March 2003 Board Meeting Minutes by Tom Blinn March 5, 2003
Members Present: Allen Goddu (President), Tom Blinn (Secretary), Mike Lussier (Treasurer), Patty Bixby (Activities), Al Legerlotz (Driving Events), Lee Walsh (Autocross), Bruce Smith (DE Registrar), Martin Callahan (Newsletter), George Bixby, Paul Michali, Dick Cadieux, Bruce Harrison, Walter Wolf, Danny Mehl, Geoff Pascoe, and Paul C. Lillios. Some additional members were present whose names I did not capture.
Allen Goddu called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. Allen introduced Karen Ellis of Exeter Hospital who was present as a special guest.
Old business:
Minutes from the February, 2003 meeting (printed as posted on the chapter web site) were distributed. The minutes were approved as presented.
Mike Lussier reported that the club's financial health is sound. We have over $20K in cash in our account. We have been invoiced for the instructor gifts for the first driving school. We will be providing reports for CCA National. Five Profile advertisers for 1/1/03 to 12/31/03 have been identified and billed to date. More Profile advertisers are expected in the near future. Officers with check signing authority this year will be Allen Goddu, President and Michael Lussier, Treasurer.
The chapter membership has decreased somewhat from the previous month, with 9 new memberships offsetting only some of the 30 non-renewals.
Martin Callahan reported on the production delays that impacted the current issue of the Profile. He completed the editorial work and had the final copy proof edited within about four days from his published content deadline, and uploaded the electronic copy to the printer at that point. According to the status information he had available, it took about three weeks from the time the copy was available to the printer until it was delivered to the mailing house.
Although some members had received their printed copies by the date of the meeting, many had not. The sense of the meeting was that although the quality of the Profile is quite high, the timeliness of the printing and delivery needs to improve. Allen Goddu asked Dick Cadieux to work with Martin to find a solution. George Bixby moved that Dick and Martin be authorized to find a solution, it was seconded and unanimously approved.
New business:
The Driving Events Committee reported that they would raise the fee for Advanced Skills schools from $65 to $85 per attendee. There are no planned increases for the safety skills training or other driving activities. To offset use fees from NHIS, a $20 garage use fee will be charged at future NHIS events for each garage bay actually used. This will be implemented during the first Advanced Skills School on April 6th and the Cabin Fever Driving event on April 11th.
There will be a club race in conjunction with the SCCA National Race weekend at NHIS on May 2 - 4 (Friday through Sunday). Bruce Smith is chairperson for the BMW CCA race. This will be a full weekend of SCCA and BMW CCA racing with no driving school activity.
Al Legerlotz and Bruce Smith attended the national Driving Events conference. Al reported that there were extensive discussions about such topics as risk management (reportedly a bit too much on this particular topic), with lots of good information on insurance coverage, best practices, safety, finances, tech inspections, instructor development, and so on. Bruce will post materials received at the conference on the wmcbmwccadec Driving Events area on yahoogroups. Al commented that it was his impression that our chapter is already doing a good job with our driving events compared to some of the other chapters present.
The scheduled driving events for the 2003 calendar year are the following: April 5th - Instructor Day - by invitation only. April 6th - Advanced Skills School; Registration open 3/10 April 11th - Cabin Fever Driving School; Registration opens 3/10. May 24th - Advanced Skills School; Registration open 4/21. May 30th - Start Of Summer Driving School; Registration opens 4/21. August 22nd - Summer Heat Driving School; Registration opens 7/14. August 17th - Advanced Skills School; Registration open 7/14. October 11th - Advanced Skills School; Registration open 9/8. October 17-18th - End Of Summer Driving School; Registration opens 9/8.
Allen Goddu introduced Karen Ellis from Exeter Hospital. The hospital has worked with the club in support of the annual Susan B. Komen "Ultimate Drive" (along with Holloway BMW in Stratham). They have many community outreach programs that bring health care services to the seacoast area. The club has supported some of the hospital's driving related events in the past. According to Karen, Exeter Hospital would like to do a road rally in June that would start at Holloway and end at the Abenaki Country Club in Rye. The hospital is considering the visiting nurse association/hospice as the beneficiary, with a $5000 target amount for the donations received.
Martin Callahan and Patty Bixby were both willing to work with Karen to develop a more detailed proposal. Patty commented that a date later in the summer might be more feasible; August was proposed as having fewer conflicts with other planned events. Karen, Patty, and Martin are to form a working committee and report at the next meeting.
Allen Goddu noted that this year's Susan B. Komen "Ultimate Drive" will be in NH in July this year, later than some prior years, and not in June as he had stated at last month's meeting.
Allen Goddu said he had received a communication from the national office identifying the chapters that had made charitable donations, and that WMC was not listed, even though we have made donations both in cash and in kind during the reported period. He asked Paul Michali to take responsibility for tracking the club's charitable activities and assuring that we inform the national chapter of our good works. Paul expressed a willingness to help, and was supported unanimously by the members present in a show of hands.
Bruce Smith presented information he received from the BMW CCA Foundation (reference the web site at http://www.bmwccafoundation.org/) about the programs that they are sponsoring this year. The program of most interest to our chapter in the near term is Street Survivor Teen Driving Skills school. We are being asked to be an early participant in offering this program because of our history of providing high quality safety skills training.
The sense of the meeting was that we should take part, with the major concern expressed being the risk of demand exceeding the supply of available training. Under the program, we will be reimbursed for almost all expenses and receive a portion of the registration fees if there is full enrollment. Bruce has electronic materials with lots of details.
Patty Bixby (Social Director) reported on her committee's activities. The committee has been meeting and investigating a number of future activities. Patty asked whether the club would cover the cost of lunch up to six times a year when the committee meets for business. After a brief discussion, a motion was made to that effect, seconded, and passed unanimously. It was noted that the committee's meetings are open the membership, and Patty was asked to get meeting notices added to the web site as far in advance of the date as practical.
The committee visited CR Sparks to evaluate their suitability for next year's holiday party. A tentative date of Saturday, January 17, 2004 is available. Several members commented that it would be a good venue, and encouraged further investigation. Based on feedback and also observation of this year's party, the committee may recommend starting earlier (at 5:30pm) and having a jazz combo or similar "background" music as entertainment instead of a DJ as many members did not seem interested in "dancing the night away".
The committee is working to organize a Shaker Village tour and lunch for the first weekend in May to occur in conjunction with the SCCA and club racing event at NHIS. The details are not yet confirmed. General discussion was supportive, since the event should be self-funded by the participants. Susan Dugdale (not present) is working to contact Shaker Village and work out the details.
The committee is working on a fun rally / road trip for August 9th and 10th to the Balsams Resort ( http://www.thebalsams.com/ ). This may be tied in some way to the Exeter Hospital fund raising event, if that is practical.
The committee is planning another wine dinner at the Bedford Village Inn for a Saturday in October. More details will be provided later.
Ed Valpey is seeking candidates for driver instructor training.
Lee Walsh reported that the autocross program is on track with the first event planned for April 26th at NHIS. Lee is still seeking information on alternative venues.
The meeting adjourned at about 8:30pm.
All members are reminded that everyone is welcome to attend the board meetings. The usual venue is "The Yard" restaurant at 13500 South Willow St., Manchester, NH, about a mile south of the Mall of New Hampshire (see http://www.nhskiclub.org/htmls/yard.html for a map and directions). Be sure to check the chapter web site for any last minute changes in schedule or location.