August 1997 Board Meeting Minutes

Location: Pizzeria Uno, Newton Center, MA
Date: Wednesday, August 13, 1997
Present: Armand Aquino, Bruce Augenstein, Fred Beck, Will Farnsworth, Espen Frank, Denis Friedman, Steve Goldstein, Joe Marko, Dan Mull, Bruce Machon, Joe Peng, Sue Rathbone, Luka Serdar Jr., John Sullivan Jr., Barry Tarr, Mike Webb, Ann Marie Weber, Peter Weber.

1. Call to Order (Joe Marko):

• Joe called the meeting to order and handed out a copy of the agenda.

2. Secretary's Report (Espen Frank):

• Last Board Meeting had low attendance due to vacations etc. The minutes will be published in the September 97 Bimmer.
• Board member/ staff directory was distributed for verification. Updated version will be handed out at the next meeting.

3. Vice President's Report (Mike Webb):

• The Summerfest was very lightly attended, the fun rally had only 3 cars. We still plan to hold the event again next year.
• Next general meeting will be held August 26 at BMW Gallery. They will offer a 25% parts discount for the day. We will send out a mailing to announce the meeting.
• Other August events include Autocross, Mt. Tremblant Driving School and New England Grand Prix. September events include the chapter Concours, the Castle Hill Concours and a micro brewery tour.
• October events include the annual Leaf Peeping trip to New Hampshire as well as the last chapter Driving School for the year.
• The Castle Hill Concours, in Ipswich close to Crane's Beach, will be a big event. It will be organized by BMW NA, and will include a special "BMW CCA Club Corral" for up to 40 pre-1978 BMWs owned by BMW CCA members. BMW NA will send out detailed information to the members. Unfortunately, this event conflicts with 02 Fest at Lime Rock Park, CT.
• We have had a problem finding enough volunteers to run the Tech Sessions. However, the area dealerships are more than willing to host these, and they should be easy to organize. Any volunteers are encouraged to contact Mike Webb.
• Mike is also looking for a volunteer to organize a chapter golf outing.

4. Treasurer's Report (Bruce Augenstein):

• A present the chapter has about $13,000 in cash in the checking account. However, we do have some outstanding bills related to printing the BIMMER, and expect to have about $9,500 in the account at the end of the month (August) once these bills are paid.
• The membership has increased significantly over the last year or so, (see membership report below) as a result we now print and mail out more BIMMERs than ever. This has lead to a significant increased expense for the BIMMER. We need to get the BIMMER cost under control, and we will not give any contribution to charity until we have looked at the BIMMER cost.

5. Membership Report (Barry Tarr):

• The current chapter membership (as of end of July 1997) is at 1919 members, as of January we were at 1594. This is a tremendous growth.
• About 40 to 50 new members join each month. They all receive a welcome letter with a copy of the "ultimate calendar" enclosed.
• The area dealerships help us promote the club, and some of them provide back issues of the BIMMER and membership applications to people purchasing new and used BMWs.

6. Driving School Report (Luka Serdar Jr. / Denis Friedman / Joe Marko):

• The Boston Chapter was helping the White Mountain Chapter run the Driving School/Club Race for Oktoberfest 97.
• The White Mountain Chapter will have to cancel the Driving School they had scheduled for Sunday, October 12. Instead of a Driving School, an instructor training day has been proposed. Any remaining spaces may be filled by experienced students who don't need instructors.
• The board voted unanimously go in with the White Mountain Chapter on this instructor training day, although we might loose money on this (max. $1,000) if we can't fill the slots.
• The Driving School at Mt. Tremblant in Canada has 41 US entrants, and a total of 57 registered students. The Club Race portion will probably have 12 - 13 entrants. It should be a great event, any many people plan to make a family vacation out of it. We will probably break even financially on this event.
• The last chapter Driving School for the season will be Friday, October 17. The application was in the July/August BIMMER.

