26 August 2025 SLRA Meeting Minutes – Draft

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Attendees: (24) Chris Franklin, Charles Barnett, John Sullivan, Doug Probst, Mike Walsh, Chuck Meckfessel, Molly Meckfessel, Emma Meckfessel, John Buckley, Jason Garbus, Chris Lageman, Don Hanson, Larry Hileman, Dan Crank, John O’Neill, Dennis Tuchalski, Jessica Fox, John Hilker, Dave Pape, Keith Vinyard, Nina Fischer, Dan Welling, Lou Goldring, Rob Benton

Sunset Hills Bandana’s BBQ; 11750 Gravois Rd, Saint Louis, MO 63127

Called to order at 7:00

New Attendees:  None

Achievements and Contributions:

  • Nina Fischer achieved Level 2 over the summer (congratulations!)

24 June 2025 SLRA Meeting Minutes approved

Treasury Status

  • Current Balance $1,621.72
  • Deposits: $214.53 from PayPal for membership dues
  • Expenses: $305.00 for storage facility, donation to Elsberry (flooding).

SLRA Memberships Total = 2025 current total = 51.  (49 Senior/2 Junior Members)

New Members/First Meeting

Launch Reports:

  • None at this meeting (unless I missed something?)

Upcoming Launches

  • Elsberry HP Launch – Next Fall.  (Note: subsequent to the July meeting, excessive rainfall caused flooding in the Elsberry area.  The club is considering donating some financial help to the flood area.)
  • Buder Park Launch – September 27
  • Don Hanson noted that the Thunderstruck group (Pence, Indiana) will be hosting the next LDRS. 
  • Mo-Kan (South Greenfield, MO)  http://tripolimokan.org  They generally launch the third Saturday of every month during the flying season.  Time: 12:00 CST-17:00 CST

Dates: September 20, October 18

Old Business

  • Joel recommends going to Club Express (CE) as the location for SLRA website.  

The website would contain information regarding club activities and serve as a site for maintaining records of club activities (i.e. Meetings, launch events, membership.  Photos and videos would be posted and maintained on the SLRA Facebook Page.  Joel will be contacting a Club Express Representative to obtain information on pricing and the process for transitioning the SLRA website to Club Express.  Note: Joel was not able to be present at this meeting. 

