January Newsletter
2016-01-08
Meeting minutes from January 5, 2016.
Meeting called to order at 6:15 PM by J.B. Dansby.
Minutes were accepted as read.
A date of May 28 was accepted for an electric fly-in. Dick Russell will CD the event, and Tony Denton will be the main organizer.
There was discussion of the new FAA UAS registration requirement. See additional notes below.
Dick Russell gave the Treasurer’s report. The annual audit of the club’s financial records was completed by a three member panel and found to be in order. The club members then thanked Nelson Swords for his past 8 years of diligent service as Treasurer, and welcomed Dick Russel as the new Treasurer.
Dick Russel highlighted that the club’s savings have been steadily decreasing over the past few years due to increases in the cost of all maintenance related items. Additionally, it was stated that the club’s savings would be exhausted in approximately three years unless club membership dues were raised to counteract this trend. After some discussion, a proposal was made, and then seconded, to change the membership dues in order to prevent further decline of the club’s finances. The membership dues structure would be changed to include only three classifications. Adult membership (18 yrs. or older) at $75 per year, youth membership (17 yrs. or younger) at $25 per year, and disabled membership at $45 per year. These changes would be made retroactive to January 1, 2016. A motion was made to defer voting on these changes until the February meeting.
There were no safety issues to report.
The grass runway will need to be rolled this spring. The condition of the gravel drive will be discussed at a future meeting.
Additional notes on FAA registration.
AMA has recently sent out information to all of it’s members suggesting that they hold on registering at the present time to give AMA more time to discuss with the FAA. However, it is unclear as to what might change over the next few weeks, if anything, based on these planned additional AMA-FAA discussions. The BSRCC position at this time is twofold. First, if members wish to take advantage of the $5 rebate for early registration, they must register online with the FAA no later than January 20, 2016. Second, unless the FAA changes their current ruling on the matter, which is viewed as unlikely, all modelers must register with the FAA no later than the stated deadline of February 19, 2016 in order to avoid being subject to civil and/or criminal liabilities for flying without having registered with the FAA. Since everyone at the meeting did not seem to be getting all the AMA email distributions on this topic, JB will forward the latest AMA correspondence on this subject to all members and this will contain the information needed for each person to complete their registration online with the FAA. Each person can then make their own decision as to whether they go ahead and register with the FAA right now, or whether they wish to wait until closer to the FAA mandated deadline of February 19, 2016.
Announcements
Morgan will be providing chili and cornbread for the February meeting.