Call to
Order: President John M. Hotchner called
the general membership meeting of the American Philatelic
Society to order in Room 202A of the Orange County Convention
Center on Saturday, February 27, 1999 at 9:00 a.m.
President Hotchner introduced the Board members, past Board
members, past Presidents Bill Bauer and Bud Sellers, committees
and staff who were present.
Hotchner introduced Executive Director Robert Lamb and the staff
from State College.
Hotchner thanked Americas 99 Chairman John Shirley and the local
committee who were present.
President Hotchner and Executive Director Lamb recognized those
members who had been celebrating twenty-five and fifty continuous
years' membership with the American Philatelic Society.
President's Report -- John Hotchner
The APS Board of Directors met beginning Tuesday night for a
total of 11-1/2 hours. What follows are matters discussed and
acted upon. Hotchner reported on a number of appointments he
has made since STAMPSHOW 98. Merritt Jenkins will chair the Stamp
Theft Committee; Jeanette Adams, Peter McCann, and our Executive
Director Bob Lamb are APS representatives as members of the Board
of Washington 2006; Jim Mazepa as APS representative to Federation
of Inter American Philately (FIAF), Daniel Olson as APS representative
to Maximaphilly Commission of FIP, and Guy Dillaway to chair
the standing committee on Expertizing. Hotchner is also in the
process of forming an ad hoc committee to study and make recommendations
on ways to strengthen national exhibitions and exhibiting. Those
who have accepted appointments so far are Jeanette Adams, George
Shalimoff, Jack Harwood, and Jackie Alton. Others will be announced.
He noted we received PACIFIC 97's final report. It is detailed
analysis and lessons learned and is quite a well done document.
Hotchner thanked especially Jim Bowman who was the signing officer
of the document and Steve Schumann who helped make it happen.
Anyone who would like a copy should see Hotchner after the meeting
and he would give them Bowman's address so they could write for
a copy.
Hotchner reported to the Board the results to date of his survey
of member opinion in American Philatelist that had to
do with whether members like or want semi-postals. With just
over 100 responses in categories Hotchner specified, 15 said
Congress should direct additional semi-postals, 71 said they
didn't want more semi-postals, and 22 said it made no difference
to them. This is not statistically valid but it is an interesting
reflection of what the membership wants.
Under old business the Board took up and passed final wording
on bylaws amendments that are being proposed as part of this
year's election package that provide for term limits, reduction
in age for life membership eligibility, for changing the method
of calculating the cost of life membership, changing the eligibility
requirement for office of president by removing simple committee
chairmanship, shortening the election process so it ends in late
June rather than late July, and a provision for candidates for
the Board of Vice Presidents so they do not all have to live
within the present 200-miles currently required.
Under new business, the Board accepted a new affiliate the Trans-Mississippi
Philatelic Society.
We took up and passed a proposal by Lloyd de Vries to add a
cachet makers bourse to STAMPSHOW 99 in Cleveland. It will be
held from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday night.
The Board received a proposed new draft of the affiliation agreement
between the APS and the American First Day Cover Society which
will recognize their show, AMERICOVER, as a World Series of Philately
exhibition. The latest version includes changes recommended by
our Accreditation Committee. The Board accepted those changes
and referred the draft back to AFDCS for review and hopefully
their acceptance.
The Board received reports of progress of NORDIA 2001 and Washington
2006. Hotchner introduced Gordon Morison, representative from
NORDIA 2001.
Morison: The NORDIA exhibition is normally
held in Scandinavia in different countries each year. In 2001
the European Federation decided they would not have one in Europe
because of the Copenhagen show in the summer of 2001. Therefore
the Scandinavia Collectors Club decided it would invite the NORDIA
Federation to come to America and hold their show here. A corporation
called NORDIA 2001, Inc. was formed. That group is now arranging
the show. They decided to add the show on to the ARIPEX show
in Tucson where we could have some fun in the sun in Tucson.
