May 2016 Board Meeting Notes

• The Board approved Vicky’s proposed budget for fiscal year July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017.

• Appx carryover balance: $2340.00

• Income:

• Membership dues—38 memberships $760

• Donations $50

• Total projected income for year: $810

• Expenses:

• Liability insurance in September: $320

• OK SOS Charitable Org Registration March: $15

• Sunfest booth April: $30

• Astronomical League dues June: $200

• Forms printing: $50

• Programs/educational: $100

• Projector: $500

• Projected expenses total: $1245

• Appx. Ending balance June 30, 2017: $1905

• Rick and Abby presented on the proposal for the Bartian Youth Astronomers (The Bartians).

• The group’s slogan will be taken from Star Trek (explore new missions/boldly go where no one has gone before).

• The group wants to encourage lifelong learning, creativity, teaching, team building, and critical and interdisciplinary thinking. The group wants to help grow youth, pass on wisdom and encourage community service. This hopefully will carry over into growh and new energy for the BAS itself.

• They plan to meet on the 3rd Monday of each month.

• The age range for the group will be 7-18.

• Proposed relationship between the BAS and BYA:

• Interactions by BYA members at BAS meetings

• Reporting of BYA events to the BAS

• Presentations by BAS members at the BYA

• Guest teachers at BYA events

• Interactions by BAS members at the BYA

• Mentoring

• Donations to youth group learning program (so far have loaned 2 telescopes; may get more)

• Potential activities of the group:

• New member welcome packet, including a liability form. Any guests mujst sign a liability form also.

• Presentations (3-5 min per meeting)

• Demonstrations

• Workshops

• Field activites

• Learn and Earn

• Take observations in a notebook

• Next meeting June 20

• Financial needs:

• Start up monies

• Donations and fund raising

• Funding for special projects

• A first activity: solar filters for telescopes.

• There was a lot of discussion on this, as this would be an activity that would carry risk of eye damage if not set up or used properly, or if information was passed from one person to another and something got lost in the process. This also carries over into liability should something go wrong. It was also discussed that this might not be best for a very first activity for the BYA members.

• Issues:

• Compliance with disability act N/A

• Still questions about insurance policy/age limitations

• Background checks

• Better meeting location

• Who/how many from the BAS will step up to help?

• The BYA want to have name tags and lanyards. (We discussed the BAS members getting them also.)

• We decided that the BYA will submit their agenda in advance to the BAS.

• Will need to have a BYA coordinator as an officer and a second person from the parents of BYA members.

• Student BAS membership $10.00. Family $30.00. Youth ages 7-12 must join through a BAS family membership. Therefore, a 12 year old that wants to join the BYA /BAS must pay $30.00 ($40.00) while a 13 year old only has to pay $10.00. No discussion on this item.

• By-laws require the BAS secretary to record all meetings for the BAS including the BYA. Must Denise attend all or have an “assistant” that can keep records? No provisions in the By-laws as of now for anyone except Denise (the secretary) to record events.

• There was discussion on this topic. For now, we decided that Denise would not have to attend each meeting and someone else would be appointed to keep notes on the meeting. Also, a lot of the content of their meetings is activity-oriented rather than a business meeting per se. For now decided to have someone keep a minutes/activity log

• Can we have “youth” positions for certain activites? i.e. secretary, meeting leader, event organizer, communications leader, etc.

• [if !supportLists]o [endif]We discussed having someone taking notes on the meetings and we need a BAS youth leader(s). The group will also need parental assistants.

• BAS policies (lack thereof) are in the process of being resolved. A draft set of policies is in the works, about 80% complete and need board members to review, add details, correct details and make decisions. John has reviewed them and asked some great questions that we need to address. How do we want to proceed? See further comments from John and Vicky lower down.

• How do we want to work finances/money? Don’t want to create a bunch of extra work for Vicky.

• We will have to vote on funding/donations. Vicky will handle the finances as of now.

• Can we raise monies at Sunfest for the group through donations and a raffle or two?

• Denise will check with Sunfest—suspect answer is no on both (and it is indeed no).

• How involved do we each want to be with The Bartians?

• Open!! There was discussion at the meeting about not taking too much time away from BAS activities per se, although each group may fuel the other.

• Support having an additional website and Facebook page for youth?

• This was not discussed.

Comments from John right after the meeting:

With the formation of the Bartian Youth Astronomers, it became obvious that the board needs to establish a few clear guidelines about how much oversight BAS will impose on BYA. This could range from a Prime Directive (complete non-intervention) policy, to maximum micromanagement (involvement in and control over every BYA decision), but we should aim for a reasonable middle ground.

BYA's desire for autonomy is understandable. The intent is to foster a group that is self-directed, self-motivated and uninhibited by preconceived limitations. Such a group will likely generate considerable interest and involvement, explore new ways of thinking and doing, and provide valuable knowledge and skills.

