I just read Jay Jorden's lengthy and comprehensive minutes from the spring 08 convention and the history of the TSA Land Fund. I have already made my feelings on the subject known. One thing in Jay's report caught my eye. While in my opinion most cavers and we spelunkers are generally fiscally conservative, often out of necessity, we tend to find the money for the things of importance to us. The proposal put forth in the report that a $1. per head surcharge be made at (in our case) the two annual caver meetings is a good one. However, I think that $5. is a more realistic and meaningful figure. That is only $10. a year each that can go toward reducing debt or for new acquisitions. I think that this proposal should be put on the ballot for caver consideration. Spelunker Fritz
-----Original Message----- From: mark.al...@l-3com.com [mailto:mark.al...@l-3com.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:37 AM To: Texascavers Mailing List Cc: Jay Jorden; John Brooks; Darla Bishop; Bisset, Rob Subject: [Texascavers] The TSA Needs Your Thoughts: TSA Land Fund Dispensation >From the Minutes of the Spring TSA Business Meeting, April 6th, 2008 Convened at the TSA Spring Convention, April 5th thru the 7th, in Kerrville, TX at the Kerrville-Schreiner Park. Submitted by Mark Alman, TSA Secretary. "The TSA Constitution was reviewed concerning dispersing these funds and was agreed that all can be dispersed, minus the original $500 seed money given by the NSS at the 1994 Convention. Original intention was to use the funds in order to find a permanent location for TCR, but with soaring land prices, this has never materialized. Point made by Jerry Atkinson and Mark Alman to possibly split the proceeds between the TCMA and the TCC. Request that this motion be printed on CaveTex and in the next TEXAS CAVER to solicit inputs." As discussed above, the TSA and I would like to solicit your thoughts, recommendations, and ideas as to the future of the TSA Land Fund and whether the funds should be dispensed and, if so, to what worthy cave association (s) or project (s). I would like to solicit your inputs here and for possible inclusion in the next issue of The TEXAS CAVER. The motion will be brought up at the next TSA Business Meeting at TCR, October 17th thru the 19th, 2008. Let's please keep all discussions positive in tone and constructive in nature. What follows is Jay Jorden's article concerning the history of the Land Fund and the motion made by the TSA Endowment Fund's trustees. The TSA and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions! Thanks, Mark Alman-TSA Secretary and Editor, The TEXAS CAVER TSA Land Fund: A Legacy or a New Direction? By Jay Jorden The future of the TSA Land Fund is now in the hands of Texas cavers. However, it turns out that cavers have been involved with the fund all along. At the May 2008 TSA Board of Governors' meeting, the Endowment Fund's trustees moved to distribute all its assets - under terms of the agreement that created it 12 years ago - for a cave conservation-related purpose: to help pay off the note on the Punkin-Deep Cave Preserve property. Land fund trustees voted unanimously (with one abstention - see separate details with this article) to recommend the motion, which will be acted upon at the fall TSA Board of Governors (BOG). Since the fund's beginnings from a $500 honorarium by the NSS for the 1994 convention in Brackettville, it has grown to a balance of more than $8,100. Despite that progress, the fund has not grown nearly enough by some estimates. Its core objective upon creation was stated by the land fund agreement: "To obtain a permanent Texas Cavers Reunion and TSA meeting site and further the goals of cave conservation." Although the fund could serve as a down payment for a tract of land, it would not - at today's prices - put a dent in properties similar to those used by the Texas Speleological Association (TSA) and TCR in the past: Little Arkansas, Flat Creek Ranch, etc. However, the Texas Cave Management Association (TCMA) has purchased a large tract of land with two excellent caves. The conservation organization is slowly paying off the note on the property, but the interest rate is due to rise next year. The TCMA actually had held the $500 seed money in trust in late 1994 after the former NSS Convention Committee wound up its affairs and dissolved. The money was held in trust until the TSA could decide what to do with it. Debate stretched into multiple meetings. The land fund was created on Feb. 24, 1996, with a foundation agreement as the TCMA passed the honorarium to TSA. The language was drafted by a Dallas attorney, based upon a standard foundation endowment agreement. The document created what was called the Texas Speleological Association Endowment Fund. The fund's purpose was modeled on actions