August 1998

Location: Pizzeria Uno, Newton Center, MA
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 1998
Present: Bruce Augenstein, Fred Beck, David Christman, Trish Farnsworth, Will Farnsworth, Espen Frank, Carlos Giron, Noam Levine, Sue Rathbone, Greg Scott, Luka Serdar Jr., Alenka Slezak, John Sullivan Jr., Barry Tarr, Michael Webb, Ann Marie Weber, Peter Weber.

1. Call to Order (Mike Webb)

• Mike called the meeting to order and handed out a copy of the agenda.
• Welcome on board to Trish Farnsworth, our new legal advisor.
• Phil Paulhus has resigned as responsible for the chapter regalia.

2. Secretary's Report (Greg Scott/Espen Frank)

• Greg Scott went over the minutes from the last meeting, as the Secretary was absent from the meeting. The minutes were approved by the board.
• 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 for Neil Schneider)

• Neil was unable to make the meeting due to travel.

4. Treasurer's Report (Bruce Augenstein)

• At present the chapter has about $ 6,000 in the checking account.
• We are now using QuickBooks for the financial reporting.
• The application to go to 2nd class postage for the Bimmer requires a fee of $ 85. Our goal is to move ahead with this process and go to 2nd class postage for the October Bimmer. That should save us several hundred dollars per month in postage.
• With 2nd class postage, we should be able to go to 28 pages for the Bimmer without an increase in postage.

5. Membership Report (Barry Tarr)

• The current chapter membership is at 1958 full members and 153 associate members for a total of 2,111. We typically get 40 to 50 new members per month.
• We asked the membership to provide an email address to improve communications, but the response was very low, so this will not be pursued any further.

6. BIMMER and Website Update (Greg Scott)

• Greg has received excellent feedback from the membership on the chapter website. The website is constantly updated with the most current event information and results, as well as a lot of general information as well as links to other sites.
• The deadline for submitting materials to the BIMMER has been changed to the 5th of every month in order to get the Bimmer out in a timely fashion in the beginning of the next month.
• Greg is looking for someone to help out with the BIMMER, especially the classified ads. If someone is willing to help out, please contact Greg.

7. BIMMER Advertising (Will Farnsworth)

• We will do about $ 18,000 in advertising income for the Bimmer this year, of which $ 14,000 has been billed so far.
• We are still owed $ 7,000 from last year. We will send out reminders and try to get this money in before the end of the year.
• We will try to keep a closer eye on outstanding receivables in the future, and will try to do pre-pay as much as possible.

8. Driving School Report (Luka Serdar Jr.)

• We will try to help our friends in the New Hampshire chapter run their Safety School at their "Ultimate Fall Festival".
• The "Bimmers across the Border" event in Canada went well. The club race had about 25 racers, unfortunately 5 drivers will get 13/13 violations due to accidents. In the driving school, we had a 2:1 ratio of students, while the Canadians had a ratio of 2:1 of instructors. There were 2-3 student/instructor accidents, so we will only get a 50 % rebate on the insurance. The whole event will cost the chapter $800 to $900.
• Registration for the October 16 Driving School was in the last Bimmer. Denis Friedman has the registration under full control.

9. Autocross Report (Fred Beck)

• The autocross season has been a great success so far, and attendance is up compared with last year.
• We now have about 60 - 75 people on each event, and over 50 % BMWs. For about 40 % of the participants, it is their first aurocross season. The projected profit from the autocross series this year is about $ 4,000.
• The turnout for the NE Grand Prix event was 36 people this year, with 15 from the White Mountain Chapter. The Boston Chapter won by a narrow margin.

10. Concours Report (Mike Webb for Dan Mull)

• This year's concours will be held at the Museum of Transportation on Saturday September 12. The charge will be 5 $ per car.
• The Castle Hill Concours will be held Sunday September 27. The local BMW retailers have a limited number of tickets that cover entrance, parking and lunch. BMW NA is the main sponsor of the event, which seems to get better every year.

11. Regalia (Mike Webb for Phil Paulhus)

• Phil Paulhus has unfortunately resigned. We are currently looking to fill his position.
• The regalia is now available for purchase through the web site. We are in the process of taking some pictures of what the different items look like and will post that on the web site.

12. Chapter Tool Box (Mike Webb for Shawn Casey)

• There has been very little member interest in the chapter tool box. Very few request for tools, and very little interest in donating tools to the tool box. Due to lack of interest, the board voted discontinue the chapter tool box.

13. Chapter Library (David Christman)

• We finally have some books in the library, generously donated by Bentley Publishing.
• We need a policy for lending out the books. We will require some kind of deposit when borrowing the books, either cash or a credit card. At present the books can be picked up and dropped with David, but we need additional volunteers to make this more convenient.
• We will put an ad in the BIMMER with the titles and further details on how/where to pick up the books.

14. New Business (Mike Webb)

• Trish Farnsworth has volunteered to be our new legal advisor, and will help us review and propose changes to the chapter bylaws, and also help us stay in compliance. Her efforts are very much appreciated.
• The issue was raised whether or not we should make the member names available to advertisers for a fee, the national office does this sometimes for car related services. The board agreed to only make the mailing list available for car related issues, and only for a suitable fee.
• A Chapter Congress will be held in New Orleans, October 23-24. The national office pays for one representative from each chapter. The board agreed to pay for one extra candidate. John Sullivan will go in addition to Mike Webb.

Minutes prepared by

Espen Frank,
Secretary

October 1998 BIMMER

Behind the Wheel: A Spartanburg Weekend by Mike Webb

Under the Hood: The 5000 Mile Month by Greg Scott

Crushing The Cones: Driver Satisfaction Quotient by Fred Beck and John Mansfield

October 1998 New Members by Barry Tarr

New England Grand Prix Challenge by Fred Beck

New England Grand Prix Challenge Photo Gallery by Tom Goltz

1998 Autocross 5 Photo Gallery by Tom Goltz

Third Quarter General Meeting by Ron Sisco

Third Quarter General Meeting Photo Gallery by Ron Sisco

Election Time! by Mike Webb

Boston Chapter Board Meeting Minutes: August 1998 by Espen Frank

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