Author: Kerch McConlogue

Action Items

• Kerch will set up the code for electronic registration.
• Jim Lindner to organize the Facebook & Forum sub-committee.
• Barb Geschke will lead the sub-committee on Legacy Awards.
• Tom Calvert and Bill Bulpitt to chair sub-committee on TAC initiative, Dave Kellogg will be a member.
• Ron Stein and Joe McConlogue volunteered to create a list of shops currently interested in and capable of working on our vintage cars.
• Kerch will continue to manage the website content.
• Regional Reps to utilize BASH label wherever possible to promote the Club.
• Kerch to get trifolds printed.

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A Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner at 1:07 pm.               

Slides presented at the meeting are here.

Approval of Minutes From Previous Meeting

The draft minutes from the last Board of Directors meeting on 30 July 2022 as posted on the Club website were approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Slides 4&5)

Rob Harter presented a 5-year summary of the Club finances, showing the year-end balance for 2022, due to the income for both SUNI from 2021 and United 39 from 2022.

Rob thanked the Board for the opportunity to be Treasurer over the past five years, and introduced the new Treasurer Steve Murphy.

Membership Report (Slides 6&7)

Joe McConlogue provided an update on Club membership data. The membership is basically the same at slightly more than 500 members. Over 60% of the members still prefer a printed copy of the Club newsletter which incurs a significant mailing cost. More than 2/3 of members pay their dues by credit card, with a significant shift towards using Stripe versus PayPal which provides a cost saving to the Club.

Rootes Review/Web Presence (Slides 8-12)

Kerch had previously suggested that we consider publishing the newsletter monthly but only printing it every other month. She presented a cost analysis showing the estimated yearly cost for this approach for a 16-page issue every month would be $10,800, versus $18,600 to publish and mail a similar sized issue every month – a significant cost savings. It was discussed later in the meeting as part of the discussions about the 3-year business plan.

Kerch presented some statistics about the Club’s Facebook presence. Although most members are within the US there is also significant participation and interest overseas in the UK and Australia. Kerch also presented some statistics about the Club’s website, and mentioned that she and Gary had started to work on some new ideas for the website format and for content.

Old Business

United 40 Update (Slides 15-17)

General – Jim Lindner provided an update on the planning for United 40 in Bowling Green, Kentucky 14-17 September 2023. Many details have already been finalized as outlined in the slides. Hotel reservations can now be made, and event registration should open in April. Two additional details were mentioned regarding the lapping session at NCM Motorsports Park on Thursday – there will be no requirement for tech inspection for a participant’s car and there will be no need for a helmet. The format will be a pace car leading a group of 3 participant’s cars, and the organizers indicate the pace will be quick enough for people to get a good feel for the track experience.

Pre-United Gathering – Joe Parlanti mentioned he was planning a small gathering in Lexington, Kentucky for the Tuesday and Wednesday before United to give people an additional opportunity to socialize and do some drives through the local countryside. There will be a separate registration process for this event – more details will follow.

Three Year Business Plan (Slides 18-31)

Full report of this committee is here

Tom Ehrhart provided an update on considerable activities to date undertaken by the 3-year business plan committee, and thanked the members of the committee for their efforts to date. Slide 20 identifies the ten members of the committee and their initial discussions over three video conference meetings. Slide 21 identifies the committee’s Mission, Objectives, and Process. An initial report of recommendations was provided by the committee outlining specific initiatives and details of the discussions held about them – this report can be found here. The remaining slides summarize these specific initiatives, recommendations to move each initiative forward, and actions to be taken to do so – complemented by the following notes.

Bylaws Amendments (Slide 24)

The committee recommends several specific amendments of the current Club by-laws to remove ‘Policy and Procedure’-type information – this type of information will be captured in a ‘Policies and Procedures Manual’ where changes can be more easily managed by the Board rather than requiring a bylaw amendment. A motion was made and unanimously approved to investigate the exact changes required to prepare for a vote by the membership to implement the bylaw changes.

Electronic Newsletter Subscribers (Slide 24)

The committee recommends offering a $5 discount for the membership fee for a new member’s first year if they have been solicited directly by a regional representative and if they choose the electronic newsletter subscription. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. Action – Regional reps to action as required. Kerch will set up the electronic registration as required.

Facebook and Club Forum (Slide 25)

The committee recommended a standing sub-committee of club members be created to maintain a club presence on Facebook. A motion was made to do so, and was amended to include having a moderator for the Club-managed forums on our web page; the motion was unanimously approved. Action – Jim Lindner to organize the Facebook & Forum sub-committee.

Technical Videos (Slide 25)

The committee recommended a series of videos be created to assist members in maintaining their cars. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. A preliminary list of topics is included in the recommendations report.

