Dudley Observatory Board of Trustees
Dudley Board Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2007

Members present: Harvey Patashnick, Dan Wulff, Sam Wait, Ray Bogucki, Janie Schwab, Ellen Fladger, Lucy Comly, Jim Comly, Heidi Newberg, Mary Crone Odekon, Jean Sheviak.
Members absent: Alan French, Sue French, Becky Koopmann, Brian Mercy, Steve Russo, Cherrice Traver

 
The meeting was called to order at 7:25 PM. The minutes of July 16, 2007, were moved (Sam Wait), seconded (Jim Comly) and accepted unanimously.

Old Business

Harvey Patashnick, President, opened the discussion on the possible future affiliation with the University at Albany (UA). He reviewed the discussions on the future of Dudley held over the past several years. These included gifting an endowed Dudley chair at Union College, affiliation with the city of Troy, UA association, and retaining the status quo with an emphasis on education.  With an earlier Board decision not to close Dudley by gifting a chair at Union, Harvey joined the Board as President to pursue the UA option. The MOU was expanded to cover 10 years with a gift of $30,000 per year to UA to cover scholarships ($20K), telescope upgrades ($5K), books ($2K) and overhead ($1.5K). The UA would provide office space, secure library storage, telescope naming rights, telescope usage, and scholarships in perpetuity. Harvey noted that the proposal should be judged by the Board in terms of who we are, where we wish to go and how we expect to grow both in visibility and in funding. The discussion purpose was to determine whether or not to pursue the MOU with the UA legal department as the next stage of negotiations. The pros and cons of the potential move to UA were discussed in detail by the Board. Realizing that there was no unanimous support for the move and recognizing that a split vote might cause dissension among members, Harvey chose to terminate both the discussion and the option to move without taking a vote by the Board.

Sam Wait, reporting for the Nominating Committee, presented the following two candidates for Board membership.  Vince Amodeo is a teacher with a Master’s Degree, is pursuing a Ph.D. and has a letter of recommendation from the Tech Valley principal.  Sam, Jim and Harvey have met with Vince who has agreed to work on program development. Sam moved and Janie seconded a motion to accept Vince as a board member; the motion was carried unanimously. Robert Ward has a background in public policy, finance and government finance. Sam moved and Heidi seconded the motion to accept Robert on the board. The motion was carried unanimously.

Dan Wulff, reporting for Alan French for the Education Committee, stated that all of the eight new Rising Stars (out of twenty total) have their telescopes. Attendance has been good. A $1,000 grant was awarded to the Scotia Children’s Museum. Stardate funding will not be renewed because the announcement is given at a time when few people are listening (5:06 AM). In the past the grant totaled $2000 for a daily 12:30 PM slot; for this slot $3100 is now required and negotiations have been difficult. There are no statistics on the audiences.

Jim Comly, reporting for the Finance Committee, noted that expenses are in line with the budget. The endowment restricted funds have been moved to unrestricted. The endowment has been going up in value better than the benchmarks. The cash fund has been building up; some will be transferred back to the investments after the gala. The audit report is fine. Jim moved and Heidi Newberg seconded the motion to adopt the budget; the motion was carried unanimously.

Janie Schwab, presenting the Executive Director’s report, noted that a person is needed to take charge of the Ralph Alpher Fund to discuss with potential donors. Keith Swaney has compiled an extensive bibliography of Ralph. Ron Barnell, a member of the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers, is working on the proposed restoration of the Pruyn telescope lens.

Janie Schwab reported on the gala planning progress. She noted that there are many items for the silent auction but we need more corporate sponsors. Following dinner, Dava Sobel will give a lecture entitled “And the Earth Stood Still - Copernicus to Galileo” at Union on Thursday, November 15, with a book signing afterwards. Jean Sheviak will be host for Dava Sobel. Jim Comly, Board representative to the gala committee, noted that the gala team is a powerful group that should be kept together for future events.

Harvey concluded the Board meeting with the note that he would not accept nomination for President in January.  He noted that his out-of-town commitments and the need for someone who can work on a committee basis are key issues in his decision.

There was no new business. The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 PM. The next Board meeting has not been scheduled.

Respectfully submitted,
Lucy T. Comly, Executive Secretary