SEFSD BOD Meeting Minutes for January 2022

Silent Electric Flyers of San Diego Board of Directors Meeting Agenda and Minutes

Date and Meeting Location : Home of Steve Neu, 12 January, 2022

Board Members Present (not Present) (via Zoom) : Chairman of the Board- Jovi, President-Manganelli, Vice President-Nguyen, Secretary, Treasurer, Member at Large-Cox, Member at Large-Kosta, Safety Officer-Neu, Editor-Belknap, Member at Large-Struthers

Called to Order by Manganelli at 7:02 P.M.

Old Business ; 

1. Holiday Banquet : Postponed due to low sales/Covid concerns. Tentative new date is 19 February starting at 6:00 P.M.,  Edgewater Grill. Venue was relieved at our cancellation suggesting they had associated Covid problems as well. BOD Decision :  revisit date at next BOD meeting after analysis of Covid concerns/ticket sales.
2. Membership renewals : # of renewals unknown without treasurer input.  Thanks to George for Badges, they look great! Any badges not claimed at the field by January 16^th will be mailed shortly thereafter.
3. Club Trailer/ Storage vs divest it : Jim Bonnardel graciously stores this for us for $50/month and is paid through the end of the year. Some research on the Internet suggest the trailer has a value of maybe $2,000 to $4,000 and hasn’t been used in some time. The trailer was purchased to store equipment for the “Mid Winter Electrics” and other large events we haven’t done since 2006. It was towed to Muncie in 2010 for the FAI F5B/D World Championships. It contains EZ up tents, folding tables, trash receptacles, extension cords, parking barriers and signs. It formerly had lead acid battery chargers and a gas powered generator all of which I believe are unserviceable/missing. If any large event takes place in the future, use of the trailered equipment creates a great savings in equipment that would otherwise have to be rented. BOD decision : continue storage and table any divest action until September.

Field Condition and Maintenance

1. New Gate Lock Combination Changes : Combination on gate and outhouse will be changed to the number printed on the badges on January 15^th. Actionee Brad Bender (thanks Brad) with instruction to Jovi for the future.
2. Field Surface Improvement. One possible improvement under discussion is application of a 2” to 3” layer of decomposed granite and compacting it to a smooth and airplane friendly surface. In past discussions, costs were prohibitive but further investigation when construction tempo “cooled” was intended. Larry Costa volunteered to investigate.

Report on Immediate Past Month’s Events

1. T-28 Racing. Date 12-11-2021 & 1-8-2022. There were 8/10 participants in the last (2) races. December’s race featured a spectacular mid-air between Alex and Steve N. and January’s race inexplicably had no cuts! Thanks to Steve Neu for dipping into his Neutronics goodie warehouse for the prize raffle.
2. NA
3. Club Members Meeting, Funfly Event. NA

Schedule of Upcoming  Month’s Events

1. T-28 Racing. Occurred before BOD meeting, next event February 5^th.
2. January 15, but cancelled due to rain, CD : Struthers (Mr. and Mrs.)
3. Club Members Meeting and Funfly/Hot Dog BBQ. January 22^nd., CD : Bonnardel, BBQ Lead : Mark Davis.  Event Type : Spot Landing

New Business

1. To seek (or not seek) AMA help to raise our altitude limit. Apparently other clubs in Southern CA have obtained flying altitude limits of 400 ft and higher via the resources of the AMA. Some of those clubs are in similar proximity to airports as we are to Lindberg. BOD Decision : Conduct preliminary investigate only through AMA and report to BOD, Action : Manganelli
2. Banquet expense as compared to membership dues. Assuming the banquet sells out at 125 persons and tickets are purchased in pairs for $40 by each attending member (i.e. one member and one spouse), the Banquet has an additional value of approximately $137 per member. Is this a prudent ongoing use of resources? This year, the expense is an amalgamation of the last (2) years of resources but maybe in the future find a less expensive caterer, set a lower cap on prize values and a higher participant price (maybe an even higher spouse price?). I checked with Phils BBQ; using there “Event Center” in the same parking lot as their Sports Arena location, the fee for 125 diners will be ~ $5,400. The discussion also evolved into increasing dues for account for inflation (not just for a banquet) BOD Decision : Dues will not increase this year; club finances will be revisited toward the end of the year to determine a prudent banquet expense for 2023 and possible dues increase for 2023.
3. New T-28 Medals . Medals can be had with a Custom Logo reminiscent of our T-28 racing and SEFSD. Frank Sutton is designing something very cool for us. The greatest price break is for >60 medals which would allow us to buy 2 years worth (33 for the remainder of this year and 36 for next year) for about $350 and we own the artwork for future medals. If we buy just the rest of this year, we pay $45 for the artwork (still own it) and cost $329.66 due to 62% higher unit cost. BOD Decision : Buy economic order quantity of medals with a more generic design for multiple competitions. Action : Manganelli
4. A New Treasurer is needed! Our immediate past Treasurer, Quan Nguyen graciously stepped up as interim Treasurer.  Please contact any BOD member if you can be of service to your club as Treasurer! We need you!

Treasurers Report

1. Starting Balance (at the beginning of December) : Unk.
2. Income from the Past month (December) Aggregated : Unk.
3. Expenses for the Month (December) Itemized : Unk.
4. Ending Balance (as of December 31) [removed]

Next Months BOD Meeting(s) : 6:30, February 2^nd, home of Steve Neu,

                                                6:30. March 2^nd, Location TBD

Adjourned  : 8:05 P.M.

Minutes Submitted By :  Manganelli, 1-15-2022.