The APS decided to have its winter meeting there, too. NORDIA
is planning about 500 frame international part of the show. That
part will be judged by FIP standards and rules. The ARIPEX show
will continue as it has right next door to us, so visitors will
get two shows for free admission. We are also looking at the
possibility of and expect to run a postal history seminar two
days before the show. There will be tours offered before the
show and tours offered after the show for visitors from out of
town. We are looking at about a two week program of fun in Tucson.
If you join us you won't be disappointed. It is a nice place
to visit in January. The dates are January 26-28, 2001.
Hotchner: The Accreditation Committee presented
to the Board a proposal that grand award winners from the three
national shows in Canada be invited to participate in the Champion
of Champions. This proposal was tabled pending the results from
the ad hoc committee on exhibiting and exhibitions.
The Board next took up a proposal from Les Winick that the APS
withdraw its commissioners and jurors from Stampshow 2000, London
as Germany has done to protest its frame fees which amount to
$52 per frame. The Board decided that exhibitors themselves should
decide if frame fees are too high and should be left free to
vote with their checkbooks. The larger issue is frame fee creep,
and Hotchner has been instructed by the Board to write to the
FIP expressing the APS view that the FIP should monitor this
problem and do what it can to keep fees at an affordable level.
On Wednesday morning the meeting began with a 1-1/2 hour airing
of the relationship between the APS and the USPS. The Postal
Service was represented by Dickey Rustin, Program Manager for
Domestic and International Stamp Exhibitions and their director
of USPS World Stamp Expo 2000 that will be held in Anaheim in
California. Half a dozen members, including dealer member Jim
Forte, attended and participated. The USPS has shown flexibility
by its willingness to add 30-inch counters and chairs for dealers
who prefer that type of booth for our four partnership shows
that include the Anaheim Mega Show, two New York Megas, and STAMPSHOW.
The APS has argued for more attendee-friendly facilities that
also meets the needs of most of the dealers. The USPS has been
responsive. We also recognize that the USPS' desire to upgrade
our show venues has validity. To do that they have insisted on
and are willing to fund better lighting, carpeting, expanded
youth areas, improved signage, modern uniform booths, and decorations
to the hall. These changes do tend to make shows and our hobby
more attractive to newcomers. There is a draft agreement that
lays down the goals of our four partnership shows and the responsibilities
of the APS, ASDA, and USPS as partners in putting on the shows.
It is now back with the USPS to incorporate our proposed changes.
It will be submitted to the APS Board once the revised draft
is received. The point was made during the discussion that the
partnership is the cornerstone of our relationship with the Postal
Service. Through it we are able to maintain a constant dialogue,
not just regarding shows but on a wide range of issues of interest
to stamp collectors in the United States. These include things
like Magic Marker cancellations, the number and quality of stamps
being issued, reducing the cost of ordering stamps from Kansas
City, USPS support of our Youth Essay Contest and our new Youth
All Star Stamp Clubs, semi-postals, and USPS support in many
ways at stamp shows beyond the four partnership shows. There
was a discussion about whether we, the APS, lose too much autonomy
or identity by continuing the partnership. The conclusion was
that for the immediate future the positives significantly outweigh
the negatives. The USPS has a right to pursue its legitimate
concerns as we do. They have shown themselves willing to listen,
to experiment, and to change. In that kind of environment, it
is important that we maintain open lines of communication and
the partnership helps us do that.
The next subject we dealt with was the report of a committee
chaired by Janet Klug which had the task of drawing up an implementation
plan for upgrading the Society's presence on the Internet. It
grew out of a lengthy study chaired by Randy Neil, which set
forth the reasons why the Society should do this and presented
a wide range of methods for doing so. Klug's report narrowed
those options to those most important and practical, drew up
a phased implementation plan, and requested $8000 for improvements
for the website. The Board approved the report in concept, agreed
to its emphasis on member service, said that we would like to
see our presence on the Internet self-supporting in time, but
that we realize and understand that we will have to spend money
to make improvements and install new services. Reports to the
Board on progress are to be made by Bob Lamb every 60 days. A
copy of this report is available to members who would like a
copy.
