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2007 Meeting Minutes

 

2007 NORTHWEST TREK FUN CLUB MEETING MINUTES


NWTFC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Sunday, April 15, 2007

Location: Tulip Festival Rally, Historic Anacortes, WA

Meeting called to order: President Ed Block; 1:00 p.m.

In Attendance: A quorum of 21 members – Anderson, Baker, Beers, Block, Bohn, Brown, Harris, Hollister, Keeler, Lindhorst, Nicholson, Paschall/Braden, Piispanen, Rawson, Schindler, Shackell, Turner, Van den Broek, Vinson/Hennessy, Warren, Weibel, & Williams.

Opening Comments: (Ed Block).

    • Gratitude expressed to wagon masters, Roland/Suzan Williams for pre-rally hospitality and excellent rally itinerary.

 

    • Recognized 1st club rally of the year & fine turnout. 

 

    • Introduced new members, Fred Vinson & Rosemary Hennessy.

 

    • Introduced guests, Garwoods & Spencers and Rebecca Risser (Safari Events Coordinator), Jeff & Alan from Brazel’s RV Performance, & RV service tech, Miles Williams.

 

  • Thanked all for a successful web meeting/e-mail ballot election in Oct. ’06 with special thanks to our Webmaster, Greg Hollister.
BOARD & COMMITTEE REPORTS
Minutes
  • Minutes for the web-meeting/election of 10/20/06 have been posted on our Website since 11/06 and were to be considered approved if there was no feedback from the membership. No corrections or additions were received. Approved minutes were posted on the meeting display board.

Treasurer’s Report (Ed Block, as supplied by Treasurer, Lou Eddy 4/14/07)

    • First quarter report: 1/1/07 $992.07; new member income $80; Website transfer expense $70; ending balance 3/31/07 $1002.01. 
    • Comment: a gift of $200 from Monaco would soon be added to the club account in recognition of a well-attended Safari rally.

VP & Rally Master Report: (Lee Keeler)

    • As VP chair of the Nominating Committee, Lee Keeler introduced the members who add agreed to serve. Keelers, Beers and Schindlers were accepted as the 2007 Nominating Committee. Stan Shackell has agreed to be a candidate on this Fall’s ballot; others are giving it consideration.
    • Lee thanked the board for its work reviewing & updating all job descriptions & providing copies of duties for specific positions at the head table. All are available on our website – including rally master & wagon master duties as well as the Rally Guide and flow charts.
    • Due to the current Club Treasurer & Vice President continuing in office a 2nd year in 2008, Lee made it known that these offices, as well as FMCA Alternate Director, would be on the ballot in even years – and president, secretary, & FMCA National Director during odd years. . . all offering continuity for the club administration with alternating 2-year commitments.
    • As Rally Master, Lee introduced Bob & Peggy Beers as wagon masters for the NWTFC tour to Alaska leaving southern B.C. on June 10 with 7 Treks. A handout for the 56-day, 4800-mile itinerary was distributed. Bob called attention to our rally & their Alaska tour write-up in Safari Trails.
    • Lee introduced John Turner, wagon master, planning a 3-day Oregon wilderness experience Sept. 13-15. The NFS campground near Diamond Lake requires no reservations after 9/3. Full restroom facility will be available but no power or meeting room. A flyer will announce details and suggested activities. A nightly campfire is planned for all. The Monaco Come Home rally follows 9/17 at the Salem fairgrounds.
  • Lee requested that members let him know of their campground membership affiliations (Thousand Trails, Coast-to-Coast, etc.) to broaden the club’s rally options.

Membership Report (Barb Brown)

  • By year-end 2006 the club had 57 members. Nine failed to renew their membership, bringing January’s club roster down to 48 Trek units. By 3/31/07, new members/renewals brought our numbers back to 55 and one more membership is in processing for a total of 56.

FMCA Director’s Report (Judy Schindler)

    • Judy brought attention to Bob Beers’ candidacy as an FMCA NW Vice President and Safari International’s FMCA National Director.
  • Judy advised members to get their applications in quickly for the FMCA International Convention in Oregon this summer. . . especially for sites with electricity. She’d learn more about our club’s volunteer effort, training schedule, parking, etc. at the FMCA planning meeting in Bend, Oregon in the days ahead – attended by our club’s National Director & President.

