Sylmar Hang Gliding Association

The USHPA Board of Directors meeting was held in Newburgh NY on October 18, 19, 20. Most of the committee reports were updates on how various tasks are going. There were only a few contentious issues that were discussed and voted on. I will present them here. The rest you can review when the USHPA office publishes the meeting minutes.

The BoD follows Roberts Rules of Order at a meeting. A motion is made, seconded, discussed and put up for vote. The chairman announces how the vote will be made: by voice, by show of hands (with or without counting), by roll call, or by secret ballot. At any time a director can make a motion as to how the vote will be made. That motion is resolved before the vote on the original motion is made. For example a director can make a motion to have a roll call vote.

A motion was made saying the above, essentially affirming that we follow Roberts Rules of Order. A yes vote means that Roberts Rules of Order are affirmed. A no vote means that nothing changes, that is we continue to follow Roberts Rules of Order. I voted yes, the motion was defeated. Just to be complete, no one wanted to over ride Roberts Rules of Order, for example by requiring that every vote be a roll call vote.

A motion was made that would require the secretary to keep track of who left the room. When a vote was made the secretary would record abstentions AND absences. This motion was defeated. I voted no.

The big discussion was related to insurance. We all did a great job completing the Risk Mitigation plans for our flying sites. The insurance company was pleased to see that. However our insurance premiums have still gone up substantially. USHPA has dipped into the cash reserves to pay the additional premium for this year. However, we the members must pay more in dues to cover future years. A motion was made to increase dues by $24, raising pilots dues from $75 to $99. This covers the insurance premium increase and the increase in other costs due to inflation since the last dues increase. Some directors suggested we increase the dues in steps, $15 now, $5 next year, and $5 the following year. The motion to increase dues all at once was voted on with a roll call vote. It passed with a handful of directors voting no. I voted yes.

A more detailed presentation of the insurance premium cost will be prepared by the Treasurer. It will be in the magazine of by e-mail or both.

Bill Helliwell

How come I'm not surprised?

Same Leadership - Same Old Shit!

The USPHA Leadership makes belonging to that organization an embarrassment.

For anyone interested in a more detailed disection of Bill's posting - go to the CSS website - there Bob (being his usual self) calls it like he sees it.