April 2003 Board Meeting Minutes by Tom Blinn April 2, 2003
Members Present: Phil Brown (Vice-President), Tom Blinn (Secretary), Mike Lussier (Treasurer), Patty Bixby (Activities), Al Legerlotz (Driving Events), Lee Walsh (Autocross), Al Legerlotz Sr., 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.
Phil Brown called the meeting to order at 6:35pm. Allen Goddu, Bruce Smith, and Martin Callahan were all noted as being unable to attend due to travel or other commitments.
Old business:
Minutes from the March, 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 almost $30K in cash in our account with some additional receipts to be deposited. We have a few bills due to be paid. We have three paid sponsors for the "Cabin Fever" driving school, Holloway BMW, 3D Auto Works, and Bavarian Autosport (in no particular order). We have provided to BMW CCA National the reports that were noted in last month's minutes. Mike reviewed the content in some detail. Our net worth improved $1825 in 2002, at least on the books.
There was some discussion about the need to closely watch our expenses given our assets and positive cash flow from past years. Mike noted that although our net worth has increased in the last two years, that in the year before that our expenses exceeded income by nearly $6000 and that the increase in our cash position is a small fraction of the total expenses incurred and paid each year. With this additional information, the consensus of those present seemed to be that fiscal caution is appropriate to assure that we remain solvent.
No information on membership levels was presented this month.
Martin Callahan asked that the Profile submissions deadlines be distributed, which was done in hardcopy. The deadline for the May/June issue was Friday, 4 April. The deadlines for the remaining issues this year are Friday, 6 June for the July/August issue, Friday, 8 August for the September/October issue, Friday, 3 October for the November/December issue, and in the pattern of "first Friday of the preceding month", Friday, 5 December for the January/February 2004 issue.
Bruce Smith provided information on upcoming driving events, but was unable to be present in person since he was at Lime Rock (driving, we hope). He noted that the Skills School on Sunday, 6 April was fully enrolled with four people on the waiting list. (Unfortunately, due to an early spring snow and ice storm that began on Friday, 4 April, the instructor day and the Skills School had to be cancelled or rescheduled.)
There were at the time of his report ten (10) spots open for the "Cabin Fever" driving school (Friday, April 11), and registration was to open later in the week for the May 3-4 Club Race at NHIS. The full driving events schedule is on the Chapter web site events calendar.
Susan Dugdale reported for the social events committee that the proposed Canterbury Shaker Village lunch (May 4) had not gotten the publicity needed to lead to a successful event. She had attempted to contact the named person in the SCCA who is organizing the National race of which the club race is a part with no success. Given the challenges, the committee made a recommendation that the event be postponed. The members present supported this, and the event is now listed on the chapter web site as "to be rescheduled". Patty Bixby reported that the proposed "Balsams" road trip and overnight has not been moving forward, due to a lack of prompt response from the hotel. She reports that the committee does want to pursue a joint event with Exeter Hospital as discussed at last month's board meeting. They believe a road rally starting at Holloway Motors and ending on the seacoast with a lobster bake or some similar festivity would meet the needs of both the chapter and the hospital.
The committee has a wine tasting dinner scheduled for Friday October 17th, again at the Bedford Village Inn http://www.bedfordvillageinn.com/ . The next Social Events committee meeting will be at The Yard in Manchester, NH on Thursday, April 24 from 6:30 to 8:30, and is open to all interested parties.
There was some discussion about finding better ways to effectively use the chapter web site and email lists to promote the club's social events and other activities. Gordon Arnold asked if we are using the email lists to promote events. There was agreement that it seems to work but some sense that we don't use it very aggressively (which is probably good) and that we may be able to find more effective ways to use email notifications.
There was some concern that the web site home page is visually information dense and that changes are not obvious. There was no consensus about how it might be made better. Some members present felt the SCCA web site was better organized, but other members did not share that impression. After some discussion, Phil Brown took on the task of identifying a small working group to try to find some alternatives to the present design that will make the site more effective for our current needs.
Al Legerlotz Jr. noted that WMC events are not getting listed in the "Roundel". There is a special form that must be used, the submission must happen well in advance of the event, and the form must be submitted by or on behalf of the chapter president. The consensus was that we should make an effort to get more of our chapter events listed in the "Roundel" in the future.
Dick Cadieux reported on the results of his discussions with the "Profile" printers. He said they acknowledged that we had not been getting priority service, largely because in the past we had been viewed as being "fill in" work on a best efforts basis. They agreed to work with us to assure that time-critical material gets published in advance of the event dates, and to provide timely feedback to the "Profile" editor, Martin Callahan, so that he has an accurate picture of the progress of the production process. This change was positively received by the membership in attendance. We look forward to timely delivery of the May/June issue, which will be the first produced under the new guidelines.
Lee Walsh reported that the autocross program is on track with the first event planned for April 26th at NHIS. The Autocross Series is presented on the chapter web site with the full schedule listed.
New business:
Paul Michali suggested that we should make it easier to find things like the Driving Schools Curriculum on the chapter web site. The curriculum is on the web site but it's not easy to find it; it's referenced from the driving school descriptions, for example, but a keyword search for "curriculum" doesn't lead you to to the file any obvious way. Al Legerlotz Jr. noted that it's on the web site, and it is, but it's not an easy thing to find. This lead to further discussion about the chapter web site and about using email more effectively.
Susan Dugdale reported that she had done some email list maintenance as a follow on to the holiday party notifications. She volunteered to do the email list maintenance for the chapter. Phil Brown will talk to Bruce Smith to clarify how this interacts with the registrar function.
No other new business was identified.
The meeting adjourned at about 7:55pm.
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 the web site for directions). Be sure to check the chapter web site for any last minute changes in schedule or location.