However, BAS's concerns about the activities of BYA are valid and legitimate. As a subsection of BAS, BYA takes advantage of the existing resources, reputation and leverage of BAS. Of greatest concern for BAS is the potential safety of all members and participants. It is the responsibility of BAS to do everything reasonable within its power to prevent harm or injury to its members and to the general public attending BAS events. Second to this are the legal concerns. Lawsuits can and do happen. A few years ago, the Astronomy Club of Tulsa was entangled in a multi-year lawsuit. Our insurance policy provides a first line of defense, but is not a guarantee. The club (and even it's officers) could still be targets of indiscriminate lawsuits. For these reasons, the BAS Board's desire to carefully monitor the activities of BYA is fully justified.

It's my opinion that we should strive for a reasonable compromise between the extremes. The board's approval of Bartian Youth Director implies confidence in that individual's judgement, and suggests that we allow considerable autonomy exercising that judgement. On the other hand, if it hasn't already been codified, we should establish that frequent communication about BYA activities and intentions should be provided to the board by the BYA director. In the startup phases, the director should err on the side of more communication, rather than less.

These are just my preliminary thoughts. I encourage others to jump in here with their own opinions.

More comments from John after the meeting:

I know we have a lot on our plate after last nights meeting, but I’d like to add a little more.

I thought Racheeta’s comments about the need for hands-on activities to help members become familiar with new equipment, techniques and procedures was important. Actual out-under-the-might-sky amateur astronomy activities are just as important as indoor meetings. Several at the meeting pointed out the importance of mentoring for new and novice members. But, that really applies to all of us, because we’re all still newbies to some astronomical activities.

It was also pointed out by Steve and Rick, that for the basic fundamentals of telescope use, in the dark is not the best place to start. I whole-heartedly agree. It’s much easier to become familiar with a scope or camera or other equipment with plenty of light, before trying to observe in the dark.

So…, I’d like to suggest that a preliminary step toward additional hands-on, direct experience activities, might be to try a couple of “daylight astronomy” events, not surprisingly, scheduled during the day. A lot can be done just aligning finders on distant cell towers and collimating mirrors on glints from power-line insulators, but why stop there. If these daylight events are scheduled when the Moon is visible during the day, it would provide a very good target for some activities. Furthermore, challenges for finding bright objects, such as Jupiter or Venus, during the day, might be good practice for honing observing skills. (It would be important to make sure there was no risk of accidentally pointing toward the Sun, and I would recommend that we specifically avoid solar observing at these events, until a time when those attending are fully aware of the necessary precautions, and already very adept with their equipment.)

One additional comment. Whenever we observe, each of us wants to set up our own equipment and pursue our own interests. But, for these mentoring events, we need to find a way to encourage a few of our most experienced observers to come “empty-handed”, with no other goal than to help less experienced members improve there equipment and their observing skills.

Comment from Rick:

This is an excellent idea and meshes extremely well with youth group plans. I especially like the daytime star party. This would be a great opportunity to help newer astronomers of all ages and to help develop relationships between youth and adults. Count me in. TCT may be a good location for this...outside if it nice and inside if it is not.

Another comment from John:

At the board meeting last night, the question of funding for BYA by BAS came up.

The by-laws state that:

• disbursements > $200 require approval by both Treasurer and President

• disbursements > $500 require approval by the Board of Directors

• disbursements > $1000 require approval by the general membership

There doesn't appear to be a limitation in the by-laws on who can request expenditures. So, rather than debate whether BAS should fund BYA, I think it should be left to the BYA Director to request the amount needed, with adequate justification and anticipated benefits. The request will then be approved or denied, based on its merits, by the appropriate authority (depending on amount).

These are just my preliminary thoughts. I encourage others to jump in with their own opinions.

More comments from John on the Bylaws: Formation of BYA has revealed several gaps in the existing BAS by-laws that should be addressed.

The by-laws state:

"Amendments may be submitted for consideration by the Board of Directors or by any Active Voting Member accompanied by approving signatures of ten percent (10%) of Active Voting Membership."

Since the BYA Director discovered, and is most familiar with, the by-laws gaps, I think he should submit the appropriate amendments to the Board (with supporting list of voting members). Once this has been done, an open period should be provided to allow members of BAS to submit any additional amendments. This would be followed by approval or rejection by a 2/3 vote of the general membership.

These are just my preliminary thoughts. I encourage others to offer their own opinions.

Comments from Vicky:

The funding of BAS and the records of such funding for expenditures have to be carefully kept. According to IRS Pub 4221-PC (07-2009) "Organization transactions such as contributions, purchases, ...will generate supporting documents. These documents.....sales slips, paid bills, invoices, receipts, deposit slips, and canceled checks - contain information to be recorded in accounting records. It is important to keep these documents because they support the entries in books and the entries on tax and information returns. "

" If an organization does not keep required records, it may not be able to show that it qualifies for tax-exempt status or should be classified as a public charity. Thus, the organization may lose its tax-exempt status or be classified as a private foundation rather than a public charity."

Since the expenditures will be generated from activities and supplies for the youth group I would think BAS will need records, such as minutes or notes, as to how the expenditures were used to further and support our mission statement. I do not think the supporting minutes or notes have to be extensive, but we need a record that said supplies are being used in said ways and the ways would support our 501(c)(3) status.

Since we are a small organization the checkbook and ledger books are what I use to record funding and expenses (with receipts). It was set up long ago and it is nothing complicated at this point.

If this sounds like too much to deal with, maybe something else?