May 2008
board meeting 5/17/08 9:20 AM Central
Board Members Present: President Steve Lee,
Buddy Cutts, Jeff Dodgen, Alli Dodgen, Keith Atkins, Mike Nash,
Carl Buric, Eric Donaldson, Secretary Ollie Gregory, Bill Colvin
acting Treasurer, Tom Prouhet, Dan Shell, VP James Anderson,
Mark Polling, Clark Harlow,
Board Members Absent: only Kathy lee
TTT Members Present: Dan Strobel from
Ohio. Kinsley Sikes of Atlanta
April Minutes: April Minutes taken by
Kathy Lee were read.
Dan Shell amended minutes to reflect that
the Bill Priday Trial venue is being appealed to TN Supreme
Court. Easement Attorney Fees are all done. The Land Trust that
assisted in acquiring the easement recommended that TTT make a
donation to the Land Trust.
Alli Dodgen motioned to accept April
Minutes as amended. James Anderson seconded and the minutes
were approved unanimously.
Old Business:
Bill Priday Lawsuit is waiting a TN Supreme
Court hearing on venue.
TN Land Trust wants us to donate to their
cause. Dan Shell said it was in the neighborhood of $3000.
Discussion of Land Trust mission as it is understood by the
Board ensued. Motion by Ollie Gregory to donate $500 a year x 5
years to the TN Land Trust was offered and seconded by Alli
Dodgen. The vote passed.
Revamp Windows Vote. Discussion:
Some members wanted windows. An action
item vote was taken and board members were in favor 8 to 6.
Later when there was time for more discussion in the April
meeting there were lots of different opinions. The discussion
was tabled so all could think about it.
Ollie Gregory moved to take a new vote on
whether to have windows. This was seconded. Vote was against
windows 12. Vote for the windows was one. Two members
abstained. Windows in the ramp were voted down.
Mike Nash reported that the Lexan purchased
might be returnable. Ollie offered to purchase the Lexan if it
could not be returned.
New Business:
Revamp the Ramp Project:
Revamp finished and the bills have been
paid according to project manager Steve Lee. The only part of
the project left is the recognition plaque to be procured by
Mike Nash. Discussion on the plaque ensued. Mike Nash will
bring a draft of the layout to the next board meeting. The
Board talked about placement of the plaque. A site near the
ramp was selected. We will get a message out on Flymail so all
who contributed can correct names etc. Mike Nash will donate the
plaque. Motion to put the balance of revamp ramp funds into LZ
Fund was made by Mike Nash and seconded by James Anderson.
Discussion ensued. TTT received $32.445 so
far. There may be some small expenses and checks outstanding at
this point. The motion to put the remainder of the funds into
LZ fund when the costs and expenses are finalized passed. Jeff
Wilson donated in memory of Kim Meriweather. Greg Lowd donated
$99.95 in memory of Henry Maciesowicz.
Keith Atkins reported on the automated Pay
Pal used for online donations. To date there were 14 Tee shirt
donators and 19 Revamp the Ramp donators. This gave us $950 and
$250 more recently which was added to the total today. Tee
Shirts brought in $410 already and $135 more was added to the
total today. (As I understand it the
$32,445 includes everything up to this moment that has been
donated, some of which is recently received and yet to be
deposited.)
A motion to announce a dead line to get a
donor’s name on the commemorative plaque was made. After some
discussion, a cut off date to get name on the plaque will be May
31th. After that date, donations will receive a thank you
response, but will not have their name on the plaque.
Finishing the top half of the ramp will be
done at a later date.
Jessica Ladrick is getting married on ramp
June 7th at 6pm.
James Anderson reported on the
Southernparapilots club. They have a link to our site but no
information that paragliding is not allowed at TTT sites unless
the pilot is a P4 and has prior board approval. Buddy Cutts
will make a TTT website link to the board rules regarding
Paragliding at TTT sites. James will respond to the
Paragliding club regarding a request to clarify the information
on TTT sites and Paragliding regulation.
James Anderson reported on an email from
Jeff Laughery that said a sailplane that landed in Nippers field
resulted in the Nippers becoming very upset. So far the Nippers
have never had a problem with hang gliders landing on their
property.
Discussion of James Stinnett’s idea about
construction a pavilion on the flat near the creek was initiated
by Ollie Gregory. This would serve to refocus the landings to
the flat area that may be more conducive to Hang 2 level
pilots. Placing a windsock near the bottom would help encourage
more landings there. Parking cars near the flat would help
refocus H2s to that area. The Board talked about developing
assets such as our property on the creek. Alli Dodgen talked
about advanced pilots encouraging other pilots to consider
landing in the flats. The Board discussed putting windsocks at
both sides of the LZ.
Ned is going to make a few benches to put
around. Some may be used at the area near the Flats LZ.
Fall Risk signs were discussed. Dan
brought up the possibility that liability issues from simply
labeling the risk could result in increasing the liability.
This needs to be investigated before deciding to place Fall Risk
signage.
Committee Reports
Treasury: Clark Harlow helped with the
report. Bill Colvin is assisting as the acting treasurer.
There is $25,907.51 in the checking account as of April 30th.
A check to S&H for $20,451.30 had not yet cleared at that time.
Total cost on the ramp so far is $26,743.
Maintenance Report: Carl Buric is
committee head. Dan Stroble plugged up holes in roof around
stove pipe and fixed the leak. Dan Strobel completed the
plumbing project initiated by Jeff Wilson. We now have water in
the clubhouse and the sink drains. We hope to add a small hot
water heater with a timer soon. Preventive maintenance on the
steel understructure will continue with volunteers. Carl and
Eric will check Whitwell and weed wack the launch.
Competition Committee Report by Ollie
Gregory: Mayhem Mini Meet is to start next weekend. We expect
15 pilots entered in the Mayhem Meet. 35 pilots are already
registered for TC. In order not to discourage interested
pilots, we may allow more pilots on a team, but cap the max cost
for a Team at $550. The TC will only allow 5 pilots from a team
to fly in the meet each day.
Awards: Eric Donaldson is committee head.
Eric has plaques for Mayhem Mini Meet and TTT Caps to be given
out to recognize pilot extraordinary flights.
Social Committee: Mark Poling is the
committee head: Mayhem food will include covered dishes from
the locals and any others who can help. Mayhem will have
music. The donation cup will be out.
Safety committee: Tom Prouhet is the
committee head. The safety box is considered to be in good
shape. There will be a need for windsocks. Wind socks will be
done before next weekend’s Mayhem Mini Meet.
Membership committee: Dan Shell is the
committee head. TTT has 127 current members. Thanks to Tom
Prouhet and Wanda for getting the membership materials out in
the mail. There is still a problem with incomplete membership
applications. These are sent back unprocessed and membership is
not valid until it is corrected and resubmitted. If pilots fly
on an uncompleted application they are considered to be
trespassing. TTT must also send back payments with uncompleted
applications. The TTT website needs to add a warning that
membership apps submitted incomplete will be sent back and the
app will be considered invalid.
Website: Buddy Cutts is the committee
chair. The website is excellent. Many thanks to Jeff Nibler
for his good work helping so much on the new website
initiatives. The site is up to date as of today.
Bylaws: Mike Nash is the committee head.
The Bylaws are up to date.
The official name for our area is Henson
Gap instead of Henson’s Gap.
Newletter Committee: Keith Atkins is the
newsletter chair. Keith created a fantastic newsletter. Keith
thanked the TTT for the many great submissions. The next
newsletter will not be as long. Stuffers and Stampers and
Mailers were thanked. The Board talked about covering the extra
expense of sending newsletters out to the various VIPs and
former members. Keith and Buddy talked about the option of
opting out of the printed Newsletter on the TTT website. This
will save some expense to the club. Ollie brought up the
possibility of mailing out Newsletter announcements on the post
cards the club has to give pilots a heads up that a new
Newsletter was ready. Mike Nash moved that the club pay for the
total newsletter expenses. This was seconded and the vote
unanimous. Keith said to expect newsletters to come out 2
times a year and requested new submissions.
Dunlap Fire Dept sent a flier to the club
to ask for a special donation. We donate annually to Rescue.
Nick Berry, Life Member, had a stroke and
is now in a nursing home on in Soddy. Wife Mary will be
invited here for Mayhem and will get a card for all TTT to sign
at Mayhem. Bill Colvin will get the card.
Club members and the Board need to police
up the clubhouse when meetings are over.
Motion to adjourn was seconded and the
meeting ended at 12:15PM Central.
