Although I'm a rather marginal member these days, paying dues does give me the right to input. And I find myself agreeing with Kurt. A remote, robotic facility would probably be used by a tiny minority of SLAS members. True, it could possibly generate income through user fees if it were made available to the paying general public. But its upkeep would probably outstrip the income generated by the user fees. There is also the problem of finding personnel willing to actually drive there and perform repairs and maintenance, on an ongoing basis. Portable, privately owned instruments can easily take care of the research needs of the few SLAS members currently involved in research. 99% of patrol projects don't even requrie a dark sky, thanks to CCD technology. A remote, robotic observatory is too pricey a toy for just taking pretty pictures from the comfort of your own home. Lastly, the suggestion of "central or southern" Utah seems grossly premature. Site surveys, based on seeing, accessability, & affordability should surely preceed any suggestion of location. SPOC is a terrific facility with decades of life ahead of it, as both a public outreach facility and even possible moderate research, tailored to suit the seeing & instrumentation. It should be funded properly, with a dedicated trust to ensure it's proper upkeep long after the current trustees have passed their responsibilities to the next generation. Excellent post, Kurt. You should forward your suggestions to Lowell- I don't think he's on the list. --- Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:

At Tuesday's SLAS meeting, there was some preliminary discussion of what to do with the current working capital in SLAS's budget.

One suggestion was to continue the current building program by planning a new facility - a robotic telescope at a remote location in central or southern Utah.

My own feeling is that the current program should be fully completed first and that a dedicated capital replacement fund should be established.

First, the SPOC three observatories should not be considered separately from a dedicated reserve fund for major repairs. Like any building, there will be future unanticipated major repairs. A scope drive could go out; a roof could be damaged in a high-wind storm. We should have a dedicated reserve to meet those unanticipated expenses.

Second, there may be one major completion expense. The lawn around the front of the new refractor building has been compacted to mud-brick. Looks like it may need to be replaced. Like making an addition to your house, the last thing that usually needs to be done is to replace the lawn that the tradespersons used to get on and off the property.

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