Category: Board Minutes

Download the slides here Or view them on line below

Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner at 7:00pm.

In Attendance:

Jim Lindner – President, Steve Murphy – Treasurer, Gary Corbett – Secretary

Board of Directors: Tom Calvert, Tom Erhart, Barb Geschke, Eric Gibeaut, Joe McConlogue, Joe Parlanti, Dave Reina

Others: Bill Bulpitt , David Kellogg , Kerch McConlogue , Joe Montecalvo

Minutes of Previous BoD Meeting 2 March 2024 – Approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Slide 5)

 Income includes income from registration fees received for United 41 but only some expenses. Report approved.

Membership Report (Slide 7) 

Membership is steady at 521. Incorrect e-mail addresses for some members need to be investigated.

Action Item – David Kellogg to assist Joe McConlogue in resolving issue of incorrect email addresses for some members.

Website/Editor’s Report

Rootes Review – Mailing costs summarized (Slide 9). In support of voting for Board positions candidate’s biographies will be published in a Rootes Review later this Fall. Kerch will provide a link where candidates can provide their information, which will be limited to 50 words.

Action Item – Kerch to provide a link to potential Board candidates to provide their biographical information.

Facebook – Activity is steady, and ‘Reactions’ are positive (Slide 11).

Website Visits – Activity summarized (Slide 12).

OLD BUSINESS

3 Year Business Plan

Bylaw Amendments (Slide 16) – Require approval by general membership at Annual General Meeting.

TAC Program Improvements (Slide 16) – No recent activity. Tom Calvert is organizing TAC inspections at United this year.

Action Item – Kerch to identify to Tom people who have requested in their event registration a TAC inspection at United.

Regalia Supplier (Slide 17) – Kerch is continuing to investigate. Eric suggested a potential source, someone who will be at United this year.

2024 Elections (Slide 24)

The following summarizes the positions up for election and potential candidates:

OFFICERS

President and Vice President – No candidates identified although Jim has been discussing the opportunities with several people.

Treasurer – Steve Murphy (Incumbent), Todd Reid (identified by Tiger Tom).

Secretary – Gary Corbett (Incumbent), Barbara Blue (identified by Joe McConlogue).

Directors

• Incumbents: Tom Calvert, Tom Erhart, Eric Gibeaut
• Additional: Gord Foss and Gilles Boudrias (identified by Jim Lindner), Clyde McLaughlin and David Hall (identified by Joe McConlogue), Rick McCurdy (identified by David Kellog), Rod Patriquin (identified by Gary Corbett), Jim Lindner (self-identified)

A motion was made and seconded to nominate all nominees – carried.

United 41 (Slide 19)

The availability of the ‘Tiger 60’ documentary has been confirmed. The Saturday evening speaker has backed out due to a medical issue, but Jim feels screening the film will require the whole evening.

United 42 (Slides 20&21)

Jim has scouted out a location in Charlotte, NC for United 42 in 2025 and highly recommends it be pursued. Draft budget reviewed. A motion was made and carried to approve this location for United 42. Jim has draft contract documents and will finalize them with the hotel.

Action Item – Jim to finalize contracts for United 42.

Car Donation (Slide 22)

Preliminary investigations into the potential legal issues of the Club accepting a car as a donation have not highlighted any significant roadblocks. Tom Erhart warned there might be issues at a detail level – for example Pennsylvania has specific rules about financial transactions related to gambling-type activities that other states might have too. This could affect us if we attempted to auction or raffle the car to reap the financial benefit. David Kellogg is continuing to investigate.

SUNI VIII Update (Slide 23)

– No recent progress. Location is likely to be in Missouri.

NEW BUSINESS

Rootes Archive Donation (Slide 24)

After a short discussion it was decided to wait until after United 41 to make a decision on a donation for 2024.

Lord Rootes Individual Awards (Slide 24)

Jim organized the production of keeper plaques and badges for the awards for the recipients for the past 2 years. A motion was made and carried to pay Jim for his out-of-pocket expenses of $212 to accomplish this.

There was some discussion about how to manage the engraving of keeper plaques and producing and installing the yearly plates on the main trophies (recently the recipients have done this themselves). No approach was chosen, but Joe McConlogue suggested whatever procedure was implemented should be documented in the Procedures Manual.

New Banners (Slide 25)

There was some discussion about acquiring new banners with the new TEAE International logo, but it was ultimately decided to keep this in mind for action sometime in the future. Tom Erhart has a couple prototype banners that were made – he will send them to Robert Jaarsma for use at United 41.

Action Item – Tom Erhart to forward TEAE International banners to Robert Jaarsma.

Hilton Rewards

Jim stated the United 42 hotel will be offering reward points for the rooms booked and paid for by the Club, and asked if he could personally accept these points. All agreed he could.

