The meeting attendance was very light and we barely reached quorum until quite a bit of time after the official start. Here are the notes:
1. The bylaws prohibited proxy voting at the meeting (but do allow absentee ballots). Since we had such light attendance and still some questions on nominations we postponed the election and Tripoli election until the February meeting to allow the nominees to be solidified. Rodney Riederer was able to attend (Thanks Rodney!) and indicated that his availability to attend meetings will be limited this year, he questioned whether it would make some one else to assume the Presiden'ts office. Of those attending the meeting last night there were no one who officially accepted the nomination for President (although Rodney offered to run if no one else was able). We made note of David Kovar's acceptance of nomination for
Vice President and Ken Gianino indicated he would withdraw from consideration for Vice President but would help the club with the incorporation, bylaw process, room reservation, and attending the Apollo 11 meetings with Dave Kovar (Thanks Ken!). All other offices have candidates (equipment - Dan Welling, treasurer - Don Hanson, secretary - Heino Pull, NAR president - John Buckley, Tripoli Prefect - Rob Chapie, Tripoli Secretary - Dan Welling. It was noted from the bylaws that the quorum requirement currently is that either the President or the Vice President attend an official meeting and we did have at least one meeting last year that wasn't official according to the bylaws. The group noted that our bylaws are overly complicated and we need to address the current state at a separate working session. We can offer absentee ballots for February (on the web site) to get more participation in the elections but we need to resolve the nomination issues.
2. The bylaws mandate that the club dues be set and the group voted to keep the dues the same as last year. This will allow memberships to be received for 2014. The on line membership form has been updated for 2014 and we encourage all to enter a new membership form with payment (either by Paypal or by check/cash). The existing membership forms have been saved along with the 2013 membership list, but forms will be required for 2014 again. All 2013 SLRA members still have membership privileges on the web site, but we will purge the membership list on 3/1/2014. Login accounts will not be removed, but those who have not rejoined by March 1st (or our first spring launch whichever is first) will be set to non member status and will not be able to access the members only area of the web site or fly at Elsberry.
3. As indicated above, the bylaws are very complicated and are oriented for a bigger group. They also have various amendments that have not been incorporated into the main document. We are planning to readdress the bylaws at a separate working session which is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of January 25/26th. Ken Gianino and Heino Pull have volunteered to work the changes and we invite anyone else interested to review and attend the working session. Ken has offered his home as the working site although we can obtain a room at the coffee house across from Growler's in south county if that is more convenient. Please let us know if you're willing to help with the effort and can support the working session. We can reschedule to later in January if this weekend doesn't work. This effort is critical to help make the bylaws match the current state of SLRA.
4. For the spring launch schedule, it was suggested that we use the week by week scheduling system starting February 22, 2014. This would be the same process that we used in fall along with the use of the survey form to measure interest in the various launch dates (Saturday and Sunday launches starting on Feb 22). This date can be changed, but we need something to post on the web site. It was also suggested that we resurrect the weather committee process as an email list that any club member could join to discuss the process of launch cancellations and anticipated weather. I would create the email list that would allow emailing the various members separate from the club web site. We need comments from those not at last nights meeting for this potential addition to our launch scheduling process.
5. We discussed a reply that John Buckley received on the insurance situation at Buder Park launches from the president of the NAR. The current NAR insurance rules will not cover any fliers who are not NAR members for any damage caused. However, the club members, officers, and land owner (St. Louis County Parks) will be covered for any lawsuits or damage caused by a non-member non-insured accident. To proceed at Buder Park we determined that we will need to ask GSLMA if we can allow non insured individuals to fly rockets at Buder with perhaps the the requirement to sign a liability waiver for the club, GSLMA, and St. Louis County Parks. It was also mentioned as a possibility that insured club members could inspect, prep, and fly rockets for non insured individuals at Buder. Boy Scout groups, school organizations/groups are covered by NAR insurance and would not be a problem. If GSLMA would allow us to fly with non-insured fliers, we would need to keep careful track of who attended and offer liability release forms. We would also encourage members to obtain Buder Park flying permits. As part of the discussion, a member indicated that there is private field in Illinois where we might be able to fly if the owner agrees. I can provide a link to the current club officers so we can discuss the possibility of flying at this location with landowner permission.
6. Ken Gianino attended the working meeting with Dave Kovar and the Science Center group. Ken gave us a summary of the revised schedule and contest plans for May. Dave Kovar has emailed more information since last nights meeting and I can forward the info to anyone who is interested and has not received Dave's email.
For those who atteneded, please let me know if I left anything out or made any errors in the above summary.
Thanks!
Heino Pull
SLRA Secretary
