The first Board of Directors meeting was held at noon, Jan. 17th, at the Bob Evans restaurant (U.S. 35 and I-71). Board members present were Matt Davidson, Ray Garbee, Scott Savory, and Darryl Smith. Missing was Ferkin Doyle.

The first order of business was the election and appointing of officers for the two year term. Officers are as follows:

Member Previous Office New Office
Ray Garbee did not serve Chairman
Matt Davidson Vice-President President
Scott Savory Treasurer Treasurer
Darryl Smith President Secretary
Ferkin Doyle Natl. BOD Rep / Membership Secretary Natl. BOD Rep

All votes were unanimous among those present. The previous offices of membership secretary (nee Doyle) and secretary (nee O'Leary) were combined into one office (secretary - Smith). The office of vice president was left vacant. Descriptions of the offices according to the by-laws are as follows:

Chairman presides over board meetings

President chief executive officer, shall have the responsibility for the general management of the affairs of the Corporation, and shall carry out the resolutions of the Board of Directors.

Treasurer shall have care and custody of all the funds and securities of the Corporation, and shall deposit said funds. Signs contracts, checks, drafts, notes, and orders for the payment of money.

Secretary shall keep the minutes of the Board of Directors and the members. Serves all notices and shall have charge of all books and records.

The next order of business was discussion of the upcoming convention season. The board recognized the need for a convention staff for the flagship convention (Advance The Colors) that consists of members who are not necessarily board officers. Smith will contact potential candidates who have expressed an interest in helping. The board agreed to have a flyer ready for Cold Wars 98, and that only one -- instead of many variations -- will be produced.

Garbee and Smith also expressed the idea of having a strong HMGS Great Lakes presence at Capcon, held in Columbus in April. Smith explained that he has already contacted the games coordinator for Capcon (Guy Flora) and wants to send a postcard to all past and present HMGS Great Lakes members that will list all historical gaming that will take place there. This is to support the promotion of historical gaming, as well as to bring previous members back to HMGS. The decision whether to do this will be decided at a later board meeting.

Davidson provided information pertaining to Origins '98 in Columbus this summer. There were many questions about the materials presented. Davidson will contact Peter Panzeri to confirm the issues that were brought up. These consisted of:

methods of recruitment for the chapters that will be present
the $1000.00 bonus to HMGS
the material that will be in the pre-registration and on-site booklets
the funding and delivery of an HMGS HOT '98 newsletter

It is the board's contention that Origins should be a Great Lakes-dominated event as it is being held in our region. Also discussed was the possibility of having a second convention in the Toledo area. The reason for this is to expand our direction in the northeast Indiana, northern Ohio, and southern Michigan areas. Problems with running such an event include cost, coordinating the time so as not to conflict with established conventions and that the convention coordinator must live in the area. Davidson will contact member Gordon Andrews (who has previously expressed an interest) to see if he is willing to take this on this endeavor. Target date is for spring of 1999.

The Board resolved to meet again at the same location at noon Feb. 21 to continue working on the issues.