[SJAAboard] February 16, 2008 - Final SJAA Board Meeting Minutes
Craig Scull
craigus at rocketmail.com
Sun Mar 23 10:24:16 MDT 2008
Here are the meeting minutes we approved last night. /Craig
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February 16, 2008 - SJAA Board Meeting Minutes
- Craig Scull
======================================================
Rob made a motion to approve the December meeting
minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Lee and
approved by unanimous vote. 8 voted in favor of the
motion. There were no abstentions or oppositions.
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Members present
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SJAA Board Members
*-Rob Hawley
*-Rich Neuschaefer
*-Lee Hoglan
*-Craig Scull
*-Gary Mitchell
*-Dave Smith
*-Robert Armstrong (arrived late)
*-Gordon Reade
*-Mark Wagner
SJAA Members
*-Phil Chambers
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Coverage for upcoming events
-------------------------------------
February
20 -We- Lunar Eclipse party.
*Rob
29 -Fr- Houge Park star party.
*Rob
29 -Fr- Astronomy Class at Houge Park. Using
Astronomical Charts Efficiently
*Rob
March
8 -Sa- Dark-Sky weekend. Messier Marathon at Henry
Coe Park. We also have the 7th reserved as our foul
weather back-up date and will publish a notice to this
effect.
*Rob
14 -Fr- Astronomy Class at Houge Park. 7:30 pm.
Topic to be announced.
*Mark Wagner will present on "observing galaxies"
14 -Fr- Houge Park star party.
*Rob
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Treasurer's report - Gary Mitchell
-------------------------------------
An executive summary of this will also be made
available to the public on the SJAA web site.
In order to maintain our non-profit status we must
submit an "annual electronic notice filing
requirement" to the government to let them know that
we do not need to file IRS tax form 990.
The year end summary follows...
SJAA 2007 Financial Report
****Where's the money coming from:****
2006 2007 Difference
ATM 75.00 600.00 525.00
Auction, Buyer 5,778.50 8,057.60 2,279.10
Auction, bid fee 1.00 0.00 -1.00
Books 2,030.50 1,603.06 -427.44
Dues -- members 5,529.99 5,220.00 -309.99
Gift Received 1,023.00 600.75 -422.25
Interest Inc 178.06 914.63 736.57
Misc inc 2,156.00 2,139.56 -16.44
S&T Subscriptions 4,949.95 4,653.00 -296.95
Swap 967.90 1,292.71 324.81
-------- -------- --------
TOTAL INFLOWS 22,689.90 25,486.05 2,796.15
****Where's the money going:****
2006 2007 Difference
Auction seller 4,641.00 5,131.74 490.74
Book Purchases 1,603.00 2,507.01 904.01
Bulk Mail 660.00 683.29 23.29
Dues -- paid out 220.00 300.00 80.00
Education 0.00 20.00 20.00
fees 642.62 1,148.93 506.31
Gifts Given 100.00 0.00 -100.00
Insurance 1,140.00 1,210.00 70.00
Internet 0.00 166.80 166.80
Misc 2,405.33 2,161.54 -243.79
Newsletter 2,563.54 2,185.28 -378.26
Nonprofit fees 0.00 20.00 20.00
S&T, Subscripts 4,975.45 4,843.65 -131.80
Speaker fee 225.00 200.00 -25.00
Swap exp 0.00 14.53 14.53
Telephone 221.99 240.17 18.18
Telescopes 93.05 -13.17 -106.22
-------- -------- --------
TOTAL OUTFLOWS 19,490.98 20,819.77 1328.79
-------- -------- --------
OVERALL 3,198.92 4,666.14 1,467.22
CASH FLOW
Cash Flow Notes and comments:
Auction:
The incoming Auction Seller and outgoing Auction
Buyer represents the cash flow during the day of the
auction, not the actual income and expense for the
club. We collect the buyers' payments for the
sellers. In other words, the cash flow figures show
the volume of activity experienced. At the end of the
day, the actual income was:
2006 2007 Difference
Auction net 1,137.50 2,925.86 -1,788.36
RASC books:
Books and calendars are purchased late in the year.