Convention & Pre-rally Volunteer Request (Ed Block)

Volunteers were requested to cover the club’s commitment to FMCA Stores at the convention. A clipboard was circulated for sign-up to assist shoppers & keep stock available. Benefits would include volunteer parking, priority stadium seating & a volunteer thank you dinner. A request was also received from Missy Heppner, VP of Safari International NW, for managers of the Happy Hour bartender effort at the S.I.-Mt. Hood pre-rally. A sign-up sheet was circulated.

Webmaster Report (Greg Hollister)

    • Greg mentioned that 2-3 new members in ’06 and 6 of our 7 newest members joined via on-line application in ’07 well justifying the website costs to the club.
    • He has developed a valuable website voting tool for our Election of Officers and any matter needing accountable, secure input from the entire membership. He said the voting process automatically tallies ballot results.
    • Greg stressed the security measures he has taken to protect our ‘Members Only’ information, as many visitors to the site are not members.
  • He welcomes member write-ups and favorite photos from personal trips as well as our club gatherings for posting on ‘Good Times.’ It would be at his discretion as to what would be included.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Club Officers Term Duration

  • A motion was made by Barb Brown to add a Standing Rule regarding club officer term duration . . . ‘Elections for VP, Treasurer and Alternate FMCA Director would be for two-year terms beginning in an odd numbered year. Elections for President, Secretary and National FMCA Director would be for two-year terms beginning in an even numbered year.’ Peggy Beers seconded the motion. With one vote per member unit, the motion passed 17 to 4.

Chapter Bylaw Amendments

    • A motion was made by Barb Brown to amend the ‘Chapter Meetings: Voting:’ bylaw to include ‘Balloting by mail, email or club website may be undertaken when a proposed matter is voted to be of such importance or urgency that a total membership vote is advisable.’ This bylaw amendment had been pre-approved by the FMCA. The motion was seconded by Judy Schindler and approved unanimously.
  • The bylaw amendment proposed in the agenda redefining a meeting quorum did NOT receive FMCA rules committee approval — so it was removed from consideration. Their view: Members unable to attend a business meeting but responding to issues/motions presented in an agenda by email/mail would be viewed as apart from the ‘interactive meeting process’ required of 25% of the membership or 15 active members.

Chapter Standing Rules Amendments

    • A motion was made by Jeanette Block to amend the ‘Business Meeting: 1. Executive Board Meetings’ standing rule to include: ‘B. A simple majority of those participating, in person or by electronic means, will determine the outcome of any issues brought to a vote.’ It was seconded by Barb Brown and approved unanimously.
  • A motion was made by Jeanette Block to set policy regarding the sharing of personal information with the membership. ‘When a member needs a caring response or prayers from the club membership regarding a serious personal matter, an exactly worded email from the person to the Club President will initiate the notification process.’

It was seconded by Lynne Baker and approved unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS: (Ed Block)

 Wagon Master Rally Incentives

  • The Executive Board recommended: In the event associated vendors or RV parks offer incentives to the cognizant Wagon Master or to the Club, it shall be at the Wagon Master’s discretion to accept or reject them.’ be included in our Rally Guide.

Club Historian

  • Donna Weibel stepped down as Club Historian. Jeanette Block volunteered to safeguard the 2004-2006 club album and start a new one to contain 2007-09. A volunteer will be needed next year. Donna was thanked for the nice job she did. The album was on display for all to view.

Gifts

  • Thank you’s of black fleece blankets with the Safari lion logo were presented to wagon masters, Williams & Rawson, for fine rally efforts.

Monaco & FMCA Gifts

  • Roland & Suzan Williams drew names of rally goers to choose from the generous assortment of gifts provided by Monaco & FMCA.

Tech advice & RV repair:

    • Brazel’s RV Performance technicians, Jeff & Alan, would offer tech advice at the casino campground for those interested. RV service is being offered at the campground by highly qualified repairman, Miles Williams.
  • Tech Advice would follow at the casino campground for those interested.

Club Goodies:

    • A new, durable, plastic-laminate ID from Badges R Us that incorporates our logo lapel pin was recommended by the board to replace the present vinyl member IDs. Due to the $200 gift from Monaco/Safari and the club’s good bank balance, it was determined that the club could offset 50% of the badge/pin & mailing costs. Each member would be charged just $5.00 for each badge during the initial quantity order to be placed June 1st. ID badges in yellow with blue lettering and in ivory w/black were circulated. The large majority preferred the yellow sample with a pin backing and an opening for a lanyard clip. The board also approved a $277 order for 100 lapel pins from Pin Depot to attach/glue to the badge surface. The new personalized ID badge w/logo pin will be sold after the initial bulk order for the current Badges R Us price & mailing (presently $10 each) at time of membership application. Jeanette Block has provided order forms, and will handle orders after the meeting.
  • Embroidered club logo items, ball caps $13 & tote bags $10 are available after the meeting from Jeanette.

