CTARS Official BOD Nominees - Please read!!!

chriskid · Oct 26, 2014

Nominations for BOD members have officially closed. This year elections will be for the following:

President:
Chris Messier (chriskid)

Vice President:
Jason Clark (Vaiodude)
Ron Godin (Suicideissleep)
Nichole Buchannan (SassAwrasse)

Secretary:
Melissa Messier (Munchie1976)

Treasurer:
Amy Clark (AquaMama)

Starting November 2nd through November 15th members will be able to vote. Because of the new webpage, and because we were unable to reach the person who was supposed to set up a code on our site, a different, safe & secure ballot has been set up. However, everyone's email is needed for this to happen! Melissa will need everyone to sign up on the site so that she can properly register you on the voting site and you will receive an e-mail to vote when the time starts. You will receive additional emails throughout the voting if you do not vote to remind you to please vote for the candidates running. This is VERY important!!!

Please log into CTARS.org right away and register if you have not!!! This could take a few days for the system to register you so do not wait until the last minute to do this!!!!

Thanks everyone & good luck to all the nominees

At this point, if any of the nominees would like to talk about/discuss their visions for next year, please feel free!

Vaiodude · Oct 26, 2014

First of all I just want to say that I am really glad that I was nominated to be Vice President of this fine club. For those of you who may not know me, my name is Jason Clark and I live in Bristol with my lovely wife (AquaMama13) and my two daughters Elizabeth and Samantha. I have been keeping aquariums ever since I was 10 years old and have experience in freshwater, brackish, saltwater reef, as well as our latest addition, Axolotls. Fortunately both my wife and daughters are just as much in love with this hobby as I am and we currently have 4 tanks up and running.

I have been a member of CTARS since 2013 and have really enjoyed my membership. My wife and I have been to most of the meetings during the last two years and I would like to step it up and be an actively contributing member of the BOD. With my experience I bring along from my work as a Site Operations Manager for a global company I feel that I could be an asset to the club. I am used to working on short and long term team and individual projects where timelines are extremely important. These projects are also completed with fiscal budgets in mind. Also I am accustomed to facilitating meetings and public speaking. I feel these skills will translate well to the CTARS BOD to provide an organized and enjoyable membership experience for our members.

I feel that the current BOD has done a phenomenal job in 2014 and has made some great changes in how the club operates. I would like to continue this momentum and I feel that I have some great ideas to gain more member participation and overall enjoyment.

Ideas I would like to implement if voted Vice President:

I would have a minimum of 3 months future meetings outlined with the date, time, and topic that would be available to the members. This will allow members to plan to be available. Meetings should continue to be planned in different parts of the state and some different meeting times would allow for more members to attend and contribute.

I think the raffle process needs to be refined and streamlined. I believe that all raffles should have separate cups for each prize so that not only do people win something they actually want, but the raffle process will flow much more smoothly.

I also would like to do more for new paying members of the club. Letâ€™s face it some people are just starting out in the hobby and it is an expensive one to boot! I would rally members of the club to round up frags for any new member that has confirmed that they were coming to a meeting. I think this would be an awesome way to be initiated into our club!

I would continue to build relationships with the LFS. I would work with LFS to provide CTARS club member discounts, incentives and events.

I would appoint and facilitate a member to run the tank of the month and or picture of the month program. This really must be done on a consistent basis to keep things interesting. All levels of experience would be showcased as well.

Meeting ideas:

Coral Fragging meetings once or twice a year where members can bring in their own coral to frag and trade with other members. Many members may have pieces of coral that are outgrowing their tank and could bring it to these meetings and have someone who is experienced show them hands-on how to frag it. Fragged pieces could then be traded amongst members.

Tank â€œShow and Tellâ€ meeting â€“ Members could sign up to do a virtual show and tell of their tank setup via pictures and build stories. Q&A would be fun as well

Have a family orientated meeting where all members are encouraged to bring their kids, grandkids, etc. There could be kid oriented activities, considering the meetings are commonly held at the Lutz that is a great start.

