MARA Meeting May 1, 2008 held at the Main Library.
President Bill Hudock welcomed all the Members and announced that they collect their software orders from Randy Van Voorhis.
Old Business: Randy distributed the software to the members who had placed orders. There were a few copies left, available for MARA members to purchase at the price as announced in the previous meetings.
Bill Hudock requested Mr. John Parish the treasurer to submit his report.
Treasurer’s report: John began his report with the Free Fest and said what a busy month it was for MARA. Here is a synopsis of the treasurer’s report:
April 1, 2008 thru May 1, 2008
Beginning Balance . . . . . . . $7,115.32
Expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,513.67
Income:
4-4-08 Membership dues 30.00
4-4-08 Donation 155.00
4-4-08 Equip Sales @ Union City 486.00
4-15-08 Free Fest raffle collection 2,227.00
4-15-08 Start up Money for Free Fest 600.00
4-15-08 Equip Sales @ free Fest 660.00
4-15-08 Concessions (Free fest) 828.00
4-15-08 Concessions Donation (Free Fest) 100.00
4-16-08 Membership dues 15.00
4-20-08 Consolidated Equip sale 1,480.00
4-22-08 Unclaimed table deposits 60.00
4-30-08 Final Equip sales from Estate 415.00
New Balance $7,657.65
CD (6 mo. @ 3.670%) $23,726.00
Total All Accounts $31,383.65
Ham Hillard made the motion to accept and David Sax seconded.
Bill Hudock announced that the minutes for the April meeting will be emailed to all the members and also posted on the MARA web page. He also mentioned that Sri is back and will be taking the minutes and email the minutes to the members and Sri & Keith Price will jointly work on the web page to keep it as current as possible till we move the web page to some other ISP.
Randy suggested that MARA should consider moving our web page to Google Apps as that is free to 501c3 charities and other non-profit organizations.
At this David Sax mentioned, why not MARA consider moving the web page to Banner. Bill said that the Board would look into both these options and choose the one that will best suit MARA.
Bill told the members that Tony Brignole is very busy with his personal commitments and that we need to appoint a new Chairperson for the next Free Fest. It was decided that the Board would choose the next Chairperson for the Free Fest, at the Board Meeting to be held at Bill’s House on May 12, 2008.
It was suggested that MARA make a donation of $300.00 to Bartlett Municipal Center to create a good will as there were some complaints from the Bartlett Municipal Center that some of their tables used at the Free Fest were damaged etc.
Bill gave a quick update about the repeaters; equipments sold from Mr. Whites Estate and the pending tower jobs.
Bill invited anybody with any old business and or any announcements:
There is a 3-person hot tub we need to get rid of. It’s got low mileage on it, and it is on the 2nd floor, so whoever picks it up will have to arrange for help moving it downstairs.
Henry Leggette gave a quick update of the case against the FCC and other issues of ARRL concerning BPL etc.
Mr. Joe Lowenthal (WA4OVO) made a couple of announcements:
Joe talked about the Health Department’s disaster drill at the airport and asked that anyone interested to volunteer can contact Ms. Jennifer Price and sign up as they needed more volunteers.
Joe handed out applications to interested MARA members to join the Public Health Reserve Core. He said that there is a need for Amateur Radio operators to help assist the Health Department in the event of a disaster/emergency.
Bill announced that we take a short break and resume with a Slide presentation from Mr. Ham Hillard about the Military Cross Band Exercise to be held at Huxtable followed by a live demonstration by Pat Lane & Ham Hillard on how Cross Band Works.
The presentation was very informative and enjoyed by all the members. Meeting ended at 9 PM. Motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Jeff Krause (AJ4GY), seconded by Mr. John Gallarno (AJ4AT).