The minutes from last weekend's A&F meeting won't be out for a week or two so I thought it would be good to provide an update on a couple of items.


1) Logbook of the World   The Committee received an excellent presentation from IT manager Mike Keane about the reasons for Logbook processing delays.   As a result the Committee authorized the upgrade of the disk array used for the LoTW database from magnetic drives to solid state drives.   These are much faster (and more expensive - around $15-20k) but have come down in price enough over the last several years that they are within range of our budget now.   Mr. Keane indicated that it may take a few weeks to order and take delivery of them, and some additional time for installation and thorough testing before switching over.   He was comfortable saying that it should be in place within eight weeks.   Obviously, we all want to see it overnight! (As of this morning, LoTW was processing files received on Nov 17th - 4 days)

Some members have been asking for detailed information about the software used, the hardware used, and other pieces of our IT and business system environment.   This really isn't something that we should or need to get into with members.  Suffice it to say that we spend money carefully and nothing is gold plated.   In the case of Logbook, we can certainly say that some hardware improvements are in the works that should speed up the processing.
 
There are active discussions taking place with an outside volunteer(s) to work on Logbook usability improvements.   They are working with HQ to define the scope of the work and have had some design discussions. 


2) 2013-14 Budget/Plan   The Committee approved the 2013-14 Budget/Plan that was proposed by management with one additional capital item - a larger generator to support the computer/network/phone systems at HQ.   The 2013-14 Plan includes some additional Logbook improvements in addition to a full plate of other IT projects.     The Plan should be sent out to the Board around December 1st and we will schedule a conference call for any questions you might have in early January (feel free to contact Dave/Barry/Harold/Mary before that also).


3) Insurance costs    One uncertainty in the 2013-14 Budget/Plan is the cost for medical insurance.   Barry received an initial quote from our insurer last week and the increase was substantial.  He's already cancelled some planned vacation time to get additional quotes and look at alternatives.   Our claims experience over the last year was not so good which has driven the costs up.


4) DB Pension Plan    A couple of weeks ago, after many months of work and several meetings with plan participants to explain the options, we were presented with the final bids for the annuity purchase that will effectively complete the defined benefit pension plan termination.   The amount of the final liability for the Plan ($15.3 million) was right in the range estimated by our actuary at the last presentation they made to A&F in July, 2012.

The total bid price of $4,451,600 will purchase the appropriate annuities for those plan participants who opted to receive their plan benefit in that fashion. We will also pay out an additional $7,555,589 in lump sum payments (including rollovers of assets to other qualified plans) as chosen by those participants. These are in addition to the $3,333,400 already paid out of the Plan to purchase annuities for those people already retired and receiving monthly benefits.  

This was the end to a process that began in 2009 and was handled across several different A&F Committees.   We now have a defined contribution pension plan which is much more predictable in costs and will not give us the roller-coaster ride the stock market did for us as it impacted our yearly contribution with the defined benefit plan.  

Thanks to CFO Shelley for all of the detailed work that had to be done behind the scenes with our advisors and employees, and to new Treasurer Niswander for his work handling the various investment changes needed.

   -- Tom

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e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org   ARRL New England Division Director  http://www.arrl.org/
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444