It’s been pointed out to me that in my haste to get this message out this morning, 28 years of muscle memory in my fingers took over and the signature line mis-identifies my title. It was not an attempt to usurp Diane’s position or get my old job back. 😊 Thanks to Director Ryan for pointing this out. On a different subject, I will be traveling this afternoon and out of communication but will respond to e-mails, etc. later this evening when I’m back on line. 73, Barry, N1VXY From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> On Behalf Of Shelley, Barry, N1VXY (CEO) Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2020 8:46 AM To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Cc: Fusaro, Norm W3IZ <w3iz@arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:29741] Awards Fee Increases Good morning: I’m writing today to simply remind the Board of the upcoming implementation of two items that were included and approved in the 2020 operational Plan. These relate to our awards programs and may result in some feedback from members. Award fee increase – The last adjustment in awards fees was in 2014 and in the intervening years, the deficit between these revenues and expenses has grown. So, effective April 1st, effectively all award fees (DXCC, LoTW, WAS, Triple Play, VUCC, WAC) for almost all services will increase by $2 per service. PLEASE …. Do not publicize this yet. We would like to do that initially through our existing media and then you can follow up through your Division channels, etc. I would prefer a coordinated roll out of this action which I’m sure will result in some pushback from the members. Awards processing staff – Paper application volumes have been decreasing for several years, primarily due to the increasing use of Logbook of the World and atmospheric conditions. However, with this is also a decrease in the total Awards revenues. To “right-size” the staffing complement for the current and expected volumes, we will be reducing the hours of the 3 processing positions from 37.5 hours per week to 30 hours per week effective April 1st. This will help reduce some expense but will not eliminate the positions from participating in the organization’s benefit plans, something we wanted to preserve. This is not an action which we will be publicizing as I consider it a personnel action. But the Board should be aware in case they get any unsolicited feedback, inappropriate as it might be, from staff. Again, both these items were approved by the Board in the 2020 Plan and this is just a reminder of those actions prior to our making the fee increases public. 73, Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY Interim Chief Financial Officer