MINUTES OF REGIONAL MEETING
March 8, 2003
The Regional meeting was called to order by RE Chuck
Heretta, at 10:15 AM at Hilton Garden Inn, Cleveland, Ohio.
The following clubs and officers were represented:
Aurel Ouellette, Fun Center, RMD, Gov. Bob
Kirsch, NEOVC, EOCS, Gov.
Alan Moore, Tiretown Corv., RCD, . Dick Downs, Competition Corv, Gov
Chuck Heretta, Buckeye Corvette, RE, Gov. Bob Kuty, Mahoning Valley, Gov.
Rich Brooks, Medina, , Gov. Bob Thomsen, Corvette Cleve, Gov,
Deb Murphy, Tiretown, Gov. DeVaughn Rader , Pioneer Corv. Asso. Gov
Motion was made by Bob Kuty to accept minutes as printed, seconded by Rich Brooks, motion was carried.
The treasurer’s report was read and accepted. Motion to accept by Bob Kuty, seconded by Jim Dietrich.
Bob handed out the 2003 schedule. He will mail out to all chairpersons of Champ Series a packet, it will contain supplemental information such as dates results due, fee information etc.
Web Site. This will be caught up the week after banquet; he has been rather busy getting banquet together.
Everything for evening’s banquet is ready, approximately 148 attending.
If there is anything you need or would like to see on the website contact Bob Kirsch. If you have something specific to be printed on the web he would prefer it be sent electronically to him.
Regional and national results are available. Contact Alan Moore if you would like a copy.
Check your rulebook this year to be sure your flyers are done correctly. Be sure to turn in one set of results for each event to Alan. NO handwritten copies will be accepted. This is from the VP of Competition. Maps on the flyers need to have a major street listed. Make sure people from out of town can find site of event.
Clarifications: Can a two-piece rotor be used in group IIIE, answer was NO, (14 to 0) because are not compatible. Can be used in RP but not IIIE.
If a non-sanctioned, non-competitive driver’s school is held on a track with instructors, no timing and no timed runs, what safety rules apply. All rules in the rulebook apply, especially if convertibles were at the event and did not have roll bars, then no one could go over 80 miles per hours.
Discussion of rulebook, numerous letters and emails were sent to VP Competition about Z06, and wanting to know if changing class why it could not go into effect for this year. So as of March 1, 2003 the Z06 is in “J” class. If you have a standard C5 and are using Z06 wheels or tires then you will be in class IIH. To remain in “H” class must have stock size wheels and tires on car. Also as of March 1, 2003, in group I and group IS polyurethane bushings will be allowed in the control arms. The reason for this is no replacement bushings available for C4 and C5’s.
As people come to events this year you may be asked to work. So if you expect people other than your club members to help at events you need to put this on your flyers. Denny Murphy suggested that it be made a standard rule if you come to race you will be expected to work. This will be discussed under new business.
Bob Kuty asked what was the answer to placing time on flyer that states how long entrants must stay at car shows. Just need to place this on the flyer that entrants are expected to be present with their cars during which hours.
New rules for 2004 – 2007 rulebooks only have two more meetings to discuss this. There is still much work to be done on this book. Alan is going to make a proposal the next time that since they rally and concours have not been discussed that the rule book be divided in sections. Starting in 2004 look at concours for 2005 – 2008 rulebook change. Then look at rallys 2009 –2012. This would give more time to do rulebook properly. Judging sheets are one area that need to be looked into. Some of the rules are too broad to cover a street car. Alan would like to propose that a show car must show in the highest class it qualifies for. Question was asked who would make that judgement and did that mean a car would have to be judged before it can be placed into a class.
Another thing discussed was one region going into another region and holding an event. Some rules have been proposed, among them is if the home region does not have approved sanctions by January 31, of competition year, and the visiting region is the first to sanction an event on that day after January 31, then the visiting region can come into your region and do an event. If the visiting region has permission prior from the RCD prior to January 31, they will be allowed to conduct an event outside their home region. Alan will adjust his request day for sanction request to January 31 in 2004. Once our dates are set another region will not be able to come in and take our dates. Chuck asked was this for only like events, no, it is for any events? Another region could come in with an unlike event as long as it was 150 miles away from the other event. This could be beneficial for both regions.
