October 2004 Board Meeting Minutes
	by Tom Blinn	October 6, 2004

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by Phil Brown. In attendance were Phil Brown, Melanie Brown, Paul Michali, Tom Blinn, David Harrison, Jan Mark Holzer, Dana Sion, Michael Morin, and Martin Callahan.

Minutes from the September 1st meeting were distributed. Phil Brown moved that they be accepted as presented. Paul Michali seconded. The members present voted in favor. Web Site Report

Paul Michali reported that our webmaster, Greg Scott, had shoulder surgery and is now recovering nicely and catching up on web site maintenance. Anyone with any concerns should contact Paul. Membership Report

Paul Michali reported that membership is 794 official members. He believes there may be some inconsistencies in the latest data feed from the National office and intends to contact Calvin Hill to investigate further. Financial Report

Mike Lussier was not present so there is no financial report this month. Driving Events Report

No one from the Driving Events committee was present to provide an official report. Social Events Report

Melanie Brown reported on Social Events. Minutes from the Social Events meetings are posted on the chapter web site in the social events library section. The October charity Golf Tournament took place on Monday, October 4th as planned. The weather was perfect, 47 golfers participated but few were club members, 11 additional people joined in for the chicken and ribs buffet. We were able to donate about $3800 (including the $2100 raised from the first try that was rained out) to the Weber Foundation. There is an expectation that we should be able to get coverage of the event and its outcome in the Roundel.

The preparations for the Wine Tasting Dinner to be held Friday, November 5th at the Bedford Village Inn are on track. The theme this year is "Vintage 2002". Registration is open now through the web site. There are only six people registered so far, we need more people participating to have a successful event.

Holiday party plans are underway. The party will be held on January 29th at C. R. Sparks in Bedford. Registration will open November 15th. The plan to collect food donations for contribution to a local food pantry was formally approved. Details will be worked out and communicated in advance of the event, including the selection of a designated charity or charities. There was discussion about hiring Bucky Lewis who could provide dinner music as well as a comedy skit for after dinner entertainment. Investigation of costs and feasibility are underway. The sense of the members present was that this is a good idea and should be well received by the participants. http://www.buckylewis.com/ has more information on Bucky Lewis’ services. President’s Report

Rich Davis was traveling on business and could not attend. New Business

Nova Scotia tour planning:

Martin Callahan reported on the recent "scouting trip" he and Geoff Pascoe made to Nova Scotia. They believe that it will be possible to organize a tour next September. They anticipate a ten day itinerary, with a capacity for up to ten cars with two or at most three people per car. There would be a per-person fee that would cover all meals and lodging and some incidentals, such as a hosted winery tour and dinner. They estimate the fixed fees will be under $200 per person per day, but the exact figure is not yet certain. This cost does not include incidentals or vehicle operating costs (fuel, any repairs needed on the road, etc.), but does include vehicle transport by overnight ferry from Portland ME to Nova Scotia.

The dates will be chosen to allow participation in a two day driving school at the Atlantic Motorsports Park in cooperation with the Blue Nose Chapter of the Canadian BMW Car Club. To support the driving event, they would like to assure that at least one driving instructor participates in the trip. They would also like to enlist support of the Roundel staff to help record and report on the event. They have expended in excess of $2000 of their own funds on the development so far.

The sense of the board members present was that Martin and Geoff should work with the Social and Driving Events committees (since this activity involves both aspects) and come forward with a proposal that would include cost figures and how they would be recovered from the participants. Discussion noted that at least some of the suppliers of goods and services will probably need deposits up front to guarantee accommodations. The proposal should also allow for reimbursing the development costs incurred to date.

Green Mountain (Vermont) Chapter:

Paul Michali commented on the new chapter that has been formed in Vermont. Their website is at http://www.vtbmwcca.org/ and they have already run a few events. He noted they were represented at the Show and Shine at BavAuto the previous weekend. Paul will contact Greg Scott to assure we cross-link to their chapter web site from ours and also that we start cross-posting their events when practical. We need to establish a contact with their webmaster and get events like our upcoming wine dinner offered to their members.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm.