Maryland Council
Military Officers Association of America
Meeting Minutes
5 February, 2012 at the Fleet Reserve Club
Annapolis, Maryland
Members Present:
Norm Taylor, President
John Whitman, First Vice-President
Gunter Finkenauer, Second Vice-President
Greg Dalke, Treasurer
James Pede, Secretary
Jim Shiffrin, Webmaster, President, Ft Meade Chapter
Jack Fringer, Legislative Liaison
Tom Smith, Director
James Dittbrenner, Montgomery Chapter
Eleanor Layman, Ft Meade Chapter
Dave Peterson, Director
Harvey Kaplan, President, Montgomery County Chapter
Andy Fallon, President, Annapolis Chapter
Ken McCreedy, President General Smallwood Chapter
Tom Seybold, Baltimore Chapter
Dick Darcy, Annapolis Chapter
Tony Blankenship, President, Southern Maryland Chapter
James Shellem, President, Upper Eastern Shore
Raymond Rowland, President PG County Chapter
Members Absent:
Ed Kreiner, Acting President, Susquehanna Chapter
Luke Brennecke, President, Upper Potomac Chapter
The Maryland Council of Chapters met 5 February 2012 at 1300 in the Fleet Reserve
Club, Annapolis, Maryland.
Following the pledge CAPT Taylor opened the meeting with a review of upcoming
meeting dates. The council agreed to meet 29 April and 5 August at the Fleet Reserve
Club.
CAPT Taylor introduced Dick Darcy of the Annapolis Chapter.
Review and approval of minutes: Minutes from the 12 November 2011 meeting were
reviewed and approved as written. Open items from the meeting include:
Website Updates: This is an ongoing endeavor and CAPT Taylor reminded
presidents to review their web site information and provide updates to Maj Shiffrin.
OPEN
Zip Code Review: Maj Pede reported that the zip code review was completed and
forwarded to MOAA for action. CLOSED
Bank Selection update: To be covered in the Treasurer’s Report
Taskings which should have been completed by all presidents include sending
TOPS Chair names to Jim Dittbrenner, Legislative Chair names to LTC Fringer, and
Auxiliary Chair appointments to Eleanor Layman.
Treasurer’s report: CMD Dalke presented the treasurer’s report (Atch 1) saying the
checking account balance stood at $192.00. He pointed out that the small balance was
made possible by the Legislative Luncheon support of $1000 from MOAA. The account,
held at BB&T has experienced several changes to account surcharges resulting in a
change of our account to a ‘commercial account’ free of expenses. Because of the
frequent changes, a free account has been opened at Naval Federal Credit Union as well..
Both accounts will be held until the current fee frenzy subsides. Certificates of deposit
will be maintained at BB&T as they were only recently renewed and have better than
average interest rates. Bank selection tasking is CLOSED.
CMD Dalke reminded all presidents that council dues are due at the end of February.
TOPS Report: Jim Dittbrenner provided the TOPS Liaison Report (Atch 2) to the council
reporting efforts to establish a new Business and Networking Group (BANG) to the Ft
Meade/Aberdeen area as well as Bethesda area. The next meeting will be 22 Feb 2012 at
the UMBC campus
ACTION ITEM: Chapter presidents should send the names of their TOPS Liaison
to Jim Dittbrenner.
Level of Excellence Award: Lt Col Finkenauer and Maj Whitman will provide a report
draft 1 June 2012.
ACTION ITEM: Send new list of council officers to MOAA.
ACTION ITEM: Maj Whitman will send award package to presidents for review.
Congressional Luncheon. The lunch is scheduled for Tuesday, 11 September 2012. The
reservation for the event is sponsored by Congressman Ruppersberger. Once the
reservation is confirmed, invitations will be sent. CAPT Peterson suggested we make a
personal invite to ADM Abbot this year.
ACTION ITEM: CAPT Taylor reminded all presidents to forward the name of
their Legislative Chair to LTC Fringer.
Veteran’s Courts: Hearings on SB18 and HB252 are scheduled for 8 February.
Auxiliary Liaison Report: Ms Eleanor Layman reported on Survivor Outreach Services
support at Ft Meade (Atch 3).
Outstanding Unit Award: For training year 2011 the Outstanding Unit Award was
presented to the Maryland Aviation Depot Maintenance Roundout Unit (ADMRU).
During 2011, the ADMRU supported Operations New Dawn, Iraqi Freedom, and
Enduring Freedom. While deployed, the unit contributed to the operational readiness of
four aviation brigades within the Southwest Asian Theater of Operations. The award
presentation was made by Col McCreedy and CAPT Taylor.
Membership Committee: Lt Col Finkenauer provided the council with a draft mission
statement. He expressed his concern that the mission statement needs to provide
flexibility to assist chapters. It must provide a method to validate chapter viability. The
council task is to evaluate and assess chapter input vis-a-vis the mission statement to
provide council perspective.