MEETING ADJOURNED

Next Meeting: may take place at any rally where we have enough members in attendance. No voting is foreseen as necessary on any issue until elections in Fall. Our 2nd required meeting is planned for the Monaco Come Home Rally, Salem, Oregon, this Sept. A new roster of candidates will be announced for the October election and write-ins will be accepted.

Minutes recorded & submitted by Jeanette Block (Asst. to Club Secy)


NWTFC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Sept. 15, 21, & Oct. 5, 2007

Locations: Progressive meetings at:

  1. Diamond Lake NFS Campground
  2. Salem Fairgrounds, OR
  3. Ocean City, WA

Meetings called to order by President Ed Block
Members attending at least one of the three meetings;

Baker, Barker, Beers, Block, Brown (Bob & Barb), Clark, Eddy, Haas, Harris, Keeler, Knight, Kummerfeldt/Gabel, Lindhorst, Nemish, Paschall/Braden, Schindler, Turner, Weibel
Guests Gerry & Cathy Hyndman

PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS;

Gratitude expressed to wagon masters:

John & Marie Turner and Dick & Nancy Harris for a memorable ‘back-to-nature’ Diamond Lake rally

Lee & Judy Keeler for a fine October-on-the-coast Ocean City rally.

Recognized our Aug/Sept. rally volunteers:

S.I.-Mt. Hood pre-rally bartenders–Penny Braden, Lindhorsts & Blocks;

Redmond International Convention FMCA Stores–Lindhorsts, Browns, Keelers, Schindlers, and Blocks; and those who served as dining hall Sheriffs–Schindlers, Eddys and Blocks.

MINUTES: — Jeanette Block & Barb Brown

Minutes of the April 15, 2007, business meeting were posted on our Website.
Motion to approve and accept as posted: Doug Clark; Seconded: Judy Schindler.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT & CORRESPONDENCE: — Jeanette Block & Barb Brown

Membership as of September 30 stood at 58 coaches. Three new members have joined since then: Harry & Marie Moran, Frank Kummerfeldt and Lorraine Gabel, and Fred & Marilyn Rose, bringing our membership to 61.

Two thank you emails were received from the FMCA NW V.P. & Chairman of Volunteers, congratulating the 800 NW chapter volunteers at the Redmond convention for an excellent job.

TREASURERS REPORT: — Lou Eddy

Beginning balance Jan. 1,’07: $992.07
Ending balance Aug 31, ’07 $880.33
Income: $660 (new members $130; Monaco Corp. gift $200, ID badges $330.00)
Expenses: $771.74 (website $70.06, badges/pins $642.25, mailings $44.44, album $14.99)

Motion to approve: Doug Clark; Seconded: Penny Braden. Passed.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE: — Judy Schindler & Lee Keeler

Candidates who have agreed to serve on the executive board in 2008/2009 are:

Stan Shackell for President,

Cherry Haas for Secretary,

Judy Keeler for FMCA National Director,

Peggy Beers to complete Bob Beers’ term as Alternate FMCA Director.

Outgoing secretary Barbara Brown has agreed to retain the new member duties of the secretary’s position in the newly-created, appointed position of membership director.

President Block, requested nominations from the floor, but none were received. All members were previously notified by email that write-in candidates will be accepted through October 1st. None were received.

Motion to accept slate as presented: Doug Clark. Seconded Jeanette Block. Passed.

NATIONAL FMCA DIRECTOR REPORT: — Judy Schindler

Report read by Bob Beers and attached as an addendum #1 to these minutes

ALTERNATE NATIONAL FMCA DIRECTOR REPORT: — Bob Beers

Report read by Bob Beers and attached as addendum #2 to these minutes

SAFARI INTERNATIONAL REPORT: — Bob Beers

Report read by Bob Beers and attached as addendum #3 to these minutes

WEBMASTER REPORT: — Greg Hollister, presented by Ed Block

Greg has developed a new procedure for secure and accountable on-line voting. The balloting for this year’s election will take place on-line only from Oct. 18-25. Members are asked to access the ballot from the Members’ Only section of our website. The results will be submitted electronically. No fussing and no bothering with stamps and ground mail. Kudos to Greg for his volunteering his time and talent to this effort!