Special Appreciation

Bill Bulpitt stated how appreciative he was of all of Jim’s efforts in support of the Club over the past several years, in particular the work involved in organizing recent Uniteds. Everyone was in agreement – thanks very much Jim!

Meeting Adjournment – 8:30pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
TEAE Secretary

Download the slides here or view the pdf below.
Supporting documentation
AI: Action Item

Agenda: Welcome, Roll Call, Reports, Old Business, New Business, Adjourn

Mtg started @ 1:06 EST

Treasurer’s Report

Membership Report

Website/Editor’s Report

Old Business

There was much discussion about the bylaws and procedures

AI: Review Draft Procedures Manual during next 60 days and send comments to Joe McConlogue

Motion: Accept draft changes to bylaws, including the increase the number of Board members to 9 – Approved

There was much discussion on the TAC vs. Tiger sales and what TAC has become.  Any updates to the program must be brought before the TAC Coordinator by the senior inspectors – Tom C. and Bill P.

United 41 Update

New Business

Additional Reports as Required

Motion: Adjourn – Approved

Mtg ended @ 3:57, elapsed time of 2 hrs 51 mins

Submitted by Rob Harter, Vice President

Additional supporting documentation

• Wally Swift Award DRAFT
• Keith Porter Award DRAFT

Bylaws and Procedures

Regalia updates

New Logos

A Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner at 1:05 pm.              

Elected Officers Present: President Jim Lindner, Treasurer Steve Murphy, and Secretary Gary Corbett.

Board Members Present: Tom Calvert, Tom Ehrhart, Barb Geschke, Eric Gibeaut, Joe McConlogue, and Joe Parlanti.

Other Members Present: Bill Bulpitt, Tom Hillman, Kerch McConlogue, Joe Montecalvo, and Ron Stein.

Slides presented at the meeting are here.

Approval of Minutes From Previous Meeting

The draft minutes from the last Board of Directors meeting on 5 February 2023 as posted on the Club website were approved.

Treasurer’s Report (Slides 4&5)

Steve Murphy presented a 5-year summary of the Club finances, showing the year-end balance for 2022. He will update this summary for the Annual General Meeting at United 40.

Membership Report (Slides 6-9)

 Joe McConlogue provided an update on Club membership data. The membership is basically steady at slightly more than 500 members. Mike Hartman has volunteered to help out with the membership database.

Stripe will be used to process credit card transactions versus PayPal, which provides a cost saving to the Club. Cheques are also still accepted.

Jim Lindner contacted the president of the Colorado Association of Tiger Owners about joining TEAE at a discounted rate and becoming part of the Rocky Mountain Region. They ultimately declined the offer.

Rootes Review/Web Presence (Slides 10-14)

Newsletters are staying close to 12 pages per month.

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; we are currently on track to spend approx. $17,000 on mailing costs this year for mailing each month.

We get occasional requests for back issues, and often for multiple copies. As there is a small but not insignificant cost to provide these, Kerch proposed a fee structure (Slide 12) for providing these back issues. This was passed by consensus.

The Club’s Facebook presence is good – it is used regularly. Regarding the website, Kerch did not have any recent statistics as the Google functionality changed in July and detailed data is no longer available.

Old Business

Three Year Business Plan (Slides 17-23)

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 17

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 (report can be found here https://www.board.teae.org/2023/07/3ypc-progress/) These initiatives are summarized on Slide 18.

Forum and on Facebook (Slide 19)

Advancements have been made on the Forum and on Facebook. Facebook now has three administrators – Jim Lindner, Kevin Klotzbach, and Steve Murphy. There are no further actions planned, although Joe McConlogue recommended maintaining focus on both. Jim Lindner stated that the newsletter is also an important communication product as well.

Legacy Awards (Slide 20)

Tiger Tom and Tom Calvert have been reviewing the Wally Swift Award nomination criteria. Tiger Tom will send a revised set of criteria to Board members for review and approval – they will propose removing the focus on autocross by substituting ‘competitive driving event’ which could then include a rally.
Action – Tiger Tom will send a revised set of nomination criteria to Board members.

Bylaw Amendments (Slide 20)

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. Joe McConlogue provided an update – there will be a lot of changes to the Bylaws and the Procedure manual will be quite expansive. Kerch will post draft documents on the TEAE Board website to collect comments, Joe will organize a separate meeting before year-end to discuss this specific topic. Actions – Kerch to post draft documents on the TEAE Board website. Joe to organize a separate meeting to continue discussions.

