CONSTITUTION & BYLAWS CHANGE - A proposal to make changes to our Charter Documents was introduced at the January General Meeting. The proposed changes were discussed and voted upon at the April meeting. Unfortunately I was not in the best of health at that meeting and I apparently was not operating very efficiently. After a lengthy discussion the vote on the changes was taken with a result of 12 votes for and 11 against. In my stupor I declared that the changes had passed. It was only after I was home and back in bed that I remembered a change to the Constitution requires a 2/3 approval vote. The bottom line is that the proposed changes did not pass. I'm sorry for the confusion.

AND THERE WAS MORE - The mistake above was not my only one that day (beyond trying to run a meeting when I didn't even have a voice). The 219 MHz Coordination Board has had a vacant seat (at least one) for some time. When KG6GI (the minutes have a callsign error) was nominated to fill the seat I was apparently so elated that I didn't stop to see if he met the minimum membership qualification requirements. He didn't, and he has since been informed that he can run (volunteer) again in July when he does. [I find it interesting that no one called me on either of these goofs.]

SECOND QUARTER MEETING ATTENDANCE - Our "out of town" second and fourth quarter meetings are sometimes not very well attended, although the dedicated membership seems to show up no matter where we hold our meetings. I was very pleased to see a well above average showing in Agoura in April, and hope that is portends stronger participation in the future. No doubt the proposed Constitution and Bylaws changes helped spur interest, but it is significant to note that our membership is up significantly also. An important trend which should be highlighted is that more and more of our membership is being drawn from some of the "minority" segments of our community. This is long overdue, and I am glad to see it happening.

ON-LINE REQUEST FOR COORDINATION FORMS - Remember, the 220SMA RFC is now available on-line at our Web page <http://www.220sma.org>. Look for the Forms link on the Home page.

COORDINATION BOARD ACTIVITY - Perusal of the Coordination Board Reports on the Web Page (or printed in this Newsletter) will clearly indicate that the periodic review of Coordinations mandated a while back is now in full swing. The Board has their plate full with collecting and reviewing Coordination Updates being submitted in conjunction with this effort. I wish to express my appreciation to the many system owners who have promptly and courteously complied with the requests from the Coordination Board. I strongly encourage those who have yet to comply, to do so as soon as possible. If you need more time then let the Coordination Board know, but do not ignore the Update Requests. Your Coordination depends upon you keeping the Association informed of your ownership and operating parameters. Many significant coordination differences have been identified and new coordination opportunities are being identified.

I also want to say a public Thank You to the members of the 222 MHz Coordination Board. This is a very difficult and thankless task and they appear to be doing a very good job. If any system owners are having a problem with this activity I encourage you to contact me and share your concerns. The ultimate purpose of this review is to ensure that the 220SMA is doing the best job of Repeater Coordination it can.

I am continuing to spend a significant amount of time out of Southern California, but I am always available for questions via email, and would certainly like to hear from those with any ideas for improving the Association. I'll see you in Burbank.

Jim Fortney, K6IYK Jim@Fortney.com P.O. Box 3419, Camarillo, CA 93011-3419 805-491-3916