Next up for discussion was a proposal that the APS Board meet
four times per year rather than the current two times per year,
this in recognition that the scope of the Society's business
is expanding and the time available for individual action is
decreasing and that issues could be dealt with better without
risking they become crises. The discussion of the proposal developed
the following findings: Additional Board meetings would be useful
at times but it is doubtful they would be needed on a routine
basis. The President or any three Board members can call an additional
meeting under the current bylaws as was done in December, 1997
when Hotchner convened a meeting of the Board in State College.
While face to face discussion is preferred, most issues can be
dealt with between meetings by other means and we should look
to other methods such as conference calls. Finally, one of the
issues we would like to address is improving the flow of communications
between State College and the Board. With this as background,
the proposal was defeated. Hotchner has appointed an ad hoc committee
to look at ways to improve Board/ Staff communications composed
of Peter McCann (chairman), Randy Neil, Jeanette Adams, and Bob
Lamb.
Two proposals
to promote Society membership were proposed by Janet Klug.
The first titled a “Free Membership” promotion
would give five $5 credit slips, each valid for purchases from
participating dealers of $25 or more, for those who join the
Society, thus there would be potential savings that would equal
the cost of a year's membership. The Board voted to accept this
plan and referred it to State College for implementation, first
for new members and then, if successful, to expand to renewing
members. It was agreed this should be in place by STAMPSHOW in
Cleveland. The second proposal was for a creation of a coupon
book to make available to new members free or discounted philatelic
materials, publications, and supplies in order to make membership
in the APS a better value, The Board tabled this proposal without
prejudice pending the results of the Free Membership promotion.
The Board agreed with my recommendation that we move our Tiffany
donor recognition dinner to the opening night of our two yearly
shows, to invite a wider range of our members, and do more to
make it a more attractive event. Hotchner appointed an ad hoc
committee composed of Peter McCann (chairman), Bob Lamb, Ann
Triggle, and Pat Walker to look at that issue.
We then dealt with the Union of Philatelists of Russia request
for financial support. The Union of Philatelists of Russia has
suffered loss of government support and much of its membership
which can no longer afford membership dues because of the loss
of value of the ruble. The Board agreed that some expression
of support would be appropriate if we could be certain that such
funds would be expended only to support promotion of the hobby
and not benefits to individuals. A figure of $1,500 was voted
to be used at Hotchner's discretion if Hotchner can determine
the money will be used as specified.
Hotchner reported to the Board he has continued negotiations
with the Junior Philatelists of America for co-sponsoring an
award for junior exhibitors to replace the H.E. Harris award.
Hotchner expects to have a formal proposal to present at the
next Board meeting.
We next dealt with four suggestions from Jim Mazepa, our new
FIAF delegate, who recommended that the APS affiliate with ESPAMER,
the organization that sponsors shows under FIAF auspices. There
is no cost to do so and the Board voted to affiliate. Secondly,
that the President of FIAF be offered the opportunity to address
the APS members periodically in American Philatelist on
the purposes and work of FIAF. The suggestion that we pursue
cross accreditation with FIAF judges who are also FIP judges
was referred to the Committee on the Accreditation of National
Exhibitions and Judges to make a proposal including structured
agreement at our next meeting. Finally, that we extend an invitation
to Central and South American federations to encourage their
members to enter our 30+ national shows. That will be done.
We passed two resolutions, the first being that the APS protest
the Postal Service's policy of geographic distribution of certain
commemoratives. A letter will be going to the USPS shortly. We
also passed a resolution of thanks to APS staff member Kathleen
Wunderly who has just resigned after 19 years of dedicated and
creative service to the Society and its members.
