[Sjaa-board] Raw board meeting minutes May 2011

[Rob Jaworski]

SJAA Board Mtg
14 May 2011

Attending:
Rich Neuschaefer
Greg Claytor
Lee Hoglan
Mark Wagner
Rob Jaworski
Kevin Roberts
Rod Norden
Gordon Reade


Excused absence:
Robert Armstrong 

Called to order 6:45

Minutes from last
Meeting are approved unanimously.

General Programs Report
Programs continue to be scheduled, but we will strive to schedule speakers for at least six months out. Rich Morales is scheduled speaker for July.

Membership Report
Membership numbers are stable. Motion to approve all new and renewal members is unanimously approved.

Publicity report
All is going well.  Daniel S. suggests that we may want to consider approaching radio and TV for PSAs (public service announcements), such as KLIV, which has published guidelines and instructions on how to do it.
http://kliv.com/pages/3716494.php
Daniel also proposed another idea work with a sponsor during broadcast weather forecasts, such as Orion.
Meetup.com is working quite well; we get a fair number of responses when we post SJAA events on the TAC meetup group.

Loaner program report
Lee is looking for all the scopes that are still out, but some folks are getting unresponsive; Lee has a List and we should decide what to do about them.  There are eight outstanding from up to eight years ago.  For the new scopes, we considered a variety of ways to enhance security so the scopes do not disappear, but settled on the idea of serializing them with an engraving tool.

School Star Party Report
Going well, but we're getting slow due to sun staying up late this time of year.

Upcoming events
Mark will open May 27's Houge Park event. Mark will do the next beginner class; need a closer. We floated the idea to have a committee chair about Houge open/close; couple of people are always here, ask them to open and close on a regular basis if Mark can get them on the city's list of approved people.  Mark will follow up.  June 10: Lee opens, need a closer, maybe JVN. June 24: Gordon could do that class on eyepieces, filters, accessories; Mark will open, need a closer.

Gregory Award
We will withdrawoffer to currently targeted individual; board unanimously approved withdrawal motion; award committee recommends awarding to Rick Morales, president of FPOA.  Motion is all in favor but Gordon. Rob will get a plaque and we'll present at the July meeting.

Loaner program
Need to make sure that loaners always get returned.   Need to continue trying to get the old ones back.  But make sure that the new ones have identification markings on them.  Mark will buy a printer that will copy so we can make copies of the signed contract at the time of the loan.  Mark will huddle with Lee to understand the record keeping process.

CalStar Insurance
Motion unanimously to insure CalStar and request grant from AANC to cover insurance.

Meetup and publicity:
AANC had a purpose for aggregating all the info from all the regional clubs, prior to the 'net.  Meetup is a way to bring all the clubs back together again.

Regional project
SJAA could be part of a regional effort to develop a large scope, then find a dark sky place to put it, preferably within a 2 hour drive of San Jose.  There are a number of 40 acre parcels toward the south.  Should the SJAA support such a regional effort?  Straw poll of the board says Yes, and that's what Mark will relay back to the AANC at tomorrow's AANC meeting.

Household Memberships
Are memberships per individual, or are they household? Jim Van Nuland say yes, they are household, but they only get one vote.

Speaker Chair:
Greg will work out the June speaker and then determine whether he will need help securing speakers.  Astro celebrities: Are we willing to bring astro celebrities even if it takes paying their way to San Jose?  Straw poll shows a majority of the board in favor, though not unanimous.  Rob will run with it.  Also we may want to look when there will be conferences locally, because astro celebs may already be in the area.

Beginner classes:
Mark will follow up with the right folks to coordinate.

Meeting adjourned at 7:51.