Some of the books will be sold early the following
year. So, the actual profit/loss on book sales must
be figured later in the year. We still have a
substantial number of the 2008 books left.
expenses incoming profit/loss
Last year: 1618.00 1824.50 206.50
So far 2495.21 1913.10 -582.11
this year:
Fees paid:
Most of the fees paid went to the caterer for
CalStar, The City of San Jose for the use of Houge
park, and PayPal transaction fees. Some we try to
recover (e.g. the caterer's travel fee), other fees we
just absorb (e.g. the PayPal transaction fees for
memberships or City fees). Some of the larger items:
2006 2007 Difference
PayPal-memberships 187.18 178.59 -8.59
PayPal-Calstar 51.61 49.39 -2.22
Caterer-Calstar 250.00 250.00 0
City of San Jose 60.00 565.00 565.00
P.O. Box 56.00 56.00 0
Interest Income:
Of the $914.63 in interest income, $910.84 came from
the CDs, the rest came from the checking account.
Miscellaneous 2007, incoming and outgoing:
By far the largest item was meals for CalStar. Note,
this does NOT include the fees (above). Also, this
money isn't income, it was collected for those
attendees ordering meals, then paid to the caterer.
Outgoing Incoming Difference (after paying
fees)
2006: 1789.61 1958.00 159.39 -142.22
2007: 1546.33 1814.00 265.67 -35.94
Sky & Telescope:
Member subscriptions may show a profit or loss in
any given fiscal year because payments received and
subscriptions paid don't break evenly across our
fiscal annual boundary. The S&T subscription program
is actually a tiny loss for us. Sky Publishing
charges $32.95, we charge $33.00. That extra five
cents is absorbed by the postage of mailing in the
orders and PayPal transaction fees. This is not income
for the club. We collect this money on behalf of our
subscribing members and pay it to Sky Publishing.
Accounts as of 12/31/2007, compared to 12/31/2006
Cash and Bank 2006 2007 Difference
Accounts
CD 1 5,076.34 5,410.45 334.11
CD 2 - - - 5,000.00 - - -
CD 3 5,167.51 5,393.07 225.56
CD 4 5,000.00 5,215.84 215.84
Obs. Fund CD 3,100.51 3,235.84 135.33
Checking 4,325.23 2,786.74 -1,538.49
Savings 403.55 - - - - - -
PayPal 0.00 0.00 0.00
Petty Cash 41.83 335.80 293.97
2006 2007 Difference
TOTAL Accounts 23,114.97 27,377.74 4,262.77
Personal note:
I'd say my greatest accomplishment as treasurer is
to move most of our money into higher interest bearing
CD accounts. The plan was to have four 1-year CDs,
(each staring at $5000), spaced so they mature at
three month intervals. The fourth CD has been
purchased. From now on, extra monies will simply be
added to these existing CDs as each matures.
Last year these earned $910.84 in interest ($775.51
of which is the general fund, $135.33 is the
Observatory fund), this year I expect it will be
around $1100. Eventually I'd like to see these
completely pay for our liability insurance premium.
Gary Mitchell, Treasurer
This report was prepared without audit from the
financial records of the SJAA.
-------------------------------------
General Meeting Procedures
-------------------------------------
We will take nominations from the floor for the board
positions that need to be renewed.
If there are no nominations from the floor then these
positions will be renewed without contest.
-------------------------------------
Bylaw Changes
-------------------------------------
These changes will be voted on in the general
meeting. The vote will be taken by a show of hands
unless someone objects.
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General Meeting Programs - Dave Smith
-------------------------------------
No updates.
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Telescope Loaner Program - Rob Hawley
-------------------------------------
Scope 28 Status -- The telescope that Albert Highe is
rebuilding for us.
An evaluation of the mirror by Ray Craft showed that
it was less than 1/2 wave. There are 3 problems:
-The surface was poorly figured
-The glass was never properly annealed
-The back is not flat
The good news is that the mirror can be reannealed by
Newport Glass for $25 and then resent to Ray Craft to
be refigured for a total cost of $500 or less.
Rob will provide a list of telescopes that require
power so that we can consider approving the necessary
battery purchases for these telescopes --or-- in some
cases consider eliminating these from the program
(e.g. we think we have 6 A/C powered orange C8s).
No updates from Daystar regarding the solar scope.
The Meade LightBridge 12" is on order. The order has
been delayed. It is not known whether the delay might
be permanent or not. We do know that Meade's
operations are in the process of being moved to Mexico.
