Minutes of the March 26, 2018 meeting of the AAAP Board of Directors

• Meeting started and Rex welcomed and thanked all 14 members and board members present.
• Nominations update – Nominations chairman, Jim Fling, announced all current board members have volunteered to return for another term in office. Anyone else interested in volunteering to serve on the board please contact Jim Fling.
• There has not been much interest in the 10 minute member talk before the main speaker at each meeting. The board is looking for ideas to generate more member involvement.
• The NorthEast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) is April 21-22.
• Currently there are two parent/child pairs being trained to be keyholders.
• The board plans to contact all area science teachers to generate more interest in the club and public nights at the observatory.
• New member Joy S. has set up the AAAP on meetup.com to let more of the public know about our public nights and other club public events.
• Currently there is no way for members to reach keyholders to request access to the observatory. If a non-keyholder would like access to the observatory they can send their request to the secretary at or another board member the their request will be forwarded to keyholders.
• Social media was discussed thoroughly, pros and cons. Facebook, Twitter, PrincetonOnline.com will be used more. Contact with NJ newspapers and magazines will be increased.
• Local colleges will be contacted for the possibility of getting some marketing assistance to increase membership and attendance at meetings. The possibility of becoming a sponsor at the Mercer County Science Fair to increase exposure to high school students was discussed.
• Treasurer’s report. The current club balance is over $15K with 92 members. An increase of $2500 over last year.
• Michael Mitrano is now on the board of the Washington Crossing Park Association.
• The next topic was Electronic Assisted Astronomy. There was much discussion about the possible options. Using the newly donated scope or the refractor on the C-14. Which camera to buy and which software to use. It was finally narrowed down to two cameras, the Ultrastar and the Atik. Whichever camera we get will be mounted on the refracter that is mounted on the C-14. We may obtain a second camera use it for outreach and possibly on a portable scope during public nights. The board authorized Bill and Gene to get the best possible price on one of the two cameras at NEAF.
• Communiversity is April 29th, volunteers are needed to represent the club.
• A security system for the observatory is being researched and will be discussed at a future meeting.
• Rex will talk with the Park commissioner about getting some gravel on the roadways leading to the observatory and also repairing the gates.
• The focusing unit on the HB refractor is almost ready and will be ready for the public observing season.
• The meeting was adjourned.