Legacy Awards (Slide 25)

The committee proposes a separate sub-committee to study and make recommendations regarding the Wally Swift and Keith Porter Awards. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. Action – Barb Geschke will lead this sub-committee.

TAC (Slide 25)

The committee recommended a series of videos be created to assist members in maintaining their cars. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. A preliminary list of topics is included in the recommendations report.

There are several issues with administering the program that need to be resolved, including:

• Scheduling – There are currently a limited number of TAC inspections being regularly scheduled.
• Senior Inspectors – Tom Calvert and Bill Bulpitt are the only two senior TAC inspectors east of the Mississippi. Their availability significantly affects the number of inspections that can be performed.
• Tiger owners in the are geographically dispersed up and down the coast, requiring inspectors to travel long distances at no small cost. Last year’s TAC event in New Hampshire was the first time car owners were charged a fee to cover the inspector’s expenses – this should be a model for the future.

Regalia Plan (Slide 25)

The committee proposes a regalia plan be created.  A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so.

501 Tax Status (Slide 25)

The committee proposes investigating qualifications required for the Club to have a 501(c)3 tax status. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so.

Club Name and Logo (Slide 25)

In support of embracing and welcoming all Rootes vehicle owners to the Club, the committee proposes investigating options to altering the Club’s name and logo. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so.

Expansion of Membership (Slide 26)

The committee also recommended expanding the membership of the Club throughout North America. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so.

Shop List Coordinator (Slide 28)

Ron Stein and Joe McConlogue volunteered to create a list of shops currently interested in and capable of working on our vintage cars.

Website Technical Content and Access

Kerch McConlogue volunteered to work on this.

BASH Concept (Slide 29)

The committee recommends that the concept of a Bring A Sunbeam Here (BASH) event evolve from being one event in a specific location to any regional event where a group of Rootes owners can be encouraged to bring their cars. It could even be part of a larger multi-marque event. A motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. Action – Regional Reps to utilize BASH label wherever possible to promote the Club.

Leadership Initiatives (Slide 30)

The committee recommends expanding the Board of Directors as required, and pursuing western membership. Holding future United events in the west or mid-west could be part of this initiative. This initiative will require further investigation to provide recommendations for consideration by the Board.

Bylaw Amendments

Any bylaw amendments required to implement any of the above initiatives should be researched and proposed to the Board at the earliest possible convenience.

Donation to Rootes Archive Centre

A motion was made and unanimously approved to donate $500 to the Rootes Archive Centre.

New Business

Locations For Future United’s

Robert Jaarsma suggested West Lebanon, New Hampshire as a potential location for United 41 in 2024 and has done some preliminary investigations into a site. He will continue his planning with the intent to provide an update at the next Board meeting. Tom Ehrhart wondered if we should try for a mid-west location in 2024; Joe McConlogue thought we do not have enough members in the mid-west to support a large event and that east coast members may not want to make the trip.

Other Business

Tiger 60^th Anniversary Commemoration – Ron Stein reminded everyone that 2024 would be the 60^th anniversary of the Sunbeam Tiger and so should be commemorated in some fashion.

Club Pamphlet – Barb Skirmants stated she would be attending car shows at Amelia Island and the Gilmour Car Museum and wondered if the Club had any promotional materials. Kerch stated we have a trifold pamphlet that could be printed – a motion was made and unanimously approved to do so. Action – Kerch to get pamphlets printed.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:07 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
Secretary

Minutes from the last meeting were approved as posted.

Treasurer’s report was accepted as posted.

Membership Report

• 39.6% of members choose the electronic version of the Newsletter.
  Therefore, 60.4% choose printed version
• 36% pay by check
• 64% pay by credit card (cose of about $575 annually ~ 3% of theoreitcal income)
• 34% use auto-renewal
• 21 members (4%) have no email address

These numbers won’t tie to Robs accounting because they are just a snapshot of how the dues and payment choices breakdowns work.

It does give you a datapoint to work with though: our annual dues income should be around $20,000.

RootesReview/Web Presence

Kerch suggested that we consider publishing the newsletter monthly but only printing it every other month. All members would get notification when the issue was available online. Jim pointe out that the newsletter is pretty much the flag ship of the club and reducing the number of issues would be unfortunate. However, overall, there was only slight disagreement with the option. After discussion it was decided to table the discussion and move it to the 3-year business plan discussed later in the meeting.

No progress on advertising, one invitation was sent.  Connection between Google analytics and the website was broken, so there is no web statistics provided.

FaceBook presence has crested 1000 members  (1038 as of July 19)

Old Business

United 39

An update of current registration number is included in the slides.

