Thank you to all who attended the RAC Indoor meeting on June 23. There was no presentation at this meeting as the Ozfest talk was delayed until August. This was an important business meeting primarily to discuss officer elections and future meetings.

Constitutional Amendment:
A proposed constitutional amendment was discussed, particularly since one of our Co-Chair’s is at his term limit (3 years).

Section 5. Limitations of Office‑Holding. No officer shall simultaneously hold more than one elected office. No member shall be an officer for more than three terms consecutively. Exceptions to the term limit can be approved at a regular meeting by voting eligible members by a two-thirds vote, a quorum voting, on a year by year basis.

More information can be found at http://raleighastro.org/blog/2016/06/24/vote-constitutional-amendment/

Officer Elections
Elections have been deferred until July. At this time, there are 4 officer positions for which a club member has been nominated and seconded:

Co-Chair: John Sadler
Co-Chair: Doug Lively
Co-Chair: OPEN
Secretary: Dave Bruegger
Treasurer: Steve Izzo

The open position may be filled by Chris Cole if the constitutional amendment passes. Nominations are still welcome.

At the July 28 indoor meeting, a vote will be held on the constitutional amendment, followed by a call for additional nominations and then a vote for officer positions. No online voting will be held for officer elections.

Future of RAC Meetings:
There was a lively discussion around meetings. At this point, the club understands that the museum’s Science Thursday have been ceased (speculation is budgetary constraints forced the change). It seems that to continue meeting on Thursday at the museum, we would need to vacate the building (including clean up) by 8:30.

Several options were discussed:
Starting meetings at 6:30 – A possibility, but 7:00 can already be difficult for some.
Moving meetings to Saturday, midday when the museum is open – This received mixed opinions
Piggybacking on “4th Friday” – This may let us meet at our usual time, on Fridays, probably in the Level A conference room (some nickname this “the dungeon”). This also wouldn’t allow our meetings to flip with RACOBS around the new moon schedule.

In general, meetings have changed from what they once were, particularly the social aspects of the club. Meeting attendance also seems to be dwindling. We should take the opportunity to find out what a majority of members (those who would attend meetings) would prefer. The attendees at the meeting were largely favoring moving back to Friday and finding a meeting spot outside the museum. There were a few possibilities with NC State (craft center, centennial campus, Jordan Hall) to look into as well as other suggestions, such as community centers. It may be OK to pay a small room rental fee. Moving away from the museum doesn’t preclude having them museum as an important partner for outreach and educational opportunities.

There was also talk of reinstating informal meetings if RACOBS is cancelled or having rain dates for RACOBS.

Upcoming Outreach
Doug lively is coordinating an event with Governor’s School – EAST at Meredith College. This will be over the archway at the Arts and Sciences building. Good horizons and plenty of power. Main date is July 6. Rain date may be July 11 or 13. Astronomers should arrive at 8:15pm. Event runs 9-10:15pm.

Our annual outreach event in partnership with the Art Museum is August 5. Matt Lochansky is coordinating. Details are forthcoming. This is always a well run event with free beer and typically a favorite of those who attend. If you want to attend as a visitor, the museum has provided a discount coupon code. Ask Matt Lochansky for information.

Financials:
Club is doing well financially and operates in the black year over year. Specifics not included in these minutes. The club did add 4 new members in the past month and now has 125 paid members.

Other:
Doug discussed a little about the astronomy league (question came up since the treasurer announced the annual membership payment. AL not only provides the reflector magazine, but also gives out awards for the many observing programs they run. You get a pin, your name in the reflector, and your name recorded in their registry when you complete an observing list. Some in the club are working towards “master observer” award.

Magazines and books were available due to a donation and Ian Hewitt cleaning things out.

Original Post:
RAC is facing an immediate challenge…a change in time for our regular meetings. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences will no longer be open for use on Thursday evenings. We must be out of the facility by 8:30 PM. This will impact all future meetings as well.

We call upon members to consider options and decide how to adjust to this change. To that end, we encourage a large turnout to discuss the situation and offer input. In addition, the club constitution requires a full slate of candidates for June elections. A number of offices remain unfilled at this time. The current officers are required by the constitution to resolve this short fall.

Because these high priority concerns must be addressed immediately, this month’s scheduled presentation “Ozsky Star Safari in Australia” by RAC members Al Hamrick, Carl Moreschi, Michael Searle and Jim Pressley will be postponed until the August meeting.

The two issues that need to be discussed are lack of interest in filling club leadership positions and reduction of our meeting time.
This shorter time will ultimately affect our ability to have invited speakers and still address club related business issues.

We value the support and opinions of our members and really need you to come out to this meeting and join in the discussion.
This meeting will ultimately affect the direction and future of our club.
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide…including holding office

http://raleighastro.org/events/rac-indoor-meeting-2016-06-23/