1975 Homecoming Meeting Minutes
The combined meeting of the Board of Directors and the Alumni Corporation of Omega Chapter was opened 6:00 pm by President Heitzenroder.
The following Alumni officers and directors were present: David "Abe" Doan '48, Albert Frey '33, Frederick Grun '47, Dave Heitzenroder '64, Robert Patterson '30 and Edward Keller '54, Financial Advisor to the active chapter. Also, in attendance were nine additional alumni and fourteen active brothers who were most enthusiastic about the condition of the house and pledging prospects.
The minutes of the 1975 spring Meeting (Founder's Day) were approved without reading as copies had been distributed prior to the meeting.
The Treasurer, Brother Albert Frey, reported that the Alumni dues for the year 1974-75 were the best ever amounting to $1000. However, the amount received from the active chapter of $7100 did not cover costs of operation which were $8500. To meet this deficit money was withdrawn from the savings account which depleted a fund being accumulated to rewire the house and repair the club room ceiling. There are two outstanding mortgages: 1) an original $22,000 loan with National for fifteen years% interest has been reduced to $5600. 2) a $20,000 loan with Peoples National Bank that has been reduced to $10,500. The annual costs for these mortgages is $4200 per year. Other fixed costs are $1200 per year for insurance and $1473 for taxes. The Treasurer's report was approved and accepted.
Due to the late arrival of the Omegaphone at Alumni homes many ballots for new officers and directors were not mailed in time to be counted at the meeting. However since there was only one name for each office, those people whose names were on the ballot were considered elected by the members present. The officers for the next two years are:
President - Toby Froehlich '70
Vice President - Jim Stalder '62
Secretary - Robert Patterson '30
Treasurer - Albert Frey '33
Board of Director - Frederick Grun '47
Board of Director - Robert Holland '70
Board of Director - Roderick Dare '72
Board of Director - S. Thomas Hornyak '72
REPORTS
Financial Advisor to Active Chapter: Brother Edward Keller '54 stated he was very optimistic for the future of the active chapter with 40 men presently living in the house. With graduations during various terms throughout the year and some losses he felt the house would average 36 live-in members which is the break even point. The active chapter expects to pay full rent for use of the house this year. The active chapter did replace some furniture due to the increased number living in the house. Brother Keller said due to the increased costs of food and its preparation Homecoming weekend it was a burden on the Active Chapter to support the full cost. He felt it would be only fair for the Alumni to contribute toward the meal. After some discussion it was agreed each Alumnus and his guest should pay $5.00 each for dinner.
Active Chapter President: Brother Dave Douglas '76 advised the house was filled to live-in capacity with 27 members, 9 pledges, 2 transfers in and 2 graduate students. He advised rushing prospects have improved and fraternities on campus in general were on the up-swing. The attitude of the house is good and so far they have lost only one of ten pledges. Brother David Heitzenroder '64 stated this increase in men living in the house was due to teamwork among the active and alumni too.
OLD BUSINESS
Bulk Mailing Rate: Brother Heitzenroder thanked Brother Doan for arranging with the postal authorities to use a bulk mailing rate thus saving the Corporation considerable expense. There was difficulty the first time the bulk rate was used due to not mauling early enough for fourth class mail. And reason for the late mailing was due to the late shipment of labels by a firm in Boston.
House Maintenance: Brother Douglas, President of the Active Chapter, reported the active members would be willing to replace the plaster ceilings in the one large club room with plaster board if the corporation would pay for the material estimated to cost about $300 to $400. It would take about a week to do the work. The corporation agreed to pay for the material. He also indicated the need for rewiring the house as insulation is coming off the wires plus additional electrical equipment that is being used today requires more circuits to prevent overloading. He will arrange to have a contractor give an estimate to rewire the house.
NEW BUSINESS
New Officer Installed: Brother Froehlich took over the chair as President. He thanked Brothers David Heitzenroder, Charles Zink, Maize and Michael George for their efforts as President, Vice President and Directors respectively and hoped they would maintain the same interest in the fraternity in the years ahead as the have in the past.
Brother Toby Froehlich emphasized the need to build up a cash reserve to care for future maintenance and items such as furniture replacement plus unforeseen problems. This can only be accomplished in the actives pay their full annual rental and we get an increase in dues paying Alumni. It is imperative, therefore, that the house be kept filled and an all-out effort be made to increase the number of dues paying Alumni fro the present 10 to 15 percent to say 50 percent.
Increase in Dues: A discussion was held on the value of increasing Alumni dues. It was decided to keep the dies at present amount of $10.00 annually. The reason for this decision was that the few faithful would carry all the burden when it should be born by more members of the fraternity. Therefore it is essential we get more alumni to pay dues.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 6:45pm.
Respectfully submitted.
Robert Patterson '30
Secretary