A Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner at 1:05 pm.
Elected Officers Present: President Jim Lindner, Treasurer Steve Murphy, and Secretary Gary Corbett.
Board Members Present: Tom Calvert, Tom Ehrhart, Barb Geschke, Eric Gibeaut, Joe McConlogue, and Joe Parlanti.
Other Members Present: Bill Bulpitt, Tom Hillman, Kerch McConlogue, Joe Montecalvo, and Ron Stein.
Slides presented at the meeting are here.
Approval of Minutes From Previous Meeting
The draft minutes from the last Board of Directors meeting on 5 February 2023 as posted on the Club website were approved.
Treasurer’s Report (Slides 4&5)
Steve Murphy presented a 5-year summary of the Club finances, showing the year-end balance for 2022. He will update this summary for the Annual General Meeting at United 40.
Membership Report (Slides 6-9)
Joe McConlogue provided an update on Club membership data. The membership is basically steady at slightly more than 500 members. Mike Hartman has volunteered to help out with the membership database.
Stripe will be used to process credit card transactions versus PayPal, which provides a cost saving to the Club. Cheques are also still accepted.
Jim Lindner contacted the president of the Colorado Association of Tiger Owners about joining TEAE at a discounted rate and becoming part of the Rocky Mountain Region. They ultimately declined the offer.
Rootes Review/Web Presence (Slides 10-14)
Newsletters are staying close to 12 pages per month.
Kerch had previously suggested that we consider publishing the newsletter monthly but only printing it every other month. She presented a cost analysis showing the estimated yearly cost for this approach for a 16-page issue every month would be $10,800; we are currently on track to spend approx. $17,000 on mailing costs this year for mailing each month.
We get occasional requests for back issues, and often for multiple copies. As there is a small but not insignificant cost to provide these, Kerch proposed a fee structure (Slide 12) for providing these back issues. This was passed by consensus.
The Club’s Facebook presence is good – it is used regularly. Regarding the website, Kerch did not have any recent statistics as the Google functionality changed in July and detailed data is no longer available.
Old Business
Three Year Business Plan (Slides 17-23)
Tom Ehrhart provided an update on considerable activities to date undertaken by the 3-year business plan committee, and thanked the members of the committee for their efforts to date.
Slide 17
Identifies the committee’s Mission, Objectives, and Process. An initial report of recommendations was provided by the committee outlining specific initiatives and details of the discussions held about them (report can be found here https://www.board.teae.org/2023/07/3ypc-progress/) These initiatives are summarized on Slide 18.
Forum and on Facebook (Slide 19)
Advancements have been made on the Forum and on Facebook. Facebook now has three administrators – Jim Lindner, Kevin Klotzbach, and Steve Murphy. There are no further actions planned, although Joe McConlogue recommended maintaining focus on both. Jim Lindner stated that the newsletter is also an important communication product as well.
Legacy Awards (Slide 20)
Tiger Tom and Tom Calvert have been reviewing the Wally Swift Award nomination criteria. Tiger Tom will send a revised set of criteria to Board members for review and approval – they will propose removing the focus on autocross by substituting ‘competitive driving event’ which could then include a rally.
Action – Tiger Tom will send a revised set of nomination criteria to Board members.
Bylaw Amendments (Slide 20)
The committee recommends several specific amendments of the current Club by-laws to remove ‘Policy and Procedure’-type information – this type of information will be captured in a ‘Policies and Procedures Manual’ where changes can be more easily managed by the Board rather than requiring a bylaw amendment. Joe McConlogue provided an update – there will be a lot of changes to the Bylaws and the Procedure manual will be quite expansive. Kerch will post draft documents on the TEAE Board website to collect comments, Joe will organize a separate meeting before year-end to discuss this specific topic. Actions – Kerch to post draft documents on the TEAE Board website. Joe to organize a separate meeting to continue discussions.
TAC Program Within TEAE (Slide 20)
Tom Calvert and Bill Bulpitt are chairing the subcommittee working on this initiative – they have not made much progress to date but will work on it this winter. They want to recruit more inspectors to eliminate geographic areas where there are no inspectors as well as increase the number of senior inspectors. Tiger Tom noted the target audience for this program has expanded – not only do current owners/enthusiasts want it but now buyers and sellers as well.
Regalia Plan (Slide 20)
Jim Lindner stated he had tried to set up a supply arrangement with a specific vendor to provide different regalia items with the Club logo but had been unsuccessful. Kerch suggested a couple different vendors could do it (Redbubble or Amazon) – she will investigate.
Action – Kerch to investigate other vendors for the supply of regalia.
Technical Videos (Slide 21)
No action to date. Tiger Tom to solicit a lead for this initiative at the AGM.
BASH Concept (Slide 21)
Both Jim Lindner and Tiger Tom feel we have made positive progress already this year promoting the broader event concept of Bring A Sunbeam Here. A ‘BASH’ sign has been developed.
Expansion of Membership West of the Mississippi (Slide 21)
Jim Lindner articulated some ideas about building membership in the club west of the Mississippi. A western United is one idea, although there is a concern about how many eastern Club members would make the trip. He thought one option might be to be the lead organizer for the next SUNI in 2026 and run it as a psuedo-BASH/United. Tiger Tom thought we should focus on building from the bottom up by finding individual enthusiasts and recruiting them.
501 (c) 3 Tax Status (Slide 22)
Joe Montecalvo provided much background information regarding this initiative. It would require an educational piece with outreach action, something the Club does not have as its purpose is to support its members rather than a larger community. Conversely the Volvo Sparks club contributes scholarships to a community college local to them and it exposes their club to a younger audience. Tiger Tom will continue to investigate.
Club Name and Logo (Slides 22&23)
Kerch had a friend draw up four different concepts for a new Club logo (Slide 23). People liked the idea of the word ‘International’ being embodied in the logo. Some words are required to better describe the organization. Work will continue.
United 40 Update (Slides 24&25)
General – Jim Lindner provided an update on the planning for United 40 in Bowling Green, Kentucky 14-17 September 2023. Many details have already been finalized as outlined in the slides. There are currently 126 people and 59 cars registered. Kerch mentioned we had gained 3 new Club members at registration.
Volunteers are needed to assist with numerous activities – please contact Jim Lindner directly and let him know what you can contribute.
United 41 (Slide 26)
United 41 has now been set for West Lebanon, New Hampshire for 2024. The host hotel will be the Fireside Inn. A preliminary itinerary is listed on Slide 26.
New Business
Board Membership (Slide 27)
Current incumbents for the Secretary (Gary Corbett), Treasurer (Steve Murphy), and Membership Chairman (Joe McConlogue) volunteered to continue in their roles. Nominations are required for several positions, most importantly President as Jim Lindner has now reached his term limit. He will call for nominations at the AGM.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
Secretary