The second membership meeting of the Boyce Railway Depot Foundation (BRDF) was convened at 3:05 PM on Sunday, October 14th, 2018. Attendees were either in person at Boyce railway depot, 117 East Main Street, Boyce, VA 22620-9639 or were online via a FreeConferenceCall call-in telephone number. Frank Scheer – Secretary presided and there were six attendees: Fran Barker, Quinton Barker, Dan Rollyson, Pearl Rollyson, Arja Seppala-Scheer, and Frank R. Scheer. This constituted a quorum for the annual membership meeting.
A membership report was presented. Between the 2016 incorporation and September 30th, 2018, 70 member certificates have been issued.
A treasury report was the next topic. BRDF funds are held in a Bank of Clarke County checking account that was set up for the Foundation during 2016. The account balance as of September 30th, 2018, was $206.48. The funds received as membership dues and donations have been used to pay utility invoices presented by Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Verizon, and Clarke County Sanitary Authority for electricity, telephone plus DSL, and the sewer connection at Boyce depot.
Stuart Bradley has created and maintains a Foundation website at https://boycedepot.com. He reports that between February and October 2018, there were 80 views by 43 visitors. Countries include India, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Robert Moore, chair of the nominating committee, presented a list of nominations for BRDF Directors. The nominees were:
- Fran Barker
- Quinton Barker
- Robert Moore
- Dan Rollyson
- Pearl Rollyson
- Frank Scheer
Additional nominations from attendees were requested but none were presented by the attending members. A vote of members attending the meeting approved the nominations by acclamation. Robert Moore, not present at the meeting, had not received proxies from non-attending members.
The newly-elected Directors will hold their annual meeting during January 2019. At the meeting, Directors will determine which will fill the two-each one-year, two-year, and three-year terms. They will also vote on who will fill the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer positions. One person may fill two offices, such as Vice President and Secretary. The current Board of Directors and Officers will complete their incumbencies on April 30th and be replaced by the 2019 officers on May 1st. The 2019 officers will hold their offices until April 30, 2020.
There was no “old business” remaining from the 2017 Annual Membership Meeting. As “new business” Fran Barker provided these thoughts:
- Depot building: Arja said the license limits what can/cannot be done in the building — meaning no govt. offices, etc. Just occurred to me this morning: Would you/it allow, for example, the USPS/US Postal Museum to store records there in exchange for the upkeep costs of utilities, maintenance, so forth? Would that help with the long-term logistics of keeping the depot/railway mail library viable?
The only restriction is a Clarke County code requirement for rental properties. If a building is subdivided and portions rented to separate tenants, each unit must be independent without access between units. The general approach being followed at this time is that maintenance and utilities are covered by membership dues and donations to the BRDF. The long-term vision is for the BRDF is that the foundation will eventually own the depot building with all Railway Mail Service Library, Inc. personal property removed. The BRDF can then rent space for special events such as receptions, parties, art and craft shows, etc. as fund-raising opportunities.
- Organizing material: During Autumn and Winter, excess items not relevant to the railroad or post office history collecting focus will be sold, donated, or discarded. This is an ongoing process with the target of having the small waiting room and agent’s office as displays for the 2019 Morse Day event on Saturday, April 27th.
Adjournment was moved by Quinton Barker and seconded by Frank Barker. A unanimous vote followed and the meeting ended at 3:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted
Frank R. Scheer
Secretary