[SJAAboard] May 17, 2008 - Draft SJAA Board Meeting Minutes
Craig Scull
craigus at rocketmail.com
Wed May 21 00:47:02 MDT 2008
Greetings gentlemen,
A lively and informative discussion was had by all. Your comments welcome and invited.
/secCraigtary
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May 17, 2008 - SJAA Board Meeting Minutes
- Craig Scull
======================================================
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Members present
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SJAA Board Members
*-Rob Hawley
*-Rich Neuschaefer
*-Lee Hoglan
*-Craig Scull
*-Gary Mitchell
*-Mark Wagner
*-Robert Armstrong
*-Gordon Reade (late)
*-Phil Chambers (not present)
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March Meeting Minutes
-------------------------------------
Rob made a motion to approve the March meeting
minutes. The motion was seconded by Craig
and approved by unanimous vote. There were no
abstentions or oppositions.
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Coverage for upcoming events
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May
30 -Fr- Astronomy Class at Houge Park. 7:30 pm.
30 -Fr- Houge Park star party. 9:30 until midnight.
Gary (7:00pm)
June
7 -Sa- Public star party at Coyote Lake County park.
Rob H
13 -Fr- Houge Park star party. 9:30 until midnight.
Gary
21 -Sa- General Meeting.
Rob H
27 -Fr- Houge Park star party. 9:30 until midnight.
Rob H
28 -Sa- Astronomy Class at Coyote Lake County Park
28 -Sa- Public star party at Coyote Lake County park.
Rob H
NOTE: Rob H will be gone the last two weeks of July
and the first week of August
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Treasurer's report - Gary Mitchell
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Treasurer's report for board meeting, May 17, 2008
Accounts:
CD 1 5410.45
CD 2 6153.42
CD 3 5393.07
CD 4 5215.84
Obs. Fund 3235.84
Checking 5923.38
PayPal 172.60
Petty Cash 43.12
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TOTAL 31,547.72
No change in the CD's last month.
We did well at our auction in April:
Auction: 3259.90
Donations: 54.42
Swap: 84.50 (includes 15.50 of SJAA
property)
Total gross 3398.82
City of San Jose fee: -394.00 (for using Houge
for the day)
RASC books: -161.10 (18 at $8 ea, our
cost: 16.95 ea)
Grand total net: 2843.72
The SJAA itself was by far the biggest auction
seller, with gross sales of $2899. All other sellers
combined had gross sales of $3423.
If we sold nothing of our own, the City fee could
potentially result in a net loss. We still have some
thinning to do of the loaner program, so it's a fair
guess we'll do well at next year's auction.
But if it looks like we won't have anything
significant of our own to sell, and we can't talk the
City into a lower fee, I believe we should consider
holding the auction elsewhere or not at all.
**SJAA owes Rob H $150 for the extra 2hr's time he
reserved for the auction.
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Fate of Scope #28 - 13" Albert Highe Dob
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The mirror from scope #28 turned out to be extremely
low quality. A professional optician deemed that it
could not be refigured.
The club will
Options on the table
-Albert pay the club $300 and keep the telescope
structure that he built
-Acquire a mirror for the travel scope that Albert
made. $750 - $850 estimated cost and accept it into
the SJAA
Mark made a motion that the club will accept $300 for
mirror #27 and let Albert keep the telescope structure
for #28. Gary seconded the motion.
7 accepted
1 opposed
1 abstained
The motion was approved by unanimous vote.
Further details of the motion follow.
The club acknowledges receipt of money
Mirror 27 is Albert's property
The contract is terminated
Rebuilt 28 is now Albert's
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Calstar
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*Meals*
Rich made a motion that SJAA not provide meals for
Calstar 2008. Rob seconded the motion. 7 voted for the
motion, no one opposed, and there was one abstention.
*2009 Schedule (Oct. 15-17 vs Sept 17-19 )*
Rob made a motion that Calstar 2009 be held Sep 17-
19, and Rich seconded the motion. The motion passed
unanimously. There were no oppositions or abstentions.
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Houge Park Update
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The city wants to put up the Houge Park for bid. The
bidder would have to accept responsibility for leasing
and maintaining the park, including all of the
liabilities and costs that are required to keep the
park functional. The city is hoping that neighborhood
associations would take all responsibility for
management of the park.
--Actions--
Rob will try to get more information to find out how
real of a proposal this is and what would be involved
in leasing the park.
Rob will meet with the ping-pong club to see what
interest they might have in the proposal and also find
out who else might have a stake in keeping Houge.
Rob will author and submit a letter to the mayor and
local council representatives for this district.
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Auction
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*What do we do in 2009?*
The Milpitas Library and Red Cross are going to be
explored as alternative sites for future auctions.
Houge is the backup/default option for us.
Mark volunteered to take responsibility for working
with the city in relation to this topic in 2009. Go
Mark.
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Schedule for 1/2 half 2009
-------------------------------------
Rob made a motion that we accept Jim Van Nuland's
calendar proposal for 2009 with the previously noted
amendment to change the Calstar date to September. The
motion was seconded by Robert. The motion passed
unanimously. There were no oppositions or abstentions.
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General Meeting Programs - Dave Smith
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May 17
Dr. Dana Backman (SETI/Ames) Nearby Stars & debris
disks: A Ringside Seat to Planet Formation
Jun 21 Dr. Helen Quinn (SLAC)
The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter
Jul 19 ?
Aug 16 Dr. Frank Marchis (UCB)
Binary Asteroids
Sep 13 SJAA members & friends
Photo & equipment night
Oct 11 Dr. Monika Kress (SJSU)
the Virtual Planet Laboratory
Nov 8 ?
Dec 13 ?
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Observatory Committee - Craig Scull
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Rob gave Craig the "OK" to poll the Announce list to
find people who might be interested in talking about
topics related to the observatory committee.
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School Star Parties - Jim Van Nuland
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Cumulative list of school events for 2007-8 school year
Completed events as of May 14, 2008
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 -
Apr 8 7 - - 1
May 3 3 - - - Partial month
-----------------------------------
Tot 59 42 4 5 8
Coming attractions as of May 14
Total Firm Makeup Negotiating
May 1 - - 1 Partial month
June 1 1 - -
...
Aug 1 1 - -
Oct 3 3 - -
Nov 1 - - 1
2009
Mar 2 - - 2
-----------------------------------
tot 12 9 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.
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Membership Report - Rob Hawley
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*****************Monthly
Expirations******************************
Report Date 5/14/2008
expired 74
Apr-08 4
May-08 13
Jun-08 34
Jul-08 19
Aug-08 21
Sep-08 19
Oct-08 17
Nov-08 13
Dec-08 23
Jan-09 19
Feb-09 20
Mar-09 18
Apr-09 9
May-09 17
Jun-09 25
more than 13 months 9
complementary 29
expiring 4
paid(current) 276
email delivery 44
Labels Generated 262
S&T Members 180
New Members since last meeting 8
current + complementary 305
*******************Membership Retention************
paid only
Members at
end of year Members retained
2008 24
2007 52 47 90%
2006 58 28 48%
2005 64 18 28%
2004 68 ** 17 25%
2003 61 ** 22 36%
<2003 173 ** 120 69%
** based on 12/04
total 276
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Telescope Loaner Program - Rob Hawley
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http://www.sjaa.net/loaners/reports/08-05-16.htm
(is permanent write-protected file)
Craig will take an action item to post a question to
TAC and SJAA Announce to find out why previous amateur
astronomers have borrowed telescopes from the program.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:50.
Note: the next board meeting will start at 6:30pm!
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