Meeting called to Order at 7:25pm by Siatuu (STU) Lavatai, Vice Prior..

Reading of previous Minutes were waived.

Present: Jeff Zell, Joel Odelson, Eric Rajasalu, Mike Barko, Jeff Kuch, Lloyd Gordon, Robert Gorran, and Vince Contreras..

Absent:  Prior John Paine, Counsels: Mark Sanchez & Keith Barna.

I. Old Business:

1. Golf Tournament (Moffet Field Golf Course, Mountain View, CA)
1. Event was held on Saturday (11/02/2002). Twenty (20) golfers in attendance. Prizes were given to SAMMIES and a great time had by all.
   1. Some suggestions made by attendees were that they wanted this golfing event to be held at least twice a year. Also, most attendees favored conducting the event on Saturday, rather than Sunday.
2. Annual Appeal & Alumni Information Letter
1. The Annual Letter/Annual Appeal is completed and will be distributed to alumni soon. Prior Paine is waiting for labels from Nationals, with current contact information for SAMMY Alumni living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please monitor your Emails and Mailboxes for more information about the Annual Letter/Annual Appeal.
   1. Don't forget to help out the Brotherhood, with your monetary donation. Details where to send your donations is listed on the Annual Letter/Annual Appeal. Your donations go a long way, to decrease our expenses. SVACoSAM is a Non-Profit Organization and your monetary donations are tax-deductible.
3. Beta Delta 40th Anniversary Reunion/SVACoSAM Social
   1. Since Fra Mark Sanchez's proposal was the ONLY one submitted to the SVACoSAM Council, we will use the Double Tree Hotel (San Jose,CA) as the venue location for the reunion event.
   2. The following are details, imposed by Double Tree Hotel Management, as conditions for reserving their ballroom. (per Fra Mark Sanchez)
      1. The hotel imposed a $5,000.00 (five thousand dollars) deposit fee to reserve their ballroom, which is to be paid over a four months period or ($1,250.00 monthly).
      2. There MUST be at least, 175 registered attendees, which is approximately (88 couples).
         1. If SVACoSAM does NOT meet the quota of 175 registered attendees, then hotel management will charge us ($40.00 per person).  For example, if ONLY 140 people register and show up on event day, then, SVACoSAM will incur a penalty fee: ($40 x 35= $1,400.00).
   3. After long discussions about scheduling the Reunion/SVACoSAM Social event at this venue location, there were some Council concerns. The following, is a summary of questions for the Reunion Committee.
      1. Can SVACoSAM meet the 175 registered members quota? Although some members were optimistic, others felt that we might not be able to meet that quota.
      2. Can SVACoSAM meet the MANDATORY $1,250 monthly fees, for the next four months? We would need approximately (10 to 14 couples to register per month). The response from Council was about the same, where half were in favor and the other half wasn't.
   4. There was discussions about mailing invites. Fra Mike Barko estimated that we would need to send out about 2,500 mailings. He also suggested, in order to minimize postal charges & other fees, that we should enclose the invites for the Reunion/Social event, in our Annual Appeal and Alumni Information mailings.
   5. We need people who are willing to make a full time commitment to this event.
   6. SVACoSAM sends out an invitation to all alumni who want to serve on the Reunion/SAMMY Social committee. We are looking for any alumnus who has the time and energy to making this event a reality.
   7. There was a suggestion for SVACoSAM to consider a Credit Card pay service (ie. Pay Pal) which receives payment, via the internet, for this event.
      1. This credit service serves many advantages such as, fast payments without alumni incurring any postal fees, easy to sort/organize paid event attendees, less administrative paperwork, and much more. SVACoSAM will keep this option open.

II. Reports

1. Recorder Report
   1. Still Posting SAMMY Emails to the SAMMY directory.
   2. We currently have 144 members on the SVACoSAM Yahoo website. Here's the URL: 
      (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/siliconvalleysammies). So, if you haven't officially registered on Yahoo, then what are you waiting for. Register for your own Yahoo account, now!
2. Exchequer Report ( per Jeff Kuch)
   1. Bank Account Total: Approximately ($3520.36).
   2. A check in the amount of ($995.00) was sent to Fra John Dollison, Sigma Sigma Co-Chapter Advisor, for reinbursement of Sigma Sigma's NEW stove. The stove has been installed and is working!
3. Vice Prior Report. (as per Fra Stu Lavatai)
   1. No Report.
4. Prior Report (as per Fra John Paine)
   1. No Report.
5. Octagon Counsel (as per Vince Contreras)
   1. August 2003 SAMMY Convention will be held in Detroit, Michigan.
   2. Discussions have begun, at Nationals, for venue location and 
      preparations for the 100th Anniversary of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity.
   3. Fra Contreras will be attending an Octagon Meeting on (12/14/2002).  Several Fraternity Chapter issues to be discussed:
      1. Lacking of leadership in chapter councils and advisors.
      2. Risk Management Issues. Volatile Problems (ie. underage drinking, hazing, etc.) at 
         chapters nationwide.
      3. Increasing Annual Insurance Costs

III. New Business:

1. Nominations for 2003 SVACoSAM Council
   1. Recorder- Jim Paine, Keith Barna and Sideshow Bob Javinsky.
   2. Exchequer- Jeff Zell and Lloyd Gordon
   3. Vice Prior- Tim Burke and Keith Barna
   4. Prior- John Paine and Keith Barna

   All Nominees will be contacted to confirm their acceptance of the nomination.

IV. Announcements:

V. Good & Welfare.

VI. Meeting Adjourned