TAC Program Within TEAE (Slide 20)

Tom Calvert and Bill Bulpitt are chairing the subcommittee working on this initiative – they have not made much progress to date but will work on it this winter. They want to recruit more inspectors to eliminate geographic areas where there are no inspectors as well as increase the number of senior inspectors. Tiger Tom noted the target audience for this program has expanded – not only do current owners/enthusiasts want it but now buyers and sellers as well.

Regalia Plan (Slide 20)

Jim Lindner stated he had tried to set up a supply arrangement with a specific vendor to provide different regalia items with the Club logo but had been unsuccessful. Kerch suggested a couple different vendors could do it (Redbubble or Amazon) – she will investigate.
Action – Kerch to investigate other vendors for the supply of regalia.

Technical Videos (Slide 21)

No action to date. Tiger Tom to solicit a lead for this initiative at the AGM.

BASH Concept (Slide 21)

Both Jim Lindner and Tiger Tom feel we have made positive progress already this year promoting the broader event concept of Bring A Sunbeam Here. A ‘BASH’ sign has been developed.

Expansion of Membership West of the Mississippi (Slide 21)

Jim Lindner articulated some ideas about building membership in the club west of the Mississippi. A western United is one idea, although there is a concern about how many eastern Club members would make the trip. He thought one option might be to be the lead organizer for the next SUNI in 2026 and run it as a psuedo-BASH/United. Tiger Tom thought we should focus on building from the bottom up by finding individual enthusiasts and recruiting them.

501 (c) 3 Tax Status (Slide 22)

Joe Montecalvo provided much background information regarding this initiative. It would require an educational piece with outreach action, something the Club does not have as its purpose is to support its members rather than a larger community. Conversely the Volvo Sparks club contributes scholarships to a community college local to them and it exposes their club to a younger audience. Tiger Tom will continue to investigate.

Club Name and Logo (Slides 22&23)

Kerch had a friend draw up four different concepts for a new Club logo (Slide 23). People liked the idea of the word ‘International’ being embodied in the logo. Some words are required to better describe the organization. Work will continue.

United 40 Update (Slides 24&25)

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. There are currently 126 people and 59 cars registered. Kerch mentioned we had gained 3 new Club members at registration.

Volunteers are needed to assist with numerous activities – please contact Jim Lindner directly and let him know what you can contribute.

United 41 (Slide 26)

United 41 has now been set for West Lebanon, New Hampshire for 2024. The host hotel will be the Fireside Inn. A preliminary itinerary is listed on Slide 26.

New Business

Board Membership (Slide 27)

Current incumbents for the Secretary (Gary Corbett), Treasurer (Steve Murphy), and Membership Chairman (Joe McConlogue) volunteered to continue in their roles. Nominations are required for several positions, most importantly President as Jim Lindner has now reached his term limit. He will call for nominations at the AGM.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 2:55 pm.

Respectfully Submitted,
Gary Corbett
Secretary

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

Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner on July 31, at 3:06pm

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

Also present: President Jim Linder, Vice President Gary Holman, and Secretary Kerch McConlogue

Regional Reps present: Gary Corbett, Tom Hillmann, David Kellogg-Achin, Ron Stein, Joe Parlanti, and Gordon Foss

Download or view the file here

Minutes from the last meeting were approved as posted.

United 39 Approval request

Gary Corbett, Ron Stein and Gordon Foss (hereinafter: the Committee) presented a plan for United 39 to be held September 16-18, 2022 in Oakville, Ontario, Canada (south of Toronto).

Room rates are $245 US ($120 Canadian) and will include breakfast. The hotel has 147 recently renovated rooms total and 300 parking spots. It is used to holding car events so there is plenty of room for trailers etc. Jim and the Committee will work out an appropriate number of rooms to block for our event.

This event is the same weekend as the Toronto Film Festival and shares the weekend, and our concours, with British Car Day, the largest gathering of British cars in North America. The event regularly has 1000+ cars on display plus around 9000 spectators.

British Car day will handle the Popular vote judged by the attending public for the ENTIRE FIELD. TEAE popular vote categories will be added. Normal judging will be done by our judges on our cars.

There was a long conversation about the Autocross which the Committee hopes will be managed by Darrell Dimitroff. Details are still being worked out.

Additional information about the location including a conservative budget is included in the slide deck beginning at slide 3.

Passports have been required for US citizens traveling into Canada for some time. That will not change.

Work must be done to facilitate people bringing parts for sale into and out of Canada.

Jim reported that there is no penalty for skipping the 2020 planned NC event.

It was moved and seconded to approve the proposal by the Committee for United 39 to be held September 15-18, 2022 in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

Treasurer’s report was accepted as shown.

It was noted that without the United, the club is dangerously close to losing money each year and driving the balance into the red.

If the United is not planned to make a profit, then either membership dues must be increased or the printed newsletter should be eliminated. There was NO DECISION ON THIS TOPIC.