Eric Gibeaut asked about trailer parking at the event. While details are being confirmed, the hotel has a large parking lot with twice as many spaces as there are hotel rooms. Additional trailer parking is being confirmed for near by parking lots.

There was discussion about the TAC process at the United. Tom Calvert would like to train new inspectors on Tuesday before the United, then have the new inspectors follow existing inspectors looking over the cars presented for TAC on Wednesday.  This would avoid the inspectors missing the event itself.

Donation to RootesArchive Centre

At the last meeting we discussed deferring the club’s donation until the end of the year. That was approved again. We expect Roger Plaskett (a representative of the Archive Centre) to tell us how much money he collects during the “pass the hat” at the United and let that count towards our donaition.

Other reports

There were a few updates about events in the regions. Kerch reminded the group to fill out the form online to get a full listing on the club calendar.

New Business

2022 Elections

It was moved and seconded that the following people will agree to run for office:

• Jim Lindner, President
• Rob Harter, VP
• Gary Corbet, Secretary
• Steve Murphy (from VA), Treasurer
• Sy Block, Barb Geschke, and Dave Reina agreed to run again for board positions.  Sy suggested he’d be willing to have someone to run again.

 Requests for nominations from the Membership will be included in the August, September, and October RootesReviews as well as at the general membership meeting to be held at the United.

Joe McConlogue brought up the complications of changing banks with every new treasurer and the need to have mobile check deposits. Jim said they’ll look into that when the new treasurer takes office.

United 40 (2023)

Jim thanked Gary Holman for the work he did trying to find a location in Florida.

In the end Joe Parlanti and Jim worked out details for the 40th United to be held in Bowling Green, KY.  Details of the program and budget are included in the slides.  Budget numbers presented make the event appear viable.  Other suggestions were made for side trips to the Lane Museum which is about an hour from the Bowling Green location and a tour of the Corvette factory.

Auto cross appears to be a sticking point. If we can’t piggyback with a group providing the event, we would have to rent our own lot which could cost around $3000.    There was discussion about the small number of autocross participants. Perhaps the event should not be included or replaced with a gymkhana. 

Jim reminded the group that many of our major awards require participation in the autocross. Many details to be worked out, however, it was moved and seconded and approved that Jim and Joe go ahead with contracting the hotel in Bowling Green for United 40.

Looking Forward

Robert Jaarsma suggested an event in West Lebanon, New Hampshire in 2024. In 2025 perhaps Poconos, Pittsburgh area, Greensboro, Coastal Carolinas. Currently there is no one actively pursuing those locations.

Someone asked Buck Trippel about a SUNI in 2026. Buck asked Jim if TEAE might be interested in taking the lead on that evet. The board decided to make no commitment at this time.

Business Plan

Tom Ehrhart suggested a 3-year business plan committee. It was so moved, seconded and passed.

The objective is to identify practices and procedures to better serve the club and the marque. Plans should be financially and functionally executable.

Recommendations should be made to the BOD/Officers for acceptance and implementation.

There should be a small committee of perhaps five or seven members and should include representative from Board Member, Officer, Regional rep and from general membership. Joe McConlogue, Kerch McConlogue, Bill Bulpitt and Eric Gibeaut volunteered which filled the board requirements. Tom Ehrhart will lead the committee. Tom suggests the first meeting be at the United followed by ZOOM meetings. He expects a report by the end of the year and another one in about six months.

Additional comments

Our newest concours judging guidelines prescribe three judges per team.  However, Jim says not enough people have volunteered to serve as judges. So there will only be two judges per team  and they would probably have to judge several categories.

There was a question about COVID requirements for traveling to Canada. Because the requirements can change on a daily basis, participants will be sent an email with ArriveCan link in the first week in September

The meeting was adjourned at 2:47 pm

Respectfully Submitted,
Kerch McConlogue
Secretary

Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner on February 12, at 2:07pm

Following Board Members were present: Tom Calvert, Tom Ehrhart, Joe McConlogue, Barb Geschke, Eric Gibeaut, Dave Reina

Also present: President Jim Linder, Vice President Gary Holman,  Secretary Kerch McConlogue, Treasurer Rob Harter

Regional Reps present: Gary Corbett, Tom Hillmann, Ron Stein, Joe Parlanti, Rob Roy, Joe Parlanti, Bill Bulpitt

Download or view the powerpoint file here

Minutes from the last meeting were approved as posted.