Other things discussed at national meeting were: Do we want to change points for speed events? Eleven voted yes and it was decided to change to. One car class first place 7 points, two car class points 8 and 7, three car class 9, 8 7. It will take three cars in your class to get 9 points. It was brought up this was detrimental to the ladies class. One of the things that is starting to happen is that the “pigeon” is starting to show up to numerous events to boost certain points. Question was asked at national meeting should we change bonus points? “NO”. Third question asked was should travel points be changed? First vote was yes then after some discussion was decided to leave them as they are. It was decided it would be more of a detriment in some regions if it was eliminated.
It was also discussed should we establish 2-FTD’s in group II and Group III, similar as group I pre 84 and post 84. This was defeated, stays as it is today.
On tire sizes there was a proposal that diameter, width and profile must not exceed plus or minus 10 mili-meters of the correct size for the class and axle. This is for group I and group Is, because every year tires are getting harder and harder to find. (Sample given was if you take “G” class and run 255, 275, 295 or 315, would mean you could go from 255 down 10th and run 245 and the biggest tire you could run would be 325.)
It was voted to change rule on flyers to allow emailing of flyers, currently rulebook goes by post mark. Also requested zip code for site be included. This will allow people to go on line and get a map to location.
Some asked that travel points on table 8 be changed to 150 miles instead of 200, reason two events in same region have to be 150 miles apart and if traveling should get travel points. This vote was tied 7 to 7 and the VP broke the tie by saying it is going to stay the way it is.
Placed wording in the rulebook where the RCD’s have some discretion in what is handed out as penalty. There was some discussion on this as to how it would be dispensed fairly. Comment was either follow the rulebook or change the rulebook. Per the rule book members of club lose their points also. RCD’s want some leniency in this. Comment was made that maybe need to look at protesting against a club versus a competitor. Comment made should hold those responsible that are responsible for the problem.
They will discuss sanctions at their next meeting, there are two proposals. One is to allow clubs 4 events a day and each club can have 8 events. Or club can have 4 events a day and a total of 10 events.
Question was asked what happened to idea of finishing an event before starting another? This was defeated.
They are also looking at proposing a mandatory 3 runs per event.
Bob Thomsen has found a possible new location to have speed events. It is at the Euclid Square mall. The mall is totally closed except for Dillard’s. The north parking lot has been used by the Porsche club in the last year for events. Plenty of room in back for parking and trailers. The only bad part is that the Porche club pays $500.00 per day to use lot. There could be a reduced rate for us since it is our first time and we have our own insurance we may be able to get it for $300.00 per day. The money goes toward security. The south parking lot is larger than the north one, the person to contact is Rosemary if you are interested 216.731.8970. There are numerous eating places close by.
Dick Downs commented there is plenty of room there, but the reason the mall is closing is because of the neighborhood and problems encountered. He thought it would be interesting to contact the Porsche club and see what visitors they encountered. Also made the comment it could probably be an ideal place.
Gave out handouts for East Ohio Region membership report, national membership report, FCOA report. Current membership in East Ohio region is 835 about 30 members down from last year. Number one club in membership in region is Tiretown with 113. There is a potential of 2 new clubs for the region other then the two previous discussed. One is Mountain State Corvettes around Hurricane, West Virginia; the other is around Rocky River, Ohio. Rocky River does not have enough members yet to form a club, need twelve per National Council rules.
February 28 meeting in membership for national is 15,532 with 283 clubs. In December of 2002 closed out with 17,317.
Mid America has come up with an incentive for membership growth, and are calling it the Battle of the Clubs award. The club with the highest percentage of new members wins. A NCCC award will be awarded at the May, August and September meetings to the clubs that have gained the highest percentage of members of all clubs during those times. The NCCC dolphin award will be awarded at the November meeting, this will be for the highest percentage for the year.
