The SSCC board met on February 22, 2018.  Fourteen board members and one visitor were in attendance.

For a list of the officers and committee members that comprise the Board, see the following: 2017-2018 Officers and Committee Chairs

Committee Chairs and Other Reports:

Treasurer:  There are 3 new members since the last report, giving a total of 89 members, 25 of whom are new.  There is a projected profit in the operating account.  The cost of liability insurance $668 can be covered in the current budget.

There was a motion to obtain liability insurance up to a cost of $700 for the next club year; it passed by a vote of 12-2.  There was a discussion that voluntary contributions from board members would be solicited to help defray the costs.

Programming: Renee reported we have speakers and judges through the end of the year.
There are still no judges for the portfolio review; three are being sought. Renee is assisting Tanya in finding judges. There was a discussion of whether a fee should be charged to take part. It was generally supported that a fee of $5 for members and $15 for nonmembers could be charged if the judges charge us.

There was a discussion of the issue that some clubs get judges for free, and whether we should pay less than $75; this will be discussed at a future meeting.

Field Trips: We need the writeup for the Fells Point trip and we are adding a FONZ trip (the National Zoo) in April.

Website: No report.

Cable Release: Dennis is working on a redesign to make the newsletter more attractive, better organized, and easier to navigate.  PSA has an upcoming newsletter competition.  

Nominations: No report. Need to review the board positions.

Competition: The extra projector was brought up since we now have a storage cabinet. We are unsure of where it is – check with Andrew.

Membership: Michael shared his findings on using a merchant account for on-line payments. The Square had the best price for hardware and percentage of sales using PayPal which also had a charge. Phil will donate an iPhone and Michael will look into setting up the account to save money to collect funds for membership and field trips where nonmembers attend.

Honor Fund: No report.

PSA: Pete will submit the Cable Release to PSA’s newsletter competition.

Maryland Photo Alliance: Michael reported that they are developing a Judging Program that will train judges, who will then work for free.

The photo exhibit at Annapolis State House will be up until April 20th.

Year-End Event: The event will be held on June 14th. We will pick up the print submissions at the May competition on May 10th. The judging will be one week later and the certificates are to be printed by May 17th.

Tanya will begin looking for the judge. Membership is to start looking for door prizes.

There was a discussion of door prizes and raffle prizes, including whether to have them and how to distribute raffle prizes. It was decided to keep them to maintain the relationship with our sponsors. Bruce and Renee will help solicit the door prizes.

Main Topics for Discussion:

Constitution Review: The process of reviewing the proposed changes to the Constitution began tonight and will continue the next board meeting. The board reviewed and approved proposed changes, and is about 70% complete.

Liability Insurance: See above.

Zed’s Coffee House: Gene reported that they were willing to show SSCC work; Gene and Phil will check it out over the holidays – No report.

Projector: see above.

Membership Anniversary: Catherine will prepare certificates for the Year-End Event for milestone years of membership.

E-blasts: There was discussion of the links not working and creating a new template. Dennis volunteered to fix the link problem. Mark and Dennis will look into the new template. – no report.