June 25, 2001

PRESENT: Grand President Paul Lindner, Grand Vice President Keith Hileman (via phone), Executive Secretary Bob Featheringham, Western Province Councillor Kevin Oldknow, Central Province Councillor Mike Stelzner, and Eastern Province Councillor Mike Votaw. Non-Supreme Council members present were Treasurer Ed Hurst; Deputy Central Province Councillor for Expansion Dan Huber; Secretary for the Vancouver Alumni Chapter Edmund Gin; Western Province Secretary John Tighi; Eta Alumnus Christopher Perez; and Sigma Phi Delta Intern and Eta Chapter Member Jeremy Vandenhouten.

CALL TO ORDER: GP Lindner called the Supreme Council to order at 6:10 PM PDT on June 25, 2001 via on-line chat. Five members of the Supreme Council were present initially, and thus a quorum was present.

MINUTES ACCEPTED: The minutes of the May 21, 2001, Supreme Council meeting were accepted.

OFFICER REPORTS:

Grand President Lindner reported that he received Membership Certificates from printers. Usually they are not sent out during the summer, because the students are gone. Thus, he will bring them to the convention, turn them over to ED Featheringham, who will mail them out after fall classes begin. GP Lindner also announced that he and ED Featheringham would be having twice-weekly coordination meeting by phone. GP Lindner queried as to whether the $75.16 expenses from Omega Chapter for Expansion Visit had been approved in advance; GVP Hileman reported that they were.

Grand Vice-President Hileman had no report.

Executive Secretary Featheringham reported that he and GP Lindner had signed his employment Agreement by 1 June and that he had received a paycheck on the 15^th. He also reported he’d been organizing files and sending out Monthly (practice) Activity Reports, which were now a contractual obligation.

Eastern Province Councillor Votaw reported that Omega Chapter was now in their new house and that Kappa was getting prepared for hosting the Convention (including making the Rip Off Trophy). He has had no contact with Chi or Psi Chapters, unfortunately; and had not had any further input from the VCU Colony from GVP Hileman.

Treasurer Hurst dropped off the chat: No Report.

Western Province Councillor Oldknow reported that he had contacted the Chief Engineer of Alpha Chapter and the Chapter reported that it had sufficient funds to pay arrears dues for Fall 2000 and Spring 2001 and would do so.

Central Province Councillor Stelzner asked if anyone had heard news from Delta. (Ed. Note Delta’s Chief Engineer subsequently sent out an e-mail to the Supreme Council reporting that its finances were in dire condition and that they would make no payments to National until they were up to date with mortgage payments to their Alumni Association.) CPC Stelzner reported he would be visiting Eta Chapter for their Summerfest.

Communications Director Wagner was absent and gave no report. However, ED Featheringham reported that the issue of bulk mailing from Toms River has not been resolved.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Expansion: Deputy Central Province Councillor for Expansion Dan Huber had no report. ED Featheringham reported that he sent a letter to Indiana University-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne (IPFW) requesting meeting regarding expansion with the Dean of Engineering after Convention. At that time, he reported, he will also visit Indiana Institute of Technology (Indiana Tech or IIT) to meet with its Dean of Engineering regarding the re-activation of Lambda Chapter.

Pledge Manual Publication: No Report. GP Lindner directed that this be a subject on the Agenda of the SC meeting at Convention. Typical issues are as follows: Does a separate Education Manual need to be written and will the Pledge Manual be available on the Web? (Ed. Note: I spoke to Brother Derek Troy on this matter subsequently, and he reported the electronic version of the Manuals is essentially completed. He only needed to get a few minor inputs.)

