Most important for the immediate future is incorporation of SPAAMFAA as a wholly member-owned non-profit organization which can legally own the apparatus. As SPAAMFAA now exists, the apparatus are in Richard Horstmann’s name, and even though member’s contributions of time, effort and funds are real, in a legal sense their share of ownership is not. It is only fair at this be changed. Further, SPAAMFAA has grown to the point where more equitable distribution of responsibility is called for. (Soon) SPAAMFAA members will share equally in the ownership of rolling stock, and SPAAMFAA (will be) a genuine Society not at the mercy of any one individual’s whim.
That’s from my third SPAAMFAA Periodic Report, featuring Dave Sinclair’s creative head-on rendering of the Seagrave pumper on the front cover, and his meticulous pen-and-ink rendition of a SPAAMFAA badge (the same art we’re still proudly using today) on the rear. Inside, text and photo reviews of annual Fire Prevention Week and other activities through 1964 and 1965 set the stage for our first change in structure.
As the necessary steps toward reorganization were begun, we were equally busy with an active apparatus season. An engine overhaul on Truck 2 under the direction of Alex Black, Underwriters pump tests on the Seagrave and Ahrens-Fox conducted by John Corcoran, and plenty of parades near and far were highlights.
Still, the most significant events of 1966 took place on paper. The 799 outstanding shares (249 in the name of 100 individual owners, and 550 in mine) were retired in favor of a proposed new membership corporation, with four dues-paying categories: Founding members (anyone who’d been aboard from the shareowner days of 1965 and earlier) and Active members (anyone new, living in New York or its contiguous states or provinces), each $5; Associate members (anyone new, living elsewhere), $2; and Junior members (anyone new, aged 12 to 17), $1. Carl Schaapman became the first Active member in July, and 12 other newcomers, in varying categories, subsequently joined him.
Meanwhile, death, disinterest, distance and disqualification (I arbitrarily ruled Mary’s Dalmatian ineligible, creating a sore subject with her owner – one I’ve yet to hear the end of) had taken some toll of the 101 “old timers” on the 1958-65 list, but eventually 68 paid dues for the year and gained Founding status.
By Fall, a constitution and Bylaws suitable for a non-profit membership corporation had been completed, and at SPAAMFAA’s first annual meeting held at the start of Fire Prevention Week in October, 1966, members who’d been shareholders voted approval of the new organizational structure. They also elected the following to serve with me as president: John Corcoran, vice-president; Dave Sinclair, secretary; Carl Schaapman, treasurer; and Eric Sprenger, Jim Boynton, Don Chapman, John Salter, Mike Waters and Bill Robinson, directors.
After nine years we were actually more than just me, my fire engines, and my relatives and friends. An understanding of the need for change had placed SPAAMFAA on a new threshold, with plans for developing membership expansion, formal recognition of educational and historical status, broader assumption of leadership and responsibility, improved and regular communications, and new apparatus for our roster. As 1967 dawned, even chapters and musters were being discussed – and the growing pains, and pleasures, had only just begun.