MASNA BOD Meeting Minutes

Meeting Held Online February 13, 2002

Call to order, 9:10 PM

 Meeting attended by Nancy Swart, Jim McCubbins, Cathy Pollock, John Brandt, Dave Adkins, Mary Middlebrook, Jennifer Myerscough with Eric West’s Proxy going to Dave Adkins

 1.) Nomination of Jenn Myerscough as Secretary

            Motion to nominate Jennifer Myerscough by Nancy Swart, Seconded by Dave

            Motion Carried.

 2.) Officers' Reports

            President/Web (Nancy Swart)

                        The following actions were taken by email:

 a) Prior to this meeting an email vote was taken to eliminate the current Club Hosting Contract requiring hosting clubs to pay MASNA a fee. Majority in favor - passed.

 b) A vote was also taken by email to retain the services of Brian Koenig as Corporate Counsel. Majority in favor - passed.

 c) Due to MASNA's inability to provide funding and intensive planning assistance for MACNA XIV, MASNA and the Dallas/Ft. Worth Marine Aquarium Society agreed that the current contract be considered null and void.

 d)  It was unanimously agreed that MASNA will send C-SEA a set of MACNA XIII tapes in celebration of their 30th Anniversary.

 e) Dave Sinn was removed as Secretary due to non-participation and failure to produce Minutes since July 2001.

 f) Connie Hannon was removed as Dir. of PR due to insubordination and conflict of interest.

 Vice Pres./Scholarship & Fundraising (Tom Walsh)

            No Report Available.

 Secretary

            No Report Available.

 Treasurer (Carl Huntley)

All refunds have been mailed to those who registered for MACNA XIV. Mariott has been paid $40,000 to date. Refunds of 67 x $150 have been issued, and there are 3 outstanding refunds owing for people for whom we have no address on file. A/V bill of $4000 still pending.           

MAC Newsletter available by email from John.  There has been considerable debate about the 1% mortality rate.

US Coral Reef Task Force Website is down, possibly for security reasons.  There is no news to report from USCRTF.

            NOAA site access is limited. Topographic charts are now becoming classified.

MAC has announced that Mary Middlebrook has resigned from the Board.  She was replaced by Randy Goodlett. Mary has also resigned from AMDA.         

Public Relations/Membership (Cathy Pollock)

As of 2/13/02 we have 14 club members, 46 individual members, and 3 corporate members. Membership drive and promotion ideas to be discussed by email.

 Cathy to send congratulatory email to C-SEA President on the occasion of their 30th Anniversary and a set of MACNA XIII tapes to be sent.

 Editor/Speaker Liaison (Mary Middlebrook)

Request to send articles to Mary.  Deadlines are the 15th of the month preceeding the publish date.  Publish dates are April 1, June 1, and August 1. Information and a sign-up box to be placed on website for Speakers Program.

 3) New Business

            Welcome Brian Koenig as Corporate Attorney

            Membership Drive

            Annual Meeting Minutes

            Speaker Liaison Program

 4) Old Business

            MACNA XIV

Discussions with DFWMAS as to whether or not they can proceed with M14 on their own. Brad Ward, DFWMAS President emphatically stated twice that this probably wouldn't be possible and that MASNA should go ahead and issue refunds to all who pre-registered. (Thanks, Carl for all your hard work in getting this done!)

Discussions followed with Morris Spillman, President of LMAS, to determine if they could host on such short notice since DFWMAS can't. Morris felt it would be difficult but might be possible. Morris contacted Brad Ward who then stated DFWMAS might still try to go ahead on their own.

If there is going to be any MACNA this year at all, DFWMAS must make a decision ASAP. Morris is following up with Brad and we may have an online meeting this weekend.           

            It is still unsure if just anyone can use the name MACNA without MASNA's sanction.  Discussion with Brian is ongoing.  Dave & Cathy have gone on record NOT agreeing with the host clubs hosting MACNA without MASNA's input or signature.  However they do agree that we need to go forward.  Nancy has asked Morris to draw up what he feels is a more reasonable contract. For now, that's why nobody wants to host.

            Marriott Hotel Bill

Had several discussions with Brian Koenig regarding Marriott Hotel Bill and how to proceed. There are still several thousand dollars in overcharges. This matter is now in the hands of our respective attorneys.  The exact amount in dispute is undisclosed pending verification.

 State of Affairs

While we will probably be forced to file bankruptcy, Nancy has received many phone calls and emails of support.      Based on the support we've received and the fact that we are currently the only organization representing the hobbyist on legislative issues, we very strongly feel that we should NOT close our doors. We just need to go back to doing what worked before we implemented the club contract. Let member clubs do the hosting while we focus on membership, hobbyist education and legislation. Discussion on this topic followed, and will continue at a later time by email.      

IMAC

Is anyone here working with Dennis Gallagher on IMAC? We feel this would be a major conflict of interest since he continues to publicly bash us and those people should resign. Discussion on this topic followed, and will be followed up with legal counsel.

 5) Open Discussion

 6) Adjournment

            Motion by Jenn, seconded by Nancy.

            Meeting adjourned at 10:52 PM ET