Meeting Minutes for August 2007 Board Meeting
Date: 8/6/07
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: The Yard Restaurant, Manchester NH
Attendees : Bruce Smith, Dick Cadieux, Alan Legerlotz, Gordon Geick, Laura Fallis, Paul Michali, Dana Sion, Michael Morin, Brian Sox, George and Patty Bixby, Tom Blinn, Al Creto, Pete Basiliere, Alvin Legerlotz.
Meeting was called to order at 6:35.
Bruce began by going over the Reimbursement process he’d like to institute. He suggested a form, which he passed around for everyone to see and board members to vote on. Al commented on the mileage amount on the form being listed at thirty one cents per mile. Al suggested going by the rate that most companies so at this point. Alvin asked about refunds for driving schools and the discussion was that this policy does not apply for that sort of thing because refunding registration is different than expenses incurred by a club member doing club business. Gordon asked when this form/policy would be used, specifically the mileage reimbursement. He brought up some scenarios and if they would be covered or not. People suggested that situations like attending a meeting on behalf of the club being reimbursable, but there were a lot of questions about what’s reimbursable. There was some discussion about abuses of the policy regarding reimbursements and if what’s being proposed is any different than what we were going by before unofficially. Laura pointed out that this is a volunteer organization but that there are people (e.g. Martin and the newly proposed Marketing position) that may warrant reimbursement for activities they do on behalf of the club in terms of attending meetings with 3rd parties. A key point was that we need an approval process for reimbursements and gaining that approval should be done prior to incurring any expenses. Event refunds are separate and perhaps we want a separate form to request that those be issued independent of the reimbursement process. Gordon pointed out that the policy should be in writing and he volunteered to do a first crack at it from the DEC perspective. Al Creto asked whether a physically signed copy of the form (with pen and ink) would be required or if electronic would be sufficient. We agreed that we would do what makes sense, and that this isn’t meant to be a lock-down, but simply a formalization of the policy we have essentially been following since the chapter’s inception. The form as presented by Bruce was approved by Alan, Dick, and Bruce with the stipulation that the mileage amount be changed to the IRS Standard. Peter volunteered to draft a general policy for the chapter, rather than having Gordon do one just from the DEC perspective.
The next topic Bruce brought up was the Chapter Logo and he passed around a sheet with 3 proposed logo choices on it for people to see. The goal was to vote on a logo to submit to BMW CCA National for their approval. We cannot swap to using the new logo until we have National approval. The vote was taken using everyone present at the meeting. The vote was taken with 0 votes for design A, 1 vote for design B, and 17 votes for design C. Since design C won by such a landslide, this was clearly the one Bruce was going to send to National.
Tom Blinn went over the “Bike for the Cure” auction results. Bruce Smith won with his bid, which was the first. There was another bidder who bid $20 less than Bruce’s. The Check is in the mail and Bruce thanked Tom for donating it. Proceeds will be doled out at a later time; some percentage will go to the chapter and the rest will go to the Susan G. Komen foundation. The details will be worked out later.
We moved on to the subject of Elections for the Fall / Winter. Bruce mentioned that its time to consider what we need to do to set up and post elections information. Paul said that we need to back out from December to allow time to vote and for nominations and candidate statements. Nominations and Candidacy Statements should be done during September and October. The next issue of “Profile” is 9/7 so we’re up against this date already. We need to find out from Martin what the mail date is so we can get this included. The next board meeting is 9/10 we we’ll have more information about elections then.
