Michigan Amatuer Repeater Council

September 2011 Newsletter

Welcome to the MARC Newsletter a publication of the Michigan Area Repeater Council. This news letter is published quarterly in conjunction with the quarterly business meetings. If you prefer a non-columnized version of this newsletter click here for the wide version.

Please notice the September meeting is a physical meeting.
 

Presidents Update:

The annual meeting for MARC will be held on September 17, 2011 at 1:00 PM. The location is the Delta Township Fire Department at 811 N. Canal Rd, Lansing Michigan. Additional directions are located in this newsletter. MARC will be holding elections at the September meeting. The elective offices are: Vice President, Treasurer, and one board member. You may run for office if you are a MARC member at least one day before the meeting.

A recent new Bylaw change provides for the following: the sponsor of a coordinated repeater may choose another licensed amateur, or amateur radio entity (such as an incorporated club) to maintain the coordination. This provision will allow a second sponsor to continue a repeater’s coordination upon the death or incapacitation of the sponsor.

Please remember to add your backup sponsor, if you have one, to your next renewal TDS. If there is no second sponsor, the coordination will be dissolved and the frequency will be returned to the pool upon the death of a sponsor. (The sponsor holds the coordination, not the equipment owner or the trustee).

MARC is not too far behind on coordinations at this time. If you have submitted a request and have not heard from MARC in over 30 days, please send an email to me and I will look into your application. w8ic@miarc.com So far, the digital repeaters seem to be working well using splinter frequencies. If you have any comments, good or bad, on the digital coordination efforts please send them to MARC at mail@miarc.com.

73, Phil, W8IC
President


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Database Manager's Corner

We have a number of TDS submissions that are overdue. In fact, over 23% of the repeaters in our database have not been updated in two or more year’s. 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


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Meeting Location:

Saturday Sept 17 2011
1:00 pm EDT
Delta Township Fire Station
811 N. Canal Rd.
Lansing, MI


Location Map

Directions:

Take I-96 to M-43 exit 93, go East to the first traffic light at Canal Rd. Turn left (North) on Canal Rd, go 150' to Administration Dr turn left (West), the new fire station will be on your right. Take the first driveway on the right to the West parking lot. Enter the building at the South entrance on Administration Dr.

Please note, on a recent trip through the area, there was construction at the intersection of M-43 and I-96. I do not know the current state of that project. Please be prepared to take an alternate route.


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Treasurer's Report
For the Period: 5/31/11 to 07/31/11

MARC Funds balance on 7/31/2011 was $ 4,161.01
Total income for June & July was $2.07 from interest.
Expenses for June & July were $158.70 for a 1.5TB Backup Hard Drive.

Respectfully Submitted,
Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
MARC Treasurer

Supporting Detail

MARC Funds as of 05/31/2011

   Share Acct
   Money Market
   Checking
   Outstanding Checks
   Beginning Balance

Income
   Interest June
   Interest July

Total Income

Expenses
   1.5TB Backup Drive

Total Expenses

Marc Funds as of 07/31/2011

   Share Acct
   Money Market
   Checking

Ending Balance
$5.00
$4,192.65
$119.99

$4,317.64


$1.02
$1.05

$2.07


$158.70

$158.70



$5.00
$4,036.02
$119.99

$4,161.01
 

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MARC Has A New Mailing Address

With the passing of Dennis, the P.O. Box that MARC has maintained in Mt. Clemens is no longer a good choice. The new address for USPS delivery is:

Michigan Area Repeater Council
2266 E Vermontville Hwy
Charlotte, MI 48813-8705

MARC Meeting Minutes

Date: June 4, 2011
This meeting took place using electronic communications.

Officers:

President: Phil Manor, W8IC
Vice President: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Secretary: Ann Manor, KT8F
Treasurer: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB
Director: Fred Moses, W8FSM*
Director: Jim Kvochick, WB8AZP
Coordinator: Dan Thompson, N8WKM
Coordinator: Phil Manor, W8IC
Coordinator: Dennis Gaboury, W8DFG
Coordinator: Fred Moses, W8FSM*
Database Manager: Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

Absent: Fred Moses, Dave Johnson
Visitors: Mike, N7LMJ

Note: call signs of board members are not repeated in the minutes as they are listed above.

Meeting called to order by Phil at: 1:01 pm.

Motion to approve minutes from the March 5, 2011 meeting was made by Jim. Second by Ann. Corrections to the March minutes as follows: Date at the top should read March 5, 2011 not Dec 4, 2010, and In parenthesis remove (as written in the December newsletter) and insert (as emailed to the board members for the period 11/30/2010 to 1/31/2011).
Vote taken to approve the minutes as corrected. Motion passed.
Note: the report 11/30/2010 to 1 /31/2011 is also contained in the March 2011 newsletter.>
Treasurer’s report: Dave was absent for this meeting but did provide his report that covers 2/28/2011 to 4/30/2011. This report in published in the June newsletter. Motion to accept the treasurer’s report by Dan, 2nd by Jim. Motion passed.
Dave also provided a written report for 4/30/2011 to 5/31/2011. Phil read this report to the board. Motion to accept the report made by Jim, supported by Ann, vote taken, motion carried.
Dave also sent all the financial records for the last 6 months for an audit. The audit was performed by Jim and Dan and was found to be correct.


