Feb 4, 2009 ACNA Chapter Rep Call Notes
02-26-2009, 11:16 AM
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Feb 4, 2009 ACNA Chapter Rep Call Notes
Started 9:00pm
Introduction of new ACNA BoD members on the call
Introduction of any new Chapter President's on the call.
North West Chapter (Pat Martin) had questions on their bylaws that have been submitted to National. They originally wanted to just tweak their chapter bylaws to allow the Board to appoint an interim Director (as their bylaws didn't have that provision) due to a non-responsive Director. Months passed and when National responded they came back with a slew of changes that affected many areas in their bylaws. Meanwhile, their Annual Meeting had come and gone and along with it, the opportunity to amend or change the bylaws. So the seat on the board remains unfilled some six months later. Kent was unaware of their situation. Other chapters asked if there's a template of Bylaws on the National website for Chapters to use, and no, there is none. Dean mentioned he talked with the Club attny who indicated they should just appoint an interim Director to fill out the term.
Utah Chapter mentioned Wreckreation Nation episode on Discovery Channel, Feb 17th@10PM EST where Dave Mondal will drive Jon Stahmann's RS4 in an attempt to join the 130mph club on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Conversation on regional representation - two trains of thought:
1) Divide club into nine regions. Each region is allowed only one seat on the national board. Problem is that, as three board members are replaced each year, each region region gets a shot at a seat every three years.
2) Divide club into six regions and three "at large" seats, where two seats are reserved for regions and the other seat
(making three per year) are elected from anywhere.
Members of the ACNA Board will contact Chapter Reps over the next few weeks by phone to discuss/gather comments.
Mary Ann McCauley, new President of the Glacier Lakes Chapter, asked if National could look around the country for people with experience in writing policy/procedures for non-profit entities to help out on what has been described as a daunting task. Steve Earley responded that the club already has good people and multiple club policy manuals to draw upon, they just has to sit down and spend the time to integrate/write it up, which Steve has been working on for more than a year. Mary stated that she has *extensive* experience doing this for multiple (like 4+, and much larger) non-profits in the past (I think she does it as her day job) and was
volunteering to help. As Bruce Bradigan said, "You're drafted".
Four rings program - Mary Ayer was not on the call, general board assessment was disappointed in response. Less than one quarter of the chapters participated. Of those that did, only one chapter got all four rings, a few got three, and the rest far less. People did
point out the reward was less than the cost of the rings. National is re-assessing program and will come back with amendments to it, perhaps a bunch of programs (no details) incorporated into it that drive membership attraction/retention. Overall, despite the 4-Rings program, the club decreased in size this year, although there was a small increase in membership in the fall. Current membership ~8500
including associate/family members.
Karen Chadwick was not on the call as a result of a standing commitment for Wednesday evenings. Chapter Rep calls have been rescheduled to Tuesday nights the week following the ACNA board meeting.
The ACNA Website needs work. No one on the current board is on the website committee. The website is out of date in many areas, including ACNA board of directors listing, committee contacts, minutes, etc.
Glacier Lakes will host the 2009 Annual event (25th Audi National event) at Brainard in early October (8-10?). Only two proposals,
Glacier and Utah, Utah indicated they'll make proposal for 2010 National event as National is looking to increase the leadtime on the
National event (so they can advertise it farther ahead).
Teen Clinics - Mark from Badger (and Mark from Chicagoland) indicates state law prevents them from charging admission to a teen clinic *unless* they are a licensed "driving school". BMW Street Survival doesn't hold schools in WI or IL (according to their web schedule). As such, these chapters need national to foot the entire bill for their clinics. Kent mentioned that Shell is cutting back Teen Clinic sponsorship to only $25,000 funding this year, despite stating at the Annual meeting that there would be a dramatic increase in funding. National is considering capping reimbursement at $500/event (depending on number of events held,
currently 16 - last year was 21). Nobody mentioned where the remaining $12,500 of Shell sponsorship money would go.
Chris from Ohio had question regarding past ACNA National Event. As they do every year, ACNA kicked in $5,000 to the National event. Craig Liechty, Chris and John Horner negotiated support for the event directly with Audi. This money passed through National (earmarked for the National event) as part of their ACNA support payment. When the check arrived at Mid-Ohio, $5,000 was deducted from it. One could guess that National wanted to recoup their support. Inquiries made regarding the discrepancy yielded no response. Mid-Ohio is $7,000 in the hole for the event, and that's being carried personally by the Mid-Ohio board members. The ACNA Board will look into it.
Audi Loyalty program continues, $500 off a new or CPO Audi from dealers. Check comes from ACNA, paid for by Audi. I believe (don't quote me) you need to be a member for 60 days to get the discount. Applied in Canada in 2008, National will confirm same for 2008. Audi sales off 25% last month, BMW down 15%, big three each over 40%.
Discussion on group buy on cones - no numbers/source/size yet.
Notes from call - people mentioned notes, when they do appear, are incomplete, or quite late. Thomas Bunter of NJ suggested that through the conferencing system, get a recording of the call and have office staff create notes from it.
Alan of Canada asked to limit the number of people from chapters on the calls, especially when the subject matter gets "aggressive".
Consensus was that its an open call, but only one person per chapter can speak.
Peter Barada asked about what ACNA BoD minutes had been approved and when they will be posted to the website. Board members
indicated that all minutes up until this past meeting have been approved. Peter reminded Bruce that the November minutes indicate Ocotober meeting and asked for those to be posted as well.
Peter Barada also asked when the 2008 Annual Meeting presentation could be posted to the website as the recently posted presentation was from 2007. John Horner responded that at the Annual Meeting the Board said it will be posted, and that Karen was given the presentation three weeks ago to post, and doesn't know why the 2007 is posted instead of the 2008. Further, that the website is updated by person(s) directed by her office, both to update minutes, and other content.
