THE
MONTICELLO
ASSOCIATION

2003 Annual Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING AT THE OMNI HOTEL
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA
MAY 4, 2003

The Annual Meeting of The Monticello Association was held on Sunday, May 4, 2003 at the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, VA in accordance with paragraph 3 of the By-Laws. The meeting was held in conjunction with a luncheon and approximately 82 members, associate members and junior members were in attendance.

Nat Abeles, President, introduced our guest speaker, Susan Stein of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation who reviewed some of the Foundation's activities.

January 18, 2003 was the 200th anniversary of the date that Thomas Jefferson requested money from Congress to finance the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Monticello hosted an event that began the national commemoration. Four thousand people were on the mountaintop to celebrate. There were representatives from all across the country including many American Indian tribes. The primary focus of her remarks was a review of the Lewis & Clark Expedition celebration that will continue for several years at Monticello. A new exhibition has been initiated and will be in place during 2003. It is called Framing the West at Monticello - Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis & Clark Expedition. The entrance hall has been transformed into Jefferson's Indian Hall with many Indian artifacts. Several of the original Lewis & Clark papers are on display in the Library. The Foundation has published two things - one, a guide to the Expedition and the other children's brochure.

There was a five-day conference at the University of Virginia in connection with this commemoration. Fifty speakers were brought in to participate and nearly 11,000 school children learned about Jefferson and Lewis & Clark. There were 1,000 participants at the conference. The Foundation has been working with many organizations to bring the word about Jefferson and the Expedition. A new exhibit has been opened in the New Orleans Museum of Art and it is entitled Jefferson's America and Napoleon's France. It has a gallery about Monticello.

In about a month, four new spaces will be opened at Monticello - the cook's room, a beer storage cellar, a general storage cellar and the north privy. They are restoring the fireplace wall in the kitchen. The entire kitchen will be completed in 2003.

The project of editing and publishing Jefferson's retirement papers is going smoothly. The first volume will be in press within a year. There will be approximately one volume each year for a decade.

Restoration plans for the mountaintop including moving the offices are being revised. The plan is still to relocate the administrative offices and to update and improve the Visitors Center.

The Foundation offered to provide an educational component to The Monticello Association Annual Meeting activities. Topics could include music, gardening, architecture or anything we would like to learn about and Ms. Stein asked that we let them know of our interest.

Mr. Abeles thanks Ms. Stein and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for their hospitality.

Nat Abeles began the meeting by thanking all those who had helped with the various events. He reminded those in attendance that no recording devices would be allowed except for the one to assist the Secretary with the minutes of the meeting. If there are no objections, he asked that we use Roberts Rules of Order to conduct the meeting. Roll call was dispensed with and attendance was obtained by signing the roll sheets on each table. We dispensed with the reading of the minutes from last year since they were published in the Annual Report. There was no objection.

Mr. Abeles asked the Secretary to announce the number of eligible voters in attendance. It was announced that there were 56 eligible votes in attendance.

Secretary's Report - Again this year, the Secretary asked that the membership keep us informed of changes of address. She explained that it is expensive and costly for the Monticello Association when our addresses are not current and mailings do not go to the correct address. The Secretary also explained the importance of timing i.e., the Annual Report goes to the printer the first week of February and all changes need to be in hand no later than January.

Proposed for Associate Membership:

Larry Armstrong, husband of Elizabeth Ruffin Armstrong
Kenneth L. Bostwick, Jr., husband of Margaret Griffin Bostwick
Alfred Medrano, husband of Kathryn Banks Medrano
Richard Lewis Patterson, husband of Nancy Morgan Patterson
Trisha Haugh Shephard, wife of Douglas C. Shephard

A motion was made and seconded to accept those nominated to be associate members. The motion passed.

Treasurer's Report - Cynthia Spangler began by noting the death of Ed Taylor and acknowledging his helpfulness to her and all that he did for the Association. Ms. Spangler concluded with remarks that he was loved and will be greatly missed.

2004 proposed budget is essentially the same as the 2003 budget with the following changes and exceptions - web site $160 annually and addition of $3,000 for the Annual Meeting. This is approximately the current over-run for the Annual Meeting expenses. We do expect an additional $750 expense for the By-Laws revisions and an increase of $100-200 in the Treasurer's budget for the cost of postage. $15,160 is the total budget for 2004. The expenses for computerizing our genealogical records and coordinating the Treasurer and Secretary's data are not included in the budget. We do not at this time have an estimate of the cost for this computerization. If this becomes a large expense, it can be spread out over several years.

Financially, we are a very sound organization. We are maintaining about $20,000 in our checking account and do not anticipate any large expenses that have not been identified. The account for taking care of the graveyard is still around $74,000 after the unusual expenses of fence repair this year. There was question from the floor whether the casting used in repair of the fence can be used again but existing pieces can be used.

Historian's Report- Bob Coolidge gave an overview of his efforts to computerize our genealogy. Copies have been sent to the Association Secretary, the disc is available and Mr. Coolidge brought copies to the meeting. The genealogy still needs work, i.e., the index and incomplete information. He has updated the text of all information received since 1984 in a form that can be easily revised. 200 years ago on this date Thomas Jefferson was living in the President's house in Washington awaiting the results of negotiations on the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.

Vice President's Report - John Esser - "Our third purpose of The Monticello Association is to encourage friendship among the members. We have policy differences as we should have. We also have elections and we have issues that we vote on." Mr. Esser pointed out his belief that The Monticello Association needs to achieve a sense of community and association. He went on to suggest that a way of doing that is to conduct our business meeting without personal attacks and this includes not charging officers with misconduct or to censure or expel fellow members. he pointed out that the Treasurer and Secretary stand with him on these issues. he appealed to the membership to make policy decisions through discussion and elections and by voting on the issues.