I would also like to have some meetings that donâ€™t have any particular topic. We could have a pot luck style meeting where we just have some good food and talk reef. Meeting with topics are fun, but sometime all we want to do is socialize.

Last but not least of my ideas I think it would be nice to have one meeting during the year that is dedicated to giving back to the reefing hobby. Basically all proceeds generated from the raffles that meeting would be donated to a reef hobby oriented charity such as the PIJAC Marine Ornamental Defense Fund.

Sorry if this was long windedâ€¦..I have a lot of ideas that I am excited about and would love to bring to reality if voted as VP of CTARS.

Thanks for reading and Happy

AquaMama13 · Oct 27, 2014

Thank you the nomination as treasurer. With my years of working in a bank as an ACH processor and processing new checking and savings accounts, as well as excelling in accounting in high school and lots of years as balancing cash drawers for several different retail jobs, I feel like I have enough knowledge to be this clubs treasurer. It would be an honor to work with the BOD and all the members in this awesome club! Thank you again!

sassAwrasse · Oct 27, 2014

Most of you know me, but for those who don't, my name is Nichole.

I was introduced to this hobby by my wonderful boyfriend Mike (Captc07). Early on in our relationship, he had taken me to a few fish stores here and there. He had told me stories about the tank he used to have years before when he lived in Florida. Tried teaching me about some of the characteristics of the fish. We talked about having a tank in the future. Fast forward a few more years and we're living together. Our housemate moved out, and we were now talking about getting a tank. In February 2012, around the time of Superbowl, Capt had an awful fall that broke 3 bones in his leg. When we discovered that he needed 2 surgeries and a 6 month recovery time, that sealed the deal for us buying a tank we had been looking at on Craigslist. He wanted something nice to look at and relax with while stuck at home all day every day. I agreed, and we got our first tank. While he had to stay off of his feet, I had to do all maintenance on the tanks, but also aquascaping and fish/coral shopping too. I think that put my love for the hobby into overdrive..LOL. A few months later we had another tank...then a few months later we had another tank...and eventually our clownfish room. It is true what they say; you will always want to go bigger.

We attended CMAC 2012. We had a lot of fun and made out like bandits with the raffle (Newbie Luck..LOL). Even though the weather prevented a lot of people from attending, we thought it was awesome. Made us want to join the club even more…Get to know everyone..Be a part of it all.

Capt and I had been lurking on the boards for a little while, and I introduced myself on the forum in November 2012, my first meeting was the Christmas party, and Capt and I signed up for the club at the Puppy Center After Hours Event shortly after that time.

Since joining, I have been very active on the forum as well as at meetings. I have been to almost every meeting since we joined (with the exception of a few this Spring/early Summer).

I’ve met tons of like-minded individuals, gained knowledge, and had fun participating in the various activities. I have wanted nothing other than to participate and help the club out in any way I can. When Eric asked me (around September/October 2013) to help out with public relations, I was honored and excited to help. I was welcomed by the previous board (Jeff, Mike, Dave, and Eric). I let them know my thoughts and we shared opinions. During the brief time I was helping the board out, I organized the Fragging Demo, a CTARS weekend sale with Exotic Fish & Corals, the Behind-the-Scenes Mystic Trip, and created a fun game for the December Holiday Party. I had done a bunch of research on bus prices for a possible trip to Long Island or Brooklyn Aquariums. Before the Fragging Demo & before Joe started there, I was working with Andrew (the manager at APC in Wallingford) to get a CTARS discounting program going. This was how the CTARS Fish/Coral ONLY $24.99 membership was born. I built a good rapport with local fish store owners. And as such, was asked to post Black Friday sales (and a few others) for Aquatic Wildlife by Derek, Exotic Fish & Corals by Bob, and APC by Joe.

