The Executive Committee of the CRES Amateur Radio Club held its first meeting of the year at the home of President Bill Erwin/N9CX on Thursday, 15 Jan 2009. Present were Secretary Rob Stampfli/KD8WK, Treasurer Bob Cartwright/W3CRZ, VE-Liaison Art Grandle/KD8ZG**, Trustee Dave Woolf/K8RSP**, and Bill. The meeting was called to order at 7:08 PM. (** Technically, these positions have not yet been officially reappointed for 2009.) First order: Discussion of objectives for the year. General consensus was that the club exists in order to allow hams and electronic experimenters to get together to collaborate, educate themselves, and socialize. In that sense, we seem to be doing a reasonable job as a club. The committee decided not to pursue any new strategies during the upcoming year, but rather to continue to perfect and refine the things we are already doing. Bob suggested offering a year's free membership to anyone obtaining a license or upgrading at one of the Club's VE exam sessions. This suggestion was positively received, although it was noted we need to iron out the details, such as whether it should apply only to new members. This topic was tabled, to be discussed with the general membership at our next meeting. Other suggestions: (1) Solicit a list of areas of expertise from the membership and put the results on our website. (2) Assign an "elmer" or point of contact for each new member so that if they have a problem they have someone they know is willing to be approached and who will help or redirect them. Dave filled out the paperwork for this year's W8ZPF OARC renewal and gave it to Bob to write a check and mail back to the OARC. Bill suggested all Excomm members mail their unavailability dates to Bob Kenyon, our VP, to be used in scheduling meetings. While Bob would not be bound to pick a date that everyone on the Excomm could attend, the expectation is that he would take this data into account and avoid dates that would result in several absences. [ An afterthought not discussed at tonight's meeting: We should also ask Bob Kenyon to notify us of the meeting dates as soon as they are scheduled. Had I known about the December meeting when the meeting room was reserved, I could have arranged to attend it. However, the date was not publicly announced until two months later, and by that point I was committed elsewhere. ] The Excomm agreed that we should attempt to hold a CRES-ARC lunch get-together on the months in which we do not hold a general meeting. We will solicit six members to each take a month and coordinate one of these lunches. The Excomm agreed that the club should volunteer to be the CQ-WE host location this year, as this is the 50th year of the contest and it largely originated at the behest of Woody DeByle and the Columbus Works, making it an important facet of our Club's history. The Excomm agreed that the club should again participate in the OSPOTA contest. Everyone seemed to enjoy it last year. Still to be decided is whether we will hold it at last year's location or choose another park and/or location. The Excomm discussed several options for Field Day but reached no conclusion. Rob suggested that the Excomm adopt a position for the record as to which officer should be be the second signatory on the Telhio account. Dave, who is currently the backup signatory, had suggested it might be better if it were an elected officer. The Excomm decided that the backup signatory should be the President who, along with the Treasurer, would have access to the Telhio account. The body also felt that this should be formally written into the Constitution at the next point the document is revised. Bill reviewed the responses he received from the survey he had solicited from the membership earlier. Although the response to the survey was light, it was generally positive. Rob indicated that he will need to have a mini audit committee sign off on the books so that he can close his tenure as Treasurer. He has also never received an official report from the audit conducted last month, which audited the books through the end of November. Bill agreed to step in to ensure a signed report from the December audit was issued and a copy delivered to Rob, and Bob Cartwright looked over the December ledger at the meeting, judged it to be complete and correct, and agreed to provide Rob with a signed statement to that effect before he leaves for Florida at the end of the month. This was satisfactory to Rob, who then officially turned the books over to Bob. Bob Cartwright, Bill, Dave, and Rob will meet at Telhio next week to change the signatories on the account. The meeting was adjourned at 8:39. Respectfully submitted, Rob Stampfli CRES-ARC Secretary