Nomination Committee - Bob Gillespie, committee chairman, gave the committee report with the following proposed for officers:

Other candidates nominated were:

The President called for the meeting to proceed to election of officers. There was a motion to delay the election until the end of the meeting. The motion was seconded. A discussion of the pros and cons of a delay followed. Part of that discussion was to allow for the ballots submitted on copied paper, or unofficial ballots to be included in the count. Nat Abeles explained that the Executive Committee had set policy regarding the election process including the validity of official ballots, only those sent out by the Secretary. There was question whether the Executive committee had the Constitutional authority to limit ballot validity to those sent by the Secretary. Mr. Abeles reference Roberts Rules of Order governing the meeting and the election. Bob Gillespie suggested The Monticello Association Constitution takes precedence over Roberts Rules of Orders and he read Article 5, Section A that states that members unable to attend the Annual Meeting have the privilege of filing with the Secretary their votes for officers - any ballot in writing, as long as signatures can be read and there is no fraud occurring, is valid. A vote was taken on the motion to delay the election. There were 19 votes to delay, 27 not to delay. The motion failed. The meeting agenda was not changed.

Sal Pace made a motion to accept all ballots that were mailed to the members for the election of officers. Motion was seconded. An amendment was suggested that all ballots sent in by paid up members be accepted. Article 5 was read again. The amendment was voted on and passed. A vote was then taken to accept all ballots by paid-up members of the Association and the motion passed.

Election of Officers - The Secretary began to collect ballots from members present. A motion was made to allow each candidate time to make a statement and be available for questions. It was explained by Nat Abeles that in the interest of time, the Executive Committee had given each candidate the opportunity for a biographical statement which was mailed to the membership with the final ballot. There was discussion pro and con of the motion. There was objection to the Secretary accepting ballots to anyone who wished to rethink his/her vote or wanted more time. No one asked for a ballot to be returned. The motion on the floor was to give candidates time to speak. A vote was taken and the motion failed. There were no speeches.

The meeting went into recess for the purpose of counting the votes. The tellers, those counting the votes, were identified. Secretary, Betsy Mackey, read the election results.

Applause followed thanking the Tellers and congratulating the winners.

Nat Abeles thanked Bob Coolidge for his years of service and his valuable contributions. He will continue to be involved and future Historians will find him a good resource. Applause followed.

The Secretary made a motion that the ballots be destroyed. The motion was seconded. A vote was taken - the motion passed.

John Works, Jr. made a motion that the Secretary disclose the breakdown between absentee ballots and those cast at the meeting. The motion was seconded and voted on but failed to pass. John Works, Jr. made another motion pertaining to next year's election, if there is more than one candidate nominated for an office, the candidates be allowed time to speak at the Annual Meeting and time to address questions. The motion was seconded. Discussion followed with the pros and cons. A vote on the motion was taken and the motion passed. Candidates will be allowed time to present their positions at next year's Annual Meeting.

John Works, Jr. asked for an explanation of the difference in total votes for the different candidates. Sal Pace, who was an observer, explained that not all ballots contained votes for each office - some people did not vote for each office.

New Business - A motion was made that at next year's Annual Meeting candidates who are opposed for office be limited to a 5-minute presentation. The motion was seconded. Discussions on each side of the issue were held. The motion to limit the time of candidate presentation passed.

Patty Salazar made a motion with regard to the 2004 Annual Meeting guest policy. Motion - the 2004 Annual Meeting be limited to paid up members and members of their immediate family and all other events be limited to two guests per adult regular member and any guest must accompany their sponsoring member. There was a second. A great deal of discussion followed. John Works asked to make an amendment that under clear circumstances when the member cannot attend at the last minute, guests be allowed to attend. There was a second and discussion followed. A vote on the amendment was taken and the amendment failed. Following the defeat of the amendment, discussion of the original motion regarding guest policy for 2004 continued. It was explained that this year's policy regarding guests was a compromise. There are members who wish to have an unlimited number of guests and those who wish no guests at our activities. John Works, Jr. asked to make an amendment that no guests be at the Sunday activities, including the graveyard and that all Sunday activities be limited to regular, association and junior members. There was a second. Discussion followed, pros and cons. A vote was taken on the amendment to the proposed guest policy to admit members only on the Sunday activities including the graveyard ceremony. The amendment failed. Then a vote was taken on the original motion for the 2004 guest policy. The motion passed.

John Works, Jr. expressed appreciation to Nat Abeles in particular and the Executive Committee as a whole for this year's guest policy.

Announcements

Database - Nat Abeles announced that we are currently working on developing software that will enhance our genealogy database and the information kept by the Secretary and Treasurer.

By-Laws - Nat Abeles expressed appreciation to all for their interest and participation in the discussion of By-law changes. We want everyone's feedback. We will be updating membership periodically and hope to have a vote on them in January, 2004. Please send comments to John Esser.

Collected Papers Volume III - It has been suggested that we publish Volume III of the Collected Papers. The emphasis would be as much on process of producing it as on the product. We would need to update genealogy, update the By-laws if we change them, update the inscriptions that are on stones that have been placed in the graveyard since 1982 and choose a general editor. The first step would be on Saturday afternoon of the next Annual Meeting weekend to have six separate meetings of each branch of the family. We need one person from each branch of the family to convene the meetings. Volunteers should contact John Esser. The Executive Committee will arrange for the rooms. The volunteer would convene the meeting and facilitate a discussion about the content for the chapter in Volume III about his/her branch. This could be on the great-great grandchildren.

Julia King, newly elected Historian introduced herself, expressed appreciation and shared that she is collecting portraits of family members and would like to have them on the Association website. She also asked that interesting family stories be shared.

The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.