July 17, 2017
Note from the Commander
Fellow Legionnaires,
I’m sure all of you are aware that we no longer own the site that has housed our Post for over 55 years. We are now renters and the Town is our landlord. Fortunately for us, we have a long term rental agreement that is costing us $1.00 per year…that’s a bargain by any standard. In addition to that, we retain control over the Dance Studio, as well as any rentals we may have in our meeting rooms. That agreement ends in February 2020–then our rent jumps up to $1.00 per month–again another bargain. Oh, did I forget to say that the Town paid $7.9 million dollars for our Post site?
As you may remember, we sold the Post site with the member mandate to sell and rebuild on a new site. Our Land Acquisition Committee, led by Bob Medred and Paul Horwhat, found a magnificent piece of property that would allow us to build a fantastic new facility with room to grow.
We are now in the process of completing our due diligence in order to ensure the property is capable of supporting the requirements as developed by our Architectural Design Committee (led by Don Kritsch and Barbara Baker). We are currently sending invitations to Architects to review our “concept plans” as a precursor to accepting bids to build our new site. No Post Home design has been completed or approved.
All of the planning currently underway is under the direct supervision of the Executive Committee. Each of the three committees that are currently active (Finance, Land Acquisition, and Architectural Design Committee) report monthly to the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee has reported monthly to the membership. I would like to remind all of our members that all of our meetings are open to all members at all times. The Executive Committee meets on the first Thursday of every month at 6 pm and our general membership meeting is held on the second Tuesday of every month. Specific Committees like the three currently active meet as required by the team leader. If you want to be on one of the active committees please contact the team leader: Kurt Uphoff (Finance), Architectural Design (Don Kritsch) and Land Acquisition (Bob Medred). In the future, we will most likely have a Land Development Committee that will monitor the progress of the building contractor.
There was a question raised by one of our members at the July meeting asking if our plan was a “secret.” The answer to that question is “No.” However, at this point in time we are not looking for publicity as we go through the process of ensuring this property is suitable for our next Post Home site.
The Executive Committee is in the process of sending out invitations (to neighbors bordering the site) to a “meet and greet” at the American Legion Post Home on August 3. This will be part of and at our monthly Executive Committee meeting. Anyone (member or guest) may attend that meeting.
The purpose of this letter is to keep all of our members informed regarding our progress in building our new site; particularly those who are not able to attend our monthly meetings. This is an exciting time for Post 6 members. We are methodically working every aspect of developing our new site and we welcome and encourage your input.
I am very proud to be your current Post Commander and I am particularly proud to have helped guide the post during the sale of our current home and acquisition of our new site. Now we proceed through the County Planning review, closing on the sale, and then design and construction.
Our Post Home is showing new life and excitement. Membership is growing steadily with at least twelve new members joining us in the last sixty days. Our monthly meetings are also gaining in attendance. In May, the Canine Division of the Chapel Hill Police Department demonstrated before the dinner and meeting. In June there was a presentation and demonstration of Morgan Horses and in August we will have the Orange County Veterans Service Officer, Ms. Betsy Corbett, with us to discuss veteran service programs and claims.
I hope this note finds all of you in good spirits and, if you have not attended a meeting in the past six months, encourages you to attend our monthly meetings and Executive and Committee meetings, please give us another try…these are exciting times.
Warm regards,
Bill Munsee
Commander
Chapel Hill Post No. 6, American Legion