  • GSLMA Status.  Doug Probst will be taking the reins on maintaining communication with Buder Park North Greater St. Louis Modeling Association members.  Nothing new on this item at this time. 
  • SLRA Support for Wash U/SLU Rocketry Teams.  No Interest expressed (possibly Jason Garbus?, or someone from CIA (Central Illinois Aerospace)? Note: Mike Walsh is not currently mentoring the teams.
  • SLRA Trailers
  •             * LP trailer presently at Don Hanson’s
  •             * HP trailer presently at Mike Walsh’s for maintenance work – a recent work day was held
  •             * Possibly put lights in the trailer
  •             * Roof damage on HP Trailer from hail storm
  •             * Once maintenance is complete, Mike will be taking it to the Storage rental location.
  • Possible additional launch site – World Wide Technology Raceway.  At this point, Doug is still wanting to have an in-person conversation with the site owner before scheduling a launch.  Also, their weekend calendar is essentially full currently. 
  • Box for the Buder Park launch fees?  (Note: $6 per day flying fees instituted recently.)  Thanks to Doug Probst for posting photos of the box on the SLRA website.  At least the ‘button pusher’ needs to be a NAR member and have Buder permit fees paid.  Club maintains attitude of making every attempt to comply with the Buder fees and NAR membership requirements.  (Note: The box for launch fees did not have any envelopes available at the 31 May launch for leaving payment for daily use.  Also – the grass at Buder Park was approximately a foot tall for the 31 May launch. Seems one of the mowers St. Louis County uses was down for repairs.)
  • Doug Probst mentioned the possibility of another launch site in Illinois – the YMCA located in Maryville.  They would be OK with using their soccer field for this purpose.  However, note that the use of an adjacent hay field will not be permitted by its owner.
  • Contact St. Louis County for reimbursement of permit fee for cancelled June launch? (sometime in the future)
  • Chris Franklin contacted St. Louis County, and NAR and Tripoli membership will be added as valid organizations, in addition to the AMA (Academy of Model Aeronautics) as eligible for use of Buder Park. 
  • There was considerable discussion about the situation with access to Buder Park and the insurance issue which recently occurred.  Briefly: on June 9, we were notified by St. Louis County Parks that additional language was required in our Certificate of Insurance.  The NAR insurance representative was unable to agree to the additional language.  Chris Franklin is going to contact someone at St. Louis County Parks over the next couple weeks to see if it can be determined that the required language is somewhat redundant and can be put aside, or possibly have a separate contract between SLRA and St. Louis County which includes the problematic language?
  • Doug Probst mentioned the Buder Park insurance issue at the last GSLMA Zoom meeting.  No one else had heard anything about this issue.  This is still the case as of this meeting. 
  • Let Mike Walsh know if you are interested in pursuing a level 3 certification.  There is some new paperwork involved with the process.  Best to start early!
  • Doug Probst mentioned the possibility of another launch site in Illinois – the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois.  They have a large field adjacent to the church.  An effort will be made to contact them for use of the site for future rocket launches.  John Buckley will contact Chuck Neff at the NAR for advice/information on making first contact with property owners.
  • It appears at this time that single users (airplane or rocket flyers) can have continued access to Buder Park, with their own AMA or NAR insurance and payment of park use fees ($6 per day).  Further contact with St. Louis County Parks will be made in the near future regarding group/club use of Buder Park.  There still may need to be a separate contract/agreement between St. Louis County Parks and St. Louis Rocketry to the effect that we would not have any adverse impact with regard to St. Louis County’s sovereign immunity.
  • Doug Probst mentioned another possible launch location – Collinsville Middle School.  They would probably want some type of STEM program input from the club for use of their space.
  • John Buckley noted that all NAR members should log onto the new NAR website and check their profile to be sure they are associated with the St. Louis Rocketry Association (Section #551).  This needs to be done manually by each user. 

New Business    

  • Results of the Tripoli Prefecture Election: Jason Garbus – Prefect; Dan Crank – Secretary.
  • Mike Walsh is resigning from the club board.  Chuck Meckfessel was nominated to the board to replace the open position.  Mike, thank you for your time and service to the club in this capacity.
  • Club trailer currently in Mike Walsh’s name.  The trailer will be going to Dave Pape’s location.  When trailer(s) moved, storage fees for them can be cancelled.
  • Missouri corporate report is due by August 31.  This was completed on August 1, 2025.  Note that Dan Crank is at this time still listed as Agent, due to the need to have someone with a Missouri address in this position.  This will be corrected at the next renewal in two years.
  • It was noted that there is nobody regularly monitoring the admin@stlouisrocketry.com email inbox.  The secretary will check the contents of this mailbox periodically.
  • A $250 donation from the club to Elsberry for flood assistance was made.  If anyone would like to make their own donation, please make checks payable to Elsberry Ministerial Alliance and mail to:  109 N. Fourth St., Elsberry, MO  63343.    
  • Dan Welling is wanting to transition out of the position of Liaison with the Elsberry landowner.  Jason Garbus is bringing up the possibility of having 2-day launches at Elsberry in the future.  This way, if Saturday of a launch weekend is rained out, the possibility of launching on Sunday would be available. 
  • Nina Fischer noted that they (Wash. U) haven’t found a mentor as yet.  She noted that the mentor would only need to be present for the Saturday/Sunday launch days in Alabama. 
  • Keith Vinyard brought an extensive collection of FAI contest rocket models to peruse.  These are extremely lightweight models, flying primarily on mini-A motors.  Keith and John Buckley will be conducting launches of these and similar models at Buder Park on Sunday, September 21, if anyone is interested.  It was quite interesting looking over the models. 

Adjourned 7:30 p.m.