On Thursday the Board held a three hour session to further its
goals of creating a Strategic Plan. The time was productively
spent identifying the APS' purposes and strategic goals and being
very specific about how to accomplish these long term. Once we
have done that to look at what our strategic goals ought to be
and what our implementing actions ought to be. Hotchner will
be addressing this process and the results in a future President's
message. Hotchner thanked Col. Steve Luster, chairman of the
Future of the APS and Long Range Planning Committee is leading
us through this very worthwhile effort.
Hotchner called on Dr. Peter McCann, chairman of the Board of
Vice Presidents, for his report.
McCann: The Board of Vice Presidents consists
of Patricia Walker who is recorder, Gordon Morison, and McCann
as chairman. It is one of the least understood groups on the
Board of Directors. While the Board of Vice Presidents are part
of the regular Board of Directors of the APS, we also act as
the judicial and disciplinary arm of the Society. We handle complaints
and problems between APS members or that people have with APS
members on a wide range of subjects. We meet as the Board of
Vice Presidents about once every two months in various locations
to talk about these problems. The complaints come into the Complaints
Department in State College managed by Helen Bruno. Helen manages
to resolve about 90% of the complaints herself, but the remaining
10% come to the Board of Vice Presidents. The number of complaints
we have to deal with have been falling so that now in each session
we only have 2 or 3 cases with which to deal.
Hotchner made apologies for Secretary Janet
Klug who would not give a report because she had laryngitis,
but indicated she has done all the things she is required to
do.
Hotchner introduced Executive Director Bob
Lamb.
Lamb: On January 1 of this year our membership
was down. It was the first time in four years we have not had
an increase in membership in the Society. It was partly due to
an accounting change. Historically we have run the name of anyone
who has resigned during the dues season in the magazine a month
before we accept the resignation. Last year we stopped running
resignations in the magazine and are recording them immediately.
In January we made up 350 of that loss, but the Society membership
is down and it is a reason for concern for all of us because
it is symptomatic of problems that we see in the hobby.
One area of our hobby that is growing is the Internet. Symbolic
of this is the fact that for the first time in our history the
leading recruiter for the Society was Joe Picard, our website
manager. He has replaced Don Sundman who previously held that
distinction for at least a decade. Our hobby is changing, and
to take advantage of this situation we are making some changes
at State College as well. As of last Friday afternoon you could
reach the APS website at stamps.org as well as the rather long
west.net address we have been using. We will continue using the
west.net address as well because many people have bookmarked
that. We also added a new staff person on February 12 who, as
part of her duties, will manage our website changes in house.
As a result, we will be able to make changes more rapidly. In
the fall we plan to have a major redesign of the website to make
it more attractive and useful for the members.
Financially we are in good shape thanks to the Finance Committee.
The Society's assets have exceeded $6 million for the first time
in history. This does not take into account the value of our
library or the reference collection. Our asset/ liability ratio
is about two to one.
Our members were very generous to us last year. We have had
over a quarter million dollars in cash contributions to the society
and we have had $390,000 of in kind donations including some
wonderful material for the reference collection. We try to use
these donations wisely. Even though we did not have a major fund
raising drive last year, most of the money went to the building
fund. Members were generous in supporting our youth programs
and that has enabled us to start the All Star Stamp Clubs.
We have replaced our show cards with a card that is a variation
of the card we send to All Star Stamp Club members on their birthdays.
The money from the sales of these cards goes to support the local
hosting stamp club and the All Star Stamp Club.
We expect the Reference Collection to be worth over $1 million
by the end of this year. One of the most pressing space requirements
we have at State College is for the Reference Collection which
is becoming a major resource for research. It is available for
use by our membership, but it has grown out of the space we have
allocated to it. We need more secure space because of the value
we are going to have to make improvements in climatic control.
We came out with some good books last year. The Serrane
Guide is selling well. We have just about sold out of Spurious
Stamps. There are just about 100 copies of that left.
