BoD Minutes – August 2019

Minutes of NCR-SCCA Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

August 21, 2019

 

Present:  Anna Crissman, Rex Deffenbaugh, Bruce Dover, Jennifer Dover, Jamie Dzencelowcz, Nikki Edwards, Sam Fouse, Patrick Gilligan, Al Heatwole, Chris Schimmel, Mark Senior, and James Shanks, attended in person; and via conference call, Heather Clark, Morgan Mehler, Heather Powers, Ben Tyler, and Kit Williams.

  1. The NCR BoD meeting was called to order by RE Sam Fouse at 7:30 PM, on Wednesday, August 21st 2019, at the Steel Spatula Burger Company, formerly Piper’s Deli, 3219 Old Chapel Hill Road, Durham, NC,
  2. Jennifer Dover, Jamie Dzencelowcz, Patrick Gilligan, and Chris Schimmel, attended as guests in person. Ben Tyler attended as a guest via telephone.
  3. Motion to approve the July minutes, as posted on the Google drive (Shanks / Heatwole). Passed.

Order of items below reflects the order of discussion, as nearly as possible; not necessarily as they appeared on the published agenda.

Financial Report.

 Treasurer Heather Powers reported that the Region had $91K in our money market (savings) account. The checking account has about $83K at this time, with only a few items outstanding, the largest being the remaining year-end worker credits. Our total cash in the bank, less checks outstanding then, is approximately $174K. Solo has just under $13K in their account. Ms. Powers said she estimated our loss at the recent Test Day event to be between $5000 and $6000, which is less than expected, after the low turnout. Sam asked whether she could bring a balance sheet to the next Board meeting, and Heather agreed to do so.

Old Business:

  1. Publishing the Board Meeting Agenda in Advance. Bruce had some questions about the plan devised last month concerning publishing the agenda in advance. He was worried that someone might not get the latest copy. James and Anna indicated that, on the principle that an incomplete agenda was better than no agenda, we could all agree that any agenda Bruce might circulate in advance would be considered only tentative until the meeting actually started. They would like to see one circulated the Monday before the scheduled meeting so that everyone could think about making additions to it, and then have another circulated on Tuesday, if needed, with any updates. Bruce rather reluctantly agreed. He said he would put an updated one on the Google drive just before the meeting so that people could download it. It was not clear whether he would also circulate it via e-mail, which is what several Board members wanted.
  2. Runoffs and NCR. WDC Region has agreed to loan us 40 fire bottles for the duration of the Runoffs. The only fly in the ointment is that someone will have to go and get them from Summit Point, and they will not be available until the weekend immediately preceding the Runoffs, so the timing will be tight. We think we are short between five and ten brooms, but Ben will be conducting an inventory this week to make sure of the count. We will have to buy some; the only issue is how many. Anna pointed out that brooms are in short supply at NCCAR and that we should consider leaving a few onsite there in November. Sam is making a spreadsheet of drivers for the tram and the six-passenger golf cart. Bruce said he would like to be a golf cart driver for the bulk of the time that one is needed. Sam reported that he had received a check for $3000 from the National Office, which is half what is owed for our services during the Runoffs, including the rent for the scales and our flags; and that he, Sam, had turned right around and spent it, writing a check for $2200 as our deposit on NCCAR in November and another for $900 to cover insurance on Speed Suite.
  3. Preparation and Publicizing of the November TT at NCCAR. Bruce had been in contact with Stephen Miller, who could not make the meeting, to discuss how to advertise the upcoming TT in November. Bruce had produced a course map and a location map, which Stephen approved, to be used in our advertising. The Board was supposed to come up with a name for the event and some pictures from those taken last time to be used as well. After discussion, some photos were selected by consensus and “NCR at NCCAR: The Second Time Around” was chosen as the name. The first ad should go out next week.

New Business:

  1. Mazda’s New Spec MX-5 Class and SARRC / MARRS. Mazda announced a new class they are backing for 3rd generation or “NC” Miatas, so-called because “NC” is the model designation in their VIN Number. Technically, these are called “MX-5” by the factory, eschewing the name “Miata” bestowed on earlier generations of MX-5’s by Mazda North America’s marketing arm. The proposed spec class will have spec chassis and engine parts available for sale through Mazda, including complete engines built by Roush (optional), a shock package by Penske, and spec tires from Toyo, as well as specified components from other manufacturers.  NASA has already accepted them and it is presumed that the SCCA will not be far behind. Sam announced that Mazda had contacted him and asked whether they could run these cars as a separate class in our SARRC / MARRS race next May. Mazda does not want them to overshadow other Miata and MX-5 cars already racing, so they would strongly prefer that we not run them together with Spec Miata, T4, ITA, or STL. That means we would have to put them in a different group, most probably in the “big bore” group. Since we have done that in the past with other Spec NC MX-5 cars, Sam agreed.
  2. Runoffs Party. There was further discussion about the Region putting on a party at the Runoffs. It is to be held Friday night, the first day of racing, if we can pull it off. Sam announced that he had been promised $3000 by Heyward Wagner for this, but that he had made it clear to Heyward that the only way this would happen was if we could get other sponsors, and VIR, to help defray the costs. Many Board members expressed reservations about getting stuck with a big bill for this, so it was decided to limit our liability up front. Motion to spend no more than $1000 of NCR money on the Runoffs party (Crissman / Senior). Passed. Mark said he would talk to VIR about using the Gallery, which should be already set up with chairs and tables, since SCCA National will be holding their Worker of Year banquet there the night before. Sam said he would reach out to Quantum Speed Works and a few of our larger prep shop regular customers to see whether they would be willing to contribute. He also said that he welcomed suggestions for other potential sponsors whom he might contact.
  3. Profit and Loss Statements for Individual Events. Al spoke up and said that he would like to see more detailed statements of what we were spending in various categories on our events. It was hard, he said, as a new member of the Board, to know whether our collective decisions on where to spend our money were good ones or bad ones, because he had little idea of what things actually cost. He cited this Runoffs party as an example and said he had very little idea of what our expenses were in putting on something like that. In fact, he said he really didn’t know the breakdown of our expenses at VIR and that he was relying on the judgement of others to tell him whether they were in line or not. Sam promised to send Al some of the spreadsheets which he has been maintaining in order to make his decisions as RE. Anna spoke up and said we should look at having a general discussion about our expenses at a future Board meeting.  There was consensus that this would be a good thing to happen but no date was set for such a discussion.

Chapter and Committee Reports: As of this writing, there were no Chapter or Committee reports for July 2019 posted on the Google drive.

Motion to adjourn at 8:28 PM (Shanks / Senior) order to discuss a personnel issue. Passed.

Submitted by Secretary, James Shanks

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