of the trustees and members of The Robertson Association (TRA) in West Virginia when they purchased 24 acres along the rock-lined Tygart River for the Old Timers' Reunion - considered among the world's largest cavers' gatherings. Because TRA had a permanent site, they no longer had to search for venues to hold the annual Labor Day weekend event, which was expanding each year. Sites were getting harder to find and more expensive. By purchasing property, they could leverage their resources. They constructed a large pavilion, permanent showers, saunas and other improvements. Check out http://www.otr.org/ to see OTR's progress. At each of the previous venues for their West Virginia OTR, crowds had swelled to overflowing. Each year since the beginning on Labor Day weekend of 1950, OTR had gotten bigger and better, so much so that word got around and the locals started showing up for a big party! (The cavers' association, TRA, was formed in part to manage the crowds and limit them to cavers as much as possible.) Even with a membership-only reunion, the cavers outgrew each of the rented sites in succession: McCoy's Mill near Franklin, W.Va., and Trout Cave, from the late 1960's and early 1970's; and the Alpine Shores Campground near Elkins, W.Va., from the late 1970's. The Mill could handle only 300 or so people and there was no controlled access to the site. Cavers packed into the old millhouse, where the wooden floor would sway during dances. The saunas out back were primitive, with heated rocks. The rule was that everyone got in and out at the same time to conserve the hot air. Cavers dammed up a cold stream for baths. Alpine Shores, although beautiful with a river beside it, had a camping limit of around 1,000 - but more than 1,400 people were showing up. Enter the idea to buy a site. Since 1986, the Eastern OTR has been held on caver-owned property, with permanent pavilions, showers, saunas, a series of hot tubs and other improvements. For years, the Texas cavers' reunion - or TOTR, as it was then called - bounced around from location to location, finally settling at a couple of ranches southwest of Austin until those properties were sold or became too expensive to rent. Some years, plans for the October reunion had nearly fallen through at the last minute because of site problems. Quality is often an issue. Despite best efforts, some venues have been better than others. Such issues were in play when Texas cavers rallied to host the third NSS convention in the state, in 1994. As is the custom for convention committees, the NSS presented an honorarium upon completion of the volunteer duties. (That honorarium is now several thousand dollars.) After a week in the summer heat with more than 1,000 cavers and attendance from a dozen or more countries, hard-working members of the Convention Committee wanted to make that money go as far as it could. What better way than to invest it for the future? Perhaps someday, they reasoned, cavers' reunion would find some suitable property in Central Texas and a down payment would already be "in the bank." But cavers had to act fast, because the 1994 NSS Convention Committee was wrapping up its own accounts and scheduled to dissolve after the Brackettville festivities were complete. Another challenge was that the organizers of TCR argued that the TSA, with its elected leadership and more formal structure, was better equipped to deal with long-term investments. Also, the TSA had sought and apparently acquired tax-exempt status as a nonprofit organization and that would arguably help attract donations to the fund. What developed, in consultation with attorneys, was that the Texas Cave Management Association as a 501(c)3 nonprofit would hold the honorarium in trust until the paperwork could be completed for a foundation. The focus became a permanent venue for TCR, with the side benefit that TSA meetings would also be possible at such a site. The idea was that if Texas cavers could find a TCR/TSA meeting site that also contained a cave and/or was located in a promising karst area, so much the better! As a 1994 convention co-chair, I had been involved in setting up the land fund. We also needed another trustee and it was suggested that Joann DeLuna of San Antonio was a great candidate because she owned property, including a cave, and had expertise in the area. That same year, an account was opened in the TSA's name in a stable money market fund at Fidelity Investments. The endowment fund address was established as the TSA permanent address in Austin. The TSA officers that year signed the investment application. And they were already making plans on how to grow the investment through contributions of $1 a head at all TSA functions and at TCR. From the fund's inception, the TSA treasurer had taken responsibility to deposit