Red River Valley Amateur Radio Club

Amateur Radio in and around the Red River Valley Area of Northeast Texas

Home » News » Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting Debrief – March 11, 2023 BOD Meeting

Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting Debrief – March 11, 2023 BOD Meeting

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On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the Club officers met for a Board of Directors (BOD) meeting.  In attendance were:
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Officers in attendance:
Wayne Moore (KC5KOH), President
Mark Johnson (W5PTX), Vice President
Rick Leonhardt (NN7ET) (DDR for George Haneke (NV7Z), Treasurer)
Phillip Beall (W5EBC), Secretary
Kelly Collins (W5KJC), Board Member
Mel Toye (K5KEY), Board Member
Dan Beard (KB7JZI), Board Member
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Also in attendance:
Mike Rice (WB5KWK)
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At that meeting some pretty momentous items were settled and we will pull them out and brief them first:
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  1. Revenue: Lion’s Club fair participation – As a part of the Business Development Proposal there was a cost/benefit analysis done on the Lion’s Club fair part of our revenue process. That analysis showed that at best – at best – the Club realized $1 per hour for every hour of labor expended by our Club members.  That process served to pay for the needs associated with the Atlas site, but the annual toll it took to get that process done was simply deemed to no longer have an adequate return.  Many options were considered, but in the end the BOD opted to sever the relationship.  We all owe Kelly Collins a huge thank you for making the event happen for several years.  It literally paid for our Atlas project.  Recognizing the facts, even Kelly voted with the group to terminate the arrangement.
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  2. Expense: Club hardware insurance policy – The membership directed the board to look into the cost of hardware insurance by motion last year. ARRL insurance is $1.40 per $100 of replacement cost value.  On the low end our Atlas site hardware is valued at greater than $10,000, so insuring it against total loss would be $1,400 per year.  UPDATE: We had a couple of members reach out to us and point out that this number is in error.  The correct figure is $140, so the officers will revisit this item in short order.  We have already reached out to the ARRL hardware insurance plan administrator (Risk Strategies Company) and once we get a couple of things answered reference our Atlas site gear, we will update everyone. – Phillip)  Even though we currently have ample funds to do that, there are other expenses throughout the year where the BOD deemed it imprudent to fully insure it against 100% loss.  Instead, the BOD decided to insure it up to $5,000, which will cost about $700 per year.  Going forward this will be reevaluated periodically.  Further, a review of Club history reveals that we have infrequently had hardware insurance.  A variety of factors influenced this, ranging from cost, to not having much equipment, to having repeater sites located at Club members homes, to us now having more expensive equipment.  While it was less important in the past, it is becoming more important with the cost of replacement gear.  We have added this to our ongoing list of recurring events/items that have to be constantly reviewed.  That list can be seen by clicking here.
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  3. Expense: Mesquite TX HamComm Sponsorship – Club member and ARRL North Texas Section Manager Steven Lott Smith (KG5VK) had briefed the January 28th Club meeting about efforts to secure a HamComm at the Mesquite Rodeo facility in Mesquite, Texas. He is attempting to raise more than $50,000 to pay for the venue, but must secure a $5,000 deposit just to reserve the dates.  In follow up conversations it was determined that another club about our size had donated $500 to the effort.  Steve must raise the $5,000 to secure the weekend date they wish…as their second choice.  Their first choice was taken by another group while they were seeking the $5,000.  After review of the facts the BOD decided that we could not make a contribution to that effort.
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Dues:  During this process there has been no, zero, discussion of raising dues.  To the contrary, there has been brief discussion of lowering dues by $1 so that we could again prorate dues ($24÷12=$2 per month, $36÷12=$3 per month, our current $25/$37 do not divide out equally).  But that has only been discussed in passing.  The larger point is that we are about to embark on a sponsorship program that the officers believe will replace the Lion’s Club fair revenue and then some.

Other items covered and/or briefed at the meeting:

  • Merchandising – Our website will soon have the ability for Club members to go to a “Store” page, see a list of items that are available and then click a link and go make a purchase.
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  • The State of Texas Franchise Tax submission has been accomplished.
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  • The ARRL Club records have been updated to reflect current membership numbers and the ratio of ARRL members in order to keep us within compliance as an affiliated club. The numbers are 45 active members and 29 ARRL members, giving us a 64% membership rate (51% required).
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  • Love Civic Center Pavilion – The Club paid $63 and secured a permit for the Love Civic Center Pavilion for Field Day 2023 (June 24-25).
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  • A 50th Anniversary Press Release for distribution to ARRL and local media has been drafted.
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  • A “Media Contact” page has been started on the site. It is a non-public page that can be used going forward when Club leadership needs to do something like issue a press release.  Local media and ARRL contacts are the ones so far listed.
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  • Eagle Eyed Jerry Keisler (WA5KZA) was looking over our list of recurring “things” and contacted the Club leadership to inquire about hardware insurance. The officers had been formally requested to look into it by a motion passed last year.  The outcome of that review was covered as one of the three bullet points at the first of this briefing.
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  • Club policies, rules that have been adopted throughout the years, rules adopted during the BOD meetings that were conducted since the inception of a BOD leadership structure over the last year; they have been gathered and placed into a Policies Draft 1 document. At only two pages long it is very succinct, but they are for the first time since adaptation of our new Constitution where they have been combined into one working document.  That document will be submitted for review as an agenda item for the next BOD meeting.
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  • A “pass down book” for new officers has been started. This book is intended to help a new officer to know what all functions they are expected to perform, and when.
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  • Broadcastify is live but not yet incorporated into our Club website. Initial discussions have been held with weather radar providers seeking an economical radar feed that could be incorporated into a weather page with Broadcastify so that storm spotters and chasers’ radio broadcasts via our repeater(s) might be listened to while simultaneously a radar could be viewed.  Those efforts will continue.
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  • We were recently requested to help an Extra to get an “official” copy of his license. He was fighting the somewhat difficult FCC website trying to get it.  As a result, we developed a stand-alone web page – How to obtain an official copy of your FCC license – that a person can use with step-by-step instructions for how to get one.
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  • An initial tri-fold slick and glossy pamphlet has been developed. That handout is for use in recruiting sponsors as outlined by the Business Development Proposal.  It will be ready for distribution very soon.  First draft, too wordy and being rewritten, it is available on the Club site with the meeting minutes from the BOD meeting.
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  • An initial tri-fold slick and glossy pamphlet to be used as a handout to newly licensed hams and/or new members joining the Club is being designed.
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  • The “Donate” button on the website is about to be changed to “Contributors” or “Sponsors” and will be reformatted in anticipation of us getting some corporate sponsors, but while also giving individuals the opportunity to make a one time or even ongoing contribution. If anyone – anyone – says that they do not believe that we have the website traffic to leverage into support, tell them the facts are this – We average over five hundred web hits a week.  We are working hard to get our site traffic up because that is what we want to leverage to generate revenue to pay for all the things that we need to pay for and the fun stuff we all want to do.
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  • We have researched and sourced some options for corporate sponsors, things such as decals or plaques with the ability to add subsequent years to it. Examples of how we might do both are in the Business Development Proposal that accompanies the meeting minutes for the March 11th BOD meeting.  These are not just a reward to Club sponsors, but also a recruiting tool seen by persons perhaps unfamiliar with what we do.

This update is a summary.  Please click on this link in order to review the March 11th Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, Secretary Report, Business Development Proposal and first draft flyer to use when recruiting sponsors.