Call ended at 10:51pm.
Introduction of new ACNA BoD members on the call
Introduction of any new Chapter President's on the call.
North West Chapter (Pat Martin) had questions on their bylaws that have been submitted to National. They originally wanted to just tweak their chapter bylaws to allow the Board to appoint an interim Director (as their bylaws didn't have that provision) due to a non-responsive Director. Months passed and when National responded they came back with a slew of changes that affected many areas in their bylaws. Meanwhile, their Annual Meeting had come and gone and along with it, the opportunity to amend or change the bylaws. So the seat on the board remains unfilled some six months later. Kent was unaware of their situation. Other chapters asked if there's a template of Bylaws on the National website for Chapters to use, and no, there is none. Dean mentioned he talked with the Club attny who indicated they should just appoint an interim Director to fill out the term.
Utah Chapter mentioned Wreckreation Nation episode on Discovery Channel, Feb 17th@10PM EST where Dave Mondal will drive Jon Stahmann's RS4 in an attempt to join the 130mph club on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Conversation on regional representation - two trains of thought:
1) Divide club into nine regions. Each region is allowed only one seat on the national board. Problem is that, as three board members are replaced each year, each region region gets a shot at a seat every three years.
2) Divide club into six regions and three "at large" seats, where two seats are reserved for regions and the other seat
(making three per year) are elected from anywhere.
Members of the ACNA Board will contact Chapter Reps over the next few weeks by phone to discuss/gather comments.
Mary Ann McCauley, new President of the Glacier Lakes Chapter, asked if National could look around the country for people with experience in writing policy/procedures for non-profit entities to help out on what has been described as a daunting task. Steve Earley responded that the club already has good people and multiple club policy manuals to draw upon, they just has to sit down and spend the time to integrate/write it up, which Steve has been working on for more than a year. Mary stated that she has *extensive* experience doing this for multiple (like 4+, and much larger) non-profits in the past (I think she does it as her day job) and was
volunteering to help. As Bruce Bradigan said, "You're drafted".
Four rings program - Mary Ayer was not on the call, general board assessment was disappointed in response. Less than one quarter of the chapters participated. Of those that did, only one chapter got all four rings, a few got three, and the rest far less. People did
point out the reward was less than the cost of the rings. National is re-assessing program and will come back with amendments to it, perhaps a bunch of programs (no details) incorporated into it that drive membership attraction/retention. Overall, despite the 4-Rings program, the club decreased in size this year, although there was a small increase in membership in the fall. Current membership ~8500
including associate/family members.
Karen Chadwick was not on the call as a result of a standing commitment for Wednesday evenings. Chapter Rep calls have been rescheduled to Tuesday nights the week following the ACNA board meeting.
The ACNA Website needs work. No one on the current board is on the website committee. The website is out of date in many areas, including ACNA board of directors listing, committee contacts, minutes, etc.
Glacier Lakes will host the 2009 Annual event (25th Audi National event) at Brainard in early October (8-10?). Only two proposals,
Glacier and Utah, Utah indicated they'll make proposal for 2010 National event as National is looking to increase the leadtime on the
National event (so they can advertise it farther ahead).
Teen Clinics - Mark from Badger (and Mark from Chicagoland) indicates state law prevents them from charging admission to a teen clinic *unless* they are a licensed "driving school". BMW Street Survival doesn't hold schools in WI or IL (according to their web schedule). As such, these chapters need national to foot the entire bill for their clinics. Kent mentioned that Shell is cutting back Teen Clinic sponsorship to only $25,000 funding this year, despite stating at the Annual meeting that there would be a dramatic increase in funding. National is considering capping reimbursement at $500/event (depending on number of events held,
currently 16 - last year was 21). Nobody mentioned where the remaining $12,500 of Shell sponsorship money would go.
Chris from Ohio had question regarding past ACNA National Event. As they do every year, ACNA kicked in $5,000 to the National event. Craig Liechty, Chris and John Horner negotiated support for the event directly with Audi. This money passed through National (earmarked for the National event) as part of their ACNA support payment. When the check arrived at Mid-Ohio, $5,000 was deducted from it. One could guess that National wanted to recoup their support. Inquiries made regarding the discrepancy yielded no response. Mid-Ohio is $7,000 in the hole for the event, and that's being carried personally by the Mid-Ohio board members. The ACNA Board will look into it.
Audi Loyalty program continues, $500 off a new or CPO Audi from dealers. Check comes from ACNA, paid for by Audi. I believe (don't quote me) you need to be a member for 60 days to get the discount. Applied in Canada in 2008, National will confirm same for 2008. Audi sales off 25% last month, BMW down 15%, big three each over 40%.
Discussion on group buy on cones - no numbers/source/size yet.
Notes from call - people mentioned notes, when they do appear, are incomplete, or quite late. Thomas Bunter of NJ suggested that through the conferencing system, get a recording of the call and have office staff create notes from it.
Alan of Canada asked to limit the number of people from chapters on the calls, especially when the subject matter gets "aggressive".
Consensus was that its an open call, but only one person per chapter can speak.
Peter Barada asked about what ACNA BoD minutes had been approved and when they will be posted to the website. Board members
indicated that all minutes up until this past meeting have been approved. Peter reminded Bruce that the November minutes indicate Ocotober meeting and asked for those to be posted as well.
Peter Barada also asked when the 2008 Annual Meeting presentation could be posted to the website as the recently posted presentation was from 2007. John Horner responded that at the Annual Meeting the Board said it will be posted, and that Karen was given the presentation three weeks ago to post, and doesn't know why the 2007 is posted instead of the 2008. Further, that the website is updated by person(s) directed by her office, both to update minutes, and other content.
Call ended at 10:51pm.
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