I feel the club has had some great changes this past year. Regardless of the election outcome, I am excited for things to come. Having said that, I do feel that I can make a big impact..bringing my hard work, energy, and enthusiasm to the table.

Things that I would like to see and ideas that I have:

(1) Recruiting/Building Membership

The idea was to partner up with a store and set up a table for the day advertising CTARS and talking saltwater/reef with people. Meet some new faces and get the word about the club out there. It would’ve been perfect with APC, and I had discussed it briefly with Andrew (Manager at APC Wallingford), since they also have a membership. We could’ve partnered up gaining new members, held cross events for both clubs, helped advertise for one another.

We could ask for different volunteers each recruiting day. (Let’s say a 4 hour shift should suffice for the day?) They can either set up a table, near the door or fish area. Each time we could have a few different topics to talk about (flow, lighting, corals, fish, chemistry, photography, aquascaping, etc). The volunteers would need to be able to educate new comers on that day’s topic(s) as well as give a good overview of the club and what we’re all about. It would be ideal to sign up new members on the spot (maybe offer an incentive with sign up…free raffle ticket at your first meeting? $5 off membership..Or I’m open to any suggestions). (If done at APC I would ask APC to have a dedicated representative to sell their Aquatic Membership as an accompaniment to the CTARS membership.)

This doesn’t have to be limited to APC as I’m sure there are other stores that would be open to it. And recruiting wouldn’t need to be limited to this activity either.

(2) Club Member Involvement/Engagement

It has often been discussed that there are a lot of members that don’t come to meetings and/or don’t post on the forums. Let’s give them more reasons to. Let’s keep the Photo of the Month and Tank of the Month going consistently. Let’s utilize our private forum to the best of it’s abilities. Let’s get updated sales from the sponsors on our forum, and keep them engaged in the club as well. Let’s post more club sponsored discussions and contests. There need not always be a prize at the end of the tunnel. More activities like the grow-out competition, doing a March Madness Saltwater Fish bracket, Instead of a Pub Crawl…Organize a Tank Tour of sorts for the day with several member tanks along a designated route with refreshments and reef chat at each stop, Create fun games like a reef scavenger hunt/amazing race type game that involves the Local Fish Stores as well, carpool/roadtrips to out of state fish stores with a stop for some good grub along the way. These activities can be in addition to the meetings, and I feel would add another level of fun to the club.

(3) Local Fish Store Engagement

There are a lot of stores in our area that are a part of the club, and there are some that would like to be a more active part of our club. Maybe working with the store(s) on a punch card…something similar to those coffee cards where you buy 10 and get a free one. Get “X” amount of punches from a store (or maybe it’s a club card where you can get punches from multiple stores..who knows), and get a free frag at the meeting or a few free raffle tickets or maybe the store itself will offer something free after qualifying purchases have been met.

I don’t think we necessarily need to do more “events” at stores more often, but maybe partner up with a different store each month for a “sale item” or special sale percentage during a certain time.

We were doing things with Affordable Aquatics at one point, things like that would be great, but sharing the love around with all the stores.

(4) Group Buys

I think club sponsored group buys would be an awesome idea. This would be another great way to involve our LFS as well. Let’s partner up with our LFS to do bulk/group buys on dry goods , CUC , etc. Things like those mesh filter socks, SALT, frozen food, anything the club desires and we can make happen.

(5) Public Relations Committee

I had proposed to the previous board that a committee be created for this. One person to lead it and communicate with the B.O.D. and a few others to help with activities, outreach, and brainstorming ideas/events/etc.
The current board has put in a lot of time and effort, and it is greatly appreciated. Let’s get some others involved that can take some of the work off of the Board’s shoulders. The Board shouldn’t have to do it all.

