Triangle National Council

C/O Merle Newlon

120 South Center Street
Plainfield, IN 46168-1214

Dear Sirs:

As the new UTA Triangle Chapter Treasurer I have been authorized by our Board of Directors to draft and submit the following proposal to address the financial and organizational issues that currently impact our chapter.  As one of the original founding UTA brothers it was disheartening to see the Active organization close down in the fall.  As we now reflect back on the situation it is easy to see the signs that could have prompted that decision sooner and potentially limit the seriousness of our current situation, but all we can do is learn from those mistakes and deal with the issues at hand.

The near term goals of the UTA alumni group are two fold.  1) Rebuild the brotherhood and friendships that most of us enjoyed in the 80s and early 90s and 2) leverage that renewed network to allow the alumni group to address the debt issue at a level appropriate with our capacity to meet those debts and our new commitments oriented toward the future.  We feel that once we achieve these two goals the UTA Alumni will be ready to focus on the ultimate goal of taking the UTA Triangle Charter back to the University and re-colonizing, allowing future Triangle brothers to benefit from the same experience that we all enjoyed. 

Our main issue at this time is to resolve the debt problem that currently limits our ability to focus long term.  The following provides you with our proposed approach to resolving the debt issue and the supporting reasoning behind our approach. 

UTA Chapter Debt:

Currently the UTA Active and Alumni groups have a debt to the National Organization that totals $10,874.19.  This total breaks down as follows:

Alumni               $1,323.86

Active                $5,938.72

Insurance          $1,452.00

Old Receivables $2,159.61

 Total               $10,874.19

The following proposal is based on our analysis of the chapter’s ability to generate sufficient revenue to meet its obligations.  I have conducted several fund raising requests over the past 6 weeks and have a reasonable projection of the level of financial support I can expect over the next 2 years.  I believe that with some minimal improvement over my current projection, the proposal as outlined below is the best approach to resolving this issue.  Unfortunately, based on our UTA Brother base, (approximately 90 total brothers – of which we have relatively good contact with 65%) we cannot commit to any more than what I have outlined below.  Our board decided that we should give you the best offer we possibly can up front and allow you to make your decision on that information.

Proposal:  

1.        The UTA Chapter (Alumni Group) will pay the accumulated Alumni dues debt of $1,323.86.

2.        The UTA Chapter (Alumni Group) will pay the accumulated Insurance debt for the chapter of $1,452.00. 

3.        During the past 12-18 months the National office suspended the accrual of additional dues/fees.  As of August 2001 that suspension of new dues and fees should be lifted and the UTA Chapter will be obligated to meet those commitments on a “going forward” basis.  We ask that any dues or fees that would have occurred during that suspension period be forgiven.

4.        The UTA Chapter requests that the remainder of our outstanding debt (Active Org Debt - $5,938.72 and “Old” Receivables - $2,159.61) be forgiven and that as of the date of your approval of this proposal the UTA Chapter will only have outstanding obligations as outlined in items 1 and 2.

5.        The UTA Chapter has a substantial level of back dues, rent and other fees owed to it by UTA Triangle brothers for bills incurred and paid by the chapter.  The total of those receivables currently equals $9,744.02.  We began a program in June to collect on those receivables, and commit that 100% of the net proceeds on our collection efforts will be forwarded to the National organization as a continuing good faith contribution for its consideration in our debt forgiveness request.  As soon as we have a projection for what we realistically feel can be collected we will provide that target to National.

6.        The UTA Chapter will begin to make payments on its outstanding obligations beginning in the month of August 2001, with a minimum monthly payment of $175.00.  This will ensure that we complete this process within 12-18 months.  This payment is on top of any normal dues or fees that are incurred as a result of normal operations.  If our fund raising efforts are accelerated beyond our projections we will accelerate our repayment schedule accordingly.

UTA Charter:

The above debt resolution effort is being committed to by the UTA Alumni group because we hope that National will continue to hold the UTA charter in a status that will allow us to easily re-colonize at UTA when the appropriate environment is in place.  We also want the UTA Chapter to continue to exist in Alumni form until that time.  We have established some parameters for ourselves regarding re-colonization, which will continue to be one of our major goals.  Our current guidelines for establishing another active organization:

1.        The UTA Chapter is debt free and has accumulated the financial resources necessary to ensure a proper start of a new active chapter.

2.         The UTA Alumni group has openly committed to the colonization process and can demonstrate its ability to provide the necessary resources to support the process.

3.        The University of Texas at Arlington and its Greek community both show their ability to maintain membership in the Greek community and are consistently growing the Engineering, Science and Architecture colleges – which they are not doing either at this time.

4.        Triangle National is prepared to commit the necessary financial and personnel resources to drive the effort and ensure a high probability of success.

The UTA Triangle Brothers thank you for your consideration of the above proposal, we are eager to get these issues behind us and begin looking forward.  We would also like to apologize for the limited notice regarding our submission of this proposal, but we felt it was better to get started regardless of the timing.  Our plan was for myself to attend the convention and represent this proposal personally but I now have a business commitment that cannot be broken.  I can however, arrange to be in St Louis on Thursday and/or Friday of that week to answer any questions should you feel it is necessary and would be helpful. 

I would like to personally thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.  I can be reached anytime at 972-672-7976, if you would like to discuss any part of this proposal or the reinvigoration effort at UTA.  Please visit our web site at www.trianglealumni.com to maintain status on our progress.

Sincerely,

W. Michael Weikert

UTA Chapter Treasurer