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CFAS Monthly Board Meeting Minutes

May 15, 2007

Attendees:

Paul Kronenwetter

Frank Gutowski

Walt Hamler

Tony Urzi

Beeler Gausz

Francisco Gonzales

Alan Hoffberg

Guests:

President's Call to order. Welcoming remarks.

The meeting was called to order at 7:19pm.

Secretary's Report

A request was made for comments and changes to the April board meeting minutes. Francisco made a motion to approve the minutes as distributed by email. Tony Urzi seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.

Treasurer's Report

Walt briefly discussed the treasurer's report. Our membership is somewhat below what we anticipated for this point in the year. Frank motioned to accept the report. Beeler seconded. The treasurer's report was accepted unanimously.

Agenda Items
1. Tom Chitty requested documentation for volunteer time he spends for CFAS.
  1. Paul will investigate what database is available from the hosting company to support web-based record of volunteer time.
  2. Walt will ask Tom Chitty what documentation AMD requires and if it needs to be on paper, or validated by a board member, etc...
2. Dr. Britt expressed his opinion that CFAS should be included in some future operations at the observatory. He'd like CFAS to hold a general meeting there so that he can hold a star party and demonstrate the new telescope. He also encourages research proposals from CFAS members.
3. Dr. Britt apologized for not submitting students for our scholarship last year. He expects the university to be able to submit students for 2007. To accommodate this, CFAS needs to change the program slightly. The board decided to move the award date to the July meeting. Walt will send the nomination package to Dr. Britt.
4. Derek Demeter will be hosting a sidewalk astronomer's event on May 19th at Crane's Roost in Altamonte Springs.

Committee Reports
1. Membership -
  1. New Members for January:
    
    Francisco made a motion to approve the above new members. Frank seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
    1. William Piccolo
    2. David Davies
    3. John Sweeney
    4. Juan Martinez
    5. Ronald Davis
    6. Kurt Knudsen
    7. Liam Collins
    8. Marc Haynes

1. Programs
  1. Barbara Harris will make a presentation at the June meeting entitled “How amateurs can conduct valuable astronomy in variable star observations.”
  2. Tony will make a presentation on the Sun in July.
  3. August's presentation will be SCC's Mars program.
  4. September's presentation will be the NASA Night Sky Black Hole movie.
  5. October will cover the Kepler mission.
  6. November will probably be on Mars covering the opposition in December.

1. DSAC/Library
  1. A group of technical writers at UCF are working on a project related to dark skies.
  2. Derek still hasn't been able to process the pictures taken during their overflight a few months ago.
  3. Derek is also working on a project at the Sanford International Airport to retrofit new lighting with dark sky-friendly shields.

1. Publicity
  1. No new information.

1. Orlando Science Center
  1. No new information.

1. Board Members at Large
  1. No new information

1. Observing
  1. No update provided.

1. Education and Outreach
  1. No update provided.

1. Robinson
  1. No update provided.

1. Astrolog Editor
  1. Beeler brought copies of the last two Astrologs for Tony to hand out during events. Robinson and SCC have been stocked as well.

1. Scientific Committee
  1. No update provided.

1. NASA Night Sky Network
  1. The next NASA Night Sky presentation will be on May 22nd. Dr. Victoria Meadows will present “Searching for Life Beyond Our Solar System.”

1. Webmaster
  1. No update.

Old Business
1. No old business was discussed.

New Business
1. No new business was discussed.

Motion to Adjourn
1. Frank motioned to adjourn the meeting, Beeler seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:14pm.

/s/ Paul Kronenwetter – CFAS Secretary