Seattle AAW Woodturners Board
Minutes – May 2015
Meeting called to order: May 5, 2015 at 7:03 PM
Location:
Adjourned: 8:46 PM
Madison House
122215 128th Street
Kirkland, WA
Attendees:
ELECTED
Don McNutt – President
*A J Mearns – Vice President
*Jim Steck – Treasurer
*Greg Raab – Secretary
*David Lutrick – Director of Programs
Peter Palmer –Director of Inventory Control, Video
*Les Dawson – Director of Communications
*Jim Jaskovsky – Member at Large
*Vern Tator – Member at Large, Wood Rats
VOLUNTEER/ APPOINTED
*Biz Jaskovsky – Library
*Jack Frost – Community Outreach
*George Hart – New Members
*George McNeil-- Photogragher
Lawrence Brown – Sound
Gary Rodger – Hospitality
Mike Hughes – Hospitality/ Community Outreach
*AJ Mearns – Sawdust Sessions
Steve Sergev – Sealer
*Jim Hogg – Trailer Transport
*Dan Robbins -- Video
Jack Wayne – Safety Coordinator
Oliver Raab – Raffle Tickets
(* Present at Meeting)
1. Treasurers Report – Jim Steck:
-Jim had previously sent out a spreadsheet to board members. He brought some printed copies
to go over during the meeting. Our current balance is $7297. We have a few major expenses
coming up that have already been approved, such as the trailer repairs($1000) and video
equipment($1500), and Guilio Marcolongo’s fee. Those items bring the current balance to about
$4297. From that point he made some guesstimate figures based on the past. We have an
insurance payment coming up of about $500 and upcoming demonstrator fees ($1000). Our
income is basically derived from membership dues. This year we can expect roughly $2400
coming in. Dan Robbins asked if that was a total for membership fees or if that is simply what
we can expect through December. Jim confirmed that it is likely a reflection of the latter,
estimating the other half of members to renew in January. When asked how Jim feels about our
current state, he replied that he would like to compare similar points among years and get back
to the board. The balance is a moving target and that would help in the comparison.
-Jim also filed our tax return as a 501c3 as required by law. That consists of a couple simple
questions
-After the board meeting, Jim sent out a list of recent year-end balances along with the current
year’s estimated balance for a reference-point of the club’s financial status. The list is as follows:
12/2011…$2493, 12/2012…$3187, 12/2013…$6395, 12/2014…$8262, and 12/2015…($5000).
2. President’s Corner – Don McNutt: absent
3. Vice President’s Report – AJ Mearns: Don’s daughter is improving very slowly. She can now sit
up with help and can breathe for a couple hours at a time without a ventilator.
4. Secretary – Greg Raab: nothing
5. Programs – David Lutrick:
-This month’s demonstrator will be Jay Shepard, discussing water-based laquer finishes and the
use of spray guns. Dan Robbins raised a concern about spraying finish at the meeting and the
potential to overspray onto camera equipment. David responded that Jay has experience
demonstrating in the presence of cameras and has some suggestions, which he will forward to
Dan via email.
-Next month will feature Jon Magill with the help of John Moe demonstrating ornamental
turning.
-Jim Jaskovsky inquired about a need for the trailer and lathe next Thursday. David responded
that we will need the audio/visual equipment. Jim attempted contact with the guy working on
the trailer, but he had gone for the day. Jim will contact him tomorrow and let the board know
about the trailer’s status. Jim will plan on bringing the trailer to the meeting and Jim Hogg can
take it from there.
-We only had five attendees at the all-day workshop with Guilio Marcolongo. The upside to that
was that the folks who did attend had a great experience and learned a lot. The downside is that
we did not break even for his cost by a couple hundred dollars.
6. Community Outreach – , Mike Hughes(absent), Jack Frost:
- Looking at the Bellevue Art Museum Festival schedule (July 24, 25, 26). We still have a few
spots open, but that should fill up this next meeting. He has approximately 300-350 tops, so he
still needs more. Jack has not been in touch with Mike Hughes for a while. They will be going to
Crosscut hardwoods for top supplies. They have not had much luck at Rockler or Woodcraft so
far, and have not again tried Dusty Strings.
-Jack has been in contact with Jack McDaniel about the picnic. He is delighted to host the annual
picnic once again and has refused finances for that. Jim Steck mentioned that he had slated $500
in the budget for the annual picnic, so that will free up some funds for demonstrators or
something.
7. Communications – Les Dawson:
-This week is a major plant sale that Les will be helping out with. His wife is a primary plant
purchaser for this event. He would appreciate getting items for the newsletter quickly so that he
can finish that up soon.
-Les raised an issue of reducing the size of the newsletter by placing many of the images and
possibly other items on the website with a link in an email. Some discussion ensued about the
various assets in the newsletter and the pros and cons of reducing the content. Some of the
comments included some options of storing photos in Google Docs, the potential problem with
sending a smaller newsletter and people not seeking the items the website, and how the
newsletter would be sent (link, pdf, etc.) This discussion will continue outside of the meeting to
further explore various options.
8. New Members – George Hart:
-Will have a pamphlet ready to send out to new members shortly. George inquired with Jim
Steck if he could refer to the recent list sent out for accurate names of members. Jim said he
could indeed.
9. Members at Large – Jim Jaskovsky: nothing
10. Head Wood Rat – Vern Tator:
-We should have wood this weekend as well as the Oak from last week. Someone had
attempted to gather the oak, but went to the wrong house and could not locate the wood
available. The other wood is black walnut with the potential for nice figure. It is, however, a
challenging task to cut this particular tree.
