San Francisco Trains

Meeting Minutes of Mar. 12, 2008

1) Meeting called to order at 7:20PM

2) Present are Cris Hart, Vern Bruce and Thomas Beutel. Visitors present: Bob Swanson.

3) Meeting minutes of Dec 5, 2007 approved with following addendums:

Added bank balance
Edits to item 7D

(see [Meeting Minutes of Dec 5 2007] for details)

Motion to approve Dec 5, 2007 meeting minutes minutes by Cris, 2nd by Thomas. All approve.

Motion to approve Dec 20, 2007 conf call minutes minutes by Cris, 2nd by Thomas. All approve.

4) Correspondence

4A: SP 1564 Water Car transfer from CSRM to John Manly
4B: Bruce Moore / San Luis and Rio Grande possible transfer of selected CSRM cars

5) Public comments:

5A: There were no comments here, but offered comments in response to 7.A4 below. See also item 9.

6) Additional agenda items

None

Motion to accept agenda by Cris, 2nd by Vern. All approve

7) Reports:

A: Secretary report:

A1: Web visitors averaging 58 per day and trending up.
A2: Web visitors are finding our site with a variety of interesting search strings, such as "Bayshore Roundhouse", "Belt Line Railway", and "Ocean Shore Railway".
A3: Thomas made Basecamp project management tool available to Cris and others (Dave Varley, etc.) for the purpose of editing and maintaining documents, particularly relating to the preservation of the Bayshore Roundhouse.
A4: Thomas recommended adding Amazon affiliate links to several pages for additional income. Bob Swanson suggested the DVD "The Magic Backyard" (Amazon B000XXDWYA). Vern suggested the book "Train of Thought" (Amazon 1597020087) by Oliver Chin

B: Treasurer's report:

B1: Current bank balance is $385.08
B2: Books of deposit slips and checks are coming to Cris.
B3: Membership forms were given to Thomas for filing.
B4: Millbrae Lock donated "For Deopist Only" stamp and lock items
B5: Reported on Information returns for IRS and State
B6: Should we get a CPA?
B7: Cris asked about a template for a renewal letter. timing of renewal was discussed. It was agreed that membership dues coincide with fiscal year.
B8: Cris reported that SI-100 form was filed online.

C: President's report:

C1: Gave advice to David G. regarding paint job of State Belt Engines #23 and #25 (currently operated by SF Bay Railway) C2: Received advice from Al Depolo for State Belt #4. Procured low rail and signal boxes for storage at no cost. C3: Regarding the Bayshore Roundhouse, Dave Varley is writing documents about the roundhouse. Universal Paragon has not yet settled with Ingersol Rand, which affects when we have to move the #4. Found plans to the roundhouse. Need to find structural engineer for discussion of earthquake remediation. Vern offered that Jim Prettyleaf might be a structural engineer. There will be a meeting with Brisbane City Hall/Randy? regarding the EIR process.

D: Agenda Items:

D1: SP 1564 water car: Cris viewed water car. John Manly is organizing trucking and insurance. Trucking needs to insure us as well before move.
D2: Bruce Moore / San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad contacted us regarding the possibility of moving some historical freight cars that may/will be scrapped at CSRM. CSRM is losing storage room and needs to get de-assess some items in their collection. Cris sent email to Kyle Wyatt of CSRM asking specific car #'s and availability of cars. Vern mentions that taxes may be a concern, Thomas' concern is liability. Cris is concerned about ongoing reputation with CSRM.

8) Review of action items

8A: Cris: SP 1564 is an ongoing open item
8B: Thomas to find and post Zoo train page on website
8C: Thomas to double check the functionality of the donate button
8D: Secretary (Thomas) to store membership forms
8E: Thomas to make a list of member join dates (Filemaker)
8F: Cris to review Tim Casselman's offer of solar train
8G: Cris to continue possible activity with Bruce Moore / San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad

9) Public Comments

9A: There was a general discussion of the Zoo train, and a suggestion was made (by ???) that we should post a Zoo train page and consider the possibility sponsoring of a Zoo train club as a means to increase the interest of trains among kids.

10) June 4, 2008 is next meeting

11) Motion to adjourn by Cris, 2nd by Vern. Meeting was adjourned at 9:07PM.