BoD Minutes – November 2019

Minutes of NCR-SCCA Monthly Board of Directors Meeting

November 20, 2019

Present:  Heather Clark, Anna Crissman, Blair Deffenbaugh, Justin Deffenbaugh, Bruce Dover, Nikki Edwards, Sam Fouse, Al Heatwole, Joedy Pennington, Chris Schimmel, Mark Senior, and James Shanks, attended in person; and via conference call, John Lindquist, Steve Keadle, Morgan Mehler, Stephen Miller, Ben Tyler, and Kit Williams. Rex Deffenbaugh and Heather Powers did not attend.

  1. The NCR BoD meeting was called to order by RE Sam Fouse at 7:46 PM, on Wednesday, November 20th 2019, at Atomic Empire, 3400 Westgate Drive #14B, Durham, NC 27707, due to the unexpected and sudden closure of the Steel Spatula Burger Company.
  2. Blair Deffenbaugh, Justin Deffenbaugh, Joedy Pennington, and Chris Schimmel attended as guests in person. John Lindquist, Steve Keadle, Stephen Miller, and Ben Tyler attended as guests via telephone.
  3. Motion to approve the September minutes, as posted on the Google drive (Shanks / Senior). Passed.

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

Old Business:

  1. Time Trial at NCCAR Debrief. Sam started the discussion by saying that we lost about $5K, which was considerably less than the approximately $8K we lost in June, but that this was an investment in our future that we had resolved to make. There were more participants this time and everyone agreed that the event itself went well. Sam indicated that he had since heard from track manager Sam True that the county commissioners had approved funding for adding an additional rail of guardrail to the bottom of the existing posts, which would ultimately relieve SCCA National’s concerns about running prototype cars. Sam added that he and others had pointed out to Mr. True that by adding a row of jersey barriers to the skid pad, the facility could have a safe and proper pit road.  True will be looking into that as well.  In the meantime, our weekend of June 13-14, 2020, has been reserved, and we have been offered August 29-30 in addition. Kit Williams spoke up and said that the June date conflicts with an autocross date that we have been given by the contact person at MCAS Cherry Point. Kit added that we don’t have any choice when it comes to dates at Cherry Point and that he has no way to change them. We have to take what they will give us, just as we must do at VIR. This is a concern and obviously something we will have to discuss as the time draws nearer. Sam said he thought we could work something out when the time came. He went on to point out that we will be partnering with South Carolina Region during our March event at VIR, since they have lost their date at CMP for 2020, and they in turn will partner with us in March of 2021 so that we can hold a non-traditional racing program at VIR that might include some form of TT. The net result is one fewer SARRC races in SEDIV, and this he said, was a good thing.
  2. Scholarship Fund Update. John Lindquist and Steve Keadle, with assistance from Jerry Pell, have been looking into the possibility of establishing a separate charitable foundation as a 501c(3) entity to handle the proposed college scholarship program John outlined last month. This would allow donations to be tax deductible. John would be the director of that foundation and he would choose others to be on its board of directors. Steve Keadle circulated a list of activities to be undertaken and fees which would have to be paid in order for the new foundation to be established. Motion to establish “The Educational Foundation of the North Carolina Region of the SCCA”, with John Lindquist as its director, and provide him with a $500 loan to pay the initial fees (Senior / Crissman). Passed unanimously. John will also be responsible for coming up with the bylaws for the Foundation as part of its formation. It is anticipated that there will be one director from each Chapter of NCR. Since the task of setting all this up is lengthy, it is not anticipated that the Foundation will begin making any awards until 2021.
  3. Year-to-Date Financial Review. Sam circulated a few copies of a document which boiled down the huge year-to-date financial report that Heather Powers had done into just a few relevant pages. It highlighted how we believe we have done at each event in 2019 so far. Sam said he thought that the March profit, if accurate, was one of the very few in the last ten years, and that the Springs Sprints surplus, estimated at around $88K, might be optimistic, but that the overall results for the other events were probably accurate. The gist was that we made money in 2019 at our races, nearly $90K, and lost money on the time trials, as expected. Because our expenses at the Runoffs for our contracted services had been considerably higher than anticipated, $10K versus the $7K we were paid, Sam wrote a letter to the National Office asking for the difference, though he is not optimistic that they will comply. Heather Powers was unable to attend the meeting as she was travelling, but she had given Sam the figure of $36K for our checking account balance, which he said would probably all go to VIR to pay our deposit for 2020 when we sign the contract next month. We have not received it yet, so we do not know exactly what our rates will be, but we expect them to rise somewhat. Sam’s take-away from all this was that racing pays the bills and as we will not have had an income-producing event since May 2019, we will likely be dipping into our savings account until March of 2020.

