Vicki, N6KLS, our Chairperson was unable to attend due to meeting conflicts so Steve, WA6HAM began the meeting. The Draft of the Mission and Vision Statement was discussed and approved. The next order of business was to review and discuss the Draft of the Requirements for Membership. This was also approved.

Steve provided an Income Statement for 2010 that show the expenditures on the repeater site phone bills and NARCC membership.

A question was asked about starting dues. It was brought up that we should also discuss upcoming projects such as the replacement of the Highland Peak antennas. This information then led to a discussion about how the group should be organized. Around this time Steve’s breakfast was getting cold and he asked Harry, K6HS if he would lead the discussion.

Harry gave a brief overview of different ways an organization could be structured. The group decided to form a committee to look into creating the Articles of Association and Bylaws of the CCRA. Volunteers were asked for and Vicki, N6KLS (in abstentia), Harry, K6HS and Mitch, W8DOD volunteered to be on the committee. It was hoped Trevor, WA6JAU would also be part of the group. Steve, WA6HAM was asked to participate and decided it would be best for the process to act in an advisory role. Some of the issues to be reviewed by the committee are:

• Who does the CCRA belong to? The formation of an unincorporated association.
• Types of officers and committees to be set into place.
• Technical committee: membership requirements and responsibilities.
• Proper code of conduct for members.
• Contingency plan for when/if the CCRA were ever disassembled.

It was decided that collection of dues will be postponed and commence after the work of the committee is completed. As of this posting, the committee has already begun their work and is actively reviewing a draft Articles of Association and Bylaws. Their progress report will be due at the next breakfast scheduled for October 23rd.

Gallery below.

As a reminder, if you are on the email mailing list you should have received the Vol. 1, Issue 1 July issue of the “Contra Costa Repeater Association WA6HAM Newsletter”.

Thanks to everyone for attending the July Breakfast!

For pictures, please continue reading.

Here are pictures from the Saturday, June 26, 2010 fire at Bald Mountain located in Yolo County.  It was started by a tower crew working at the AT&T site next to our N6QDY/R repeater site.  The crew was cutting steel on the backside of their shelter when a spark ignited grass that hadn’t been cut back at the AT&T site.  The crew tried to put out the fire but after two minutes decided to call 911.  When fire arrived they had 2 acres involved.  Air tankers made at least two drops and one helicopter was used.  In some of the pictures you will see what appears to be a dust devil.  There was one.  The IC commented that if the winds had been blowing like this earlier we could have had a couple of hundred acres involved.  We were lucky.  In total there was about 5 acres burned and it was expected to take at least 3 hours of clean-up.  The cost of this response will be in the 10’s of Thousands of dollars.  So much for “Safety First”…

To find out more information about what happened at the June 19th meeting please check out our soon to be released Vol. 1, Issue 1 July issue of the “Contra Costa Repeater Association WA6HAM Newsletter”.

Thanks to everyone for attending the June Breakfast!