DPRG will hold its annual members’ meeting on Saturday January 25th at 10am at the Dallas Makerspace North Lobby classroom. Online attendance will be supported using the Google Meet link meet.google.com/mwm-imzg-rss There will be a DPRG doorbell for entry at the Dallas Maker Space, like usual.

Quick Join

The annual meeting is where DPRG handles important business, and members have a chance to share their views concerning club direction. It is important that members try to attend.

Meeting Agenda:

• 10:15am President’s report on the previous year
• Election of 2025 Officers
• Discussion of proposed change to the DPRG bylaws, replacing Librarian with IT Officer. Possible vote on the proposed change.
• Brainstorm member wants/suggestions for 2025, or anything else
• 12:00 Noon Pizza lunch
• 12:30 Smart Camera panel – where several DPRG members who’ve used different smart cameras will present a summary of their camera’s capabilities and their experience with it.

DPRG Elections

A slate of candidates is proposed below. It is the same slate of officers that held office this past year. Any member can come forward and be added to the list of people considered for the various officer’s positions. If you want to explore holding office, an overview of officer duties can be found at  officer duties. You can also get additional information by talking to an existing officer at any monthly meeting or RBNV (held every Tuesday at 7:30 PM). If you want to throw your hat into the ring, please let me know quickly by emailing “secretary at dprg dot org” so you can be added to the ballot.

Proposed Slate of Officers for 2025

President: Paul Bouchier
Vice-President: Carl Ott
Treasurer: Steve Edwards
Secretary: Doug Paradis
Librarian: John Kuhlenschmidt

How to Vote

All members in good standing can vote. The list of members is at member list. If you are not on the list and you think you should be, the problem is most likely that you need to renew your membership. Contact “secretary at dprg dot org” if you need help renewing your membership.

Members can vote by emailing their vote to “election at dprg dot org”before the January 25th meeting. This routes your vote to Ron Grant, who oversees the voting. The email should contain the text “I vote for the proposed officer slate”, or “I vote for the following people for office”, or similar text that allows our volunteer election vote counter to determine your intentions.

Members can also vote in person or proxy at the January 25th DPRG meeting. If voting by proxy, you should signal your intention to vote by proxy by sending an email to the person that you are giving control of your vote and to “election at dprg dot org” so the person holding your proxy and the person tallying votes knows of your intention. The person holding the proxy must then vote. The club’s bylaws require that a specific percentage of members vote to make the election official.

Proposed Bylaws Changes:

The DPRG board observed that the Librarian board member position was important in the 1980’s and 90’s, when a big value that the club delivered to members was lending data books, tools, SW media, etc. Having the Librarian on the board made sense. In the 2020’s, lending almost doesn’t happen – times have changed and so much data and SW is online and free, and the club has almost nothing but competition gear in its library. The new big value the club offers is its online systems that help members communicate, and which are also a repository for information (e.g. website, YouTube channel, Google Meet, Discord, Facebook, GitHub and more), These online systems are administered by several individuals, but the board believes overall responsibility for online systems is a big enough part of the value the club delivers to members that we want to make it a board position, to replace the Librarian board position.

Original bylaw

Section 2.2.5 Librarian It shall be the duty of the Librarian to maintain and safeguard the corporate library, which may include software, hardware and media components. The Librarian shall maintain complete records of all materials loaned to members and shall enforce such lending policies as are set by resolution of the board. The Librarian shall perform such additional duties as the President may delegate. There shall not be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a member can serve as Librarian.

Proposed bylaw 

Section 2.2.5 IT Officer It shall be the duty of the IT Officer to implement policies and procedures for online systems as directed by the board. The IT Officer shall maintain a list of all the DPRG-managed online systems, and shall authorize a primary and backup system admin for each. The IT Officer might not have admin privileges for every system, but shall ensure that at least two admins do. The IT Officer shall ensure that all necessary system maintenance is performed, which may include user lists, content, backups, and subscription payments. The IT Officer shall perform such additional duties as the President may delegate. There shall not be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a member can serve as IT Officer.

Section 3.1 – Elected officers: Librarian to be replaced by IT Officer

We will discuss the proposed bylaws change at the meeting, possibly amend it, and take a poll of members present as to whether to hold a vote to approve it. If members present decide to vote on it, a two-week window after the meeting will be opened for all members to vote on the proposal as amended.

Smart Camera Panel:

There will be a panel discussion after lunch in which several members who have experience with different smart cameras will present the key parameters of their camera (e.g. how smart, depth capability, AI capability, performance, dev experience, etc.), followed by a short Q&A and discussion on each.