-The donor of a past tree would like a piece turned out of it. Vern will do this piece and will get
wood from Dan Robbins to do that.
-David Lutrick suggested that it should be standard to plan to donate a turned piece to anyone
donating trees to the club.
11. Sawdust Sessions – AJ Mearns:
-This month will be wood-prep again, as it seems to be popular with attendees.
12. Photographer – George McNeil:
-George brought up the idea to suggest to members who bring pieces for show-and-tell to bring
an electronic file (optional) that may have a self portrait, name, and a link to their website as a
way to get a little more recognition with their work.
13. Safety—Jack Wayne: absent
14. Library – Biz Jaskovsky: nothing
15. Inventory Control – Peter Palmer: absent
16. Video – Peter Palmer(absent), Dan Robbins:
-Dan will order another screen tomorrow. It will be like the one we have. A couple of the other
items will change because their quality doesn’t look like it will hold up to our use. Dan is waiting
to hear back from Tyler about the projector. Dan would like to make arrangements to arrive
early to the next meeting so he can set up the video equipment beforehand. Since a couple
items are going to be more expensive than anticipated, he will be dropping out the automatic
turntable for the camera. The lighting still needs to be figured out so that we have adequate
lighting, without washing out the image.
17. Sound – Lawrence Brown: absent
18. Hospitality –Gary Rogers, Mike Hughes: absent
19. Sealer – Steve Sergev: absent
20. Trailer Transport – Jim Hogg:
-Jim Hogg inquired with Jim Jaskovsky about the current whereabouts of the trailer. It is
currently getting the brake work done and he will bring it to the meeting next week.
21. Shop Tours -- Rick Terney: absent
Old Business:
Camera, Lights, Projector – Dan Robbins covered previously.
Trailer Jack, battery, Solar Panel, Maintenance (Bearings and Brakes)-Covered earlier.
Facebook- Dan called Scott Larkin and he returned the call, but was working.
Updating Website, Documents- AJ thanks Jim Steck for his efforts in updating the website. Jim has
been steadily updating various components of the site. Recently, he created two contact forms for
inquiries to the club. One is for wood donations, primarily. The other is for general questions to the
club. This replaces the email address that was embedded in a .jpg image. Jim also added links for all
the Washington groups that were included in the tri-fold brochure. Paypal integration was added,
which we will discuss in-depth. The minutes, club by-laws, and members’ galleries were also added
to the site. Dan Robbins suggested adding a Captcha verification feature to avoid spam generated
through the forms, etc.
Paypal- Jim Steck put together a list of pros and cons for the new Paypal feature for the website. Jim
has been the treasurer for three years and has experienced all the difficulties associated with
collecting and tracking member dues. It is time consuming and difficult to track, write receipts, etc. It
also detracts from his ability to otherwise participate in the club meetings during that time of year.
Paypal does not require a special account, but offers users the option to pay with a credit card like
other online transactions. The one con that Jim came up with is the cost for collecting dues via
Paypal. This cost is about 2% per transaction. Vern inquired about how the member will receive
their membership card. Jim replied that it would be delivered via email. This also raised the question
of the cards validity at Rockler and Wooodcraft, etc. if it is home-printed and possibly lacks an
official look. Back to Paypal, this provides a safe, secure method to collect payment for membership
dues (and possibly other fees for workshops, etc).
Jim Steck motions to approve Paypal as the payment method for electronic payments to the club.
Les Dawson seconds the motion. The motion passes with one dissent.
More discussion ensues regarding Paypal and exploring other options for payments beyond Paypal.
Some other concerns were raised about security issues with online payment. Ultimately, the board
has approved the use of Paypal with the knowledge that if it does not work out, another system can
be implemented to replace it.
Tri-fold brochures- Some back and forth emails took place over the previous month to help get the
brochures to a finished state. Dan brought the printed brochures and asked for a volunteer to drop
some off to the southcenter Rockler. Jack Frost is willing to do so.
Google Docs- Jim Steck has implemented Google Docs for a method to satisfy the need to have one,
centralized, online location to back up various documents of the club. The items that are currently
stored there are the minutes, membership list, and account information. Dan Robbins asked about
the access status of the account. Jim responded that the information is currently not public and
requires a password to access and to place files in the online folders. Dan brought up his concern
with Google accessing personal information and their involvement with various antitrust laws for
that reason. Jim mentioned that we could research other cloud-based storage solutions, but believes
there are potentially the very same issues concerns. He also discussed the other methods such as
email and personal computer hard drives as we have used in the past. He had a problem with a
computer a couple years ago and lost the club information. He spent many hours patching that
information back together as a consequence. AJ said that he doesn’t mind that system being in place
for storage purposes, but does not want to have to go there to see items. He prefers being emailed
a copy to view. Jim Jaskovsky expressed his confusion with the need for Google Docs if we have a
website for information. More discussion follows regarding the various storage options for the club.
We currently have public items available to all members through the website. We also have various
other items that are stored on various computers of board members, email accounts, etc. The
bylaws state that we have one, centralized location to store these items. Google Docs could be that
solution if the board likes the option. Currently, the information stored on various personal
computers is not easily accessible, even with a password. The information on Google Docs, while
not public, is accessible by board members with a password. This would satisfy the need for retrieval
in the unfortunate event of the sudden loss of a member or even the loss or destruction of a board
member’s personal computer or email account.
AJ received the variable speed motor for the 12” Jet lathe. The drive was altered to allow 6 variable
speeds rather than just 3.
New Business:
George Hart has a box of items for the library that came from a member who passed away. (I did
not catch the name of that member). George will send a thank–you note to the family of that
member.