Executive Council Meeting
January 8, 2018 Ontario CA Unofficial
- Introductions
- President's Report
- Chief Financial Officer's Report
- Executive Director's Report
- Executive Vice President's Report
- NAA Report
- Committee Reports
1. Opening Business
a. In attendance: President Rich Hanson, Scottsdale, AZ; Executive Vice President Randy Cameron, Springfield, MO; Chief Financial Officer Keith Sessions, Burlington, KY; District Vice Presidents: I-Andy Argenio, Smithfield, RI; III-Mark Radcliff, St. Marys, WV; IV-Jay Marsh, High Point, NC; V-Robert Brogdon, Powder Springs, GA; VI-Gary Himes, Kansas City, MO; VIII-Lawrence Harville, Hurst, TX; IX-Jim Tiller, Custer, SD; X-Lawrence Tougas, Fairfield, CA; XI-Bryan Wood, Meridian, ID; NAA President-Greg Principato, Washington, D.C.
Others in attendance: AMA Legal Counsel Felix Gora, Rendigs, Fry, Kiely & Dennis; Joyce Hager, Staff Director; Tony Stillman, Flying Site Director; Ilona Maine, Safety Members Benefits; Mandee Mikulski, AMA Foundation; Steve Brehm, AVP District I; C. Bower, AVP District XI.
Attending via telephone: Dave Mathewson, Executive Director; Eric Williams, VP District II; and Tim Jesky, VP District VII.
b. Final Flight recognition (Appendix I): Several names were added to the list and a moment of silence was observed.
2. Consent Agenda (Appendix II)
It was approved by consensus to approve the Minutes of the October 28-29, 2017, Executive Council meeting.
The following votes were read into the minutes:
Mail vote – November 8, 2017: The motion on the floor is made by Bob Brogdon, seconded by Mark Radcliff, to revise Article VI of the AMA Bylaws to read: "The Executive Council shall set dues for all types of AMA membership. Member’s dues must be current in order to exercise the right to vote or receive any of the privileges and benefits of AMA membership."
Motion passed unanimously.
Mail vote—December 9, 2017: L. Tougas is asking to award a Distinguished Service Award to Mark Wood for his 15 years of service managing the Expo flight demonstration area.
Motion passed unanimously.
Change to the agenda: A late agenda item concerning nominating procedures was presented, but due to the timing it was referred back to an Ad Hoc committee of the entire council to review. Randy Cameron was appointed chairman.
3. President’s Report (R. Hanson)
Has spent most of his time with Government Relations issues. Attend the AAAE conference in Los Angeles where he was part of a panel for developing the integration of UAS in local communities; finish the work of ARC—report was published but was inconclusive. Lots of discussion on ID tracking, which has to do with the capability of getting a drone from one point to another without pilot input. About half the committee agreed that it didn’t need to be used for hobbyists, but about half felt it should apply to all. Many felt that there is a need for greater control. Rich was requested to write something for part 101. They chose not to include it in the finished product, but he was still able to include it in the comment section. Still lots of discussion regarding section 336, community-based organizations (CBOs), and recreational versus commercial use of drones.
4. Chief Financial Officer's Report (K. Sessions)
November financials are in Dropbox with December to follow shortly. Reminder to get expense reports in. We are at 95% of our projected income and expenses are at 89%. Many questions on how the new tax laws will affect donations, AMA, officers, etc. Should have little effect. Brady Ware (AMA’s auditor) is looking into how the new tax laws will affect the AMA Foundation and its supported AMA programs. 2018 is projected to be another good year for the economy and discretionary spending which is good for the organization.
5. Executive Director’s Report (D. Mathewson)
AMA continues to receive royalties from the Best Buy Program. Orientation on December 7, 8, 2017 was attended by Gary Fitch and Randy Cameron. AMS/CMS still on target, very consuming process for the employees, but project is on track. IT Director search should be completed soon. Positive feedback on relocation of the AMA Expo West, good parking, transportation, large enough to do other demos and flying. Rich reported that attendance appeared to be down, but felt the announcement of moving to a new venue was well received.
6. Executive Vice President's Report (R. Cameron)
R. Cameron is the new EVP. He will assume the duties that G. Fitch handled in the past. He has updated the current committee lists and will be assisting Rich.
7. NAA Report (Greg Principato)
- FAI sporting licenses are now free for youth members; must be submitted through AMA and needs to be publicized through AMA.
- NAA will be using this process as a test to see if it will be offered to other organizations.
- No increase in dues this year for AMA.
- Records setting: Few bumps in the road this year, Art Greenfield will be addressing this with AMA in the near future; there are specific processes that AMA must follow prior to sending record applications to NAA.
- Bob Brown was awarded the FAI Aeromodeling gold medal.
- Bob Brown presented the Brewer trophy to a member of the University of Maryland; NAA likes using past recipients to present this award.
- World Games: Managed by the International Olympic Committee for sports that are not Olympic sports—held on the off year of the Olympics. Next one to be held in Birmingham, AL in 2021
- Possible three air sports to be included, will be in touch with the other Sport Groups but wanted to know if AMA was interested. Consensus is that it is something we should be involved in.
- One suggestion was FPV (not sure if for indoor or outdoor); Indoor Aerobatic flying to music to entertain the crowd. Rich expressed concern with the FPV groups, FAI needs to stay within “our” group for this event and not introduce another entity.
- NAA to host another Air Sport meeting in 2018.
- R. Hanson was named to the NAA Executive Committee.
Lunch: Mandee Mikulski (secretary of the AMA Foundation) presented four candidates to be placed on the Foundation board: Summary of their qualifications attached. Dean Palermo, Paul Frankum, Rusty Kennedy, and Terry Fleener are the candidates. Still looking to complete the Board with 10 members. Dan Botts is the current Chairman; Rich is a member of the board with Mandee Mikulski.
