Potomac Chapter National Railway Historical Society, Inc.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Marc Laborde, Vice President Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
President Gordy Bjoraker called the meeting to order at 8:07 p.m.
Bill Holdsworth distributed copies of the previous meeting’s minutes.
Jay Creswell distributed the treasurer's report, detailing expenditures for the month of October. Jay reported that the meeting room has been reserved for the next year.
Directors discussed the possibility of developing an annual budget.
Directors discussed whether to donate funds to the Chesapeake Railway Association (CRA) for the transportation of a Pullman car, the Meadow Lark, from Gettysburg to the Walkersville Southern.
Directors were unwilling to commit to a matching grant program at this time, without more information. Who will have ownership of the car? Is restoration within the capability of the CRA? Is the cost estimate for the transfer firm? Has the condition of the car been assessed by an independent expert? Do they know how much it cost to restore the car to operations?
Directors discussed candidates for the small grants program.
Jerry Hott gave highlights from the national board meeting.
Director approved Jim Kleeman of Towson as a chapter only member
Marc Laborde reported on his progress scanning the prints from the Flack photo collection. He has scanned about 60 of 6,000 photos.
Directors discussed the storage locker and agreed to take action to clear our some of the contents. Bob Cohen offered to dispose of some of the materials with no obvious value, such as old timetables by putting them on the “free” table at the membership meeting. Marc will try to sell some of the B&O Volume 2 books on eBay. John Sery offered to investigate donating some books to libraries. Bill and Jay will review the archival material in the file cabinet.
Two westbound trains passed during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:58 p.m.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Marc Laborde, Vice President Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President | Jay Creswell, Treasurer |
Bill Holdsworth called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m. Marc Laborde arrived after the meeting started and allowed Bill to continue chairing the meeting.
John Sery reported on the issue of audio equipment for the recently purchased digital video projector.
Directors approved a motion to authorize John Sery and Jay Creswell to spend up to $300 for purchase of bookshelf speakers and an amplifier for use with the digital video projector.
Directors briefly discussed a possible chapter presence at the World’s Greatest Hobby Show in February at the Dulles Expo Center. No action was taken.
Directors discussed the slide contest. The board increased the prize level in 1998 in hopes of encouraging participation. Alex Mayes reports that the contest currently draws about 15 participants. The board would like the program committee to consider ideas for increasing participation and report back to the board. Among the ideas discussed were
Directors discussed the storage locker. Bob provided a list of the magazine collection. Richard Edwards and Bill Holdsworth agreed to visit the locker and report back to the board on the contents.
Bob Cohen reported that Montgomery County is raising the fee for use of the auditorium from $10 per hour to $25 per hour. That will raise the cost of our monthly membership meetings from $30 to $75.
John Sery said that he would like to see a future board meeting devoted solely to longer term issues on the future of the chapter.
Bill Holdsworth reported that he is drafting procedures for approving motions via email.
Richard, Bob and Bill Hopkins said that they would be unable to attend the next scheduled board meeting on October 12.
One eastbound and one westbound train passed during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Marc Laborde, Vice President | Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
Gordy Bjoraker called the meeting to order at 8:06 p.m.
Bill Holdsworth distributed copies of the previous meeting’s minutes.
Jay Creswell distributed the treasurer's report, detailing expenditures for the month of July. He reported that members contributed $475 to the for the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad Preservation Society's efforts to acquire and move a former Ma & Pa work car. The chapter will match the contribution. Jay will disburse the funds when the society informs him that they need the money for the transfer.
Directors discussed the picnic. Alex Mayes, who can’t attend, will buy the nonperishable groceries. Bob Cohen will buy the perishable goods.
Bill Hopkins raised the issue of the Bob Flack photo collection. He would like to see the chapter make the effort to make the photos available to members. Directors will discuss the issue further at a future meeting.
John Sery reported on the results of his research on digital video projectors. He recommended that the chapter purchase a Mitsubishi EX100, which uses DLP technology, for $1,448 plus tax. The chapter will still need to purchase amplified speakers. John will research speakers.
Director approved a motion to authorize purchase of the Mitsubishi EX100 projector from CTL video at $1,448, as recommended by John. Directors discussed the idea of incorporating digital material in the annual slide contest.
Bob Cohen suggested that the chapter have presence at the World’s Greatest Hobby Show in February at the Dulles Expo Center. Bob was unsure whether there would be a cost. He will get more information. One issue is whether enough members would volunteer to man the booth.
Bob suggested the chapter explore shift its storage locker to a cheaper location in Frederick. He said the new location would cost about $84 a month for the same size locker. Discussion centered on the purpose of the locker and that perhaps the chapter should reevaluate its needs before making the move. Bob will provide more information about the contents, specifically the magazine collection.
Directors discussed the prize level in the slide contest.
Directors agreed to shift the date of the September board meeting to Thursday the 15th, because of a scheduling conflict with the station.
Two eastbound trains passed during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:57 p.m.
| Executive Office Building Auditorium, Rockville, MD | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Jerry Hott, National Director Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| John Sery, Director at Large | Marc Laborde, Vice President |
The meeting convened about 8:45 p.m.
