Presidents Update..

Elections will be held for the office of President, Secretary, and one Director’s spot at the September meeting at the Delta Twp Fire Hall. Nominations have been made and a printed Absentee Ballot will be mailed out. Nominations will be opened up at the meeting prior to the vote being taken. Absentee Ballots must be received from paid up dues members no later then Friday September 5th at the PO Box 463148 in Mt. Clemens, MI 48046.

Also at the next meeting we will be voting on a couple of different issues. It has been proposed that TDS’s should be required to be submitted electronically. This motion would be added to the bylaws. Also, any other wording in the current bylaws would be amended to state that TDS’s be submitted electronically. This, of course, means that paper TDS’s will no longer be accepted. This will enable the Database Manager to allocate his time more efficiently. Dave spends many an hour on keeping MARC’s records up to date, without having to enter paper TDS’s as they come in. The other issue will be, as printed in the minutes elsewhere in this newsletter, on how we hold our meetings. We will be bringing to the floor a motion to hold our three Quarterly Meetings electronically, and keep our Annual Meeting physical.

So we do have a lot on our plate for the September meeting.

Remember, TDS’s are due yearly, but can go up to two years. Please help keep your information current in our Database. A note to the Trustee’s - if your repeater is in red italic in our repeater directory, please allow four to eight weeks for your information to be updated from the TDS you send in. Again, Dave tries to keep up with the information that is sent in, but sometimes we do let him take some much needed vacation time.

If anyone has any questions, you can reach the Board via of the website, or my phone number is 586-465-7126.
73,
Dennis, W8DFG
President

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Database Managers Corner:

I’ve been a bit behind in processing renewal TDS forms lately due to vacation and work commitments, but I should be caught up by the end of August. We have a number of TDS forms that are overdue. So take a minute and check your entry in the MARC Repeater Directory to see if it is time to update your records.

Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

Absentee Ballot Information:

An online version of the ballot is available at this link. You may use your browser to view it, and then mail it to the MARC general address:
    MARC Inc.
    P.O. Box 463148
    Mt. Clemens, MI 48046

Please remember in order to participate in the election of officers your dues must be up to date, and your ballot must reach the MARC P.O. Box by no later than Friday September 5th, 2008.
For those people who had formerly selected to receive the newsletter via postal delivery, we will be sending a postcard type ballot out for you to return.

Dan Thompson, N8WKM

MARC Meeting Minutes

Date: June 7, 2008
Place: Hudsonville IRA Hamfest

Officers:

President: Dennis Gaboury, W8DFG
Vice President: Jim Maike, KB8IFE
Secretary: Ann Manor, KT8F
Treasurer: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
Director: Ron Gordon, W8YUC
Director: Jim Kvochick, WB8AZP
Coordinator: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Coordinator: Jim Maike, KB8IFE
Coordinator: Phil Manor, W8IC
Database Manager: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

Absent: Ron Gordon W8YUC

Note: call signs of board members are not repeated in the minutes as they are listed above Except for Jim WB8AZP, and Jim KB8IFE.
Attendees present: Abe, W8HVG
Meeting called to order by the President at: 1:00 PM

Treasurer’s report provided by Dave. Motion to accept the report made by Dan, and 2nd by Phil, motion carried. An audit was completed by Jim, KB8IFE and Jim, WB8AZP for the first 6 months of 2008.

Old business:

Phil discussed resolutions # 6 & 7 under the DOG and made clarifications. Phil proposed some changes for the 440 band plan in Resolution #6. Discussion followed. Phil made a motion that we accept resolution # 6 into the bylaws. Seconded by Dan, vote taken and motion carried. Phil then read and explained resolution 7, which deals with coordination of link and control frequencies. Discussion. Phil proposed that resolution #7 be accepted into the bylaws, seconded by Ann. Vote taken, motion passed.
Resolution # 11: Phil proposed the following changes to #11: the last sentence of the first paragraph should be deleted along with the frequency list and the next paragraph, which dealt with additional frequencies. Discussion followed and it was agreed to also change the word “experimentation” to: “the discretion of the coordinator”, in the next paragraph. Motion made by Phil, supported by Jim, KB8IFE, vote taken, motion carried.

New Business:

Dennis stated that elections will take place in September for President, Secretary, and one Director. The nominating committee will consist of Jim, Jim and Dave. There is a 45-day limit (from today’s date of June 7) for candidates to get their names published in the September newsletter. Contact a member of the nomination committee if you would like to run for an office. Dennis will place an announcement on the website.

Jim, KB8IFE proposed that TDS’s should be required to be submitted electronically. This motion would be added to the bylaws. Also, any other wording in the current bylaws would be amended to state that TDS’s be submitted electronically. The motion will be brought to the membership for a vote in September. Seconded by Jim, WB8AZP. Discussion. Vote taken, motion carried.

Dennis stated a bylaw change is needed:
Under article 6, paragraph B: “that meetings be held quarterly” be deleted. This was included during pre-internet time, and is not required now as meetings can be held electronically. Jim, KB8IFE moved that due to the high cost of travel and other expenses, the annual meeting in September will continue, but the quarterly meetings can be held 3 times a year electronically to attend to business. The general membership can contact the BOD via email with concerns to be addressed at those meetings. Seconded by Phil. Discussion. Vote taken to bring the proposed motion to the general meeting in September to be voted on by the membership for inclusion into the bylaws. Motion carried.

Dennis proposed cleaning up delinquent repeater frequencies from 2005. Repeater trustees that have not filed a TDS since 2005 or older will be sent a notice via certified mail that the coordination will be de-coordinated in 30 days unless a renewal TDS is submitted.

Abe, W8HVG stated that coordination and de-coordination activity performed by the BOD should be made available in the newsletter. This information is currently on the website, but a link will be included in the newsletter to direct the reader to the area.

Motion to adjournthe meeting made by Dan, seconded by Jim WB8AZP to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting closed at 2:12 PM

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F