There are still some old membership applications forms floating around, you need to use the forms dated 1999 and throw the rest away.
The new lifetime membership card is black and gold, and a sample was passed around. Also passed around was sample of new membership brochure.
The Duntov award application will be available on the website. Committee members are Sue McGee, Barb Harris, and Karen Bryant. The applications for consideration must be submitted on or before the next RMD meeting starts on May 2, 2003. This would be the qualifications for the year 2002.
There was a question about status change spouse/dependent, an application must be submitted along with $10.00. When a dependent member becomes 21, they need to become a primary.
A motion was presented to the RMD from the RE’s to increase the age of dependent members from 21 to 25 that are full time students. The RMD’s voted against this 4 FOR, 8 Against, 2 abstentions. Those that voted against claimed it could not be controlled. Aurel voted in favor of the motion as this would help keep membership. He is told this will probably come up on the floor of the governors meeting via the RE’s.
Everyone should have received their renewal member packets by now if not contact Aurel. You should have also received your winter Blue Bars issue by now.
At the last regional meeting it was mentioned that several members of one club and some from other East Ohio clubs did not receive the convention Blue Bars or when they received it, the magazine was badly damaged and not readable. Aurel has asked Sylvia Hoaldridge to check into the possibility of getting another printing of this issue.
A sample of a promotional video was shown by Jerry Limpaugh, Director of Public Relations. The idea is to promote National Council membership. They are looking at doing this on a DVD and VCR tape. It is still being worked on but what they saw looked very professional. Chuck asked if this was being done by VP membership or Public Relations. Aurel said he thought only Public relations was working on it, he did not think membership was working on it.
Bill Quine asked when a new member joins National Council what did they receive in their packet? They receive a perk pack similar to members renewal packet. When asked if they received Blue Bars in this also, answer was no, because of additional cost to mail. It should have a membership card, updated rulebook and standing rules. They think a patch is included for the primary also. Spouse member will get membership card in same packet but not separate copy of rulebook or standings. Deb Murphy asked if Aurel could get someone to list what is actually put in the packet? Then we could tell new members what to expect in the packet, just the basics. Sometime distribution center runs out of things so packets may change by middle of year.
Chuck asked if there was a way they could stop sending duplicate and triplicate information to the same address. He gets three renewal packets, and three Blue Bars. Mickey stated when she brought up to membership when she became primary member that they could save money by only sending one packet, she was very rudely told that was their problem and they would handle it. Comment was made how many other households across nation would like to see only one packet. Deb Murphy said distribution center is given the labels and they do not even know because is broken down by club and not address. Comment made primary’s are paying for their own envelope and are entitled to have an envelope if they would like one.
There are 1646 members in FCOA, East Ohio region has 124 FCOA members. Corvette Cleveland has 34. Please remember if you have an FCOA member with a change of address to contact Pat Kelly at FCOAKIDS@AOL.com. They do not get their address changes from national, plus some are grandchildren, nieces and nephews whose names have been turned in by other relatives.
Hall of Fame: They are on the program for the evening. Those that were not elected to Hall of Fame their applications will stay in the system for one year and they will be brought back up again next year unless requested to be withdrawn. Anyone new will be considered next year also if members from previous year not nominated again will have to be se-submitted. The committee will come up with a list to put into the minutes so the governors will know nominees turned in. Bob Kuty said governors need to be sure and turn in the ballots so that 80% will be easier for nominees to get. Chuck said along same lines some clarifications are needed. Guidelines say 80% of votes not 80% of potential votes. Committee needs to define this clearer. This year 80% of votes cast was used. Also need to place resubmitted names for one year in standing rules and place time lines in there also. Aurel Ouellette asked about an updated copy of the Hall of Fame rules because he brought it up to national membership and they would like to maybe consider this for national. It is on the website for everyone to use. Rich Brooks as a new governor asked what is the Hall of Fame. Bob Kuty explained it is to recognize members that have been in for so many years and garnering votes from the clubs governors. They receive a plaque, pin, dinner re-imbursement for them and guest. There is also an album with a short bio and picture of person inducted.
