Board Meeting - 05/05/2010
BATTLE POINT ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION
MINUTES of
BOARD MEETING of MAY 5, 2010
Time 19:14 -- Convened Meeting
Vice President Mike Browning, as presiding Officer, convened the BPAA Board Meeting at 19:14 on May 5, 2010.
Other Board Members present were:
Frank Schroer, Treasurer
Russell M. Heglund, Secretary
Steve Ruhl, Education Officer
Malcolm Saunders, Chief Astronomer
Nels Johansen, Facilities Officer
The Bylaws require five Board Members to be present to constitute a quorum, therefore a quorum was present.
Visitor present:
Vicki Saunders, Newsletter Editor
Time 19:16 -- Reading of Previous Board Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the April 7, 2010 Board Meeting were read by R. Heglund, Secretary. Two corrections were noted. S. Ruhl moved/F. Schroer seconded, that the minutes be approved as corrected. Passed.
Time 19:24 -- Vice President's Report
M. Browning reports: I checked the National Science Foundation web site (for Grants) and we did not get the Grant (that we applied for). The notes said they would like to see a University handle the Grants and need more experienced person running it, not a grad student. These comments are publicly posted on the web.
Time 19:30 -- Treasurer's Report (see attached report)
F. Schroer reports: The total current assets as of 4/30/2010 are: $22,381.37. Insurance cost came in at $1264.00.
M. Browning moved/M. Saunders seconded, to approve the Treasurer's report. Passed.
Time 19:32 -- Membership Report (see attached report)
F. Schroer reports: Have four new members. As of 5/5/2010 we have 90 total memberships/40 family/41 individual/5 junior/1 teacher and 3 lifetime.
Time 19:35 -- Secretary's Report
R. Heglund reports:
Sundial Project: Mike Browning and I are trying to put together a meeting with the artist, Bill Baran-Mickle, and Mike's friend, the architect.....on May 23. To plan a proposal to the Park Board.
Telescope Class: The Telescope Class had only seven participants. A disappointing number when last year we had about fifteen.
V. Saunders: We need to find a way to reach people interested in telescopes......think about an advertisement.
N. Johansen: Maybe do an advertisement like: "How to choose a good Telescope" Just before Christmas.
Time 19:42 -- Facilities Officer Report
N. Johansen: No report.
Time 19:43 -- Chief Astronomer's Report
M. Saunders reports: I have bought a new Multimeter (volt/amp/ohm meter) for the tool room.
N. Johansen: I have started rebuilding the 16" String Telescope. I have been having trouble reaching the people manufacturing a new spider (Protostar company). We will be out $135 if they have gone out of business.
Time 19:46 -- Education Officer's Report
S. Ruhl reports: We had 60 people at the April Planetarium Show....had to do two shows. We will be doing a show this Saturday, at 08:30 pm. I have a student teacher who is interested in using the portable planetarium at his school.
NEW BUSINESS
Time 19:50 -- Telescope Loan Program
N. Johansen: San Jose Astronomical Association has a kind of contract they sign when checking out telescopes (see attached example), in case of damage.
F. Schroer: Maybe we should note value of item on check-out sheet.
S. Ruhl: I like idea of a number on each telescope.
M. Browning: Maybe we have some telescopes that a exempt from damage re-payment......cheap telescopes.
Time 19:56 -- Ventilation
N. Johansen: It gets hot in the meeting room during the summer. Maybe we should add a fan to the wood cut-out on south side, to pull air through the building.....pull hot air out of meeting room.
Board Consensus: Go ahead and look into it.
Time 20:02 -- Declaration of Vacancy in Office of President
N. Johansen moved/S. Ruhl seconded, that the Office of President be declared vacant. Passed.
Time 20:03 -- Nomination and Election of President
M. Browning moved/N. Johansen seconded that Steve Ruhl be nominated and elected BPAA President. Passed by the BPAA Board.
Time 20:06 -- Readiness for July 4th Celebrations
F. Schroer reports: We have committed to doing a booth, the form has been sent in (to the Chamber of Commerce).
M. Browning: We should ask for members to man the booth.
F. Schroer & V. Saunders: We will draft a letter to members asking for participation.
Time 20:15 -- Surplus Property & Rotary Auction
N. Johansen: The Rotary Auction is coming up. The Optical Bench is missing lots of parts and is unusable.
M. Browning moved/N. Johansen seconded, to surplus the Optical Bench and accessories. Passed.
Time 20:17 -- Bainbridge Parks Update
M. Browning: Kent Scott (our Park staff contact) is no longer an employee of the Park Dept.
R. Heglund: The Park Board seems to be in flux over the Battle Point Master Plan (according to minutes of their March 5, 2010 Board Meeting......in which they had lots of negative input from the public and some Board Members). They are considering a "special meeting" to consider the Battle Point Master Plan.
Further Comments:
V. Saunders: May 10 is the deadline for Newsletter submissions.
S. Ruhl: I am working on an article on building a video camera.
R. Heglund: We should post on our website the nomination and election of S. Ruhl as President of BPAA.
Time 20:28 -- Adjournment
F. Schroer moved/M. Saunders seconded, to adjourn the Board Meeting. Passed.
Minutes taken on May 5, 2010 by Russell M. Heglund
Minutes approved by the BPAA Board on ______________________
Attested by: