Special Meeting of
the
April 16, 2008
Revised
A Special Meeting of the Raritan Yacht Club was called to order at 19:30 on April 16, 2008.
1. A quorum of voting members was counted.
2. A motion was made to change Article IV, Section 2 of the By Laws to read, “The Annual Meeting of the Club shall be held on the second Tuesday of November of each year at 7:30 pm” (changed from 8:30 pm). The motion passed.
3. A motion was made to change Article IV, Section 5 of the By Laws to “A Special Meeting of the Club shall be held whenever the Board of Governors may deem one necessary, or whenever thirty-five Elective Members of the Club shall make a written request of the Commodore for the same, specifying the object of the meeting” (changed from fifteen Elective Members). Several comments were made; including that the original number was 5% of the voting members, that there have been no problems with excess Special Meetings in the past, and that the time frame until the meeting is held should be addressed. The motion did not pass.
4. A motion was made for a General Rule, “The Club shall provide that monthly bills and TellTales be sent to members by US Postal Service or by email, at the member’s discretion”. In response to several questions, it was stated that there would be no extra cost to RYC, in fact, the purpose of sending these by email is to save money. TellTales is already available, back to 2004, on the RYC website. The motion passed.
5. Rear Commodore Ann Myer provided a history of the mooring field situation, explained the current status, and along with Fleet Captain, Howard Paul, answered several questions.
a. The limit of the Federal channel is 60-100’ west of where we thought it was. The reason for the discrepancy is because the Coast Guard uses the Army Corps of Engineers charts, not the NOAA charts.
b. Twelve boats will have to move, and fourteen to nineteen will have to be repositioned.
c. The mooring field will include the area up to the Federal channel and will be redefined as a Special Anchorage.
d. The Club will pay for the moving of the twelve boats and for a second movement up the field in the future, if desired. There is no budget item for this. Members with a mooring will be charged a special mooring fee of up to $80. A $40 charge will be applied to the first quarter launch fee, a $20 charge will be applied to the second quarter, and if needed, a $20 charge will be applied to the third quarter. If additional funding is necessary, the membership will be notified.
e. There will be room for all the displaced members and the new members. There should be five additional mooring locations. Three City moorings are available for Club members to rent if they so choose.
f. The Helix screws and Hazelette Mooring system were considered, but timing, the high cost, and the need for a very careful analysis of their positioning prevented their use at the present. However, it is something that will be looked into for the future.
g. Launch service will be doubled up on weekends during peak times to accommodate the longer trip.
h. Members were reminded to contact their mooring contractors to confirm that their moorings are ready.
i. Litigation against the Coast Guard was considered, but ultimately it would be against Congress. The issue is whether a 600’ channel is necessary, since it feeds into a 300’ channel. The Coast Guard is only required to maintain the surface of the water.
j. Lockwoods and Morgan Marina were asked to refrain from charging for summer storage for the boats in their yards that are unable to launch because their moorings are not ready. They requested a list of those boats from RYC and would deal with those affected on an individual basis.
k. The Membership expressed their thanks to all involved in finding and implementing a timely solution to this difficult problem.
6. Vice
Commodore
Al began with a request for comments. Issues raised by the membership included that the POS system was voted down at the Annual Meeting, and the BOG is only authorized to spend a total of $10,000 in one fiscal year for capital expenditures without prior approval of the membership. Comments also included that the original presentation for the POS system was not done well, and a Special Meeting should have been scheduled soon after the Annual Meeting. In general, the membership requested that in the future, the Board abide by the voting of the membership.
Al followed the comments with an explanation of the process involved for the purchase of the POS system: The previous Galley operator, Slavko, had resigned. The Galley Committee interviewed several people, but all of them said they needed a POS system. Nucci was the only one interested, but he quit on December 22, 2007 after only one year. In order to fulfill January commitments and to open the Galley by February 1, 2008, a new Galley operator was urgently needed. Tom Radu, who was the cook for the first part of the year with Nucci, expressed an interest in the position. During initial discussions, he too requested a POS system. Consequently, a contract was negotiated in which Tom would purchase the POS hardware and software for the Galley, and the Club would purchase the software for the Bar. The Board approved the contract by a vote of 9 in favor, 1 opposed.
7. The meeting was adjourned at 21:44.
Respectfully submitted,