From the President's Desk

The MPAOA is growing! We now have 99 members and the applications continue to come in. As time goes on we will grow stronger which will allow us to better achieve our goals of promoting, protecting and advancing the interests of private airstrip owners in Michigan. In addition to the pending legislation sponsored by State Representative Dave Agema, legislation designed to offer private airstrip owners some liability protection for their strip we are also working with Avemco Insurance Co. as they prepare a policy exclusively for MPAOA members whereby members can insure their runway(s) against liability. The annual premium will be very reasonable and affordable. As soon as Avemco informs us that the policy is available to our members we will let you know.

As previously mentioned both in my emails and also on our website we had a booth at the Great Lakes Aviation Conference at Eastern Michigan University on January 20^th and 21^st. MPAOA VP Ray Vander Roest, MPAOA Secretary John Trudeau, MPAOA member Gary Tokar and myself manned the booth and let me say that Ray, John and Gary did a magnificent job of promoting the MPAOA and answering questions posed by all of the people who stopped to visit. It was amazing, the number of people Ray, John and Gary knew, our booth was one of the busiest at the conference. We had many people stop to chat and so far we have gained two new members as a direct result of the booth. Brad Frederick, the Recreational Aviation Foundation’s Michigan State Liaison stopped at the booth. He and his son Ed are principals in the Prickett-Grooms Field (6Y9) in Sidnaw, MI in the UP. Brad has offered to work with us in whatever way he can. I invited him to attend one of our Board meetings to tell us about the RAF’s goals here in Michigan and also to answer any questions Board members may have about the RAF. We also were pleased to meet Bryan Budds, AOPA Regional Manager, Great Lakes Region who joined the MPAOA right there at the booth. Having Bryan as a member will be an asset when interaction with the AOPA is called for. All in all, the booth proved to be a major success for us, it was worth every penny of the cost. I want to thank Ray, John and Gary for making it the success that it was. Take a look at the picture of the booth here on the website.

I attended the Michigan Aeronautics Commission meeting in Lansing on January 25^th and at that meeting Linn Smith, MDOT Airspace & Airport Zoning Specialist gave a report on the wind turbine situation in Michigan. There are already many turbines in the State with many more scheduled to be installed. As everyone who flies knows the wind turbines pose a definite threat to aviation. I spoke with Linn after the meeting and told him about the concerns and fears that many of the private airstrip owners in Michigan have regarding this threat. Linn said to have any owners who have questions or are threatened by the windmill problem to call him directly and he will do what he can to assist them. Linn’s phone is 517 335-9949. He is located in the MDOT building at LAN.

In July we will have our Third Annual Meeting. At this meeting we will elect members to the Board of Directors. Seats on the Board are open to any active MPAOA member who is current in all financial obligations to the Association. Presiding Board members have the option of running for re-election. An email announcing the election will be sent to each active MPAOA member prior to the Annual Meeting. A letter will be sent to those members who do not have an email address. Included in the email and with the letter will be a Nomination Profile Form to be filled out by those who wish to run for the Board. The candidate is required to give personal information plus reasons why that person wishes to be on the Board. The letter will also include a Proxy Statement to be used when an active member cannot attend the meeting but wishes to give his voting right to another active MPAOA member who also is current in all financial obligations to the MPAOA and will be be present at the Annual Meeting. Our By-Laws allow voting via email so that will be an option. At an Annual Meeting at which voting takes place a quorum of 51% of the active MPAOA membership is required. The 51% includes those members present plus all email votes and proxy statements. We currently have 99 members so if the Annual Meeting was held now a quorum of 50 would be required. With this thought in mind it becomes even more important to have as many members as possible attend each meeting at which elections take place. Nomination Profiles will have to be returned by a specific date so they can be provided to all members prior to election day. This allows everyone to see who is running and gives information about each candidate. Ballots will be distributed at the Annual Meeting. Remember, any active MPAOA member who is current in all financial obligations to the Association is eligible to run for the Board.

Although it has been mentioned in previous communications I will mention it again here. Memberships come up for renewal at different times of the year. I send out reminder emails prior to each member’s expiration date giving the date on which that membership expires. When your renewal date comes up please send in your renewal check on time so that I don’t have to send additional reminders. Your timely response will be appreciated.

Our new Webmaster, John Chapman deserves a round of applause. He has given our website a new look and a new life. As time goes on we will continue to work with Webmaster John to update and improve www.mpaoa.org . Thank you John! By the way, any member who wishes to contribute to the website either with an article or by using  the comment page is welcome to do so. If you would like to show off your strip by all means send in some photos and write an article to go with the pix. We’d love to hear from you. Contact me at 248 960-7758 or zelconsult@gmail.com or contact Webmaster John Chapman at 269 383-2016 or airknocker46@yahoo.com.

That’s about it for now, don’t forget to top off the tanks.

Steve Zelle, President        

                                                                                                                                            President's Desk Archive - 2010, 2011