[SJAAboard] March 22, 2008 - Draft SJAA General Meeting Minutes
Craig Scull
craigus at rocketmail.com
Sun Mar 23 00:13:33 MDT 2008
Tonight's meeting minutes follow... thanks for all your "on the fly" edits.
Craig
======================================================
March 22, 2008 - SJAA Board Meeting Minutes
- Craig Scull
======================================================
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Election of Officers
-------------------------------------
The Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and
President positions were up for election. All present
officers were approved by unanimous vote. There were
no abstentions or oppositions.
-------------------------------------
February Meeting Minutes
-------------------------------------
Rob made a motion to approve the February meeting
minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Robert
and approved by unanimous vote. There were no
abstentions or oppositions.
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General Meeting Minutes
-------------------------------------
Approval of the minutes from the last meeting will be
deferred until the next board meeting held.
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Members present
-------------------------------------
SJAA Board Members
*-Rob Hawley
*-Rich Neuschaefer
*-Lee Hoglan
*-Craig Scull
*-Gary Mitchell
*-Robert Armstrong
*-Gordon Reade
*-Mark Wagner (Proxy given to Rich)
*-Phil Chambers
-------------------------------------
Coverage for upcoming events
-------------------------------------
MARCH
28 -Fr- Houge Park star party. Sset 7:27 pm, 55%
moon rises 2:28 am.
Star party hours: 8:30 until 11:30 pm.
*Rob*
APRIL
11 -Fr- Houge Park star party. Sset 7:40 pm, 44%
moon sets 2:27 am.
Star party hours: 8:30 until 11:30 pm.
*Rob*
19 -Sa- Board meeting and Auction rehearsal, 6 pm
until it all works.
*TBD*
20 -Su- Auction XXVIII - Open at noon, selling 1:00
to about 4:00.
In the hall at Houge Park. NOTE: Sunday,
daytime.
*TBD*
25 -Fr- Beginner's Lab @ Houge.
*Rob*
25 -Fr- Houge Park star party. Sset 7:52 pm, 72%
moon rises 1:08 am.
Star party hours: 9:00 until midnight.
*Rob*
MAY
9 -Fr- Houge Park star party. Sset 8:05 pm, 29%
moon sets 1:06 am.
Star party hours: 9:00 until midnight.
*Rob*
17 -Sa- General Meeting. Our speaker is Dr. Dana
Backman
*Rob*
30 -Fr- Astronomy Class at Houge Park. Kohlmiller &
Nelson.
*TBD*
30 -Fr- Houge Park star party. Sset 8:22 pm, 16%
moon rises 3:09 am.
Star party hours: 9:30 until midnight.
*TBD*
-------------------------------------
Treasurer's report - Gary Mitchell
-------------------------------------
Treasurer's report for board meeting, March 22, 2008
Accounts:
CD 1 5410.45
CD 2 5000.00
CD 3 5393.07
CD 4 5215.84
Obs. Fund 3235.84
Checking 3573.43
PayPal 38.24
Petty Cash 133.20
---------
TOTAL 28,000.07
No change this month with any of the CDs.
We still have some RASC books and calendars left:
24 - 2008 Observer's Handbook, our cost: $16.95
5 - 2008 calendar, our cost: $8.45
4 - Beginner's Guide (not annual), our cost: $14.00
Observer's Handbook $18 (retail is $25.95)
Astronomy Calendar $10 (retail is $14.95)
Beginner's Observing Guide $15 (retail is $19.95)
Should we start giving a discount on the calendars and
Obs. Handbooks? If so, how much? We currently make
$1.05
on the Handbooks and $1.55 on the calendars.
We decided to continue selling the above materials at
the current costs and to consider discounting the
remaining inventory at the upcoming auction.
-------------------------------------
General Meeting Programs - Dave Smith
-------------------------------------
Mar 22 Adrian Brown (SETI)
Latest Results from the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter
Apr 19-20 Auction
May 17 Dr. Dana Backman (SETI/Ames)
Nearby Stars & debris disks: A Ringside Seat
to Planet Formation
Jun 21 Dr. Helen Quinn
The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter
Jul 19 (open)
Aug 16 Dr. Frank Marchis (UCB)
Binary Asteroids
Sep 13 Photo & equipment night
Oct 11 (open)
Nov 8 (open)
Dec 13 (open)
-------------------------------------
Telescope Loaner Program - Rob Hawley
-------------------------------------
-Akkana's StarBlast 1/2 value donation--
Tonight Akkana will receive $89.50 which is half the
fair market value of the new StarBlast telescope. This
action was previously approved in the October 2007
board meeting.
-Settlement of LightBridge donation-
Gary to write a $590.16 check to Rob H, which is half
the fair market value of the new LightBridge telescope
and associated accessories. This action was previously
approved in the December 2007 board meeting.
-Additional Equipment-
Most of the dobsonians in the loaner program do not
have collimation tools. Rob suggests that we get eight
~$5 A-Line's for the tubed dob telescopes. This is a
simple "good enough" collimation tool appropriate for
beginners.
-SCT "Overflow"-
The SJAA currently owns 6 SCTs. Initial discussion
revolved around the 11" SCT which has a flaky
electrical connection problem and draws 12 amps (yes
12 amps) battery power. It was proposed that the 11"
SCT OTA get mounted on an 11" fork. Lee is going to
take storage of this telescope and find an updated
fork or GEM or ASGT mount for it.