Roger Thomas elected committee chair for Regional executives.
To date eight clubs entered the newsletter contest and they expect it to increase. The criteria for this is on the national website.
The credit card has generated about $2000.00 for national. They are looking into giving back money to regions as incentive but they need to decide how to do this. Privacy laws prohibit giving out address of users so they cannot disperse on use by region.
There is an audit coming up of national and a question was asked who pays for what in audit procedure. It was discussed that charity committee is its own entity it should pay for its own part of audit and national pay for their part. The other side of coin is every dollar taken away from charity committee you take away from the charity itself. A compromise has been reached, it will cost the charity $ 2500.00 for their part of the audit which they will pay and national council will make a donation to the charity fund in amount of $2500.00. This amount is tax deductible.
Insurance bill for year 2003 came in a little under that what was expected this is good for council budget.
The age change from 21 to 25 years of dependents will come on floor as bylaws proposal.
The Nashville car show in June as of meeting date only had 31 cars accounted for out of 250 spaces. They have made some adjustments in the timelines you now have to 8 p.m. to get your car to the site. Also you will be able to get it out Saturday after the car show as long as it can be driven to your trailer or driven away. There will be plenty of shuttle busses from the hotels to events in area.
Money collected for this event will be funneled to National Kidney Foundation via National Council Charity.
The membership video will be done in a couple of different formats.
Green sheets for five tickets for $5.00 were in renewal packet. There is a ticket incentive program, an individual must sell 100 tickets to be in this program. You need to mail in groups of 100, with your name as seller and also designate that you want to be in the program. Send these entries to Patrick Dolan. Giveaway car is a 50th anniversary coupe and it will have the decal package on it.
Scholarship forms are available from Aurel Ouellette, they need to be mailed back to committee prior to May 1, 2003. The committee is listed on the website. Scholarships are now at $750.00.
Chuck would like to see the East Ohio Region become the first region to become 100% in charities program. This means each club would generate $10.00 for each national council member they have.
Deb Lindsey has generated between $38,000.00 to $40,000.00, approximately $30,000.00 will go to convention.
As of East Ohio meeting there were 470 people registered for convention. The host hotel is already full, but there is a hotel right across the street, Days Inn, and is about half the price of the host hotel. There are other hotels closer than the one convention shows they only showed like hotels as the convention host.
10404 packets were sent from distribution center, it took Don 55 hours just to put stickers on the membership cards.
FCOA has assigned their 2100 number.
George Gallant gave convention report. There will be no food service at Jefferson track. There is also some talk about a warm up at Summit course. Low speed will have food service.
113 packets were returned that could not be delivered, 4 of these packets were from Buckeye club alone. It turned out the distribution center was given the wrong mailing labels, they were given last years list.
Southwest airlines still has $88.00 special, but the flight times are not very good. Jack Carkner asked about the possibility of NCCC meeting starting at noon instead of 1pm. There did not seem to be any interest in this. Chuck did place this suggestion in his article for Blue Bars for the next issue.
OLD BUSINESS:
Bob Thomsen gave presentation on timing equipment region would like to purchase. He as checked with a couple of clubs that have the type of equipment we are looking at. One of these clubs was Northern Corvette Association and they were quite please with the timers. They bought the 520 which the region is considering.
Bob said one of the things we could do is consider buying everything except display and then use at April driver school and fun khana events. The display is about $1800.00. To get everything else would be $2200.00 so the total would be about $4000.00. Per Denny Murphy maybe we should consider charging clubs minimum fee to use the timers.
Denny asked could we do a round table survey on why clubs are no longer wanting to do autocrosses. Chuck went around the room and various reasons were given. Per Chuck we need to know clubs situation so the region can help with a solution.
Rich Brooks brought up need to give better incentive to get workers to come out that don’t participate in events, Mickey stated more dollars needed to be generated in order to do this. Chuck did say that each year the workers awards have improved.