additional funds into the land fund account and report on the balance to the BOG. That's an operational reality simply because it hasn't been convenient for the account statements to be copied in Austin and mailed out to the trustees. Gill Ediger with TCR at that time had pledged several hundred dollars or more from the reunion, including some funds from the previous year, to go into the account. Appeals were also made in the Texas Caver and elsewhere for separate cavers' contributions. It was even suggested that cavers remember the land fund in their estate planning! Even though this never happened, Texas cavers deserve a pat on the back for doing such a great job of fund-raising. In the first year of the new millennium, we revisited much of the above history in the TSA Board of Governors when the Constitution and By-Laws were reviewed and revised. The TSA officers wanted to reference the land fund within the documents. Weeks and months passed while language was debated and then submitted for a vote. The important point to note here is that the Foundation Agreement was unaffected by that action, which mostly just formalized what has been in effect for almost a decade and adding the TSA chair as a trustee. In the years since Brackettville, it has become evident that our Convention Committee was a cheap date: The NSS has lately realized what a labor of love it is to reinvent the wheel each year around the country and come up with a suitable site for a weeklong meeting that has conference facilities, caves in the vicinity, airports in the area and both camping and hotels (Cavers aren't too picky, it seems.) As of 2001, the Society's board proceedings state, "A $3,000.00 committee allowance will be paid to the Convention Committee to recognize their efforts and unreimbursed expenses to host the annual NSS National Convention." Yikes! Now, that's inflation for you. So, what's the future of the TSA land fund? It depends on you, the membership. An informal survey taken last year to gauge cavers' sentiments on the fund had a mixed response. Some thought the fund should be retained as is, or grown more aggressively. Others believed it should be dissolved and invested for a conservation-related purpose. As our venerable TOTR/TCR elder statesman and curmudgeon at-large, Mr. Ediger, has stated, "It was set up ... as a totally separate instrument and just handed to us on a platter. `Here, this is a done deal. Now, who wants to be responsible for it?'" "It was created for and offered to the TCR," Gill wrote. "But the TCR (basically, I) having no bank account (or formal organization, for that matter) and not wanting one _ ... the banks having made having an account a difficult and expensive proposition ... the Land Fund was passed over to the TSA which agreed to maintain it for the TCR." One more thought from "the Ediger": "It was definitely acknowledged that it could someday be worth many thousands of dollars and that because of that it was not a trivial matter, but that at the same time it was an actual and existing fund and real money that we needed to be responsible for." That's how we've endeavored to operate: as good stewards. During the fund's history, the trustees "laddered" investments in certificates of deposit to earn higher interest. Yet, Texas Cavers have demonstrated that they're a diverse and far-flung crowd, spread as they are across 254 counties. We're very representative of a growing state where urban sprawl is rapidly gobbling up great chunks of the karst we love. It turns out Texas isn't growing any new land or caves. The land fund is one of our almost-forgotten resources. It's like the old Pink Floyd song: more than 10 years have got behind us and some other opportunities in Texas caving country have since come and gone. Perhaps now is the time to leave a lasting legacy for Texas caving by investing the fund to help pay off the note on a cave preserve that cavers are already helping to whittle down. You decide. [The motion] Recommended and moved by the TSA Endowment Fund's trustees: That the TSA Board of Governors terminate the land fund and transfer all its current proceeds for a cave conservation-related purpose under Section 8 of the trust agreement, as follows: To help pay off the note on the Punkin-Deep property purchased by the Texas Cave Management Association. Trustees recommend that the TSA BOG publish this motion in the Texas Caver and take it up at the Texas Cavers Reunion, either choosing to vote the motion up or down at its fall meeting or submitting it to the general TSA membership for a binding referendum. Land fund trustees voted unanimously to recommend this action - moved by Ted Lee and seconded by John Brooks - with trustee Jay Jorden abstaining due to his TCMA board membership. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