CLUB GOODIES: — Jeanette Block

Jeanette reported that 52 percent of our members have ordered the new yellow plastic logo, ID badges. After the initial ‘Monaco-subsidized’ order, badge orders can now be placed per our website instructions. The same applies to other logo products. Trek Fun Club business cards may also be printed out from the website. As a side note, the Badges R Us business has been recently sold to new owners. We are currently awaiting word from them regarding any price changes in the yellow badges.

CLUB HISTORIAN: — Jeanette Block

Following Donna Weibel’s service as Club Historian, Jeanette agreed to serve in that capacity during 2007. As of January, ’08 we’ll need another creative member to take on the effort of saving rally reports, photos, and significant memorabilia and keeping it available for viewing at rallies. Judy Schindler offered to search for a new historian. Jeanette again requested volunteers. Cherry Haas and Peggy Beers offered to take pictures at upcoming rallies to ensure ongoing club historical records. Jeanette may be willing to maintain the albums again in the future.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: — Ed Block

FMCA NW Rally Volunteers—Albany, June 5, 6, and 7: 2008: No one offered to chair our club’s FMCA Prize Booth volunteer effort next spring, so Ed volunteered. Since FMCA’s funding for prizes may have been cut from their ’08 budget, Ed will determine at the rally’s fall planning meeting whether our club will participate in our usual effort in 2008. A Clip board sign-up was circulated for signatures of members willing to help in whatever volunteer effort our club is responsible for. If club participation is approved, Prize Committee volunteers will canvas vendors, and Ed will ask Chapters to donate to the prize booth effort.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE FOR 2008 ELECTIONS for 2009 & 2010 OFFICERS: — Lee Keeler

Following our bylaws, VP Lee Keeler stated that our club will be electing a Vice President, a Treasurer and an Alternate National FMCA Director to serve positions for 2009 and 2010. He requested volunteers to serve on next year’s nominating committee. Bob Brown volunteered. Lee asked anyone else willing to serve on the nominating committee to contact him.

NEW BUSINESS: — Ed Block

Other than the rally ideas presented below, there are no recommendations to the new officers.

Rally Ideas for 2008:

  1. A Columbia River barge and winery tour or a Rogue or Snake River jet boat experience. Wagon master interest is sought.
  2. Lynne Bake questioned whether she’d get enough interest in a ‘back-to-nature’ rally at a Northern Calif. Coast/Redwoods campground – well before the June FMCA-NW Albany rally.
  3. Lee Keeler offered their rural setting for two rallies/BBQs by hosts scheduled close to the Salem & Albany FMCA rallies. As Rally Master he hopes for several small, less structured rallies during the year to allow more members to attend some club event.
  4. Roland Williams offered to prepare gourmet meals in a rally setting – possibly Mossy Rock or NW of Kalama, WA at resort campgrounds next fall.
  5. Penny Braden offered to host a Trek gathering at her and Ben’s home in Issaquah, WA next fall.

END-OF-YEAR OFFICER & COMMITTEE REPORTS

President Block requested all officer and committee reports be submitted to him by December 1st.

Motion to adjourn meeting at 5:45 p.m.: J. Block. Seconded: Penny Braden. Passed.

Minutes recorded by Jeanette Block and Barb Brown.
Distributed to membership and posted to website 10/14/07
.


ADDENDUM #1

National FMCA Director Report – Judy Schindler

The 2007 FMCA summer Convention was held in August in Redmond, Oregon. Because the Convention was right in our neighborhood, I got to attend. This was my first attendance at an FMCA national event and it was great fun!

Chapter National Directors are voting members in what is called the Governing Board of FMCA. FMCA is largely a member-driven organization. Staff in the headquarters is meant to be primarily support staff. The Governing Board approves the budget and elects the Executive Board (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer). Attending the Governing Board meeting gave me a view into the organization and operation of FMCA.

The Governing Board meeting was an all day affair. I was amazed at the excellent attendance. The organization has 508 National Directors and 402 of them were at the meeting. This means 79% of the Chapters were able to have a voting member at the Rally. Bob Beers and I were on the voting floor although I was the only one allowed to vote. Having Bob there with me was great so that we could discuss topics and candidates before the voting. The meeting was a bit chaotic and unorganized because FMCA is largely a volunteer organization. This bothers some folks but for me the event went much as I had expected. It took all day to accomplish what could have been done in just 3 hours. However, the people-watching part was great entertainment.