The Dynamax should be sold because it does not have
good quality optics.
The remaining A/C powered SCTs will be kept. It was
brought up that the A/C motors have much greater
reliability than the DC powered ones so they should be
kept because they can be run by the smallest converters.
Rob will be reimbursed $95 for the Y2K EPROM
replacement used to try to get the C11 running. Rob
will be also be reimbursed $5 for the electrical plug
for the C11.
-------------------------------------
Auction Preplan
-------------------------------------
-Auctioneer-
Mark Wagner's name came up as a possible auctioneer.
-Staging of Donations by Lee-
Lee is going to bring a lot of the items he has in
storage. He will bring these to the board meeting the
night before the auction because he has a scheduling
conflict on the day of the auction. Lee will provide
an inventory of all the complete telescopes he has
received. He will keep the A/C powered C5 as a
candidate donation suitable for the loaner program.
The two C8's and Edmund 6" telescope will be brought.
-Who will be helping?-
Gary, Rich, Rob. We need one more volunteer.
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Houge Park Storage
-------------------------------------
We are no longer allowed to store anything in the
back room.
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Officer's Web Page
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In progress per Rob
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Observatory Committee - Craig Scull
-------------------------------------
I'm seriously considering a tabula rasa unbiased
approach to identifying what direction could be taken.
This could involve casual discussions with our various
constituent groups (SJAA'ers, TAC'os, professional
astronomers, and lay public) or otherwise engaging
in casual conversations at star parties to identify
opportunities where the SJAA can continue to extend
it's positive impact to the bay area astronomical
community and/or public.
Rich still continues to express enthusiasm for the
Chew's ridge site written about last month. Lee
suggests that we someone with a four-wheel drive
vehicle could put a "placeholder" telescope there in
order to maintain this as an open option for us. Craig
is still concerned that an observatory may be a
solution for a problem that only we think exists.
Rob's estate plan currently includes plans to donate
money to the SJAA, however he has had a change of mind
since coming to the realization that the an
observatory would not be appropriate for the SJAA at
this time. For this reason Rob has entrusted the SJAA
with strict orders to reject the donation in the
unlikely event that estate plans were to go into effect.
-------------------------------------
School Star Parties - Jim Van Nuland
-------------------------------------
Here are the tallies for the 2007-8 school year, as
of the end of March 19. There are no more events
scheduled in March, so it's expected that the "partial"
numbers will not change.
The tallies for future events are changing rapidly,
as teachers try to cram in a star party, or in one case,
canceling due to a conflict at the school.
Not included in Coming Attractions is a request for
a date that is also a Houge Park moonless Public Night
(Apr.25). I have not decided whether to accept it. I
may go by myself, or ask one or two others to
come along. It's a small group, a few dozen, perhaps.
HOUGE VS. SCHOOLS --
I do not schedule school events on Houge nights,
except for those in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. There are
4 people who live down there and usually support those
events, so those who usually support the Houge event
can freely do so. These are always moony nights at
which several TAC members come to Houge Park, so I feel
that I'm not harming the Houge event.
The list
<http://www.sjaa.net/school/current.htm#free> of
available dates omits any on which an SJAA event has
been scheduled. That does not prevent someone for
asking anyway, and some do.
Without further delay, I present THE LIST --
Cumulative list of school events for 2007-8 school
year
Completed events as of March 19
Total Good Part. Cloudy Cancel
sched sky succ. fail at noon
Jul 1 1 - - -
Aug 3 3 - - -
Sep 2 1 - - 1
Oct 9 4 2 1 2
Nov 9 7 - 2 -
Dec 4 2 - - 2
Jan 6 3 - 1 2
Feb 8 7 1 - -
Mar 9 7 1 1 - Partial month
-----------------------------------
Tot 51 35 4 5 7
Coming Attractions as of March 19
Total Firm Makeup Negotiating
Mar - - - - Partial month
Apr 7 7 - -
May - - - -
June 1 1 - -
...
Aug 1 1 - -
Oct 1 1 - -
Nov 1 - - 1
2009
Mar 2 - - 2
-----------------------------------
tot 13 10 0 3
"Makeup" are pre-scheduled make-up dates and are
firm. They will be dropped from this list if the
primary event is successful. If primary fails, the
makeup event will be moved from 3rd to 2nd column,
and the name of the school will be added to the list
on the Current Events page.
-------------------------------------
Membership Report - Rob Hawley
-------------------------------------
*************Membership Expiration*****************
Last SJAA Meeting 2/16/2008
Report Date 3/17/2008
Feb-08 5
Mar-08 9
Apr-08 10
May-08 16
Jun-08 46
Jul-08 23
Aug-08 22
Sep-08 19
Oct-08 17
Nov-08 13
Dec-08 23
Jan-09 19
Feb-09 19
Mar-09 15
Apr-09 2
more than 13 months 20
complementary 32
expiring 5
paid(current) 273
email delivery 45
Labels Generated 263
S&T Members 178
New Members since last meeting 5
current + complementary 305
************************* Membership
Retention******************
paid only
Members
at end of year Members retained
2008 13
2007 52 49 94%
2006 58 32 55%
2005 64 19 30%
2004 68 ** 18 26%
2003 61 ** 22 36%
<2003 173 ** 120 69%
** based on 12/04
total 273
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50.
Note: the next board meeting will start at 6:30pm!
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