:

** Paid for through Gift Shop and Exhibition Revenue

  • proposed pay increases for employees

  • employment of a local marketing specialist

  • the potential of hiring an additional part-time employee

  • infrastructure costs (-$20k) and forecasted 10% annual increase

  • operating costs (-$30k)

  • budgeted “battlefield circulation” of the Association’s leadership (-$10k)

** Paid for through Donations/Sponsorship

  • 100% of all unrestricted donations going to “Soldier support”

  • Best International CBRN Warrior competition (-$10k)

  • Regimental Week (-$10k)

  • 20th CBRNE Command Best CBRN Warrior Competition (-$5k)

  • Memorial Grove Annual Maintenance (-$10k)

  • SGM Paul Cockman Scholarship (-$30k)

  • USACBRNS and Fort Leonard Wood requests for support (-$5k)

  • Soldier Emergency Fund (-$10k)

** Corporate Donations/Sponsorship annual goal ($80k)

1859 – A Director asked the question of the financial summaries for the year 2023. The Business Manager responded that the 2023 financial summaries were documented in the financial report and submitted for review.

1901 – The Chairman commented that payroll had not been maintained to par

1902 – The Vice Chairman commented that the success of the Association in recent years says a lot about the employees

1903 – The President mentioned the success of the leadership’s battlefield circulation initiative and his attendance at the recent Fort Liberty (SERSO Chapter) Exhibition/Ball

1905 – The Chairman made mention that Jim Blankenhorn was able to attend the 415th CBRN Brigade’s Ball and also those officers who were able to attend Regimental Week in June

1912 – The President opened the discussion in reference to budgeting the maintenance of Memorial Grove

1913 – A Director mentioned the loss of the hedges that were installed due to neglect

1914 – The Business Manager made mention that he was waiting on a call-back regarding an estimate from the landscaper that is contracted to maintain the lawn and landscaping of the Chemical Defensive Training Facility on Fort Leonard Wood

1917 – The President mentioned again the intent that all unrestricted donation funds were to be maintained to support the $10k annual budget for the Soldier Emergency Fund

1919 – The President introduced the Business Manager for the financial update

1920 – The Business Manager provided the current balances of all accounts to include the General, Museum Supplemental, Memorial Grove, and Vanguard account(s)

1927 – The President introduced the Gift Shop Manager for an update of the Gift Shop

1928 – The Gift Shop Manager provided an update as to sales trends and new initiatives in both gift shop and online sales as well as the trends of mobile sales

1931 – The President informed the leadership that they should expect decision emails in the coming days in order to vote on the budget and payroll proposals

1932 – A Director mentioned that employee pay raises may be something that the association should consider annually

1933 – The President responded that that was a Board of Director decision and that the Directors may want to consider annual pay increases based on cost of living

1936 – The President mentioned again the decision emails that would be going out and then introduced each officer in attendance asking if they had anything for further discussion

1939 – The Honorary Sergeants Major of the Corps gave a brief update on the JPEO Protection Week

1941 – A Director asked for clarity in reference to the election schedule

1942 – The President mentioned an upcoming Commandant Update Brief from the Association

1943 – A Director made mention the annual bylaws review and ensuring that the elections meet the requirements outlined and also to determine if the bylaws should be amended in order to conform to a previously discussed election cycle (in order to avoid the potential that all officers could be swapped out at one time and to support leadership continuity)

1947 – A Director expressed appreciation to the leadership for putting together the proposed budget and also to the gift shop staff for all of their hard work

1948 – A Director asked to have the Business Manager and Gift Shop Manager sign-out in order to have a closed session discussion regarding payroll

1952 – No further discussion was noted, the meeting adjourned, and the members each began to log out of the meeting.

 

 

Shane Wolfe

Business Manager

Chemical Corps Regimental Association

PO Box 437

Fort Leonard Wood, MO  65473-0437

Phone:  (573) 329-0600

Email: ccramanager@embarqmail.com