SUN LAKES AERO CLUB

Minutes of the Board Meeting

Date of Meeting: Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Present at the Meeting:

Bob Walch, President
Al Galvi, Vice President
Ben Thompson, Treasurer
Bill Johnson, Secretary/Website Administrator
Gary Vacin, Provost
Dick Vaughn, Activities Officer
Elton Dyal, Program Officer
Larry Lathom, Member-at-Large

Call to Order:

Bob Walch opened the meeting at 9:33 AM.

Approval of Minutes of Last Meeting:

The minutes of the January 16, 2007 meeting were reviewed and approved.  Motion by Dick Vaughn, seconded by Gary Vacin, motion carried to accept the Minutes of Last Meeting.

Reports:

Treasurer’s Report:

Ben Thompson reported the Closing Balance of funds in the Treasury is $1,218.90 as of today.

Dues for 2007 have been paid by 45 members.  In 2006, 65 members had paid dues.

A note was sent to member Dwight Halligan’s spouse Mary Murdock that the SLAC club had sent a contribution of $25.00 to the American Cancer Society, who in turn sent us a thank you note for the donation.

Motion by Al Galvi, seconded by Gary Vacin, motion carried to accept the Treasurer’s Report.

Website Report:

Bill Johnson reported that he is working with Vern Nelson to learn what’s required to maintain the SLAC website, and also the process for issuing periodic updates to the members.

It was agreed that an Update to the membership on a monthly basis would be adequate.  Bill stated that if there is news and information to publish, he would issue updates more frequently if time allows.

Vern Nelson has informed Bill that he will continue to work with him as needed and issue updates until Bill is trained in the process.

Due to this change in Bill’s responsibility, Bob will issue a notice to recruit another member for the Secretary’s position that Bill also currently holds.

Programs Report:

February 21st Meeting: (tomorrow evening)

Lonny K McClung, Capt, USN (Ret) will speak about his experience flying off aircraft carriers.  He has more than 1000 landings (traps) and in excess of 11,000 flying hours.  He will also talk about the London-Sydney Air Race 2001 with the around the world flight of the Albatross and will show a USN Shoot ‘em up video.

March 21st Meeting:

Stacey Nichols, Air Traffic and Tower Manager at the Chandler Municipal Airport, will give a talk about the operations at the Chandler Airport.

Member Harold Thomas will show a slide/video presentation of the new Kodiak plane which was designed for Missionary Work.  The Kodiak is scheduled to be at the Chandler Airport to start flight tests on Monday February 19th, and Harold will arrange for members to view the plane up close and ask questions.

April 18th Meeting:

There was discussion about contacting a Russ Pankey to present to us about his military experiences.  Elton will be following up for a commitment.

If the above commitment is not made, Gary Vacin will locate a speaker on the subject of sailplanes.

May 16th Meeting:

It was proposed that a talk by someone from Luke AFB would be of interest to members.  Gary Vacin will follow-up, and with Elton, to try to schedule them.

The Programs schedule is posted on the website.

Activities Report:

Dick Vaughn reported the following:

March: A tour of the Pimalco Aluminum Extrusion Plant in Chandler is being planned for a Field Trip on March 13th.  It will be a 1.5 hour tour, with lunch following at the Cottonwood clubhouse on our return.  Participants who sign-up will meet at the Cottonwood flagpole at 9:00 AM to carpool to Pimalco.

April: A morning flight to Globe and lunch at the Apache Gold Casino is planned.  March 29th is being considered for this Fly-In, with a 10:00 AM departure time.

May: Gary Vacin will confer with Elton about contacting the Public Information Office about a tour of Luke AFB.  Another suggestion for May given by Bob Walch was for Gloria Parks to give a slide presentation about the Flying Samaritans.  Information will be given to Elton for follow-up.

The Activities schedule is posted on the website.

Provost Report:

Gary Vacin reported there is no larger TV screen for use in the monthly Members Meeting.

Gary or Elton will check with the speaker for tomorrow night about the equipment needs, since it was believed he would be presenting with a PowerPoint slideshow which would require a PC with the software installed on it.  Ben Thompson agreed to bring his laptop in the event it was needed for the presentation.

Al Galvi requested that the seating be arranged as in the previous month in more of a semi-circle, but closer (as close as possible) to the speaker (at the front).

It was suggested to post more signs to the room for the Monthly Meeting for the benefit of guests who are coming for the first time, and Gary Vacin agreed to handle.

Old Business:

Dick Vaughn reviewed with the Board the pilot responses to the survey made during the past month.

New Business:

Pilot Reimbursement: Bob Walch presented some suggestions about pilot reimbursement for Fly-Ins: add about 10 miles to the actual nautical miles between departing and arriving airports to allow for run-up; increase the fuel consumption parameter to allow for higher consumption during take-off; for flights over one hour allow $5.00 for a quart of oil.  The Board agreed that these modifications to our Fly-In pilot reimbursement procedures would be appropriate to increase the compensation to the pilots to better offset the actual expense.

Long Range Planning: The Board discussed developing a long range plan for our Programs (speakers), and Activities (Fly-Ins and Field Trips).  No further action taken at this time.

Monthly Meeting: The room setup was mentioned again about the seating arrangement for tomorrow night.  As noted in Programs (see above), the same semi-circle arrangement will be setup.

Publicity: The Board discussed how to attract more members, in particular those with planes.  It was noted that the Sun Lakes cable company (Western Broadband) has local news on Channel 14, and that we should develop a news item to post there to notify of our upcoming meetings, programs and activities.  Al Galvi agreed to contact Western Broadband for information on how to implement this for SLAC.  It was also suggested to contact Art Sloan (a Sun Lakes resident) about posting information about SLAC meetings, programs and activities in the Chandler Section of the Arizona Republic (which he writes news articles for), or for the Chandler Independent also.  There is a section in the Sun Lakes Splash (newspaper) for “What’s Going On In Sun Lakes” where we could also advertise our events and meetings.  All these area’s should be investigated to give the club more visibility to attract new members, and again, particularly those who own planes.

Board Responsibilities: The Board discussed responsibilities of the Board members.

The Secretary is responsible to maintain the Membership Roster, to send a welcome to new members and for the gifts to speakers.

The Programs officer is responsible to write the articles for the Splash, and with that it was suggested as much as possible we always include a picture with an airplane in it for each article.  Ben Thompson agreed to handle the Splash articles for the next two months until the summer break to lighten the work for Elton Dyal who currently has some time constraints.

The Provost is responsible for renting rooms for the monthly Board and Members meetings.

The Activities officer is responsible for arranging Fly-Ins and Field Trips.

The Treasurer is responsible for collecting and disbursing all funds in the treasury.

Bob Walch asked that all Board Members review the club bylaws regarding the responsibility of officers, document any areas they feel need clarification, and make a proposal for changes at the next Board meeting.

Next Meetings:

Monthly Board Meeting: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Monthly General Meeting: Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Meeting Adjournment:

Gary Vacin made a motion, seconded by Dick Vaughn, to adjourn the meeting at 11:09 AM.  Motion carried, and meeting adjourned.

Addendum:

On February 17, 2007 President Bob Walch conducted a vote via email.  All Board Members approved the purchase of a Digital Projector at a cost of approximately $600.00.  Board Member Ben Thompson will purchasing the equipment, and report to the Board at the next monthly meeting on Tuesday, March 20, 2007.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Johnson, Secretary