OPTU Board Meeting
January 27, 2010
Viscount Inns, East Broadway

Attending:
Lauren Lucas
Steve Koktavy
Mike Mehrer
Roger McKee
Clay Hernandez
Mick Fletcher
Stan Vanagunas
Steve Reiter
Colin Cotter

Roger Mckee, President, called the meeting to order at approximately 6:00PM

The Banquet:
Roger will carry out the traditional presidential function of MC
Mick is working on obtaining a new OPTU Banner.
Clay will check on the location of the buckets, the bucket tickets and general
paraphernalia.
Board members and willing others should show up at about 3:00pm for set-up on the
day of the event
Lauren reported that about 67 banquet tickets have been sold or committed. 450 hard
copy flyers have been sent out to the members.
Jay and Clay will contact the Auctioneer.
Lauren delivered the presentation book to Jay Elliott for his fund raising work.
Lauren will contact John Murphy to request donation of a personalized Apple/mac book
as an auction item.
Lauren suggested we need to obtain more trips for the auction. She will also ask J.
Murphy to prepare a powerpoint presentation for the banquet.

Budget
Mike moved to create a standing budget committee. Clay seconded the motion. After
discussion Mike volunteered to chair the committee and Lauren and Clay volunteered to
be permanent members. It was agreed that the committee would prepare a budget and
annual plan as soon as possible, preferably before the AZ budget and National Health
Care plans are approved. Approval of the standing committee was approved
unanimously.

Bank Account changes
John Singley moved to change the signatories on the OPTU bank accounts, deleting
the Former president’s name, Clay Hernandez, and adding the new president, Roger
McKee and Vice President, George (Mike) W. Mehrer. Mick Fletcher seconded the
motion. After brief discussion the vote was called for by the president and the motion
was approved unanimously.

Recruitment of new Officers
Roger noted that in the spirit of healthy and broad involvement of the membership in
OPTU business and management, both the Treasurer and Secretary have announced
their desire to resign. Board members should seek replacements. Several names were
mentioned and will be contacted.

Membership Involvement
Roger called to the attention of the board the lively responses to his monthly newsletter
editorial calling for ideas to increase membership involvement. Several themes/ideas
evolved during the discussion that followed
- Should conservation or fishing be the lead theme of meetings and activities? Since TU
goals are clearly conservation based how should fishing trips and presentations be
used to create an attractive and balanced mix? Some argued that fly fishing is a
universal interest but that commitment to conservation of fisheries is a natural by
product and there is no inherent conflict between the two. Most seemed to be in
agreement. Some argued that fishing trips and activities should to be the catalyst to
develop fellowship among members. Conservation becomes a critical and natural
spin-off. Some comments were heard regarding the need to refresh the work-day
conservation projects. Crayfish collection is getting old.
- What can be done about low meeting and work-day attendance? Some letters to
Roger as a result of his editorial suggested that a more central meeting location might
help attendance. Some argued that a restaurant location would be a more attractive
meeting location. Others noted that they had attended meetings but had not been
made to feel welcome so they did not return. Roger said that he would continue is
request for member input in the next newsletter. Mike noted that he had picked up
several relevant ideas from leadership information on the TU website. Urban chapters
often have a more difficult time maintaining membership interest than do rural chapters
which are near the water and conservation project locations. Sometimes partnering
between two such can be of mutual benefit. Mike also noted that of the almost 500
OPTU members about 195 had e-mail addresses and of those over 170 were in
Tucson. Because, these people are easily reached by email and close by they might
be considered the A list to target for more active involvement in the chapter. He said
TU also urges monthly meetings should have agendas that combine business, fun and
information. Membership should be active in the meetings, not just passive.
The question was tabled for further attention at the next meeting.

With no additional matters to consider Roger moved to close the meeting. The motion
was approved unanimously at 7:20PM

Respectfully submitted by Mike Mehrer, Secy.