MFIGHT43

Hello all,

I am wondering if there are any flying fields in the AMA network as not really a club, but as a flying site and the "leadership" is actually a management group to keep it available and maintained? The reason I ask is the club I am in has an extremely low interest in social activities and simply just want access to the field to fly. We have only 50 members and maybe 10 are active in any social type things (all retirees). Meetings sometimes only have 3 people at them, and they are Board members!

The possibility of having someone run a social group within and simply use the facility has been raised, like maybe a Tuesday retiree social group. But the "Board" would only be responsible for maintaining the facility. This would allow the Board to make more "business" decisions and allocate funds as needed without a full "club membership" vote. Kinda like an HOA or management group.

I do realize that is not aligned with the AMA's mission, which is more orientated towards social activities and advancement of the hobby.

Just curious...

tedsander

Requirements for an AMA Club Charter are very minimal. Write your by-laws to suit the kind of organization you want. Define your recreational activity to be as minimal as you want.
AMA will ask for a membership roster, with current AMA number, as part of the charter process. Note that not all members must be AMA, but they likely will not be covered under the Club insurance.
The rest is between your group, the IRS, and your State/City as far as taxes, earnings, non-profit status, etc. - the AMA doesn't care.

From the AMA web site:
Minimum requirements for chartering a club.
 You need five (5) or more current AMA members.
 At least three (3) members must be 19 years or older and willing to serve as club officers1, one (1) of them being the club Safety Coordinator2.
 The majority of your club activities must relate to recreational and/or competitive modeling, and its organizational operation must be local (e.g., city, town, county, etc.)
as opposed to a regional or national level.
 You must provide a current set of your club bylaws.
 You must provide latitude/longitude information for your modeling site(s). All of your club members actively participating in modeling activity are required to be AMA members.
The annual fee to charter a club is $40. After it is chartered, your club will receive a certificate as proof of its chartered status with AMA. The club charter year starts on March 31.This runs concurrently with the dates of the liability insurance coverage, which is provided at no extra cost as a benefit to the club and the club officers.
AMA sends a charter renewal reminder in late December to all current clubs!

rgburrill

I think most of us join a club to fly. And since the number of clubs seems to be going down and getting further apart, even club meeting are poorly attended. Any socialization occurs at the field.

carlgrover

We set up our club bylaws to say that any voting taking place is by whoever shows up at the club meeting. So if out of 40 guys only 3 show up and they vote on something, anything, that's what gets passed. We do always have all of our officers at meetings though. We used to have a rule that if we didn't have a quorum present at the meeting, no voting could take place. I got sick of hearing that, so we changed our bylaws.

I would not trust the running of the club to anyone other than the actual members. If the ones showing up at meetings started doing something crazy, the others could come to subsequent meetings and fix it.

Its happened.

carl

rgburrill

I was at a club that had its monthly meetings at the flying field on a Saturday.

MFIGHT43

Think of it this way, by paying the "dues" you are merely paying an annual fee for access to the field. That way you are not entitled to any "rights", you are merely paying to use the facility. But that way you are not expected to help out either, all upkeep and maintenance is the Boards responsibility. The Board sets the fee price to cover all that and you get guilt free access to the flying field. There are MANY things that operate this way, sports facilities, tracks, etc. This would simplify the relationship between the user and the Board.

We already have a "zero minimum" quorum in our by laws, and we hold meetings on Saturdays at the field during good weather. Neither make any difference.

bolar

My Feedback: (5)

Do you really have to have the full membership to vote on an item? That sounds exhausting. You already have a charter, so you should have By-Laws. All you really need to do is change your By-Laws. Something like: X number of people to establish a quorum. That way the people who show up for meetings are running the club. Keep it simple.