Directors approved David and Kathryn Bieritz of Sterling, VA, as new members of the chapter.
The meeting adjourned about 8:50 p.m.
| Executive Office Building Auditorium, Rockville, MD | |
| Present: | |
| Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Jerry Hott, National Director |
Marc Laborde, Vice President |
The meeting convened about 7:50 p.m.
Directors voted to recommend that the membership confer an honorary lifetime membership upon Clay Moritz for his outstanding contributions to the objectives of the Chapter. Prior to the vote, the secretary received nominations in writing from the required four members in good standing, clearly stating Clay's contributions.
Directors authorized the expenditure of up to $250 for reproduction and mailing of the membership roster.
The meeting adjourned about 7:55 p.m.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Marc Laborde, Vice President | |
President Gordy Bjoraker called the meeting to order at 8:08 p.m.
Jay Creswell distributed the treasurer's report, detailing expenditures for the month of April.
Directors discussed the purchase of a digital projector. John Sery volunteered to do more research. Jay and Bob Cohen will join John on the committee to research the purchase.
Directors approved a motion to recommend that the membership authorize a matching grant program of $500 for the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad Preservation Society's efforts to acquire a former Ma & Pa work car. The chapter would match member donations dollar-for-dollar. The deadline would be the July membership meeting.
Directors discussed a memorial donation for John Kouyeas.
Directors authorized expenditure not to exceed $275 to reimburse the travel expenses of the speaker from the O. Winston Link museum, who will present the program at the June membership meeting.
Directors discussed the prize money in the slide contest. They agreed to solicit the opinion of Alex Mayes, the organizer, on the effect of lowering the prize money.
Directors discussed whether the chapter should take any action on the issue of harassment of railfans by law enforcement officials. John said he would draft a letter.
Richard Edwards reported that John Morris and Bill Adams have volunteered to join the activities committee. Bill Holdsworth should contact Jim Lilly.
One eastbound train passed during the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:53 p.m.
| Executive Office Building Auditorium, Rockville, MD | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Bill Holdsworth, Secretary | Marc Laborde, Vice President |
The meeting convened at 7:40 p.m.
The Board learned that member Carl Franz had not obtained a written quote for the projector he had proposed. After a brief discussion of the quotes from Internet sources obtained by President Bjoraker and a report by Treasurer Creswell about information from a person in the video business about video the model of video projector we were considering, the Board resolved to recommend to the membership that they approve the expenditure of an amount not to exceed $2250 to purchase a video projector, amplifiers, and necessary accessory equipment to operate the projector.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Marc Laborde, Vice President Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Bill Holdsworth, Secretary | |
President Gordy Bjoraker called the meeting to order at 8:10 p.m.
Jay Creswell distributed the treasurer's report, detailing expenditures for the month of March.
Member Carl Franz gave an extensive report on the current state of digital projector technology and recommended a Mitsubishi projector. A demonstration of the specific model was given.
Directors approved a motion to recommend that the membership authorize $1,500 for the purchase of a digital projector, provided we receive a written quote for that amount.
Director discussed possible support for the Maryland & Pennsylvania Preservation Society.
Directors discussed the efforts to preserve the B&O station in Aberdeen.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.
| Silver Spring B&O Station | |
| Present: | |
| Gordy Bjoraker, President Bill Holdsworth, Secretary Jay Creswell, Treasurer Jerry Hott, National Director |
Bob Cohen, Director at Large John Sery, Director at Large Bill Hopkins, Director at Large Richard Edwards, Director at Large |
| Absent: | |
| Marc Laborde, Vice President | |
President Gordy Bjoraker called the meeting to order at 8:05 p.m.
Gordy appointed Bob Cohen and Bill Hopkins to the two vacant positions on the board of directors. The appointments were necessary because Bob's and Bill's two-year terms had expired January 1 and the election to fill the positions was not complete.
Directors discussed the Alex Mayes' suggestion that the chapter exploring acquiring a DVD projector for programs at the monthly. Alex said that Carl Franz was willing to research the subject. Directors agreed to encourage Carl to do the research. Directors want any equipment purchased to be flexible, able to work with other media, such as a video cassette tape or a laptop computer hookup. John Sery thought that a quality projector would cost about $1500 and would need to be supplemented with a DVD/VCR combo and speakers.
Directors encouraged Bill Holdsworth to proceed with gathering the information for publication of a membership directory. He will use Rick Davidson's information as a starting point once the renewal process is complete.
Director approved a motion to recommend that the membership authorize an expenditure of up to $1750 for the April 2 banquet at Amphora restaurant in Herndon, with a price of $35 per person and costs expected to be covered by the proceeds.
Directors had previously approved a motion via email to authorize the Treasurer to reimburse Frances Mohr for the deposit for the banquet.
Bill Holdsworth distributed copies of the minutes from the December meeting.
Jay Creswell distributed the treasurer's report. Expenditures for the month of December included discretionary grants of $500 to the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley chapter for restoration of Boston and Maine locomotive 3713 and $500 to the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Preservation Society.
Directors discussed the possibility of moving the storage locker to a cheaper location.
Directors discussed and rejected imposing a $5 late fee for the banquet.
The meeting adjourned at 9:55 p.m.
