BoD Minutes – December 20, 2017
Minutes of NCR-SCCA Monthly Board of Directors Meeting
December 20, 2017
Present: Heather Clark, Rex Deffenbaugh, Bruce Dover, Sam Fouse, Buddy Matthews, Heather Powers, Mark Senior, James Shanks, and via conference call, Eric Danielsen, Blair Deffenbaugh, Morgan Mehler, Ben Tyler, and Kit Williams. Anna Crissman was unable to attend.
- The NCR BoD meeting was called to order by RE Sam Fouse at 7:30 PM, on Wednesday, December 20th 2017, at Piper’s Deli, 3219 Old Chapel Hill Road, Durham, NC, 27707.
- Eric Danielsen and Ben Tyler attended as guests via telephone. Matt Decker has been replaced by Kit Williams as the new Cape Fear Chapter Coordinator.
- Motion to approve the November minutes, as corrected and posted on the Google drive (Senior / Clark). Passed.
Order of items below reflects the order of discussion; not as they appeared on the published agenda.
Financial Report.
Treasurer Heather Powers reported that we have about $103K in the money market savings account, and about $40K in checking at his time, with most of our outstanding bills paid, including $31K in worker credits and the 25% deposit due VIR ($36K) for next season. The worker credits are down about $4K from last year, presumably due to the loss of the 13-hour Enduro, which had many more workers than this year’s PDX, and paid double credits for Saturday. Ms. Powers also pointed out that we are in very good shape financially, considering that we also just purchased the Speed Suite at VIR. Solo, Heather said, has just under $10K in their account at this time, with all of their bills paid for the year. She plans to give a financial report at the upcoming Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner.
Old Business:
- Awards Banquet Update. Buddy reported that plans for the annual meeting and dinner were coming along well for the date of Saturday, January 13th at the Vailtree Center in Burlington. There will be both coffee and cake added to the menu, he said, at no additional charge to us, and several more classic cars will be on display, some inside the dining area. Bruce reported that registration was open in MSR for the event and that about a dozen people had already signed up.
- 2018 VIR Contract. Sam reported that Mark had discussed via e-mail with Kerrigan Smith of VIR our concerns about the current contract. Mr. Smith has backed off several items in that e-mail, such as prohibiting 2-piece driving suits, and Sam indicated that the text of his reply would be printed and attached as an addendum to the contract, which Sam would sign. Also included in a similar fashion as an addendum would be a print-out of the current VIR policies from their website, so that these could not be changed without advance notice to us, thus avoiding the unfortunate situation which arose in October when it was suddenly decided that we would have to staff all corner stations with at least one person with a radio. Sam said he plans to initial every attached page and sign each addendum as well as the contract itself. Bruce will convey the document to VIR. One issue that remains a concern is minor waivers. VIR wants a copy of the minor waiver executed for a minor worker or driver at one of our events, and in addition, they want that minor and his or her guardian to sign their (VIR) waiver. Since minor waivers for the SCCA are kept on file at the National Office in Topeka, this may pose problems in the future, which we will have to address at that time.
New Business:
- Operations Manual and Bylaws Update. The recent election had brought to light the fact that there are several inconsistencies between the Bylaws and the Operations Manual regarding voting. The most pressing was the treatment of members who are minors under the law but full members under our rules. The Bylaws do not exclude them from voting but by convention those under 16 had been excluded from voting in the past. Apparently, there was an attempt to get this into the Operations Manual some years ago, but the published copy does not reflect this change. Since we now have drivers as young as 14 in road racing and children as young as five in the Junior Kart autocross program, several parents had raised the issue as to why they were not given ballots and allowed to vote. Motion: To let all members of NCR vote in this election and all elections going forward (Senior / Fouse). Passed. In general discussion, it was decided that James Shanks, currently the chair and the only sitting member of the Bylaws Committee, revive that body with intention of revising the Bylaws to remove inconsistencies and to add a provision to allow electronic voting. Heather Clark and Mark Senior volunteered to serve on the Bylaws Committee and Sam asked James to reach out to Jerry Pell to see whether he would also agree to serve. As a side note, Bruce added that the current election had cost us $350 in stamps and supplies already, and that we had not provided stamps on the return envelopes. Obviously, it would have been more expensive had we done so.
- National and SEDIV Conventions. Sam announced that he and Anna would be going to the SCCA National Convention in Las Vegas, January 18-20. No one else appeared to be going on behalf of the Region. Since our policy, established last year, is that the RE’s and ARE’s expenses would be covered in full, including a $40 per diem for meals, as well as room and travel expenses for a companion, if desired; there was nothing further to discuss on that topic. A poll of those present indicated that a significant number of people would be attending the SEDIV Annual Meeting, February 2 – 4, on official business of one kind or another, including Buddy, Anna, Rex, Mark, Sam, Ben, Blair Stitt, and possibly Megan Tyler. It was noted that several stewards would probably be going as well. As with the National Convention, the RE’s and ARE’s expenses would be covered in full, including a companion and $40 per diem for meals, while all others would have to submit receipts up to the limit of some pot of funds designated for that purpose. Motion: To allocated a total $3500 to cover expenses for all participants at the 2018 SEDIV Annual Meeting representing the Region on official business (Senior / Fouse). Passed.
- March Into Spring Supplemental Regulations. Bruce reported that a copy of the March Supps, which Anna had prepared and circulated among the Comp Board members for the past week or so, had been sent to Chris Current, who is the designated Chief Steward for that event, for his review. This is his first time as a chief for one of our events so there was some speculation as to what he would say about them. But as Anna, who had authored them, was unable to attend this meeting, due to a death in her family, the entire issue was tabled until next month.
- Social Media Update and Reimbursement of Expenses. Blair Deffenbaugh reported that he had spent $200 on a Facebook ad for our PDX in October, at the direction of the Board. That ad, he said, reached about 56K thousand people, who accounted for approximately 91K viewings, or impressions, as they are called when they pop up unbidden on a web page. Considering just the target market of 18-24-year-olds, which is the prime demographic we were trying to reach, it cost us about $3.50 per 1000 impressions, which is well-within industry-standard norms. Furthermore, Blair said, 84 people “clicked through” from the ad to our web page, indicating that we captured their interest, but unfortunately not enough actually went on to register for the event, for one reason or another. But these numbers prove that our advertising is effective in reaching the people we wanted even if few bought our product. He added that he had spent $60 in February and March on smaller campaigns to bring people out to our races, but he did not have statistics on those. He was now asking for reimbursement for all the money he had spent for the year on social media advertising. Sam asked that he write up a document on how to use social media to attract people to our events at VIR. Blair agreed to do that. Motion: To reimburse Blair Deffenbaugh for the money he spent on social media advertising, subject to his submission of receipts and the standard NCR reimbursement invoice (Senior / Fouse). Passed.
- Election Update. Bruce Dover indicated that 103 people had returned ballots so far, with approximately 11 days remaining before the deadline.
Chapter and Committee Reports: As of this writing there were no Chapter or Committee reports for November 2017 posted on the Google drive.
Motion to adjourn at 8:45 PM (Senior / Clark). Passed.
The Awards Committee met informally following this meeting until approximately 9:15 PM.
Submitted by Secretary, James Shanks
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