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CFAS Monthly Board Meeting Minutes

CFAS Monthly Board Meeting Minutes

December 15, 2005


Attendees:

Paul Kronenwetter

Walt Hamler

Ray Jones

David Furrow

Derek Demeter

Francisco Gonzalez

Tom Chitty

Larry Lurie


Guests: (None)


  1. President's Call to order. Welcoming remarks.

The meeting was called to order at 7:10pm


  1. Secretary's Report

A request was made for comments and changes to the September board meeting minutes. No changes were submitted via email. Ray made a motion to approve the minutes as amended via email. Dave seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.


  1. Treasurer's Report

No report was submitted this month.


  1. Agenda Items

    1. Christmas Party Report

    2. Budget status

      1. The budget was approved by the membership at yesterday's meeting.

      2. Renewals are coming in at a more rapid rate than last year.


  1. Committee Reports

    1. Membership -

      1. New Members for December:

        1. Gerhard Treviranus

        2. Dan Seff

        Larry moved to accept these membership applications, Walt seconded this motion. The board voted to accept the membership applications from the Seff and Treviranus families.

      2. Ray asked the board to consider which individuals should be granted a membership for 2006. Ray motioned that four individuals receive complimentary memberships for 2006. These individuals are: Paul Gardner, Paul Trembley, Derek Demeter, and Alan Hoffberg. David seconded the motion. The board approved the motion unanimously.


    1. Programs

      1. January (SCC)

        • History of the Cosmos (Dr. Costas Efthimiou)

      1. February (OSC)

        • Dr. Campins

      1. March (SCC)

        • Derek Demeter will present

      1. April (OSC)

        • Dr. Britt

      1. September

        • Dr. Yan Fernandez

      1. November

        • Dr. James Cooney (UCF)


    1. DSAC/Library

      1. Derek is working with an organization in Marion county to help them understand full-cutoff lighting and other DSAC initiatives.

      2. Laurent and Derek will work with UCF next year to install astronomer-friendly lighting at the new stadium.

      3. Derek is helping to better the lighting design on a new bridge in Belle Isle.


    1. Publicity

      1. No report.


    1. Orlando Science Center

      1. Nothing to report


    1. Board Members at Large

      1. No members have contacted BMALs this month.

      2. Ray asked the BMALs to take over the grant and scholarship programs from him in 2006. The BMAL's agreed to take these activities on.


    1. Observing

      1. New Observing Site

        • The permit for four dates in January and February has been approved for the Ocala observing site. There are certain terms and conditions associated with the permit that all members need to obey while using the site. If all goes well with the first two months then permit will be extended for the remainder of 2006.

      1. The board discussed the shortfall in the monies collected from CFAS members for last year's Astrofest. Those staying in local motel were incorrectly not charged the $5.00 per night observing fee. No exact determination could be made, but around 30 fees were estimated. Ray proposed that CFAS cut a check to Chiefland Astronomy Village in the amount of $150. Tom seconded the motion. The board approved the motion unanimously.

      2. Monthly Observing Plans

        • Tom outlined his plans for the monthly observing plans he'll be generating over the coming months.


      1. Education & Outreach

        1. Lockhart Elementary

          1. February 9th, 2006.

        2. Volucia county event

          1. Wiregrass Prairie Preserve is the location under consideration.

          2. ~25 Miles from Oviedo, last section is ~3/4 mile of dirt road across the prairie.

          3. Star party planned for January 28th. ~30 people

          4. Looking for ~10 people with telescopes.

        1. English estates elementary school event is slated for February, 2006.

          1. Walt will contact them for additional information.

        2. Odyssey Middle School

          1. They've requested an event on a Thursday toward the end of March, 2006.

        3. Derek mentioned that the Night Under the Sky event in Goldsboro will be rescheduled for some time in January.


      1. Harmony Site

        1. Road construction project will probably not start until January.

        2. An alternate site has been identified near the “old” site but the alternate site will eventually be unsuitable for observing.


      1. SCC Star Range

        1. SCC Star Range may be available on February 28th. The gun range participants have priority.

        2. Ray suggested we drop SCC as an observing site and remove it from the website.


    1. Robinson

      1. Operational status

        1. A fuse on the dome control system was blown and replaced.

        2. The astrovid control box is acting erratically.

      2. The NSF rejected the university's proposal to upgrade the telescope but supplied a number of suggestions to improve the proposal for next year.

      3. Visitor night

        1. Will start again January 18th.

        2. Still need a liaison

      4. Training: No training occurred in December.

        1. The training policy should be updated to reflect the new agreement of CFAS training UCF students.

        2. The board discussed a recertification policy for the Robinson observatory. Paul will research and report for the next meeting.


    1. Astrolog Editor

      1. Tom passed around the draft edition for January 2006.

      2. The board discussed reducing the circulation to about 175 from 300. The Astrolog is mainly distributed to SCC, OSC and the Robinson Observatory. It appears that most of the copies are left when the next quarter's edition is delivered. The board agreed with Tom that the circulation should be reduced to 175 copies.


    1. Scientific Committee

      1. Inactive


    1. NASA Night Sky Network

      1. No report


    1. Webmaster

      1. Changing of CFAS.org email addresses

        1. Paul requested the closure of observing@cfas.org and president@cfas.org email addresses and the ISP has confirmed the removal of these accounts. These addresses were disabled primarily due to excessive spam.


  1. Old Business

    1. Paul will email Derek to obtain the current inventory spreadsheet for the library.

    2. Ray requested that board members look at the equipment list for missing items and send missing items to Ray for inclusion in the official inventory.


  1. New Business

    1. Frank Gutowski has expressed interest in becoming the CFAS librarian. The board will request that Frank work with Hunter Jackson to transition librarian duties and report back to the board on his progress. The board will also write a letter of appreciation to Hunter for his services as librarian.

    2. Ray will contact Beeler Gausz about becoming the Robinson liason.

    3. Ray proposed that the board continue the scholarship and grant programs for 2006. Francisco seconded the motion and the board approved the motion unanimously.

    4. The board discussed options on providing power to members at the Ocala observing site. No decision was reached but a number of different options will be investigated.


  1. Motion to Adjourn

    1. Larry motioned to adjourn the meeting, Tom seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm.


/s/ Paul Kronenwetter – CFAS Secretary