7. Autocross Report (Fred Beck):

• The chapter ran the autocross at Oktoberfest 97. Our friends at the White Mountain Chapter really appreciated our help on this.
• The member only policy at this year's autocross series seems to be working well. This has given us about 30 new members. We have about 40 entrants at each event, but about 2/3 are non-BMWs. We have about $X in profit from this so far this season.

8. Concours Report (Dan Mull):

• The Boston Chapter Concours will be held Sunday, September 14 at the Museum of Transportation. The sponsors will be the same as last year.
• The prizes will be downgraded as compared to last year, we will no longer be giving out Zymol starter-kits at $75 a piece.
• The Concours classes (early and late) will be combined. Anyone interested in judging should contact Dan Mull.
• Dan is also looking for a volunteer to help organize the BMW corral at the Castle Hill Concours.

9. BIMMER Update (Armand Aquino):

• Armand presented a cost analysis for the BIMMER covering the issues Jan 97 through June 97.
• In addition, he also presented a summary of the goals and direction of the BIMMER. The reason for this cost analysis is that the BIMMER is currently costing us $X per issue. This is too high, and the goal is to reduce this to about $Y per issue. The printing costs have gone up significantly, and the billing does not seem to be consistent with the initial negotiations.
• Joe and Armand will meet with the printer to resolve these issues. We will also try to reduce cost by going to 2nd class postage (delay to members about 2 days), eliminate the blue color from the inside pages, reducing the number of changes etc.
• It is a goal to have 30% of the space in the BIMMER used for advertising, while we are currently at 17%. Ad revenue currently covers about 30% of the total Bimmer cost, ideally this should be 100%.
• The BIMMER should be delivered to the members during the first week of each issue month.
• The deadline for submission of materials is the 10th of every month.

10. BIMMER Advertising (Will Farnsworth):

• Will handed out and presented an advertising package that has been put together, including an introduction letter, an enrollment form, a rate card, and a copy of the BIMMER.
• All board members are encouraged to give this package to potential advertisers they may know.
• Any member who knows potential advertisers can refer them to Will. T
• he collections for the advertising is running late, mostly due to the fact that we did not get the invoices out until June (They should have gone out in January.)

11. New Business (Joe Marko):

• Sue Rathbone had talked to the SCCA, and they are considering adding a new race class for BMWs to be run together with the Porsches. She is looking for feedback on this.
• Due to the Chapter's current financial situation, and the high expenses for the Holiday Party (it cost us about $2,500 last year), it was suggested that we charge admission for the Holiday Party this year. We will charge $5 in admission per person, but will still do the food donations to charity. This was accepted unanimously by the Board.
• A question was raised as to why only the President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer and the 3 directors have voting rights at the board meetings. Some felt that other volunteers that put in a lot of time for the club should have voting rights too. Joe Marko addressed the issue and explained that the reason is that these were the elected officers voted in by the members. Joe will pursue the matter further by looking at the by-laws for other chapters and see how they handle the voting issue. He will update us on the next meeting.
• The issue of charitable donations was raised. We have not donated to Lahey Clinic in the name of Parker Spooner this year. This donation is usually made with proceeds from the Ice Time Trials season. This year we did not have any Ice Time Trials, and did not make the donation. However, we have started selling raffle tickets for the door prices at the General Meetings, as opposed to just giving them out. The proceeds from these raffles will be given to charity. We need to get the BIMMER cost under control before we continue the discussion about charitable contributions.

October 1997 BIMMER

Editorial: Dynoed! by Armand Aquino

Reflections From the Hood: My Exit Ramp Is Approaching by Joe Marko

What's Happening: Golf Is On! by Mike Webb

October 1997 New Members by Barry Tarr

A Wife's Eye-View From Mt. Tremblant by Linda Friedman

Frankfurt Auto Show by Joe Marko

Welcome to The Gallery! by Ed Reynolds

Third Quarter General Meeting by Mike Webb

Boston Chapter Wins NEGP Chapter Challenge by Fred Beck

August 1997 Board Meeting Minutes by Espen Frank

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1997 Holiday Party February 1998 BIMMER

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