We said we weren't going to reprint the EKU booklet
but that sold out quickly and we did reprint it because we
had so many orders for it. We may do an update to that.
One of the people who was responsible for the success of the
book publishing program is Kitty Wunderly. It is sad she has
left us because she was such a strong support at State College.
We hope to fill her position sometime in March.
The All Star Stamp Clubs are proving to be successful. The first
mailing went out in January. We expected to reach 1000 kids in
the program at the end of the first year. We reached 1000 kids
in the first 60 days. We have 60 clubs all over the country.
We even have a club at an American school in Indonesia. The dues
for a club are $5 to join and the postage on the first package
that went out to them exceeded $5. The second mailing with membership
cards has just gone out. The next will go out in April and will
include current album supplements, stamps, first day covers,
information about stamp collecting. We are really pleased we
have gotten so much support. We received $29,000 from the membership.
We received $1,000 from Irwin Weinberg. We have gotten supplies
from Krause, Scott's, and Amos Press.
The membership system in State College has been implemented.
Lamb thanked everyone for their patience and understanding while
the implementation was in progress.
We have been talking a lot about product endorsement as a way
to get better products into the philatelic marketplace. The Board
decided we are going to encourage the production of products
for stamp collectors but stop short of actually endorsing them.
One product that will be released into the philatelic market
soon with APS encouragement is Archival Spray, a product that
protects stamps and covers from acidity. The second product is
a watermark fluid called Clarity. We thought the hobby needed
a better product than lighter fluid. This new product will not
be dangerous for collectors to use and it is not dangerous to
the environment. We were able to stimulate production of this
product. We are not going to endorse the products, but we think
we have been of service to the hobby to get them into the marketplace.
We will turn our attention next to a peelable hinge. Lamb did
not promise success, but the APS would put forth effort in this
area.
There have been a rash of thefts in the hobby and we have to
do something to protect our members. The values of collections
are starting to rise again. As they rise there will be more security
problems. Hotchner mentioned he has revived the old Stamp Theft
Committee. We hope to help collectors protect their collections
in this way.
Hotchner: Presented the Century Award for recruiting
100 new APS members to David Tilton.
Hotchner: Opened the floor to new business.
Question from the floor: Asked about the problem
with staff-board communications and suggested a way this could
happen through an Executive Director summary.
Hotchner: Communication in any organization
is never quite what it should be. There is a tremendous amount
of communication in many respects. Hotchner is on the phone to
Lamb sometimes two or three times each day. It is not that there
isn't communication, it is that there is never enough of the
right kind of communication. We don't want to ignore that.
Question from the floor: Why is there no outside
signage indicating there is a stamp show here?
Hotchner: That is definitely a problem. The
staff will have to grapple with that because we have to learn
this lesson for the next show.
Question from the floor: With regard to security,
one simple thing a collector can do is remove his or her show
badge when leaving the show. That badge signals you are a collector
and may have material on you. This is especially important after
take down if you are an exhibitor.
Question from the floor: Is there any consideration
to encourage a searchable catalog for the computer on CD-ROM?
It would be very convenient.
Hotchner: It is not something we have gotten
involved with. There are a number of catalog manufacturers out
there and if they see it as potentially profitable to do it,
they will be on it.
From the floor: The Milwaukee Philatelic Society
is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year at MILCOPEX. The
MPS would like to invite any APS member who wishes to exhibit
to contact us. Our centennial dinner will be in November of this
year.
McCann: Reminded Hotchner to mention the new
Judges Manual.
Hotchner: We have a new manual on philatelic
judging which is available at the APS booth on the show floor.
The cost to members is $9.60 and it is selling well.
Hotchner: Asked for the member present with
the lowest number to adjourn the meeting.
Motion: To adjourn the meeting. Moved jointly
by Bud Hennig and Bud Sellers. A second was received from the
floor. Motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.
Respectfully submitted by: Attest:
Janet Klug, Secretary
John M. Hotchner, President