Nominating: After EPC Votaw’s report, discussion of potential candidates for various offices ensued, and GP Lindner summarized the situation: GVP Hileman is running as an incumbent. In the positions being vacated, one person was committed to run for GP and none for Communications Director. In addition, Information Systems Manager Hurst would like someone to take over those duties, as he will remain on as Treasurer. GP Lindner requested that each officer ask five people they know to run for office. “The personal appeal works well, “he stated, “and we are especially looking for Communications Director and GP.” Vancouver Secretary Gin stated that he could include a call for candidates in the Theta Alumni mailing; WPC Oldknow stated that he had done that a few months earlier; GP Lindner indicated he’d get back to that idea later

(Ed Note: During this report there was an exchange of views about the inability to retrieve Alumni capabilities from the database; GP Lindner indicated that we should have that capability, as the fraternity has only cursory information about alumni, but no specific action was assigned.)

Convention:

· Time-Line. GP Lindner stated that he was not in favor of the Draft Timeline where one solid day had no business meetings; however, he assigned EPC Votaw to work with GVP Hileman to resolve taking his concerns under advisement.

· Delinquent Chapters. Treasurer Hurst had dropped off the chat: no report (Ed Note: By e-mail on 6/27 Treasurer Hurst reported the following chapters to be delinquent in dues:

· Alpha (Both Fall 2000 and Spring 2001)

· Chi (Both Fall 2000 and Spring 2001)

· Delta (Spring 2001)

· Psi (Spring 2001)

[These chapters are NOT entitled to representation at the

General Convention until their dues are paid.]

· All Alumni chapters are current in dues for 2001.)

· Tutorials: GP Linder directed that all presenters have their tutorial done (acceptable forms are Power Point or some kind of Word document) and distributed to the SC in draft form by July 1. He stated that he had some draft material from previous Conventions for Finance and Code of Ethics and would make them available. Also, laptop PC will be available for presentations at Convention, he stated.

The Tutorials agreed at the April SC Meeting in Chicago are as follows:

· Rush /Written Plan: Lindner

· Personal Experience: Hileman

· Chapter Finances: Votaw

· Code of Ethics: Oldknow

· Executive Director Duties and Responsibilities: Featheringham

· Risk Reduction: Kappa Chapter

· Chapter Health: Troy/Featheringham

· Credentials: Past Executive Secretary Troy was absent: No Report. (Ed. Note: by subsequent e-mail and voice Brother Troy reported that all delegate credentials were in place; the following Officer/Chapter Reports were delinquent: Officer, Eastern Province; Active Chapter, Chi and Psi; and Alumni Chapter, Kappa and Iota.)

· Supreme Council Pre-Convention Social. EPC Votaw stated this would be a get together with significant others on Wednesday July 18^th at 6:00 EST. Details will be provided.

Women in Engineering Partnership. No Report. ED Featheringham provided a rough draft of a report to committee members via e-mail.

Leadership: No Report. GP Linder stated he’d call a committee meeting by e-mail later in the week.

OLD BUSINESS:

VCU Engineering Sorority. GVP Hileman reported (via GP Linder) that a local engineering sorority at VCU was being formed with a target of going active in the fall 2001 semester. (In a subsequent e-mail, the ladies at VCU reported that they had chosen the letters Zeta Phi Sigma (ZFS).) Furthermore, they are sending representatives to our Convention as guests, but are paying their own way.

Budget Rental Issue: No new information available from GVP Hileman. EPC Votaw stated that the June 15th Wall Street Journal had a headline: SUV Surprise. It’s the same company and same raw deal - seems they are getting a reputation for this- that GVP Hileman experienced. He kept the article if anyone wants to review it.

On-Line Forms Project: This project will be put on hold until a new Information Systems Manager is in place. Rather than continue to try to solve the problem at the meeting, GP Lindner put off further discussion until the Supreme Council meeting at Convention.

NEW BUSINESS:

VCU Colony Convention Lodging Expenses: GVP Hileman moved to underwrite the Convention lodging expenses for VCU Colony at $15 per night. CPC Stelzer seconded, and the motion passed.

Added Executive Director responsibilities: GP Linder announced he was putting the Merchandising Manager duties back under the Executive Director, effective after Convention.

NEXT MEETING:

The next meeting is set for Thursday July 19^th, at the Convention.

The next regular monthly on-line chat meeting will be August 20 at 6:00 PM PDT.

ADJOURN:

There being no other business to conduct, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 PM PDT.

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