Moved by Rich to accept the new Foundation Board Members as presented.
Motion passed unanimously.
8. Committee Reports
a. Safety Committee: (Appendix III) (C. Bower) The Safety Committee reviewed all AMA documents that refer to safety and/or procedure that would make an event safer. The Committee came to the conclusion to reduce the size of the “safety code” with only applicable items and put all other safety-related information into a Safety Handbook. With that in mind the Safety Committee presented a shorter version of the Safety Code along with the other pertinent safety documents in the new proposed Safety Handbook, noting that the handbook is a work in progress and items can be added and changed easily--in one place.
Motion I: Moved by J. Tiller (IX), seconded by M. Radcliff (III), to accept the Safety code as presented by the Safety Committee and the concept of the safety handbook.
Motion passed unanimously.
b. FAI Committee Report (T. Jesky) T. Jesky was sorry that he couldn’t attend the meeting in person. Attended the F3A World Championships in Argentina. Weather was not so good for flying, but the US team won first place; reigning Junior world champ Joseph Szczur, hung on to his title winning gold medal; Jason Shulman bronze; Andrew Jesky fourth; Joseph Szczur placed 8th overall (with adults); Al Glenn placed ninth. All and all a great contest for the US team, as the US took team gold.
While in Argentina, Jesky talked with Bruno Delor, FAI VP, concerning the F3U world championships and found out that China was awarded this event. Wanted to know if AMA was going to send a team. Since then Tim has been in contact with MultiGP, our SIG, to see if it was interested in sending a team and setting up a team selection program for F3U. Tim indicated that MultiGP had interest so he put them in contact with Colleen Pierce, but as he understands nothing has happened yet. The F3A Worlds for 2019 to Italy suggested that the USA put in an early bid for hosting the 2021 F3A worlds. Rich reminded the EC that this past April, Council had approved supporting a bid for 2019 so he asked if they felt the same way for 2021. It was approved to go forward. Bid must be in 90 to 120 days prior to the April meeting
c. Education Committee Report (J. Tiller) J. Tiller said the TAG grant program has been updated and now available online. He is really excited about the new Alpha plane design which is part of the AMA STEM program that will be used to encourage youth involvement in model airplanes. The next step will be the BETA version, which will be used for competition and is currently in the development stage. Plans have been sent out for bid and should become available in about 6 months. C. Bowers is very involved. Next will be an intro for Control Line and then one for RC. All of these will be useful tools for clubs and schools. Tiller encourages all to get involved with their local schools in using the new Alpha. Starting on January 18, for one month via the website, AMA will be running a postal contest, open to all youth AMA members. Council is encouraged to reach out to schools to use the Alpha
d. Bylaws (appendix 5) (A. Argenio) A. Argenio (I) presented the following as his report the AMA Bylaw PowerPoint presentation for the entire 2017 year is attached.
- The error in the proposed Article VI amendment and its correction.
- The results of the LM ballot votes.
- LM revision requests concerning Article III.
- Gender neutrality correction in Article X.
- All Bylaws changes were approved and will be updated.
Discussion included how to address gender neutrality; how it is different in different states; question should we change the wording under Article III referring to flying of model aircraft, does it restrict our membership growth. Lots of different opinions. No further action was taken.
e. Leader Member Committee (J. Marsh) J. Marsh presented his idea of requiring chartered clubs to have at least one Leader Member per club. Jay gave history on the roles that Leader Members have assisted with in the past and where we are today. He felt that if clubs had at least one Leader Member, this person would be required to speak at every club meeting with at least one important topic, this is with the hopes of having better communication on the club level. Many questions were asked; some were not in favor of “requiring” clubs to have this, other questions were how does a club handle it if they have more than one Leader Member or if there were not enough people in an area to get a person to become a Leader Member.
Motion II: Moved by J. Marsh (IV), seconded by A. Argenio (I), that in 2019, all chartered clubs will be required to have at least one Leader Member on their club roster.
Motion III: Moved by E. Williams (II), seconded by M. Radcliff (III), to refer the current motion back to the committee to address issues brought up during the Executive Council Meeting.
Motion passed: 11 yes; 2 abstentions.
f. Ad Hoc – Development of the Aeromodeling Center (appendix V) (J. Tiller) J. Tiller did a brainstorming vision for the education center at the IAC. He looked at the vision for the “Academy,” that it should not be limited to an educational facility, use the structure as the vessel for housing the programs, equipment needs for it, etc. It would need to operate existing programs and yet be ready to handle new programs going forward and staffing. Need to look at how to gain revenue, e.g. fundraising, renting the facility out to other organizations are only a few ways.
g. Government Relations ( appendix IV) (C. Budreau) Chad Budreau presented the Council with a summary of advocacy and legislative efforts that have been made on behalf of the AMA to promote, protect, and preserve model aviation.
- Local advocacy is up.
- AMA has a seat in Washington, D.C.
- Some restrictions to 336 have been removed.
- Media outreach is on the rise.
- 336 remains in place.
2017 has been a very busy year and 2018 is expected to be the same, if not busier. Continued effort working on behalf of the modelers.
9. Executive Session
Motion: Moved by L. Harville (VIII) seconded by B. Wood (XI) to have Gary Himes complete the District VI VP term (1 year) vacated by Randy Cameron.
Motion passed unanimously (of those present, absent was NAA).
Motion: Moved to approve Mark Radcliff as the chairman of the Nominating Committee.
Motion passed unanimously.
10. Awards
Next Meeting
April 21-22, 2018 Muncie IN
The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.