The East region and Florida region RMD’s have programs to do results from the timers and are willing to share.
Bob Kuty made a motion to purchase timers including display, lights, cords etc. Rich Brooks seconded, motion passed 8 For, 0 against, 1 abstention. Per Bill Quine on cable for the display be sure to get the longest cable possible to buy in order to get display as far away as possible.
Flyers for drivers school need date changed it should actually be April 26, 2003.
Chuck Heretta appointed Bob Thomsen to chair set up of timing committee.
Please talk up the Nashville car show in your clubs and generate interest so we can get the cars we need there.
Chuck is in the process of getting quotes for bonding of regional treasurer.
NEW BUSINESS:
The guidelines for the Hall of Fame need to be updated. An idea that was brought up was to maybe set up a seniors committee. Some of our older members that many do not even recognize names of those that did a lot to get the region and NCCC going. Maybe these could be picked by the senior committee and not go to the governors.
Need a language statement that needs to be read at the drivers meeting for events. Asked that Alan look at setting up something for all clubs to read.
Need to work on getting workers for events at 2003. It takes a lot less to do car shows than speed events.
Deb Murphy made a motion that that we place statement on flyer that: “East Ohio entrants will be requested to work.” Dick Downs seconded. Rich asked that we add; set money aside for workers. Deb said she preferred it not be added to her motion. There was some discussion and Dick Downs called for the question of placing remark on flyer. Motion passed. Bill Quine also mentioned if someone comes up and says they want to work be sure to give them something to do.
Alan Moore will bring a large sign board to all events for volunteer workers. Competitors do not get workers awards but they are expected to help out.
Alan said he liked Rich’s idea of placing money aside for worker awards, Chuck said maybe we could take the money from one regional event and put aside for worker awards.
Deb Murphy asked about trying to see who is winning awards at car shows so maybe at the end of the year they can get special yearend award. Maybe just place a “T” by the person’s name who gets a trophy.
Rich Brooks brought in some prices for doing a region calendar. Black and white pictures for 500 calendars will cost $1013.85. These will be the staple type calendar. Color calendars would cost about $5000.00. The way other groups do this is people send in pictures then an appointed group of people select the pictures and how they will layout in the calendar. Question what is time line, it would be two weeks from date layout turned in. The region would have to get calendar pictures laid out how they wanted printer would not do this.
Please go back to your clubs and see if members would be interested in buying this type calendar. The selling price would be $5.00 (black and white) to $10.00.
Banquet Bids 2004: Chuck is checking with Dan Skinner to find out the NCCC meeting dates for 2004, he thinks it’s the last weekend in February. Buckeye Corvette is looking at three (3) places, they are Marriott McKinley Grand in Canton, Holiday Inn, New Philadelphia and Atwood Lake Lodge about 45 minutes from Canton on route 542. Room rates at Marriott and Atwood Lake are $80.00 per night plus tax, meal cost about the same at each. All three have a pool, and sit down or buffet style dinners. We need to try and get the people from West Virginia up to these events. Question was asked if Bill Wood was willing to chair this type of event would region help. There would not be a problem with this and Mickey has offered to help in the past.
No one else had a bid at this time.
Alan Moore asked for more dollars for additional needed to cover awards this year was about $200.00 short, Rich Brooks made a motion to give additional dollars, Bob Kuty seconded, motion carried.
Reminders: Try to get your clubs to be 100% charity donation for National Kidney Foundation. You should have this in by July 1, 2003.
Money is available for governors to travel to St. Louis, $150.00 allowed, it will come back to you as re-imbursement after present bills to treasurer.
Next meeting is May 2, 3 and 4 in St. Louis, staying at Chalet.
Southwest still has low discount rates, comes out to $88.00 round trip.
Next meeting will be May 10, 2003 at 10am, at Esber’s in Canton.
Meeting adjourned at 1:45pm.
Respectively submitted,
Mickey Ouellette
Secretary/Treasurer