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Meeting Minutes for Aug 21 Meeting

1. Attendance was up nicely with 12 individuals making this meeting – a 50% increase over the 8 people that attended the July meeting. Three participants were making their first meeting.

2. Discussion began with the tournament. Potential liability issues were raised, Paula Emond shared her experience with JCAA, which has given a lot of consideration to liability issues. Suggestion was to scale the tournament down to an intraclub event only. Need more discussion on this topic further, we may need to rethink this topic. Officers will discuss topic in follow-up meeting slated for late August.

3. A discussion took place regarding splitting of expenses on trips, what the legal ramifications of doing this were. The conclusion was drawn that it is in appropriate for Club bylaws to address this topic, and that it is something that is up to the discretion of each captain and his crew. Suggestion came up to insert some verbiage into the member application to this extent, which we will may consider.

   A side note from some research Al did on this topic a few months back. The following passages seem to indicate that sharing expenses do not constitute consideration for taking a "passenger for hire."

   The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 46 Chapter 21 was revised in 1993 by Congressional bill H.R.2150 to read as follows, so prior to that time, the definition in clause 5a did not exist -- and the interpretation of “passenger for hire” was less well defined with regard to cost sharing.

   (21a) ''passenger for hire'' means a passenger for whom consideration is contributed as a condition of carriage on the vessel, whether directly or indirectly flowing to the owner, charterer, operator, agent, or any other person having an interest in the vessel.

   (5a) ''consideration'' means an economic benefit, inducement, right, or profit including pecuniary payment accruing to an individual, person, or entity, but not including a voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of the voyage, by monetary contribution or donation of fuel, food, beverage, or other supplies. URL for more info is here.

4. Budget discussion presentation by Russ Walton. Presented budget scenarios for 20/40/60 members. Shirt idea was well received, most (but not all) members say it has to be a t-shirt, with a pocket. Discuss goal of aiming toward a non-profit status. Russ suggested that we develop a charitable cause, contribute to Reef Fund, etc. Budget target is for 40-60 members. Final conclusion, is the seventy dollar fee too much? Consensus was that a one hundred dollar fee is reasonable, but several members voiced concerns that it may be premature to charge membership fees for a club still in early evolution stages.

5. Steve London knows of a club that offers a free seminar/equipment sale every year, which is a huge revenue generator for the club. Suggested that we consider developing an event with a format where we could generate significant revenue to fund operations as a possible alternative to member fees. Suggestion also was made to resell videotapes of some of our most popular presentations. Some members questioned whether we should be worrying about the budget, fundraising, etc., before building the momentum of the club itself. Meeting bogged down on discussion of this point. Suggestion also was made for us to collect a partial fee, then collect more money further down the road.

6. Some interesting discussion points came out to increase the monthly interest for the club's activities, including:
   • Monthly skillful angler awards

   • "Fish of the month" programs

7. Brief vote on the venue for the Sept. meeting indicated the proposed "emergency medicine at sea" was a big draw. Al will work on lining up speaker.

8. The lure rigging presentation and workshop delivered by Capt. John Berenato and Capt. Scott Martindell was a huge success! All the attendees took away some real valuable tips from the session. Matt Harnick videotaped the seminar, and that will be the first tape for our educational library. This event was so popular, we are already discussing re-running this seminar during the Winter months in an expanded format, with a significant amount of hands-on time for individuals to rig some of their own tackle.

   A special note, PJSA would like to thank John and Scott for doing a great job on this educational venue!