Georgia Civil War Commission
Quarterly Meeting Minutes
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Vice Chairman Kelly Barrow called the meeting to order at 1:05 on March 24, 2018 at Griffin-Spalding Regional Library in Griffin, Georgia. Commissioners present were John Culpepper (late due to traffic), Kelly Barrow, Karen Ledford, Brain Wills, James Yancey, Curt Collier, Inger Eberhart, Ken Griffiths, and Hank Segars. Commissioners not present were Todd Groce, and John Carroll. Cassie Barrow, Chief of Staff, was present. Members of the audience consisted of Kenneth Ledford; Mike Dodd, Stephanie King, Daniel King, Emily Dean, David King, Coltin Fillingame, Collin Fillingame, Laura Black, Tim Whalen, Jimmy Pettit, Priscilla Russell, Georgianah Barrow, William Barrow, and the Mikayla Kischuck family.
Per Vice Chairman Barrow, Chairman Culpepper sent an announcement of the meeting to the Griffin Daily News to publish in the notices, as well as the announcement was posted on social media and at the location in compliance with the Sunshine Law.
Commissioner Collier opened the meeting in prayer. Commissioner Griffiths lead everyone in the pledge to the United States and Commissioner Seagars lead the Georgia pledge.
A quorum was established by Vice Chairman Barrow, allowing for the meeting to be considered legal.
Vice Chairman Barrow requested for each of the Commissioners present to introduce themselves. Following this, Vice Chairman Barrow welcomed the audience and requested they introduce themselves and the group he/she was representing.
Vice Chairman Barrow requested a motion to approve the agenda. Commissioner Griffiths made the motion to approve the agenda as printed and Commissioner Collier seconded; motion carried. Agenda is attached to the minutes.
Vice Chairman Barrow introduced Chief of Staff Barrow, who announced the final winners of the Commission’s 2018 Essay and Art Contest. Awards were presented to Coltin Fillingame, Mikayla Kischuk, and David King by Chief of Staff Barrow. Following the awards presentation, the meeting recessed for refreshments.
Vice Chairman Barrow reconvened the meeting at 1:45 and relinquished the chair to Chairman Culpepper, who had arrived during the recess.
Chairman Culpepper reminded everyone the minutes from the March Quarterly Meeting were emailed to each Commissioner for review prior to this meeting. Clerical changes were sent to Chief of Staff Barrow and made prior to the meeting. Commissioner Collier made a motion to accept the minutes with clerical errors corrected; Commissioner Barrow seconded. Motion passed.
2017-18 financial report was read by Chief of Staff Barrow. Chairman Culpepper explained that the Commission only has $25,000 for the fiscal year. Treasurer report is attached to the minutes. Commissioner Eberhart made a motion to accept the report, Commissioner Segars seconded, and motion carried.
At this time, Chairman Culpepper asked if anyone in the audience had anything they would like to bring before the Commission that was not on the agenda. Nothing was presented.
Under Old Business: First under Old Business was the Commission Art and Essay Contests. Chairman Culpepper recognized Chief of Staff Barrow to give the Commissioners a status of this project. Chief of Staff Barrow gave an overview of both the art and essay contests for the guests. At this time, awards are being presented to those who were not able to attend this meeting or the July 21 Art Expo at KSU Collector’s Showcase. Many winners are in the northwest corner of Georgia, so Chairman Culpepper is going to the various schools to present the awards. Chief of Staff Barrow mentioned that the 2019 calendars that were given to each Commissioner and guest were proto types and any corrections needed to be addressed as soon as possible. If there were no issues, this version would be sent to print. Other than a few loose ends, the 2018 Essay and Art Contests are coming to an end. She reminded everyone that the 2019 topics are Georgia’s Great Locomotive Chase for the 2019 Art Contest and Roswell and/ or New Manchester Mill Workers for the 2019 Essay Contest.
Chief of Staff Barrow reminded the Commissioners of the Southeast Homeschool Exo on July 27-28 at the Cobb Galleria Convention Center. She requested for Commissioners to help her with the table at some point during those days.
At this time, Chairman Culpepper gave a report on the interpretative marker about Union General Sherman being in Walker County, Georgia, which was approved previously by the Commission. The text is an article written by Lee White, a park ranger at Chattanooga/ Chickamauga National Battlefield, who gave the Commission permission to use. Chairman Culpepper said the sign is ready and now waiting on the final approval from the county. Commissioner Barrow was asked to give a report on the James S. Boynton, James Hughes, and the Georgia Military Institute interpretative signs. Per Commissioner Barrow, the signs have been formatted. The GMI sign is on hold since the Friends of Resaca and the State of Georgia are now unsure on the procedures of allowing a third party to place a sign at the battlefield. Once the procedures are in place, Ken Padgett will contact Chief of Staff Barrow to discuss the placement of the GMI sign. The other two signs are ready to be placed once final approval from the Oakhill Cemetery is obtained. It was explained by Chairman Culpepper that the signs were National Parks standard and the Commission has placed numerous over the years to tell the more about Georgia’s obscure history.
