Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner on August 29, 2020 at 3:10 pm
Following Board Members were present: Sy Block, Tom Calvert, Eric Gibeaut, David Reina, Tom Ehrhart, Joe McConlogue, Barb Geschke
Also present: President Jim Linder, Vice President Gary Holman, Treasurer Rob Harter, and Secretary Kerch McConlogue,
Regional Reps: Joe Parlanti, Gary Corbett, Tom Hillmann, David Kellogg-Achin, Clark Vegazo, Bill Bulpitt, Joe Montcalvo
Minutes from the last meeting were approved as posted.
Treasurer’s report was accepted as shown. An issue with matching of final numbers was acknowledged. Rob is sorting that out. Nevertheless, it appears we will be down about $3,000 by the end of the year due to loss of members and newsletter costs.
Membership Report as of August 1, we have 514 paid members. We accepted 7 CATO members (free electronic memberships thru the end of this year as an incentive to join)
Also as of August 1, we lost 20 paid members. We have no email for 31 members, and bad addresses for 2. (That is being sorted out)
Website report:
TEAE.org had approximately 8000 visits per month, with 13% visiting the home page and 23% of total visiting the forum. In the forum only 31 new topics (with 45 replies) were added between March 1 and August 1. Additional statistics are available in the slides.
Facebook group was at 509 members as of August 1 with 236 posts, 2002 comments and 2739 reactions in that same period as above. Facebook demographics show 60% of members are over 55 years of age.
Additional statistics are available in the slides posted here
Regional Reports
Only Susquehanna region had a report about the Virtual Rallye. A few have signed up but as of today, only sample pictures were added.
Insurance
After research, President and Treasurer determined that J.C.Taylor will remain our provider.
Sources of Revenue
Regarding advertising in the RootesReview and the website. Kerch McConlogue shared the rate sheet which was developed with input from the Volvo club’s sheet as well as additional research for similar visibility.
Four packets including cover letter, rate sheet, ad size sheet, and hard copy of RR was mailed to 4 prospective advertisers. Dave Reina volunteered to collect contact information for other companies on the list provided by Joe McConlogue.
Kerch has sent the current list to the leadership and requested input from leadership regarding personal relationships with people on the list or additional companies
Joe Montecalvo suggested that we be sure to include international vendors who might otherwise be missed. Joe and Dave Reina (and anybody else) will send to Kerch a list of suppliers who might not already be on the current list.
Ron Stein offered to run our paid ads in his Canadian newsletter for no additional charge to advertiser.
It was suggested that we might use a two-month discounted ad to get suppliers interested in the program.
Jim Lindner suggests that we consider a list of preferred vendors who might be enticed to offer discounts to TEAE members. There was much conversation about the likelihood of Classic Sunbeams or Sunbeam Specialties participating in that program. Curt Meinel of Classic Sunbeams was already sent an advertising packet.
Regalia sales
Sy suggested Queensboro company as a possible supplier. Jim got no response to his request for information. And historically, TEAE has not had success with selling products. Discussion closed.
SUNI update
Official dates: September 13-17. 2021 in Independence, MO. All six clubs have agreed to the cost/revenue sharing plan. Kerch has agreed to handle registration
Upcoming Membership meeting
General membership meeting will be held Sept 26, 2020 at 3pm eastern using GoToMeeting (the same software used for the board meetings). The meeting will be recorded for later viewing by people who might not have been able to attend.
The vote on bylaws update (which must be approved by the membership) will be managed with a simple online vote.
2020 Elections
All officers and one board member (Joe McConlogue) agreed to run for reelection. Nominations were made. They were so moved, seconded and approved by vote of the board. Additional nominations will be solicitated during the general membership and through the September and October RootesReveiw. Ballots will be published in the November RootesReview.
Regional Adjustments
It was moved, seconded and approved by vote of the board that the Deep South region be dissolved. A new Lone Star region including members in Texas and Oklahoma will be formed. Members will be reassigned to Atlanta or North/Central Florida as appropriate.
Roy Roy (Keller, TX) was approved as Regional Rep for Lone Star Region.
It was moved, seconded and approved by vote of the board that the Great Plains region be dissolved with members reassigned to Pacific Northwest or Midwest regions as appropriate.
New Regional Reps
- Rob Roy (Keller, TX) was approved as Regional Rep for the newly formed Lone Star Region
- Tom Matowitz (Mentor, OH) was approved as Regional Rep for the Erie Region.
- Brian Marks (Vancouver, BC) was approved as Regional Rep for the Pacific Northwest Region.
- Roger Davis (Cottonwood, UT) was approved as Regional Rep for Rocky Mountain Region.
Preservation Class
This is designed to be an award for unrestored cars.
This perennial award, open to all models, is based on originality only and judged against a standard, not against other cars. Our most knowledgeable judges will be used, but the honor of owners will have much influence.
While there was discussion about what to do about owners being untruthful about the existence of non original parts, in the end it was decided NOT to include any stated penalty for errors.
TigerTom Ehrhart remarked that the plan for this class is informal and flexible.
It was moved, seconded and approved by vote of the board to include the Preservation Class in upcoming Concours judging.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:04pm
Respectfully submitted:
Kerch McConlogue
Secretary