NWACC Board of Directors Meeting
President Ron Waller called the meeting to order at 12:00 PM. at Titus Will Chevrolet, Olympia, WA. Officers present were Ron Waller, George Schwartz, Lona Hyatt and Dave Kaiser.
Roll Call
Clubs present were:
Corvettes D Olympia
Classical Glass Corvette Club
Marque Club of Seattle
Mt Hood Corvettes
Rose City Corvettes
Clubs not present were:
Capital City Corvettes
Columbia River Corvettes
Northwest Corvette Association
R-Vettes Northwest
Willamette Valley Corvette Association
A quorum was established.
Minutes:
Ron reported that minutes from the September 13, 2003 meeting had been distributed to board members via email. Hard copies were passed out to those in attendance that wanted them. There being no corrections, a motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the September 13th minutes as written.
Treasurer’s Report:
Dave Kaiser, NWACC treasurer, presented the Treasurer’s Report for the period ending September 26, 2003, provided copies to all members in attendance and reviewed the documents in the report. Reports will be mailed to those member clubs unable to attend. It is anticipated that at year-end, after all banquet income & expenses has been booked, we will carry a balance of approximately $2,000 into next year. Dave opened the floor to discussion as to the possibility of disbursing these funds back to member clubs or retaining the funds as a cushion to offset increased costs next year. The board unanimously approved retention of the funds as an offset to increased costs. Doing so will allow us to keep any dues/fee increases to a minimum.
Dave presented budgetary projections for 2004. It is anticipated that insurance costs will continue to increase next year. An increase of 10% has been included in the projections. The board discussed a number of alternatives for covering this cost including a member unit fee increase, event fee increase and collecting entry fees for people’s choice events. Dave asked all board members to review the budget and offer any changes or suggestions to him prior to the November 1st meeting. A final budget for 2004 will be presented at that time.
Old Business:
The discussion of collecting participant fees for the people’s choice category, which began at the August 16th meeting, was continued. All clubs were in agreement that NWACC should charge a minimal $5 participant fee for this class with the exception of the Corvette Marque Club. Dick D’Alessandro, CMCS, indicated that CMCS will not host an NWACC event if there is a fee for people’s choice entries. Specifically, the Sea-Tac event, which CMCS hosts each year, has traditionally been a people’s choice event for the club. CMCS is unwilling to charge its members a fee for this event and if required to, CMCS will withdraw from NWACC participation.
Jim Duschel noted many car shows in the Northwest and throughout the US have participant fees at or above $25 yet enjoy great participation. It is generally understood that the main cost of hosting these events is insurance. Charging a $5 fee for people’s choice is not intended to bring in excess funds for NWACC. But, rather, to defray the cost of the insurance based upon the total number of cars participating.
The fact is that NWACC’s insurance is exposed each time a member club hosts ANY event regardless of whether it is has NWACC judged classes. Clubs that host Non-NWACC events enjoy the same coverage as those clubs hosting sanctioned events. This is as it should be because it is the intent of NWACC to further the enjoyment of corvettes. However, the cost of providing insurance must be covered.
Dick stated again that CMCS will not charge a fee for people’s choice no matter how small. The board then discussed alternatives to charging for people’s choice.
One of these alternatives is to pass the cost of insurance on to those clubs that host events by charging a set fee for the issuance of an insurance certificate. In that way, the host club would pay based on the number of events hosted. It was determined that this is not a viable alternative because it would require that clubs pay each time they participate in any event, i.e.; parade, homecoming, etc., where an insurance binder is required. The cost to the clubs would be prohibitive.
Another alternative is to make no changes, don’t worry about people’s choice or poker runs, etc. But then we will have to find a way to cover insurance costs.
A suggestion was made by CMCS that we raise the per member unit cost. Ron noted that at the last meeting where this was discussed, the CMCS representative indicated that they would not support an increase in the per member unit fee. Dick noted that the rep present at that time had no authority to represent CMCS. The board discussed whether this was a fair approach to those clubs that could not host an event.
Many agreed that the better way would be to not charge for people’s choice and move to a per member unit increase. That way, everyone within NWACC is paying a portion regardless of individual participation. Then the question becomes, how we promote NWACC sanctioned events as opposed to a club saying NWACC judging is too hard so they will just make it all people’s choice. It is then a non-NWACC event so they don’t have to pay anything.
Dick recognized the need for NWACC and sees the value in what it provides. CMCS pays its member fees and would agree to an increase. They are aware of the insurance cost increases and understand that the fees have to be based on the costs of the organization. CMCS knows that NWACC is one heck of a good deal and they provide a super service to the clubs that participate. CMCS is a large club and provides a lot of support to NWACC.
Lona noted that for the coming year we need to raise an additional $750 to cover costs if we do not charge for people’s choice. This should be easy to cover with a minimal per member unit increase. Jim asked again if the Marque club would be willing to pay a higher member unit fee, which will charge all members, rather than an event fee which will charge only those few members participating. Dick indicated that yes, this was the case.
It was decided that each club representative would go back to their clubs for input on this question. Once club input is received the board will finalize a decision on this question. It was the unanimous feeling of the board that they never would want to do anything financially that would drive a club away. There is a way to resolve the issue without alienating any club. The board will work to this end.
Lona noted that we need to be aware of the trend towards people’s choice events. Many clubs are going in the people’s choice direction. We need to devise a strategy for promoting NWACC judged events as well as having the people’s choice category available.
Dave noted that part of our responsibility is to assist our clubs in growing and promoting participation. Tony noted that all clubs, with the exception of CMCS, charge for their people’s choice category. Most charge the same as they charge for the NWACC sanctioned entry fees.
Dick noted that CMCS does not charge for people’s choice events because they consider the cost as part of their annual budget. For the clubs that do charge, people’s choice generates additional income at the club level which ultimately assists the club in paying for other events.
Dave asked that everyone provide feed back as soon as possible. He will provide projections for 2004 with a per-member unit fee increase to $13 and no fee for people’s choice.
Dave has applied for the credit card authorized at the last meeting. He has not yet received a response. In the mean time any charges requiring credit card payment will be done with his personal card and reimbursed.
New Business:
George noted that we will have the February meeting at the Corvette High Performance met as usual. Rules change proposals must be submitted prior to the date of the year end banquet. Anyone having proposals should submit them in writing and bring one copy for each NWACC club. You may send them to George on-line as an email attachment. Once they are submitted they will go back to the clubs for review and will be voted on at the February meeting.
George reminded that it is necessary to put together an audit committee to review the books on November 1st.
The next meeting will be held at 3:00 PM, Saturday, November 1, 2003 at the Fort Lewis Golf Club, Fort Lewis, WA.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:20 PM.
Submitted by,
Lona R. Hyatt, NWACC Secretary