Next on the agenda was the reimbursement of funds from BATL, who had received a combine total of $7,000 from the Commission to refurbish the Walker and McPherson Monument. Chairman Culpepper stated a draft letter had been sent to the Commissioners for review. The letter would be sent the following week to request the return of the $7,000 to the Commission. The funds would be escrowed for one year, at which time the organization would need to come back to give an update on the status of the project.
Chairman Culpepper asked Commissioner Eberhart to give a status of the Johnston’s River Line Park, which is where unique shoupades are located, name change. It was reported that Commissioner Griffiths spoke on behalf of the Commission and the resolution that was approved at the March meeting was given to ech of Cobb County’s Commissioners. There has been a delay in the name change and there is some discussion of a compromise. Chairman Culpepper reminded everyone that the shoupades are listed on the National Register of Historical Pleases. That this was an issue of preservation, as well as important to the economy due to heritage tourism
For agenda item 17, Chairman Culpepper stated that Governor Deal had two available appointments and three reappointments, Lt. Governor Cagle appointments were complete, and Speaker Ralston has two available appointments. The Chairman has made the governor and speaker aware of the appointments. Chairman Culpepper has called, emailed, and mailed a letter to the appointment W. Todd Groce, but has not had any response from this new appointment.
Under New Business, Chairman Culpepper allowed Commissioner Eberhart to report on the Quarterly Newsletter the Commission now has. Commissioner Eberhart stated that the newsletter went to all Social Studies Chairs of every county in Georgia, as well as some legislators. She used MailChimp as the catalase to email the newsletter because it was free. She will place a copy of it on the FaceBook page as well.
Commissioner Segars recommended having press releases to help create heritage tourism. A motion was made by Commissioner Collier and seconded by Commissioner Barrow to have the Education Committee to handle this. Chairman Culpepper laced Commissioner Segars on the Education Committee to help pursue this venture. It was discussed to get the PDF of the Great Locomotive Chase poster from Starkey Printing to see how much it would cost to reprint them.
The 2018 budget was amended as follows: meals/ lodging from $2,000 to $2,500; Supplies/ Bank Charges from $1,000 to $1,200; Website from $600 to $1,000; Homeschool Exo from $2,500 to $2,800; Contests remained $3,500; Financial Assistance from $5,000 to $0; Commission Projects from $10,400 to $14,000. A motion to accept this was made by Commissioner Collier and seconded by Commissioner Eberhart.
Since there were some extra funds for the 2018 budget, Commissioner Yancey made a motion to sponsor the Collector’s Showcase at Kennesaw State University Civil War Center for $1,000. Commissioner Yancey seconded the motion that passed.
The 2019 budget was as follows: Meals/ Lodging $2,000; Supplies/ Bank Charges $1,000; Website $1,000; Homeschool Exo $3,500; Contests $4,000; Field Trip Asst $1,000; Financial Asst $2,000; Commission Projects $10,500. Commissioner Wills made a motion to accept the 2019 Budget and Commissioner Collier seconded it.
At the end of the meeting, each Commissioner may bring something before the Commission. Commissioner Wills reminded the Commissioners about the Kennesaw State University Center of Civil War Vince Dooley Leadership Conference and Collector’s Showcase that would be taking place. Commissioner Wills also thanked the Commission for the monetary support of the Collectors Showcase.
Commissioner Barrow stated he would like the Commission to purchase 16 Crossroads of Conflict, a publication by the Commission, to put into the schools with winning art and essays, as well as give as door prizes to the next two expos. Commissioner Segars seconded the motion. Commissioner Ledford made an amendment to increase from 16 books to 25. Commissioner Barrow seconded the amendment that passed. The amended motion passed.
Commissioner Eberhart asked every Commissioner to send anything they have for the end of year report and next quarterly newsletter.
The next Quarterly Meeting was scheduled after a work session for August 4, 2018 at 1:00 at the Madison Library in Madison, GA. Commissioner Collier made the motion to adjourn and Commissioner Wills seconded. Meeting ended at 3:08.
Respectfully submitted by Cassie Barrow, Chief of Staff