OregonRocketry
Minutes of Business Meeting
June 5, 2003

 

Officers Present:


Paul San Soucie, Launch Director

John Gamble, Secretary
Alex McLaughlin, Treasurer

Stephen Tarr, RSOC

Paul San Soucie called the meeting to order at approximately 7:45 p.m.

Approval of the minutes of the May meeting was unanimous.

Treasurer’s Report - Alex McLaughlin reported a total of $4552, with $1247.00 of that in the Launch Site Development Fund.  April expenses included TRA dues and port-o-pot purchases, a total of $546 with an income of $310.

Old Business

May Launch – Steve Tarr reported that the May launch was cold and had a light turnout.  There were approximately 200-250 flights.  There was a great need for more assistance at the LCO table, but given that the turnout was light the problem was not as pronounced as it could have been.  John Gamble had set up a cross band HAM repeater and will do so for all OROC launches.  The frequencies will be announced after OROC receives the permanent assignments.  The property owner had a few issues with some camper’s activities, but these were isolated and will be addressed by the BoD.

Launch Site and Waivers – Paul announced that the 40K waiver had approved for OROC public launches.  The BoD will require that all launches in excess of 20K AGL MUST obtain prior clearance with the RSO and a minimum of one OROC officer.   In addition, a RockSim or other simulation will be required to prove that the rocket will not exceed the waiver.  Any person exceeding the waiver will be subject to sanction by the BoD.  Now that we’ve got it, we don’t want to lose it.  Also, a question of safe distances was addressed.  The current HP pads are, in fact, adequate for single L motor launches.  Any motor M or larger, or clusters/stages exceeding a single L in power will be required to launch from the away cell.  It was also suggested that OROC have a members-only Alvord Desert launch on the 3rd weekend in August.  More to follow.

August FAR101 Launch – Adrian Carbine reported that the OROC members-only FAR101 launch will be the 2nd or 1st weekend in North Plains.  More to follow.

Sheridan Launch Site – Gary Fillible reported that the spring launch has become too destructive to the emerging crop and will have to moved or cut.  OROC may still continue with the September launch, after the harvest.  OROC will purchase a $100 gift certificate for the owner.  OROC may appeal to the FAA for a resumption of the 5K waiver in October since we will have halved the annual number of days at this site.  More to follow.

ATF Rulemaking – ATF comments on proposed rulemaking have been extended to June 13.

Corporate Issues – The Oregon Department of Justice issued another threatening (?) letter because of a clerical mix up.  The issue was resolved, but to reaffirm – OROC is an IRS 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.  Any contribution to OROC above membership dues is tax deductible.  As long as OROC maintains <$5000 gross receipts annually, OROC does NOT have to register with the IRS for this status.  The exception is new organizations that are allowed to claim more than $5000 gross receipts in the first two years.  In the case of OROC, as this is the second year of OROC’s existence we are allowed to claim gross receipts of up to $7500.  OROC will be sponsoring a fundraising drive to come as close to that amount as possible before the year’s end.  This will add significantly to the ability of OROC to purchase land at some point.  In addition, OROC may engage in raffle activities without state registration as long as receipts are less than $10,000.  As long as we stay below the IRS $5000 limit, our bookkeeping, registration and reporting requirements will be minimal.

 

New Business

Trailer – There is some maintenance that needs to be done on the launch gear, including quad-pod repair.  Bob Moscoe will host a trailer party on June 15.  The trailer will be hauled to the June launch by Paul with an ETA of early Friday afternoon.  Jane is still looking into local (Brothers) storage.  Paul managed to weigh the trailer and it came out at 4000 lbs., with a 750 lb. Tongue weight.  There was discussion on the purchase of Mike Fisher’s trailer as a replacement, but issues including capacity and height will have to be considered further.

LCO area – Steve Tarr and John Gamble are pushing for a re-engineering of the LCO area.  The old booth has already been disposed.  The objective is to simplify setup and teardown.  Among things being considered is a different PA system.  More to follow.

OROC Records – Alex McLaughlin has volunteered to maintain OROC flight records, including altitude records.  Guidelines will follow, but every altitude attempt will require pre-notification of at least one OROC officer.

Educational Group Rates – It was determined by the BoD that special group rates would apply for educational organizations (K-12).  Adult leaders of these groups will be requested to apply for a family membership ($35/annually) and that will include students under that age of 18.

The meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by

John Gamble, Secretary
OregonRocketry

Please send any corrections or additions to these minutes to gambler@interroc.com