FEBRUARY 1999 MEETING MINUTES
By Rick Magnuson

President Ron Gibby called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM with 16 present, including new member Michael Faith.

Ron thanked outgoing officers Lyle Laughery and Jerry Wallis for their valuable contributions to the Club last year. New officers Paul Beebe and Rick Magnuson were welcomed.

The January minutes were approved as published in The Leading Edge. Clee Childress gave the Treasurer’s report. The Club is in good financial shape. It was mentioned, and with gratitude, that Roger Grouell has generously donated money to the Club over the past years.

Old Business

Ron thanked Bill Greger, Larry Mitchell and Ron McMahan for putting on another great Polar Bear fun fly on New Year’s Day. Ron also thanked Larry Mitchell for heading up the Club’s display at Puyallup. Larry reported that the radio raffle resulted in a profit of $235.67.

The ORV storage shed will be started when weather permits. Bill Greger will arrange for the concrete pad.

Ron reminded all that dues are due and that the combination locks will change next month. Bill Peterson will be updating the frequency chart at that time as well.

New Business

The idea of an audit of the Club’s financial records was discussed. A motion by Bill Peterson , seconded by Paul Beebe, was passed for an annual random audit to be performed. Rick Magnuson was appointed to conduct the audit.

A reminder that CDs should be applying for event sanctions: John Hanson has received the biplane sanction and Bill Greger has sent in the fun fly sanction some time ago but has yet to receive the sanction.

President Ron has had contact with officials at HAMMER about R/C activities. The officials will give a half hour presentation at the March meeting about what their educational program is about. Bill Greger is also setting up an educational program with a tech teacher in Richland.

Terry Hane gave a report on the ORV field. Both lawn mowers are in very good condition which Terry attributes to members following the mower instructions. There is some wind erosion around the parking area/main entrance. After some discussion, a Bill Peterson motion, seconded by Jerry Wallis, was passed to purchase a load of gravel and railroad ties to remedy the erosion. The last sprinkler has been replaced; all sprinklers are now Club owned. Larry Mitchell is trying to obtain some Plexiglas for use on the frequency/bulletin board.

Ron begin a discussion on a proposal of new member types. The outcome:

Motion made by Clee Childress, seconded by Paul Beebe, was passed to create a Senior member. Eligibility is that the member must be at least 65 years of age during the year. Current dues for Senior would be $35 per year.

Motion made by Gary Jones, seconded by Jerry Wallis, was passed to create an Emeritus member. This is a non-flying membership for members in good standing who wish to continue in Club activities. Eligibility is five or more years regular membership and minimum age 60, or approval by the President. There are no dues for Emeritus.

Also passed was, for consideration of time and effort, the elimination of dues for the President (beginning in 2000), Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor. The Club’s Web Master was removed from consideration at his request.

Items 1 and 2 above require By-law changes. The needed changes will be published in the March edition of The Leading Edge and voted on at the March meeting.

Rob Opgenorth passed around a cute airplane style thank you card from the Girl Scouts thanking the Club for the Scouts’ day at the field.

Bill Bowen pointed out that there are no 53MHz frequency pins at the ORV site. Bill Greger offered to provide them.

Bill Bowen said that the KID is disposing of assets that are financially unproductive. This means that it is only a manner of time before the Finley field is gone. Bill’s concern is the potential liability of removing the asphalt, which is considered a hazard waste. It is believed, and Bill will investigate and verify, that if the Club abandons the Finley field there would be no liability to remove the asphalt. It was decided to continue AMA insurance coverage on the Finley field for at least this year.

Bill Bowen will show a video at the April meeting, about a plane crash in which the pilot controlled the plane with only throttles (all flight control surfaces were out of commission).

Rob Opgenorth gave a show’n tell on the Tequila Sunrise. Rob plans to use this ARF in the upcoming combat and pylon racing events. Some other Club members are also using this plane. Bill Greger would be able to order the plane at an attractive price. Rules, or lack of rules was briefly discussed. The only rule thus far is any plane with a 25 size engine. Terry Hane said that he would love to fly combat with his Laser!!

President Ron talked about field safety and the need to position the prop away from spectators and other pilots. Terry Hane also mentioned that the Tru-Turn safety nut prevents the prop from coming off the shaft.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.