March 2023 Meeting Minutes
MARS Membership Meeting March 9, 2023
In Attendance:
MaryBeth Clune, Todd Smith, Dan MacNeal, Tom McCarthy, Bill Clune, Darren Slocum, Evan Brown, Doug Snyder, Howard Bozenhand, Elena Beyer, Robert Hilton via internet
President MaryBeth Clune called the meeting to order at 7:01 PM.
A motion was made to accept meeting minutes from February. Motion was agreed to and February minutes were accepted.
Officer Reports:
No report from the Vice President or Treasurer.
Secretary Tom McCarthy stated that the February 9th meeting minutes and the February 7th BOD conference call had not been posted on the MARS website yet.
Committees:
Membership: Bill Clune reported 59 adult members with a total of 79 members. Membership badges were printed, but the date was incorrect and the badges need to be reprinted.
Launch Operations: Evan Brown no report
Equipment & Capitol Expense: Bill Clune reported the National Warplane Museum (NWM) gave MARS the green light to place a Sea Container (Seatainer) behind the main hanger near where our club trailer and launch towers are located now. MARS was asked by the NWM to put the Seatainer in place only when the ground is dry and solid. Robert Hilton asked what the cost of a 40’ Seatainer, Bill Clune responded that a 20’ Seatainer should cost about $2000, the cost for a 40’ Seatainer is about $4000. Bill explained that the Seatainer will be used to collocate all the equipment that is in various locations with various people into a common, safe, watertight location, and that it will be used to store equipment that is used infrequently keeping our current trailer less cluttered.
Education: Michele McCortney & Camille Foss although not present, reported to MaryBeth that there will be an event at the Rochester Science Museum on April 8th. Michele will send out an email soon regarding this event. Help for this event is needed!
NYPOWER: MaryBeth Clune reported that Chris Green, owner of the Cozy Kitchen in Caledonia, has agreed to provide food service again this year, Saturday and Sunday only. We also have Chris for this years Holiday Banquet.
Old Business:
President MaryBeth Clune stated:
The next build session will be March 18th.
The NYPOWER committee will have a conference call on 3/14.
We have the $500 of grant money from the NAR and need to decide how we want to spend it. Some ideas were to use the money for the Seatainer, new pads, and advertising.
The yearly Equipment Clean Up will be May 6th at 10am, lunch will be provided.
The video conference call with the Hot Nozzle coordinator went well. Hot Nozzle will coincide with our club launch on July 22nd-23rd, MARS will make available all the necessary launch hardware and MARS will oversee the overall safe running of the Hot Nozzle event.
New Business:
President MaryBeth Clune read the 3/9/2023 Club Member Release from the MARS BOD. Although MARS does not have a Certificate of Authorization (COA, in other words FAA Waiver) at this time, MARS does expect to have the waiver by NYPOWER.
Secretary Tom McCarthy answered several questions regarding why we needed to lower the maximum altitude to 8000’, the COA application process, Federal Aviation Regulations, and expected timelines to obtain the COA.
Vice President Todd Smith stated that we need to purchase the equipment and internet access to make our membership meetings virtual.
President MaryBeth Clune adjourned the meeting a 7:45pm
Respectfully submitted by
Tom McCarthy