BCARES BOARD MEETING----13 APRIL 2004

The meeting was called to order at 7:09PM in a Ball Corporation meeting room by Jim Kubitschek.

Persons Present

Others: Mike Borsuk WB2CBU

MINUTES

The February minutes were reviewed and unanimously approved and accepted without additions or corrections.

AGENDA

Jim (KG0HU) distributed copies of the agenda for tonight’s meeting.

GOALS FOR 2004

• Memos of Understanding (MOU’s) Updating: George (KA0BSA) and Jim (KG0HU) are continuing work on MOU’s with served agencies and others.
• State Filing of the revised and signed by-laws will be handled by Dale (KA0QPV) and Pete (WB2DVS).
• Membership Organization: A chairman and/or committee of non-board members would be an ideal solution to the problem of keeping membership lists and coordinating training, recruitment, and utilization of new members. Chairmanship would probably be time-consuming initially.
• WEB Page Update & E-Mail System Maintenance: Since Nima is currently very busy, a committee consisting of Rick Clark (KF0BK), Nima (N0YX), Jack (WM0G) and Mike (WB2CBU) will meet to discuss and determine making the web page more professional, perhaps in line with that of the Colorado ARES web page. The first meeting of the committee shall decide the web page organization. Others on the committee will have to have access to the password. Jim will notify Rick (KF0BK).

  Note: Jim will e-mail minutes of the Annual Meeting and a list of officers to Pete, who has been asked by Rick Clark for them.

  Note: Pete will find out the LARC Primary representative.

  Note: The Secretary (according to By-Laws 2003 revision) is responsible for announcing meetings. This will involve the mention in the minutes of the previous meeting, announcements on the Monday Net, and e-mail notification approximately 10 days prior to the meetings.

• Badges: George (KA0BSA) will contact Rick W. (K0ETN) to collect badges to distribute.
• Technical Committee:

  Pete (WB2DVS) prepared an equipment "wish list":

  1. Small notebook computers (3). 12V operation, printer interface, serial port, Win 98 or later—all required. Jack (WM0G) has been in contact with the Kiwanis organization, which will donate some—possibly 6.
  2. Portable thermal printers (3). 12 V operation preferred, perhaps Pentax.
  3. Small Camcorders (1 or 2). Good low light.
  4. Cross band repeater and antennas to help in hard to reach areas. A specific cross band repeater suggested by Mike (N0BP) has several applications and would be good to have in BCARES equipment cache.

     Additions to the list added at this meeting:

  5. Video transmitter equipment
  6. Head sets

  Some of these items are to be included in a request to the Sheriff’s Department, specifically camcorders and cross band repeater. NOTE: A list will be prepared for Jack (WM0G) to present to Chuck (KC0DGP) at the Sheriff’s Office. Mike (N0BP) will itemize the cross band features required. George (KA0BSA) will write up his suggestions and give to Mike who will provide the complete list including further input from Pete (WB2DVS)--such as adaptors for 12 V operation--to Jack.

  PSAP Rotator: Rick had investigated a good possibility, but needs a specific request from Jim as chairman.

  Longmont ICV Monitor Upgrade: Pete (WB2DVS) will contact Mark Huff (KB0LRS) and Pat (W0IPL) regarding equipment and access to the Longmont Safety Building.

  CU ICV: Jim (KG0HU) will make contact and assess the current situation.

  Maintenance: Pete reports 1 laptop on its last legs; power connectors need to be upgraded to Andersen Power Poles. All radios, including packet sets need testing with a service monitor.

  Nederland Repeater: :We still need to determine needs and requirements considering the change in the position of the repeater. NOTE: Dale (KA0QPV) will get “historical” radio site surveys from Jim (WA0NHD), then talk to the Nederland trustee with Jim (KG0HU) regarding what they can do for us.

  Mike (WB2CBU) brought up an interesting possibility of some sort of liaison with a non-profit internet cooperative in the mountains which uses a broadband network. NOTE: Mike will e-mail Jim the contact’s name and address.

• Fund Raising: Dale (KA0QPV) Jack ((WM0G) and Rick (K0ETN) have been looking into requesting funds from Homeland Security. To that effort, Dale presented a draft entitled “Application for Grant of Financial Assistance” to the Board with a request for comments and suggestions. NOTE: Jim requests that Dale should receive inputs from EVERYONE on the Board (and others who so desire) in the next two weeks (that is, by 27 April). Additions to the draft should include information on how we aid the community, recommendations from served agencies (Sheriff’s Dept. and CU among others), MOUs, and professional connection of officers. This Application should be ready for next January when grants are received; however, it should be submitted to a sponsor by September.
• Activity Planning: Jim brought up several items:
  • March of Dimes Walk-a-thon on the 24^th.
  • Possibility of a formal training activity
  • Possibility of a multiple county activity
  • A Longmont training event in May
  • A local exercise—packet in hospitals, for example. A need to include non-board members in packet training is seen, in order to increase packet use readiness. NOTE: Doshia needs to follow up on the BCARES situation in the new hospitals.
  • The question of how to involve non-board people to oversee projects is still unresolved.

OTHER

1. Red Book Additions. Pete (WB2DVS) would like to add additions made by Jim (WA0NHD) as new and replacement sections, referenced in the table of contents.
   Approved.
2. Ham Class. George (KB0BSA) will be giving a free Ham Radio Class starting 4 May. Additional fliers are available. Contact grweber8@comcast.net
3. LARC—needs a place for its meetings (as does BARC)

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be held Wednesday, 12 May at 7:00 p.m. at a Ball Corporation meeting room. (To be announced on the Monday Nets.)

ADJOURNMENT

Jack moved to adjourn; Pete seconded; all were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.