Board of Directors Meeting March 1, 2023
Robert Kocourek W9RKK Chairman was eventually able (Quorum needed) to call the meeting to order at 7:14 PM
Attendees
|
Secretary’s Report
Cliff Sowka K9QD: Dennis C. Calvey moved to approve the February BOD Minutes as sent to the BOD on February 2nd (not yet published in the Radio Hill Gazette). Some Board Members are not on the SARC-BD reflector (need update) and therefore have to wait for the eventual RHG posting to view the Minutes. Therefore February BOD Minutes were read into the record tonight to allow all Board Members to discover the record. Bill Riess KW9WR seconded. Motion Carried.
Treasurer’s Report:
Chris Brewer AC9GN not present.
Public Service
Rob Glowacki N9MVO not present.
EMCOMM
John Zietlow K9WIC reported he has reached-out to the Schaumburg EMA management team to provide an opportunity for updating SARC’s EMCOMM contribution and current capabilities to the Village.
Repeaters
Rob Glowacki N9MVO, Terry Jarnholm AE9TJ not present.
Construction Project (CP)
Cliff Sowka K9QD reported attendance increased for the gathering and several attenuator projects were completed and successfully brought to life. Lots of solder smoke and copious food offering.
VE Testing
John Schofield AC9JS not present.
Nets
Don Dewar KD9NJR Chairman reports good attendance continues. The New Ham Net attendance has also increased to nine (9) participants during the recent session.
Radio Hill Gazette RHG
Mike K9KMV No Report.
Membership
Scott DeSantis KB9VRW No report
Publicity
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK Publicity Chairman provides the following:
- Tennis Plus Antenna Project: Contacted Fred Gonzini (Manager of Facility Operations Trades, Schaumburg Park District). He said that the antenna cable was pulled to the roof top and connected to the existing antenna, but didn’t know how. I went through our intended installation ( Two separate coax’s, new VHF/UHF, new HF Long wire antennas) and asked if we could get permission to go on the roof top to solder on connectors preferred over crimp on for exterior use) and other work. Fred said that he would check with his supervisor and get back to me. Haven’t heard back yet.
- Some traffic on FaceBook web site.
- No publicity sent out for any Public Service Events or EMCOMM events – waiting for confirmation of times & dates.
Social
Need Chairperson.
Education
Leo N9NBH not present.
Programs
Don Dewar KD9NJR received compliments for his February presentation and reported he has several ideas for upcoming events.
Old Business
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK previously moved to support $25 funding each to two organizations: AR Newsline and HAMQSL.com.
- Danny Kafka KD9HIL seconded and the Motion carried.
- We’ll need to send funds to these two entities.
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK previously moved to have SARC officially support HR 9670 Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. Ed Lishka AC9SD seconded and the Motion carried.
- An Officer of SARC will need to author communication to Congress indicating our support.
New Business
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK offers the following:
- SARC (to the best of my knowledge) does not have a Public Information Officer (PIO) listed with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK will be our PIO.
- No conversations (to the best of my knowledge) with the Village of Schaumburg regarding Public Service events or EMCOMM coordination.
- Dennis will attend an informal Coffee with Counsel Event to increase SARC’s visibility within the Village’s management teams.
Don Dewar KD9NJR offers the following:
For several months we have been discussing and avoiding passing a club operating budget. I am unsure why this is a problem. We cannot responsibly spend without direction.
- I have attached* a small spreadsheet of the budget I am proposing for the Board’s review and input.
- I have eliminated the holiday party, construction project and field day line items from the operating budget. Rather than budgeting these items we should review our club membership and the amount of available funds after the operating expenses. We must be responsible to the members by paying the bills. We should put priority on essential expenses then disperse the balance for the other activities.
- The Construction project committee should have access to the funds that are generated directly form the CP team. Hamfest sales, SK auctions, fundraising, and any other form of income besides members’ dues. Supply costs for the members should still be approved by the Board, but not taken from the operating budget.
- I believe that our club has spoken loudly about Zoom coverage of the business meeting and program afterwards. Many of our members have expressed concerns about dropping the Zoom meetings entirely. The attendance on the Zoom portion of our meeting outnumbered the in-person attendees.
- NOTE: Al Salazar KD9FIA has donated an HK notebook to the club for our use.
- As the new President of the club I do not have personal Zoom Pro access so I have to resort to the free version of the program. In my first attempt, the 40-minute time limit confused many of the members who now had to join a second meeting. It was difficult to get everyone into the meeting before it started and was very distracting to me while running a presentation. It also disrupted the others in the remote meeting.
- I have had several offers to purchase the Zoom subscription for our club. I thanked them for the offers, but I can’t with a good conscious accept these offers while we waste the Club’s money on “Hotel Bacon”. Zoom is needed for the club to have productive meetings and should be a budgeted Item. I have reached out to the Zoom administrators, and I am awaiting a decision on the possible discount for nonprofit clubs.
- Danny KD9HIL moved to purchase Zoom account for SARC. Dennis C. Calvey seconded. Motion Carried.
- The matter of merging two committees into one puzzles me. The Public Service committee and the EmComm Committee are two very different services of the club. Public service is a way for our club to help the community with our presence for communication purposes. EmComm is to help Emergency Agencies by providing trained EmComm operators. The chairmen of these committees need two very different skill sets. This makes no more sense than combining the repeater committee with the net committee. The net committee has no need to know how the repeater works but only how to utilize it in an orderly fashion, and the repeater committee can tell you how the repeater is programed to operate, but may not be able to keep a net organized.
I would propose, among many other changes, that the EmComm committee be added to the bylaws of the club as its own committee. The construction committee should be added as well. The CP is the most utilized program by the club members, and should be recognized by a committee. I believe this change to the bylaws must be voted on by the general membership at a future date, there are several areas in the Clubs constitution and Bylaws that need revisions, and this may be the time to address all the issues.
- The Data line issue has stalled again, due to the password problem. Our member who receives the bill by mail should be able to update the password. We need to complete this deal that Dennis has negotiated with the vendor before the offer expires or is withdrawn.
SARC Constitution Updates Needed:
Article II Section 2 Board of Directors – edits proposed.
Article III Section 2 Officers – edits proposed.
Article VII Section 1 TVI-QRM Committee – edits proposed.
Amendment of Article VII required.
SARC Bylaws Updates Needed:
Section VIII Candidate proposals at Annual Meetings
Section XI Budget Approval
Article VI Membership Book maintained
Article VII Committee Appointments
Article VIII Fiscal Year Change needs update
These are just my opinions but, hopefully it will help us to look at the issues and figure out the best method to solve them. Don KD9NJR
Adjourn 8:30 PM.
Submitted Mar 2, 2023. Cliff Sowka K9QD Secretary
*Proposed Budget