| Owner | Item | |
| Stephen Van Rompaey, Rick Libsack | Organize club family picnic for August/September. | |
| Mike Langley | Get publicity materials (nametags, fliers) for the UW Observatory program. | |
| (Everyone) | Forward banquet venue suggestions to Kathy Watson (contact through Roger Steyaert). | |
| Rick Libsack | Start search for banquet speaker. | |
| Thomas Vaughan | Gather club volunteer hours. |
Minutes
The meeting started at 7:15 pm.
Approval of Minutes
The May board minutes were approved.
Treasurer's Report
Jim Peterson gave a rundown of the cash flow history for the year so far.
| 2002 (through June) |
2002 (full year) |
2003 (through June) |
||
| Inflows: | 6000 | 12700 | 9000 | |
| Outflows: | -7400 | -11000 | -11700 | |
| Net Cash Flow: | -1400 | +1700 | -2700 |
The net result is that were are ahead of last year, both in inflows and outflows. In particular, we're already $2700 down, and we don't expect to make much more than $3000 for the rest of the year.
Jim mentioned this situation could come up for a number of reasons, such as a difference in when expenses were entered each year. However, the bottom line is that we are a non-profit organization which has had its finances tuned to just about even out each year. Over the past few years expenses have been slowly increasing, but we haven't increased income at all. Without any action, at some point expenses will routinely add up to more than revenues.
We talked about the possibility of raising dues. Dues have not been raised at all in the past few years. We agreed to table the issue, and revisit it later when we had a better picture of the year's finances.
VP of Programs Appointment
Stephen Van Rompaey noted that we had a volunteer for the VP of
Programs position. The board unanimously agreed to appoint
Rick Libsack to the position of VP Programs.
August/September Picnic
Stephen proposed that we have a family-oriented club picnic in
August or September, at a site where people could stay late for
dark-sky observing. The Board agreed.
Both Rattlesnake Lake and a park in Snoqualmie were mentioned as possible locations.
Action Item: Stephen and the new VP Programs (Rick Libsack) will drive this.
Observatory Volunteers
Mike Langley reported on the start of the club volunteer
program for the UW Observatory. 14 people signed up, which Mike
feels should be a good kernel from which the program can grow.
Mike noted that it is difficult to find good stars to observe from the observatory, due to the light pollution and the narrow opening. But he has several candidate stars in mind.
There was some discussion as to how the program should be organized. Long-term, we know we want a position within the club dedicated to running this program. In the immediate term, the board is best positioned to manage it. This was the rough transition we agreed upon:
It was also mentioned that the Observatory Outreach is a great way to get the club some publicity. We will try to get our logo displayed prominently, along with membership and program fliers. Club volunteers will wear nametags with the SAS logo.
Action Item: Mike will get nametags set up, and other publicity materials for the Observatory program.
Youth Group
Several club members have expressed an interest in forming a youth
group. However, we do not yet have a group of parents within the
club who have children of their own who would like to participate
in such a group, which seems to be a critical factor for success
for youth groups in other clubs.
It was agreed that the club's youth group plans are still in an "amorphous stage" and that we will track this as we go.
2004 Banquet
It's already time to think about the 2004 Banquet! Roger Steyaert's
wife Kathy Watson is spearheading this years banquet planning. She is
looking for suggestions for a venue for the banquet. We expect 80-100
people to attend.
Action Item: If you have any suggestions for a banquet location please forward them to Roger and Kathy.
We are also looking for a speaker for the banquet. This will be managed by the VP Programs.
Action Item: Rick Libsack will start searching for a speaker for the banquet.
8:00 - Meeting Ends