The BARS Board met at Bertucci’s in Chelmsford on Wednesday March 18.
Attending the meeting were:
Mike, K1TWF BARS President
Tom, K1TW BARS VP
Peter, N1ALO Board Member
Andy, KA1GTT BARS Member
The following items were discussed:
1. Filling the open Board seat
At the BARS March meeting a request was made for volunteers to fill the open Board seat. Erik, KE1V and Andy, KA1GTT volunteered following the meeting. The BARS constitution provides for the President to appoint a member to fill an open seat. Erik, KE1V subsequently gave his support to Andy to fill the seat. Mike, K1TWF has therefore appointed Andy Wallace, KA1GTT to fill the open seat. Per the constitution, we will ask for confirmation of the appointment at the April meeting.
2. Field Day
Field Day weekend is June 27-28 and BARS is looking for someone to be Field Day Chair for 2015. We would like to have this decision made as soon as possible. An email to Mike K1TWF or Tom K1TW will let us know of your interest.
3. Implementing Dues in September
BARS will begin to implement a $10 annual dues in September. There will be no hard deadlines for payment. The dues are to help offset meeting costs and give us a clearer picture of our membership. Everyone will continue to be welcome to attend BARS meeting and activities.
4. Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr
Gary, W1GFF raised the idea in an email to a Board member about establishing a BARS Facebook page, or using Twitter and Tumblr. The Board discussed the need and benefits associated with doing this. Currently our primary communication mechanism is the web page and our email reflector. The web page is kept up to date and most members are already aware of it. The BARS web page is also easily found on the ARRL affiliated club pages. The reflector needs attention but we hope to solve that soon. We currently are not producing a monthly newsletter and rely on the web site and reflector to distribute news. BARS does not generate a lot of other content which the Board considered to be an important consideration before establishing new mechanisms. The Board can always revisit this based on further member input.
5. Meeting Dates
The March 4th member meeting decided to continue meeting at St. Michael’s Parish Center in Bedford. Tom, K1TW, informed the Board that the following meetings dates have been confirmed by the church for BARS:
– April 1,
– May 6,
– June 3.
No meetings are planned at the church in July and August.
6. Social activities
BARS is a friendly club that is very welcoming to newcomers. To further enhance that aspect of BARS, the Board considered additional ways to enhance members experience, and maintain this friendly welcoming atmosphere. The following suggestions were made including:
– refreshments at Bedford meetings to include coffee, soda, donuts, etc. whenever possible. This of course requires members to bring these. Several Board members will provide refreshments in April and volunteers for future meetings will be appreciated as well.
– With more meeting time available at the church (until 9:30), we will add a 10-20 minute refreshment break so members have time to talk informally with each other.
– explore a pre-meeting social get together at a nearby local restaurant on meeting night starting around 6 PM. The Board is considering some local options. More on this as it develops.
7. NearFest
BARS has a fairly large presence at NearFest. One member benefit is you can bring your stuff to NearFest and combine it with other members stuff for sale. And Bars usually has a nice Pot Luck dinner there too. Details will be forthcoming at our April meeting.
As there was no other business, the meeting was adjourned.
