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Attendance: Ken Mueller, Virginia Curulla, Ellen Taylor, Sue Cox, Cathi Vannice, Bob Hawkins, and Beryl Redfield.
A meeting of the Board of Directors was called by the President and held via telephone conference on December 17, 2006. The call began at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. The following items were discussed:
1. Using Pay Pal: It was suggested we provide the service of Pay Pal on the Latta.org website in order to simplify donations to the Latta Genealogy Society. The motion was made by Ellen and seconded by Sue. The voting was unanimous.
2. Auditor: Cathi Vannice volunteered to serve as auditor for one year until another volunteer is found. The motion was made by Ellen and seconded by Virginia. The voting was unanimous.
3. Nominating committee: Ken reported that Mitch Latta and Gary Pokaradi agreed to serve on the Nominating Committee, and he is waiting to hear from Keith Latta. Because a total of at least five members are required, Virginia and Sue volunteered to make telephone calls to Connie Latta, Betty Kitchen, and Connie Leaman to inquire as to their availability to serve on the Nominating Committee. The motion was made by Virginia and seconded by Kathy. The voting was unanimous.
4. Latta information received: Ken announced that he received a large packet of information from Rose Ann Latta of Amboy, Illinois, some of which appears to pertain to Branch 43, and perhaps Branches 1 and 8. He plans to publish this information in the Newsletter. Sue volunteered to make copies for Ellen and Cathi.
5. DNA research: Bow Hawkins discussed DNA research and said that before combining branches, DNA results could help verify the information. He stated that Branch 1 has participated. In order to obtain more volunteers, Virginia suggested we set up a scholarship fund for which persons could make application. It was also suggested that donations to this fund could be set up. We discussed targeting testing for those with similar names and dates with a goal of combining commonalities, however a clear and convincing DNA analysis must exist.
ACTION: It was agreed that Bob will write an article to provide information on DNA testing, scholarship funding and suggest branches for testing. Sue will work with Bob on this. We will formally agree to funding at a later time, the amount and maximum depending on the number of marker test. Bob will submit a short article for the Winter Issue and a lengthier article for the Spring Issue.
6. Annual Membership Meeting: It is a Washington State requirement that an annual meeting be held the third Saturday in June. Virginia and Cathi will meet together to satisfy this requirement. They will first review the legal requirements and reply to Ken by e-mail.
7. Board Elections: The current officers are temporary until the new Board members are elected according to the provisions of the by-laws. The names of the Nominating Committee will be announced in the Winter Issue of the Newsletter with the slate of candidates announced in the Spring Issue. Also included in the Spring Issue will be a mail-in ballot to be returned within 21 days, with the results announced at the June meeting and published in the Summer Newsletter.
8. Other: Ellen reported that the DAR has a very informative website with some helpful information available on line. She will write an article describing this in detail for the Spring Issue. She will also write up something about the Latta DAR patriots.
9. Next Conference Call: There is no regularly scheduled meeting, however as items need to be discussed or approved, Ken may call a meeting of the Board of Directors.
10. Adjournment: There being no further business, Virginia moved to adjourn and Cathi seconded the motion. The call ended at 6:55 p.m. Pacific Time.
1. THE LOCATION AND TIME OF NEXT YEAR’S MEETING: No time was agreed upon. It was agreed that August might not be the ideal time for this meeting, as several people had vacation or family school-related commitments that interfered with attendance.
2. NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION BY EMAIL: This was suggested again by Beryl Redfield, Secretary/Historian. Advantages could be saving costs of printing and postage for about 70% of our subscribers. More money would be available for other LGS projects. If on the Internet, the newsletter would always be available on our web site.
Newsletter copies still could be mailed to those who prefer or need that delivery. Members could have access to download the newsletter in .pdf form. It could be posted on the web site 3-6 months later to make the newsletter available to others.
We could use a Rootsweb web site for the initial distribution of the newsletter to members, as do some other organizations.
QUESTIONS: How to upload the newsletter to our web site. Probably Sue knows or could find out.
Might donations drop off? We could consult others who use the Internet to see their experience.
3. NEWSLETTER – NEW FEATURES/ARTICLES? Cathi and Virginia reviewed recent newsletters and agreed that “kudos” should go to the editor for a well-done publication. Inviting specific individuals to write articles about their branch/research seems most effective.
QUESTION: Do we know if queries are receiving responses?
4. LGS WEBPAGE: Cathi and Virginia found that the PayPal button doesn't appear on the screen with MacIntosh Safari and FireFox browsers.
Board members and branch captains could be named with blind email links on the “about us” web page.
Board minutes also should be available on the web site.
5. KATHY LATTA QUESTIONS: Kathy Latta raised the issue of those with the Latta surname who have the name through adoption into a Latta family or by adoption of the surname as regards their participation in the Y-DNA study. Cathi and Virginia felt these would be legitimate participants in the LGS and/or the Latta surname study with the awareness that these men were part of a new Latta branch, not one that had been previously using the Latta surname.
Kathy also asked what we might do to indicate that a branch (or a limb of a branch) has “ended” with no male descendents. A similar question might be raised as regards branches that have no apparent descendents, female or male. Cathi and Virginia did not discuss this issue.
Kathy had questions about the annual meetings as specified in our by-laws. Ken should respond to her questions, which seem to be answered by a reading of the by-laws.
6. POSTING OUR FAMILY TREES:
Ken asked whether the LGS should provide a way that Latta researchers could
post their family trees. Cathi and Virginia recommended that LGS members
should use the free “World Connect” for this. (See Rootsweb). There could be
a link added to our web page that now has links to members web pages. Our
7. NORTHERN IRELAND RESEARCH: Cathi solicited volunteers to help with research and had two people step forward. However, she believes that we are close to having done all that we can as volunteers. Cathi will review the status of the NI research and summarize where we are. Then we proposed that a new chairperson for the project be found. We might be at the point of using our funds for on-site research in Northern Ireland.
8. LGS PURCHASING ARTIFACTS/DOCUMENTS? How do we know whether what is for sale is genuine or useful? Obtaining information on the provenance would be helpful. Ebay sellers can be investigates as regards their track record of reliability, and they can be contacted by email to ask questions.
For research purposes, provided we don't pay more than they are worth, copies of original documents might be almost as valuable as originals. In many cases, it is the information that we are looking for. Is the information authentic and useful?
As Ken has said, documents should be scanned to CD/DVD as soon as possible, with originals forwarded to our archives. Then copies can be disseminated among our members as requested.
9. HOW TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION/MEMBERSHIP IN THE LGS: Members could submit Latta surname individuals and addresses obtained from their location phone books or maybe of their relatives. Prospective members could receive promotional issues of the newsletter, or a first class letter that tells about the LGS and offers a free newsletter. We could follow-up with individuals who have placed queries.
QUESTIONS: Are branch captains answering queries? Is anyone else responding to queries? How can we know if someone has responded?
Respectfully submitted,
Virginia Latta Curulla