(6) Lutz Tank and Committee

When I joined the club the Lutz tank was a disaster. Ron took it on and got the ball rolling. Donations were made, money was raised, and things were looking better. To my knowledge, Ron was just about the only person maintaining the tank. One man cannot do this on his own. I know that Ron was supposed to talk to a few members about the tank so that they could help out if need be…not sure if that ever happened, but it shouldn’t fall on just one person. . especially if there’s an emergency.

I am excited to see what the revamped Lutz tank will look like!! It will be pretty cool for sure!!!

Let’s create a committee of a few people to check on/maintain the tank. Have 3-5 people that can each commit to checking on the tank in person once a month and recording their findings/maintenance/etc to the board to be cataloged for record. That way the work is spread out amongst a few, and also there is always more than one person should an emergency arise. Either something along the lines of this or let’s hire a maintenance crew to take care of the tank.

I also feel like we should have a set budget from club funds for the Lutz tank. And then if that is exceeded, Asking for additional donations is fine, but this is a part of what we pay dues into.

We love the relationship we have with the Lutz and also want to have a nice tank for their Museum. Whatever the decision is, let’s treat this tank like it is in our own home and keep it beautiful. Let it be a shining representation of our club and what we do!

(7) Giving Back

Utilizing the vendors on the forum (“clayboa”…LOL). There is a ton of involvement on there. Let’s partner up with them for club sales or club meeting raffle items. We can partner up with them and ask them to donate a portion of our club sales to a charity in our hobby. Or we can ask them to donate raffle items and donate 100% of the proceeds from their items to an agreed upon charity in the hobby. Those are just a few ways we can do this.

(8) Videos

I know SaltySammy was talking about making some videos of the club meetings. He had some great ideas. I think it would be cool to do some how-to videos on our club page as well. Maybe we can turn tank of the month into something a little more interactive? Club product reviews when someone gets that new Reef Toy everyone else is drooling over? The possibilities are vast here.

(9) Relations with other Clubs

I know there are a few club members that are a part of multiple clubs. Maybe we have a cross-club meeting/event/social to meet other reefers and see what’s going on in other areas. Let’s broaden our horizons. Work together.

(10) Meeting ideas

I know some of these have been done in the past, but there are quite a few newer members over the past few years that haven’t seen some of these:

Fragging is always fun and a potluck social sounds awesome (great ideas Jason!!

),

Making Fish Food, Making our own salt, Make a meeting a “Equipment Swap” day, Reefing photography tricks and tips, Setting up and explaining a Refugium, Let’s do a REEF Bingo or Reef Game day, DIY days that are hands on..

(11) Other

I am in agreement that the meeting schedule should be done in advance as to allow for proper planning. Something that is a rather large event should be planned further in advance to make sure attendance is hit or to allow for a “Plan B” to fall in it’s place.

I also agree that we should continue to move the meetings around. In addition to this, I would look for places that are more centrally located for the group and/or something that is an easy find off of a major highway.

I am very excited about the upcoming year. Should I be elected, I will work my butt off for everyone to help bring the club to a whole new level.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Good luck to all!

seagull18 · Oct 30, 2014

How about 3 Vice Presidents for the club. You know you can never have enough of a good thing.

OK - Just Kidding

Obviously I have to much time on my hands today. LOL

Suicideissleep · Oct 31, 2014

I would like to say thank you for nominating me and giving me a chance. I would like to keep this short don't wanna keep you here reading all day

so if I get the chance to run for vice I woud like to keep the club going in the right direction and see it keep succeeding. We have a awesome club and even better members let's make it what it should be

chriskid · Nov 1, 2014

Voting starts tomorrow. Everyone should have received an email from Missie tonight explaining that there will be an email sent to you from the site we will be using for everyone to cast their votes this year. Please be sure to check your emails!!!! If you did not register with CTARS or at some point fill out a registration form with us, Missie was unable to gain access to your email and therefore, you did not receive anything. Remember, Honorary and student Members do not vote so you will not receive an email if you are one of these members. Reminders will be sent out throughout the week to those who do not vote so, don't forget!