Open Discussion: CAPT Taylor received a request for donation from the Maryland VA
Health Care System. The VA operates five community based outpatient clinics
throughout the state. Col Kaplan made a motion to support the request with $150. Jim
Dittbrenner seconded. The vote was 2 in favor, 16 opposed, and the motion failed.
In further discussions, LTC Fringer commented that the council holds no fund raisers
through the year but we have money in the bank maintained by dues payments with no
stated purpose. He asked the council to consider what a standing balance will be used
for. Col Fallon suggested that we should have a strategy for our funding and moved that
the finance committee make a proposal for the use of our funds and report back to the
council. The motion was seconded and passed.
ACTION ITEM: The Finance Committee will study funding requirements for the
council to determine whether a balance should be continued or whether we might
elect to initiate a charitable spend plan for reducing our balance.
The meeting adjourned at 1505. The next meeting will be 29 April 2012 at the Fleet
Reserve Club, Annapolis.
JAMES PEDE, Maj, USAF Ret
MD Council Secretary
1 ATCH: Treasurer’s Report
2 ATCH: TOPS Report
3 ATCH: Survivors Outreach Program
ATCH 1: Treasurer’s Report
ATCH 2: Council Goals
MARYLAND COUNCIL OF CHAPTERS
GOALS 2011 – 2012
► One hundred percent representation of Chapters at Council meetings
► Activate Council Committees as a primary Chapter resource
► Initiate a Chapter Rescue Plan for marginal chapters
► Improve Council web site with consistency among Chapter sites
► Establish a Council Auxiliary Liaison Officer position
► Provide Council expertise to strengthen Chapter structure & mgmt
► Assist Chapters in reaching and maintaining a Level of Excellence
► Improve Chapter to Chapter communications and mutual support
► Encourage Chapters to share successful “best practices”
► Assist Chapters in creating and publishing a newsletter
► Encourage Chapters to develop community outreach programs
► Encourage Chapters to develop auxiliary memberships
► Assist Chapters to develop a Leadership Ladder for continuity of mgmt
► Review potential of establishing a new chapter in Western Maryland
ACTH 3: Council Standing Committees
COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEES, DIRECTORS & PROJECTS
2011 - 2012
Legislative Affairs Committee:
Jack Fringer (Chair)
Harvey Kaplan
Ed Kreiner
Dave Peterson
Member Chapter Committee
Gunter Finkenauer (Chair)
Tom Smith
Tony Blankenship
Jim Pede
Andy Fallon
Jim Dittbrenner
Public Relations Committee
Ken McCreedy (Chair)
Jim Shiffrin
Luke Brennecke
Jim Dittbrener
Finance Committee
John Whitman (Chair)
Jim Shellem
Ray Rowland
Greg Dalke
Personal Affairs Officer
______________________
Auxiliary Liaison Officer
______________________
________________________________________________________________________
Directors
Tom Smith
Dave Peterson
____________________________________________________________________
Level of Excellence Award
Due 1 June 2012 (for 2011)
John Whitman (Co-Project Manager)
Gunter Finkenauer (Co-Project Manager)
ALL HANDS - PRIORITY
Congressional Appreciation
Due 14 September 2011
Jack Fringer (Project Manager)
Jim Pede
Harvey Kaplan
ATCH 4: TOPS Report
MARYLAND COUNCIL
mdmoaa.org
Council Meeting
23 July 2011
Maryland TOPS Liaison Report
1. Current Status
A. Continuing to distribute the Career Fairs and Open House Listing. Currently
goes to all 10 Maryland MOAA chapters, the Maryland Council Web Site and six
other web sites, two other MOAA Chapters in Virginia, 13 military installations,
and some 65,000 individuals world-wide.
B. Continuing to distribute Vacancy and Program Announcements weekly to all 10
Maryland MOAA Chapters, two VA Chapters, the Wounded Warrior Program
Counselors, 13 military installations from Dover AFB to Norfolk NAS, and some
250+ separating military personnel.
C. Serving as XO of Northern VA MOAA BANG Program, developing monthly
programs for retiring and separating service members.
2. In-Process Activities
A. Developing with Karl Savino, Karin Sadowski, and Greg Wilcox, a working
version of Wounded Warrior Mentor Training. To be offered at the American
Legion Hall in Springfield, VA this fall.
B. Proposed a Panel comprised of MOAA and a State Representative for the
upcoming 29 September RecruitDC Program. This program is for the top 250
recruiters in the metropolitan area and will be held at MITRE in September. The
Panel’s focus is on hiring returning veterans and will deal with the conflicting
issues of EEO versus Hiring A Veteran Programs, and will deal with the issue of
the HR function’s concern in hiring returning service members due to the
possibility of PTSD.
3. Proposed Activities
A. Establishing a Business and Networking Group within each chapter that houses a
military installation in its area of responsibility. (Copy attached.)
B. Presenting periodic Transition Programs for separating service members and
their spouses. (Copy attached)