New Business:

  1. 2020 SCCA National Convention Budget. Per our resolution in 2016, the expenses of the RE and the ARE are to be paid in full, including those for a travelling companion, if desired. Every other authorized attendee may submit receipts for food, travel, lodging, and convention expenses, until a pre-determined sum of money, set aside for this purpose by the Board of Directors in advance, is exhausted. Out of this sum, all Convention expenses are to be paid, including the aforementioned ones for the RE and ARE. Last year the Board allocated $8000, of which $5100 was spent. This year’s attendees so far include Christina Peterson and Jennifer Bedell, who will be making presentations, Sam, Anna, Mark, Heather Clark and Kit Williams. Motion to allocate $8000 for these attendees and possibly an eighth (Shanks / Senior). Passed.
  2. NCR Banquet Fees. After discussion, motion to set the Banquet fees the same as last year, $35 for a single, $60 per couple (Crissman / Clark). Passed. Bruce said registration on MSR will open on Friday, November 22nd.
  3. Setting a New Date for the January Board Meeting. Sam announced that, after discussion with Anna and others, we would try to have a Board meeting in Wilmington on the Sunday following the Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner, January 12th. Kit Williams volunteered to find us a suitable place to meet. This way the new Board can get a leg up on the new season’s business before the National Convention.
  4. 2020 Super Tour Contract. Sam announced that we had been asked by the National Office to commit to having a Super Tour Majors next April even though the exact fees are unknown. Sam said he told Deanna Flannagan that he would seek Board approval, but that it might be withdrawn should the fee schedule be substantially higher than last year. She assured him it would not be. Motion to hold a Super Tour Majors in April (Senior / Heatwole). Passed.
  5. New Computer for the NCR Office. The laptop Bruce uses as the Office Manager is several years old and the keypad, among other things, has started to act strangely. Anna suggested we get him a new one, specifically a Lenovo Idea pad. Justin Deffenbaugh said he thought there were better alternatives. Anna agreed to discuss her choice with him off line, if the Board would set a budget. Motion to purchase a new computer for the Office Manager, not to exceed $1000 in total; (Senior / Shanks). Passed.
  6. Awards Committee. Quoting from the NCR Operations Manual, as published on the Region website, Sam announced that Rex Deffenbaugh, who was the most recent RE before him four years ago, should be the chairman of the Awards Committee. James disagreed and said the Past RE position was actually vacant, since it only had to be filled for a year after the new RE took Office. But they both agreed that Sam had the duty to appoint the new chairperson, since Rex would not likely wish to fulfill that office due to his illness. Sam appointed James, though Mark Senior offered to take the spot. James rather reluctantly agreed to the post, but had concerns about the fact that the Ops Manual lists only the Chair and the Chapter Coordinators on the Committee. It does not include the Members at Large, who have also been part of the Committee in recent years. Sam said we could appoint others to the Committee should the need arise.
  7. Elections Committee. Since the election of new members to the NCR Board officially commences at the termination of this meeting, Sam also had to appoint an Elections Committee to oversee it. He asked Bruce, who will be setting up the election in MSR, just as he did last year, to be on it. Bruce agreed. Chris Schimmel and Mark Senior also volunteered. Sam appointed them to the Elections Committee with Mark as the chair.
  8. Plans for Speed Suite Update. Sam circulated two sets of drawings for the Board to consider, one with an electric range and one without. He asked them to choose one over the other, recognizing that adding the range, a used one, which was to be provided free by Mark Senior from his remodeling, if we chose to accept it, would mean that we would reduce the available cabinet space by the size of the range and that we would have to add considerably more electrical service to the Speed Suite to handle the load. Sam also circulated electrical plans as part of the discussion.  After some deliberation, it was decided by consensus that a range was not needed.
  9. Nominations for Open NCR Board Positions for 2020 and 2021. James reported that he had received proper written nominations for the following candidates. He, James, is running again for Secretary, and is unopposed. Anna Crissman is running for RE, and she is unopposed. Heather Clark, whose current term as Member at Large is expiring, is running again for a Member-at-Large seat, and Justin Deffenbaugh, Joedy Pennington, and Stephen Miller are all running for a Member-at-Large position as well.

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

Motion to adjourn at 9:12 PM (Shanks / Clark). Passed.

Submitted by Secretary, James Shanks

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