Gordon gave the DEC report. Gordon mentioned that we had a successful Mini ADSS and that Mini of Peabody and Concord Motorsport were sponsors. Gordon asked Pete whether or not Mini owners seem to be interested in the club in general or just in Mini specific events. Gordon went to an Audi ADSS to represent us and so some cross marketing. Gordon said the Audi guys are into technology and have some good accessories like lights for the lane change and braking exercise. The Audi program is an ADSS for beginners. Gordon thinks we can appeal to many of their instructors to participate with use for next year. For the upcoming ADSS on 8/18 there are 12 students registered. Gordon also mentioned that there are Audi people who want to do ADSS and the Summer Heat Driving School. Paul asked if we do ADSS instructor evaluations (Students evaluating instructors) and people agreed that this was an interesting question. Gordon said that he will approach more instructors about ADSS. Brian stressed the importance of us being comfortable with our instructors. The Summer Heat driving school currently has 57 Students enrolled with 16 instructors. Gordon will sent out an e-mail blast to DEC people to try to drum up more students and Al will do the same with the Instructors. George volunteered to do classroom at the event if necessary. We’re not sure if Ed will be present at the Event or not. Laura suggest that we appeal to Street Survival participants as participants in the driving school (or future driving schools). It was noted that Tanya sent a mail to Alvin regarding the Mount Washington event and Alvin said that he’d take care of it all line with her. It was also noted that there are requirements and restrictions for participants so we need to be sure we’re finding suitable participants. Peter brought up issues with people getting tech forms filled out prior to events and signed off by a certified mechanic. Peter is suggesting an ADSS tech form that is more limited than the full form for track events. Bruce suggested that we take this up with the DEC and Gordon agreed to do so. Peter also mentioned positive feedback on the Mini ADSS.
Al Creto gave the SEC report. The Go Kart event was successful and we had a net profit for the event. The Holiday party is 1/26/08 at CR Sparks in Bedford. There is more planning that needs to be done on the Holiday party, however. Sponsorships are being investigated for the party. We want to fill the party and keep the cost as low as possible. There is an exotic car show 8/25 at the Anheuser Busch plant in Merrimack. The show is free to attend. The suggested donation to the Make A Wish Foundation is $20 to show your car. We can sell t-shirts and put up a membership table at the event. The next SEC meeting is 9/26 at the Common Man in Concord. October 1 is the Bavarian Autosport Show-n-Shine. We need to post the show-n-shine information on our web site, but Paul needs a contact from our chapter to post it. Paul also requested that he get some holiday party content that references the 2006 party rather than the 2005 party content that is currently on the site. It was also mentioned that Phil won fastest time at the go kart event and he’ll get a “fastest time” trophy from the go kart track.
Bruce brought up the topic of Awards for volunteers. There would be two service awards (one DEC and one SEC) and a President’s award to be issued. Board Memberships are not eligible to receive the awards. We’re looking into a plaque or trophy style award.
The next topic was creating a Marketing Director Position for the Chapter. The suggestion has been made to have an overall marketing position to handle events for SEC and the DEC, plus community relationships. A Job description hasn’t been worked out yet, as this is exploratory. Gordon suggested that the person be computer savvy and willing to contact other clubs. Dana is willing to volunteer for the position. Laura suggested Dana. Al suggested that Dana develop a job description and bring it to the next meeting. Tom summarized that this really formalizes the position.
Paul talked about the web site. There is a new navigation link on the site called “Gallery” and this goes to a large number of pictures from events. Paul suggested that the gallery, or the pictures on it, can be used for marketing as well. Photos are uploaded separately to show up in the gallery. Al asked about some of the video that has been shot by people in the past and Paul said that he would follow up on that. George volunteered to take some new video. Bruce has posted an event and said we definitely can to because its easy to do.
Laura gave the membership report. We’re down 5 members total with 712 active members this month. Laura has gone to the Jewell Town Winery to scout out a location for an SEC Event. Laura has contacted the High School Police Officer in Exeter regarding Street Survival. Laura would like to extend the invitation for the officer to attend our meetings and/or an ADSS and the group was fine with that.
Bruce said that he will ask Mike Dion for a financial Report. Gordon pointed out that this is the 3rd meeting or so without financials being presented.
Under New Business:
George has been working with Vince Tulley to get them involved with us. Vince wants a member of the board to contact him about Sponsorship. George pitched Street Survival to Sandy Shaw, who teaches high school driving in the area and he said he could fill these slots.
Dana asked what happened to the money we had given to Club Motorsports to reserve a track slot for us when and if they open. Dana had heard rumors that Club Motorsports was not moving forward, but George said that he spoke to someone who said just the opposite and that there is only one permit separating them from operating. The real answer is that we don’t know, so without a statement from Club Motorsports indicating that will not be moving forward, we assume that they will open in the future. Dick pointed out that Club Motorsports has sponsored every driving event we’ve had for the past 4 or 5 years.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45.