Treasurer’s report was accepted as shown (slide 5)

We need to book an additional $2600/year (above the membership income) to keep the club in the black. Essentially this is expected to come annually from the United

SUNI event profit to the club is $3699.89

Membership Report

As of February 1, membership stands at 519.
Additional statistics are available in the slides (#8-11)

A discussion around the costs of processing payments with PayPal vs. Stripe: Paypal has a slightly higher fee: 3.49% + $.49/transaction.   Stripe is just 2.9% + $0.30/transaction. There are similar fees for international/cross-country and currency transfers.

Membership Transfer Proposal

In order to not lose members when a car changes hands, Membership institutes a TEAE Membership Transfer form.  The new owner will get the rest of the old member’s membership period.

RootesReview/website report (#14-18)

Statistics for RootesReview, Facebook and Website visitation are available in the slides.

No progress on advertising. One new business card ad was added and two are lost.

Some trouble has been reported regarding images lost from the website database. Most seem to be images that were in galleries of members’ cars and not other articles. Kerch says she’s not going to continue to look for those old images.

Old Business

United 39 update

The event budget is available in a spread sheet here

Refer to slide 21-22 for information
The budget (separate document) was presented and discussed.
Single day fees and international payments seem to still be worked out.

The United committee is working on finding a location for the Autocross.

The registration fee appears to be $225cdn (approx. $175us) for a single, and $425cdn (approx.. $330us) for a couple. Daily fees should take into account all associated costs.

Tom Calvert reported on the plan to hold a TAC inspector training session on the Tuesday before the United and then the majority of the TAC inspections on Wednesday (outside of the regular United event). The inspections will take place at Gordon Foss’s facility. Tom hopes to have at least two inspection teams.

New Business

Insurance

Options for Insurance were presented: Current J.C. Taylor (annually $1183), Hagerty (more expensive that Taylor) and American Specialty Ins, Ft. Wayne, IN (covering 30+ member clubs as part of an umbrella association) Base annual fee is $565. Additional “moving event” (autocross and driving tour) coverage is required. This is quoted at $200/per event.  It is expected that an organized group tour is a driving event.  But a “let’s all meet here for lunch” is probably not a driving event. 

It was moved, seconded and passed to change insurance coverage to American Specialty. Jim Lindner will get the new plan in place. Rob Harter will contact JC Taylor to cancel the existing coverage.

Regions sponsoring driving events (like the BASHs which include a rally) would require a rider. It was suggested that if regions have a driving event and have not in the past charged money, this would be a way to encourage collecting fees to cover the insurance and additional event expenses..

Officer Replacements

Kevin Klotzbach of Woodbury, MN was approved as Midwest Regional Rep to replace Joel Griffin.

We need to begin work to find other officer candidates, especially as Rob Harter’s term was extended by previous board action.

Concours Judging Procedures

It was moved, seconded and approved to change the number of judges per team to three. This will reduce the number of judges required. One team will judge the entire car entire class.

It was moved, seconded and approved to eliminate the Suspension and Chassis (underside) as judging component for Personalized and Modified classes. Stock class will still require underside inspection.

Jim Lindner will write up the specifics of this proposal which will be added to these minutes.

Donation to Rootes Archive

It was moved, seconded and approved that TEAE will make no donation to the Rootes Archive Trust at this time. We will provide a donation by the end of the year depending on the club’s financial position.

In discussion, it was suggested that a) the club “gets credit” for donations gathered by Roger Plaskett at the United and b) we might find some way to encourage members to make personal donations to the organization.

United 40 location

It is suggested that we return to the deep south this year. (slide 30) Gary Holman had expressed some interest in going to the Tampa region (although he was no longer at the meeting when that was reported.) Tom Ehrhart suggested we go to Texas. Rob Roy, Texas Regional Rep is willing to do some research into locations and other people who might be willing to work on that project.

Club Banners

Joe McConlogue asked about supplying TEAE club banners to all the regions. As this would be an expense for the club, consensus seemed to be that one new banner could be on hand to send to any region sponsoring an event where a banner would be useful. Another banner could be purchased at that time to send to the next region requesting one. Currently Jim Linder has a banner but is not a Regional Rep. His could be the first to be sent.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:24 pm

Respectfully Submitted,
Kerch McConlogue
Secretary

Background:

The TEAE bylaws state officers are allowed to serve four one year terms,
consecutively. Rob has reached his term limit and unfortunately we have not
received any nominations to run for this position. The Treasurer position is
critical to the club and cannot be left unfilled. I have spoken with Rob and
he has graciously volunteered to run again. I will include an announcement
regarding the vote on this emergency provision in the October Rootes Review.

The following motion was made by email and seconded:

I move that Rob Harter be allowed to serve a fifth term as Treasurer as an
exception to Article IV (6) of the bylaws.

The motion was marked as passed 12:32pm September 29, 2021