November 2003 Board Meeting Minutes
	by Tom Blinn	November 5, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 pm by Mike Lussier. In attendance were Mike Lussier, Tom Blinn, Paul Michali, Martin Callahan, Jesse Mertz, Rob Greer, Larry Churchill, Walter Wolf, Dennis Burnside, David Harrison, Reid Douglas, and Geoff Pascoe. Since only two board members were present, there was not a voting quorum.

Minutes from the October meeting are available on the web site. Due to an oversight on the part of the secretary, printed copy was not available at the meeting.

The treasurer's report was presented by Mike Lussier. The bank account balance was around 30K and we are current on all accounts payable. The October Advanced Skills school and Driving school produced positive cash flows, with a profit from the club race as well, and a small loss from the September Seacoast Fun Rally. Mike reported that the autocross season was successful with six events and essentially break-even on finances.

Paul Michali gave an update on web site development. Greg Scott has implemented the "Library Page" as approved at the last meeting. Paul is gathering content from the driving events committee and others. Greg is developing an SSL interface to allow the use of secured areas in the web site. General feedback from members present on the progress to date was positive. Paul reported that Greg had commented that if the social committee had a PayPal account he could have the web registration information simplify use of it for social events. The social events committee is interested in establishing such an account.

It was the sense of the meeting that they should do this and work with Paul and Greg to use it for future social events registrations. Paul also reported that Greg would like to see more "marketing" around the events notices, especially for driving events, instead of just a date, time, and location. Social events notices have provided a good description of the event that builds interest, but driving events notices are often not as informative.

The wine dinner at the Bedford Village Inn occurred as planned. It was well received by those in attendance, many of whom commented that this was the first club event they had attended. George Bixby represented driving events. Peter Emery from Banfi Vintners, the nation's leading wine importer for more than three decades, and Carole O'Connell from Horizon Beverage Company made this a fun evening with lots of tasting insights and wine lore.

The holiday party will be at CR Sparks in Bedford, NH on Saturday, January 17th, 2004. The White Mountain Chapter's world famous Holiday Party will be held Saturday, January 17, 2004 at The Event Center at CR Sparks. CR Sparks is just minutes from the intersection of routes 3, 293, and 101. There will be a cash bar, door prizes, a DJ, and a wonderful dinner. The 2004 White Mountain Chapter Board Members will be introduced. The cost is $20 per person. A notice with details should be in the next Profile issue. You can register now through the chapter web site www.wmc-bmwcca.org.

Geoff Pascoe reported that he has made good progress on initial planning for a Nova Scotia road trip next September. There is an opportunity for a track day at Atlantic Motorsport Park (AMP) located in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada, about 40 minutes outside Halifax. Geoff would still like someone from the driving events committee to be contact person to work with the Bluenose Chapter folks and help make that part of the event happen. He was referred to Al Legerlotz.

Martin Callahan introduced Jesse Mertz who will be sharing responsibility for The Profile newsletter production. Jesse has formal training and newspaper experience as well as familiarity with the Quark software presently used in production. There was some discussion about acquiring more up to date production software, with the sense of the meeting that the club should provide funding if a purchase is needed. Jesse will do some investigation of the relative merits of Quark versus Adobe and bring forward a recommendation at a future meeting.

The 2004 driving events schedule is posted at www.wmc-bmwcca.org/calendar.asp.

Reid Douglas provided some updates from National. He commented that in the recent national elections, he and others ran unopposed for the open positions. He encourages more members to consider seeking national office. There is an international vintage BMW rally in the works for late summer. Details were not finalized at the time of the meeting, but he anticipates the route will pass through the New England area in early September 2004, with the eventual destination North Carolina. He believes that our chapter will have an opportunity to provide some support or hosting, but details are not available at this time. Finally, he believes there is interest in hosting an Oktoberfest in the north east, perhaps jointly with BMW Car Club of Canada at Mont Tremblant, in 2006.

New Business

Members who are interested in becoming chapter officers for the 2004 calendar year should make themselves known to the board in advance of the December meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:10 pm.