FMAS BOARD MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 5, 2016
bOBBY DICKMANN’S OFFICE: 8085 nw 85TH STREET, HIALEAH GARDENS
Meeting Started: 7:22PM
Attendees: Eddie Soler, Bobby Dickmann, Allan Strachan, Julio Perez, Gayle Velazquez, Lulio Vasquez, Eddie Steinman, Renee Steinman, Dave Thompson
APPROVAL DECEMBER MEETING MINUTES: Julio approves minutes, Eddie Steinman seconds. All approve.
APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOD POSITIONS:
President: Eddie Soler
VP: Dave Thompson
Secretary: Gayle Velazquez
Treasurer: Julio Perez
Sunshine: Rene Steinman
Membership: Allan Strachan
Historian: Eddie Steinman
Treasurer-in-Training: Lulio Vasquez
TREASURERS REPORT: Julio approves past report, Bobby seconds. All approve.
We have purchased the online version of QuickBooks – it’s up and running. For the first 6 months, we have a discount. Then the price goes up about $10.
- Eddie Soler and Lulio have full access
- Bobby and Dave have view access
- There is an issue with the Quickbooks though, and it is not showing the correct amounts. Lulio will help Julio get this figured out.
BUDGET:
Categories that need to be included in the budget:
Web / Software (Quickbooks, web hosting)
Schools
Scholarships
Bowling for Fish
Poker Run
Tank Hop
Raffles each month
Refreshments for meetings
Speakers – national vs local – $4000 budget for the year
Holiday Party
T-shirts
Advertising
BOD meetings
SPEAKERS –
| SPEAKERS | EVENTS | |
| January 26th | Speaker for January: Reef.Org – Emily Stokes – a talk on lionfish and the lionfish invasion We will not need to pay them speaker fees, instead they would like us to give them an RO system. GoPro for raffle item for January meeting. | |
| February 23rd | Julian Sprung | Bowling for Fish on February 21st |
| March – school will be closed the fourth Tuesday. Either the 15th or 29th | Joe DiJorgio | |
| April | Eddie Steinman will contact Martin Moe to see if he will come speak in April | |
| May | Frag Swap: in early/mid May on a Saturday morning. May 14th or May 21st. Bobby will lead this. Need a place that has more than 6000 square feet with several hundred parking spots. A couple speakers. Budget will be $5000, Eddie Steinman approves. Renee seconds. Bobby will find out how much a place near the MIA airport costs. And a couple other places. We will have a facility by next month. Cary thinks those two days in May are available at the school | |
| June | School is closed. Meeting in Miami if possible? Dave will contact the Museum in Miami to see if we can have the summer meetings there at the new location | It’s likely that Mark E will have his frag swap in June |
| July | School is closed. Dave will contact the Museum in Miami to see if we can have the summer meetings there at the new location | |
| August | ||
| September | Seaquarium | |
| October | ||
| November |
National Speakers: 3 – 4 this year
Ideas for Speakers / Meetings: budget is $4000 for speakers for the year
Todd Gardner – aquarist of the year, also doing some breeding
Dr G – from Dr G’s marine aquaculture
Mark Callahan – Mr. Saltwater – Eddie will reach out to him to set up a date
Forest Young – Marine Dynasty
Marc Levinson – Dave will reach out to him
Scott Leaf – rep for Neptune
Kevin Cohen
Sanjay – he would have to speak at a Saturday meeting
Martin Moe
Workshop ideas –
- Make some food and take it home – Rogger Castells
- Acrylic viewers?
- Fragging, packing and shipping
We should take advantage of MASNA to bring national speakers in.
- They have a list of approved speakers, and they will cover the first $300 of the speaker fees.
- Julio will get more information about how to take advantage of this.
RAFFLE:
- Budget is $150 for normal items + $450 for big items
- We will continue this for the first quarter
SCHOOL PROJECTS:
- Dave is still working at iMater
- The tank is up and running, with 3 fish, but school needs some GFO
- The main display tank at South Plantation High School is leaking. Will need to be drained. Or replaced. Tank would need to be about 6 feet long, about 30 inches tall. Eddie Steinman will get the glass.
CONTESTS:
- SPS Contest: Eddie needs to find an SPS for the contest. We will need to buy a coral that we can get about 25-30 frags from.
MEMBERSHIP:
Is Web site ready for new RENEWALS? – We should send out an email reminding members to renew their memberships online.
Lourdes is stepping down running membership. Allan will be taking over.
We will get the 100 t-shirts we talked about ordering, but we will not be giving them out. We will be selling them. Gayle will change the website to remove t-shirts as being one of the membership perks.
WEB SITE / FACEBOOK:
- Minutes should be posted to the website for members only. Is this done? This is done.
- Facebook Ad for corporate sponsors that donate more than $250 of goods
OPEN DISCUSSION:
Responding to Website emails. We need guidelines.
- Demographics of the club? Lulio wants to reach out to get new members.
- Keep in contacts with members: emails, texts, advertising through facebook
- Lulio will look into advertising with FB
- Design a couple of avatars that people can use if they want to for RC that feature FMAS
- Flash cash: the first member that spends $100 at a specific store in a specific month, FMAS will reimburse you for $25. Maybe 1 Broward store and 1 Dade store each month. Is this members only? – Yes, existing member only. 11 – 1PM, everyone drops their receipts in a box and we pick one and reimburse them. Or we pick one and give them a $25 gift certificate to that store, which the store will match, for a total of $50 store credit for the winner.
- We are going to have a table, t-shirts, and computer for membership applications.
BOD Meetings:
February 2 – at Bobby’s office
Meeting Adjourned: 8:53PM