At present there are 30 scopes in the program
2 appear to be lost and are pending removal
8 are available
14 are currently loaned
6 are pending transfer, wait listed, or under
repair
During the 2/16 board meeting I received an action
item to report on which
scopes needed external power
Scope Scope
Number Description 12 V 110
comments
3 4" f/15 Quantum S/C ? loaned to
SJAA School
Program
6 8" f/10 Celestron S/C ---------
note 2
9 C-11 f/10 Compustar yes yes
note 1
23 6" f/8 Edmund Newt on EQ Mount ---------
note 2
29 8" Celestron S/C Astrophoto yes yes
34 8" f/10 Dynamax S/C ---------
note 2
35 8" f/6 Meade Newt on EQ Mount yes
note 3
37 4" Celestron Flourite Refractor yes
note 4
40 8" Celestron Super C8+ S/C yes yes
note 5
48 C-8 Celestron Ultima yes yes
note 6
note 1 Uses Loanee supplied inverter. Probably
should be rewired to only
use 12V
note 2 has not been loaned
note 3 A very easy to use GEM telescope with no
clutches
note 4 alternate 12v battery pack
note 5 controller that uses 110 not working
note 6 12v cable is missing
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Hosting Problems
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# BlueHost requires all of our accounts send only 500
message per hour to limit load on their servers
* BlueHost is inflexible on this requirement
* This is 360,000 messages per month
Mark suggested that a digest subscription be enabled
for all Announce list subscribers to help reduce the
server load.
Motion H1
a- The Chat is discontinued as a separate mail list.
Mail will be forward to people who will answer
questions. Answers of general interest will be posted.
Anyone that wants an interactive discussion will be
referred to TAC or TAC-Imaging.
Robert moves that Motion H1a be approved. The motion
was seconded by Rob and approved by unanimous vote. 8
voted in favor of the motion. There was one opposition
and no abstentions.
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IDA Membership
-------------------------------------
>>>Motion I1 - The board authorizes the Treasurer to
make the annual renewal of the club's membership to
IDA (currently at $100).
Rob moves that Motion I1 be approved. The motion was
seconded by Craig and approved by unanimous vote. 9
voted in favor of the motion. There were no
oppositions or abstentions.
-------------------------------------
Coyote Star Party Dates - Rob Hawley
-------------------------------------
The park and I settled on the following dates. The
June 28th date would also be the Beginner's lab.
6/7/2008
6/28/2008
7/26/2008
8/23/2008
9/20/2008
Rob will not be available on July 26th
-------------------------------------
Beginner Workshop
-------------------------------------
Paul is doing May. A volunteer is still needed for
July.
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Auction Preplan
-------------------------------------
Lee has been taking a lot of scope donations lately.
Rob has cherry picked all the desirable scopes from
Lee for the telescope loaner program, so this means
that Lee gets to unload his inventory at the next
auction.
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Officer's Webpage
-------------------------------------
Rob has kindly offered to put an email form onto the
page to allow visitors to send email without revealing
the recipient emails. Please let Rob know if you would
like this to be set up for you.
-------------------------------------
Observatory Committee - Craig Scull
-------------------------------------
Lee and Craig visited the location on Chew's ridge
that Lee is moving his telescope from. The road is in
bad condition with very deep ruts in some places and
currently can only be accessed via high clearance
vehicles. We should put this idea "on hold" until the
road conditions improve in a sustainable way.
No one from the prior year's events at Bob Ayers
property has followed up with me to discuss placing an
observatory on a SJAA-sponsored site. This leads me to
believe that people are satisfied with their current
arrangements or do not otherwise need our help. If
this is true, then it means that we need to consider
alternate directions for this committee, such as
trying to help promote or support amateur-professional
collaboration or graduate student astronomy education.
-------------------------------------
School Star Parties - Jim Van Nuland
-------------------------------------
Cumulative list of school events for 2007-8 school year
Completed events:
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 0
Dec 4 2 - - 2
Jan 6 3 - 1 2
Feb 5 5 - - - Partial month
-----------------------------------
Tot 39 26 2 4 7
Coming attractions:
Total Firm Makeup Negotiating
Feb 3 3 - 0 Partial month
Mar 9 9 - 0
Apr 6 5 - 1
May - - - -
June 1 1 - -
...
Aug 1 1 - -
Nov 1 - - 1
-----------------------------------
tot 21 19 0 2
"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 on the
Current Events page.
-------------------------------------
Membership Report - Rob Hawley
-------------------------------------
Will be sent in by Rob next week.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:44.
Note: the next board meeting will start at 6:30pm!
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