February 2003 Board Meeting Minutes by Tom Blinn February 5, 2003
Members Present: Allen Goddu (President), Tom Blinn (Secretary), Mike Lussier (Treasurer), Gordon Arnold (Director), Patty Bixby (Activities), Al Legerlotz (Driving Events), Lee Walsh (Autocross), Peter Duffy (Membership), Susan Dugdale, Paul Michali, Adam Weinrich, Bruce Harrison, Neil Neveu, Tim Shoup, Walter Wolf, Paul Mertz. Phil Brown was unable to attend due to illness.
Allen Goddu called the meeting to order at 6:35pm. As incoming president Allen made an opening statement. He commented that he is pleased with the Driving Events Committee's work, that DEC is generating income and that the program is in good shape but that we need to exercise cost control in the coming year. Social activities are improving through the efforts of Patty Bixby, Susan Dugdale, and Mary Thompson. His basic plan for the year is to continue our successful driving events programs and expand our social programs while controlling costs. Allen wants the board and general membership to be empowered, be decisive and take control of the club, but not forget the need for democratic decision-making. In response to the theme of cost controls, Gordon Arnold asked if our financial position has changed. Allen responded that we have seen our driving schools generating less revenue while some of the costs have increased. He feels we need to be more cautious and try to recover all of the cost of the driving events.
Minutes from the December, 2002 meeting were distributed.
Mike Lussier reported that the club's financial health is sound. Payment for the October driving school has been received, as well as assorted sponsor revenues. Driving events are nearly on a break even footing in spite of increased costs and somewhat lower attendance. There are opportunities for cost recovery. Newsletter publication was up somewhat due to more members, more pages, and more issues published. The chapter now has about 600 members.
New business:
The question was raised whether the Driving Events Committee chairperson/director should vote on club business as a board member. During the discussion there was clarification on who are the current voting members, what constitutes quorum (50% of the eligible voting members present), and whether adding another voting member would make it harder to attain quorum at business meetings. The conclusion was that adding the DEC as a voting position was a good thing. A motion to do so was made and seconded, and approved by the voting members present.
Allen Goddu reported that in a telephone conversation with Phil Brown he learned that Phil would be working on driving events sponsorship recruiting. Gordon Arnold (who is a sponsor through his company) suggested some ways to enhance the value of sponsorship without added costs to the club, including offering ways for sponsors to participate at events.
Al Legerlotz reported that the Driving Events Committee has four driving events scheduled at NHIS, including a two-day event at the end of the season. We will sponsor a club race as part of the SCCA National event the first weekend in May. The driving school dates are April 11th, May 30th, August 22nd, and October 17th and 18th, and are posted on the WMC web site. An advanced skills school will be offered in advance of each driving event, usually the weekend before the track date. There was some discussion about the costs of running driving events. We are paying more to NHIS and for insurance. The general consensus was that we need to continue to pay careful attention to cost recovery. There was also general support for the advanced skills program and the suggestion that we might find a way to produce revenues from that program by expanding it outside our current schedule and audience. Al and Bruce Smith will be attending the driving events convention in Atlanta, Georgia that has been organized by the national office. National as part of club development compensates their travel and lodging.
Lee Walsh reported that the autocross committee (Lee and Mell) have six dates confirmed at NHIS. They have obtained new autocross software that allows running two cars on the course at the same time. They have had good turnouts for the events, but not a large number of BMW entries. They are working with the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire. They have done a good job of reporting event results through the Profile. There was some discussion about running autocross events at some venues other than NHIS. Fort Devens was mentioned but is thought to be already almost saturated with autocross activity by other groups. There was some interest in finding a site near the seacoast. It has been difficult to find companies that are willing to sanction an autocross on their premises without some link to the club. Lee was encouraged to use the Profile and the web site to seek club members who have companies that might be a good site and who would help introduce the club to the facilities manager.
Allen Goddu reported that, as always, Martin Callahan needs content for the Profile. Martin has the submission deadlines for the coming year and will publish them in the Profile. There was concern about the current printer/publisher. Allen plans to discuss the issues with them.
Peter Duffy reported on membership. He has welcoming letters for new members and also a letter for members who have not renewed. To use these effectively he needs the updates that are mailed to the club from the national office. This has been a problem in the past, as they are mailed to post box in Concord and only picked up about once a month. There was some discussion about the efficacy of the Concord mailing address. An inquiry will be made about getting the PO box vendor forward any incoming mail to an appropriate contact, such as the treasurer or president, to expedite the delivery of any time critical information. Also, Peter will add information about the club's meetings to the welcoming letter.
Patty Bixby reported on Activities. There was a general acclamation and round of applause for the holiday party and other good works of the team. Susan Dugdale reported that as a side effect of sending out the holiday party e-mail notices she received a number of "bounce" mails, and asked whether she should update the web site with the information where she got updates or failures. This was moved, seconded, and approved, with a request that she retry any ambiguous "bounce" messages to make sure we don't remove any active addresses by accident.
Patty reported that she has contacted some travel agents about a possible Nova Scotia club trip, and that she has had positive responses. The Activities Committee wants to do another wine dinner, perhaps in October. There was generally positive feedback and the suggestion that the dinner be planned for a Friday or Saturday evening. A proposal to have a tour of Canterbury Shaker Village with lunch on the same date as one of the driving events was generally well received, as was the idea of having a weekend at the Balsams or one of the other grand hotels, perhaps in conjunction with a "fun rally".
The committee sought feedback on the Highlander as the site for the holiday party. There was some discussion, but no clear indication that a different site should be identified. Based on reported feedback that the food had been better in prior years, the idea of upgrading the food service was raised. It was also reported by Susan Dugdale that members had paid more in prior years. Susan also reported that she has prepared a report on what was involved in organizing the party.
George Bixby suggested that a "tech show and tell" would be a good event. This was generally well received, and George was encouraged to "take the bull by the horns" and put together an event. He was strongly encouraged to offer participation to all the club sponsors and to charge at least a nominal fee so that people who sign up will show up.
Allen Goddu reported that the Komen event will be during the third week in June in this area and that there will be someone new at Dreher-Holloway coordinating the event. He also noted that Al Burk is retiring as sales manager.
Gordon Arnold noted that the Bavarian Autosport Show N Shine will be the first Sunday in October.
Allen Goddu reported that he had been contacted by the national office because someone using an e-mail account associated with a former WMC member had apparently harvested e-mail addresses from local chapter web sites across the US and then sent a spam offering cell phone service. He reminded everyone that the club membership lists are not available for such uses and should never be disclosed or used except for official club business.