Old business:

Motion by Dan to approve the cost overrun of $69.19 for the new MARC computer. 2nd by Jim. Discussion. Motion passed.

New Business:

Dan asked if Phil would be willing to continue in the role of president until the next election. Phil agreed.
Ann was appointed to the election committee.
Nominations were opened by Ann for the September election for the offices of VP, treasurer and one director. Ann nominated Dan for VP and he accepted. Dan nominated Dave for treasurer. (Info: Dave sent an email following the meeting stating that he would accept the nomination). Dan nominated Jim for director, and Jim accepted. Request made for any other candidates wishing to run at this time for these offices – there were none. Nominations closed, to be reopened at the September meeting. Dan will send out absentee ballots in August.
Please submit your intent to run for office by August 1st in order to be placed on the ballot. The deadline for the receipt of any absentee ballots is the Friday before the September meeting (September 16th). The cost to print and mail the ballots is approximately $70.00 and Dan will handle the job.
MARC PO box to be changed on the new ballots.

Jim made a motion that Dave can look to purchase a new back-up drive for the MARC files, this is to be capped at $200.00. Seconded by Dan. Discussion: Motion passed. Note: Dan stated he would be willing to assist Dave with this project. Dan made a motion to have Dave buy the updated Ask Sam 7 program for about $90, supported by Jim. Discussion, vote taken, motion passed.

Phil brought up an issue that would involve a minor bylaws change. Dennis was president for many years and was the resident agent for the state of Michigan. When Dennis became a silent key, Dave took care of updating all the MARC incorporation papers and is now acting as the resident agent. This seems to be the best situation as Dave has all the records of membership and dues. As treasurer he is able to act as agent. The MARC Bylaws in Article III, part B, Section 3: Secretary, state that the secretary will be the resident agent for MARC.

Dan made a motion to change the bylaws to the following: Article III, part B, Section 3: Secretary. The secretary shall maintain accurate records of the events of each meeting of the MARC, and perform such other duties as are customarily associated with the title of Secretary. The Secretary shall also be responsible as resident agent with the state of Michigan, and shall either act as that agent or be responsible to see that another person shall be appointed by vote of the board to become resident agent with the state of Michigan.
2nd by Jim. Discussion. Vote taken. Motion approved.

As this is a bylaw change, a second vote will be taken in September. These minutes as published in this September newsletter serve as the notification of the proposed bylaw change.

Dave mailed a signature card for the secretary or president to sign so that there is a second person who can sign MARC checks. Discussion. Phil will sign the banking paperwork.

September meeting date has been changed to Saturday September 17 at 1pm at the Delta Twp Firehouse. (The meeting room was not available on September 10th).

Adjornment:

Motion to adjourn made by Dan, seconded by Jim, motion carried. Meeting closed at 1:54 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F, Recording Secretary



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Annual Business Meeting And Elections:

This is a reminder that the September meeting will be a physical meeting to take place in Delta Township (Lansing Area) where annual elections will be held. If you have nominations for open positions please email Ann Manor KT8F using her_callsign@miarc.com. Nominations will remain open until just prior to voting.

Offices that will be open for election this year are:
  Vice President: **Currently Dan N8WKM
  Director: Currently Jim K. WB8AZP
  Treasurer: Currently Dave WD8DJB


A printable version of the 2011 Ballot is available to print and mail.

**The office of Vice President was filled by appointment at this time due to the loss of President Dennis Gaboury. According to our Bylaws the elected Vice President (Phil Manor) will serve the remainder of the Presidents term and is responsible to appoint a new Vice President.

The rotation of which board members are elected in what years remains the same with the Vice President, One Director and the Treasurer to be elected in odd numbered years, and the President, Secretary and the other director to be elected in even numbered years.

Unless Phil chooses to resign, he will remain MARC president until the office is open for election in 2012.



MARC Officers Appointed Positions
President:               Phil Manor W8IC Frequency Coordinator 902MHz: & up          Dan Thompson N8WKM
Vice President:        Dan Thompson N8WKM Frequency Coordinator 440MHz:                   Fred Moses W8FSM
Secretary:               Ann Manor KT8F Frequency Coordinator Links & Control:       Phil Manor W8IC
Treasurer:              Dave Johnson WD8DJB Database Manager:                                      Dave Johnson WD8DJB
Director:                 Fred Moses W8FSM Newsletter Editor:                                         Dan Thompson N8WKM
Director:                 James Kvochick WB8AZP         

All MARC Officers receive email using their callsign@miarc.com