The first order of business was approval of the budget. I’m not an accountant, but even to my untrained eyes it appeared that the budget was poorly prepared and even more poorly reported. However, the Treasurer seemed to think he had done just fine and seemed astonished that we weren’t impressed with his work. The Finance Committee and the Treasurer submit the budget to the Executive Board before the budget is shown to the Governing Board for approval. We on the Governing Board didn’t like their product. When we asked what would happen if we didn’t approve the budget, the folks on the Executive Board didn’t know! FMCA staff determined that the rejected budget would just go back to the Executive Board and be approved. This is the same Executive Board that had already approved the budget before it was submitted to us. So we now knew that rejecting the budget would be futile. So the Governing Board proposed and approved a new policy and procedure to address the event of the Governing Board rejection of the budget. Now a rejected budget must be revised and resubmitted to the Governing Board for approval by mail-in vote. I think the upshot of this new policy is that future Finance Committees and Treasurers won’t be so careless in budget preparation.

FMCA had a substantial income in years past. But in the last couple of years there has been a significant loss of members and significantly fewer attendees at Rallies resulting in much lower income. In the past in an effort to correct the membership loss, FMCA staff would call members after they left FMCA and ask why they left. Of course, this didn’t bring good results. So this Governing Board recommended that FMCA Staff poll new FMCA members about 3 months after they join the organization and ask what the new member likes about FMCA and what they would like FMCA to do for them. The Governing Board also authorized new financial management of FMCA investments. The Governing Board members also made it clear that they want a much more detailed accounting of the expenses for FMCA Staff. On a few things, the Governing Board felt that FMCA had cut expenses in the wrong places. In the past, a special souvenir pin was given to Rally attendees, this budget cut was unpopular. The Governing Board voted FMCA to reinstate the policy of providing souvenir pins. Also, volunteer thank-you dinners had been cut from the budget, but because Governing Board members felt that a thank-you to volunteers is important, the dinner will be continued at future Rallies.

The other major order of business was electing a new Executive Board. The new Board will consist of Connie Pool as President, Nelson Stubbs for Senior Vice President, Joanne Durbin for Secretary, and Doug Key for Treasurer. I think it will be an excellent, efficient Executive Board.

In other FMCA news, the Executive Director (FMCA Staff) reported that liability insurance for FMCA, Chapters and members is a high priority and improvements have been made. The MEDEX program is being maintained.

Submitted by Judy Schindler, October 5, 2007


ADDENDUM #2

Bob Beers Alternate National FMCA Director Report

Income from FMCA magazine advertising is FMCA’s primary income source. With fewer members advertisers are less inclined to invest in advertisements.

When FMCA had 130,000 members they had 59 full time employees. Now with 118,000 members there are 59 F/T and 10 P/T employees. This was an issue at the Governing Board meeting but the Exec Board didn’t think it was a credible issue.????

NWTFC received $750.00 to purchase door prizes for the door prize booth at rallies but no more. With Ed & Jeanette in charge of gathering prizes it will still be a resounding success.

Judy has a much more positive view of the new Executive Board than I do. However, I feel the Governing Board is energized to keep an eye on the Executive Board to see that they do better.

Peggy will be representing NWTFC at the February Pomona convention and the June St Paul convention. I will be representing Safari International as National Director so NWTFC kinda gets two votes.


ADDENDUM #3

Bob Beers, Safari International Report

Membership has declined. Monaco has stopped making top end Safari line coaches. People who own top end coaches and want to replace them are going to other brands and often not Monaco products. Reduction in 2005/06 motor home sales. However 07 sales are up 8%.

Challenges:

  1. New Board of Directors as of Jan 08 so we need to get organized with a positive business plan. I hope to l have an article in the next Safari Trails to get member input on this issue.
  2. How to get Baby Boomers interested in Motor Homing and Safari International. FMCA has the same challenge.
  3. What to do about the Monaco Product line problem.

Upcoming Rallies

  1. February Pomona FMCA Pre Rally-I don’t have date & Location Info.
  2. June 1-4, SI 20th anniversary rally in Amana Iowa Anyone who has ever been a SI member is invited.
  3. June 7-10 St Paul FMCA pre rally in Ohio