Membership Report

As of today membership stands at 513 (a slight adjustment from the slides)
Additional statistics are available in the slides posted here.

Website report:

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

Kerch reported the need for a new email list for leadership and board members. This is due to new regulations of the hosting company which manages our @teae.org mail. The addresses that go to an individual titled board members and regional reps (president@teae.. Etc) will continue to work. But the group emails that contain more than 10 addresses will cease working August 1 (or thereabouts). Leadership (which includes Board members) will get mail from and reply to mail to leadership@lists.board.teae.org. These emails will “reply all.” A similar list will be separate and added for the Board members. That has not been set up yet. Only members of the groups will be included in the distribution. It is not open to the public or other members.

Additional reports:

Joe Montcalvo reports that he is planning a survey about Holbay Alpines in the US. There is a similar survey taking place, and specifically for, UK cars. He will work with Kerch to produce a survey to be hosted at TEAE.org and which will be the basis for an article on the subject. Hagerty Driver’s Club magazine may be interested. More information on slide 23

Old Business

Paid advertising has unfortunately petered out.

SUNI update

Plans for the event continue. If masks become required for indoor use, TEAE will not be the enforcing body. That falls on the hotel.

TEAE members registrations are about 43% of attendees representing our share of the profits. As the hotel is fully booked there is no additional chance of loss.
There is an unbudgeted expense in the overwhelming number of requests for trailer parking. Space will be rented from a local shopping center.

Concours judging will follow the TEAE rules except that three judges will judge each car rather than dividing the activity along section guidelines.
Upcoming Membership meeting will be held during the SUNI event.

2021 Elections:

Treasurer Rob Harter has served four years in the position and so is not eligible to run again. Kerch nominated Barb Geschke for the position. She declined. President, VIcePresident and Secretary agreed to run again. (Kerch will be happy for somebody else to take the job!) The three year terms for Tom Calvert, Eric Gibeaut, and Tom Ehrhart will expire and need to be filled. All three agreed to run again.

Additional nominations will be solicitated during the general membership and through the September and October RootesReveiw. Ballots will be published in the November RootesReview.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:01pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Kerch McConlogue
Secretary

Video Conference Meeting was called to order by President Jim Lindner on February 21, 2021 at 1:05 pm

Minutes from the last meeting were approved as posted.

Treasurer’s report was accepted as shown.

Beginning balance January 1, 2020 was $17,660.12  Year end balance was $17,988.19. Particularly noted was the $345 income for advertising. Year net: $328.07. Profit and losses for the last 3 years was reported and is included in the slides attached. See slides for details

Membership Report

The slides show 497 members which is down 17 from August of last year. But currently we have 503 members. 34% get electronic RootesReveiws; 66% get printed copies.

Joe McConlogue shared the membership numbers from the last 5 years showing a fairly consistent bouncing around 500 members. Joe also reported that the last of the old two-year memberships have been replaced with the new single year plan.

RootesReview

A report was shared regarding the costs of printing the RootesReveiw by quarter reflecting the number of pages per issue. It is noted that 12-page issues seem to fit more in line with the income from memberships. Effort should be made to hold that line if possible.

Website report:

Average website visits seem to have dropped by about 10%.

Facebook:

Membership in the group is growing and engagement remains high.

Total membership in the Facebook group is 602 with 311 posts made in 6 months between 8/1/ and 2/1  (about 50/month). In the previous 4 months, there were 236 total  (about 59 / month)

The Susquehanna Region’s Virtual Rallye had 14 members signed. But only 3 participated.

Old business

Regional Rep Reports

Bill Bulpitt (Metro Atlanta) reported an upcoming British Car Day in Catersville, GA where a new auto museum is being built. He expects to have a regional showing at Road Atlanta and Amelia Island.

Joe Parlanti (Chesapeake) reported on June British Car day and a plan for Drive with the Sunbeams later in the season.

Joe Montcalvo (California) is working with Rick at Sunbeams Specialties to put on a joint swap meet in the fall. He also suggested we feature Rick McLeod and Curt Meinel in RootesReview member spotlights. This was enthusiastically approved.

Tom Ehrhart (Susquehanna) noted that no plans were set for the BASH, Tom Calvert advised that Sumra Manning contacted him about holding it at the Simone museum.

Dave Reina suggested that Regional Reps be asked to send regular reports of goings on in their region for publication in the RootesReview. These should be short, couple of sentences, with pictures if available and talk about the people in their region and not about upcoming car events. Dave will contact the reps regularly to encourage participation.     

Insurance

J.C. Taylor will continue to be our insurer. Premium $1068 annually due March 19, 2021.  No objection. Treasurer Rob Harter will look into other companies over the next year. Grundy and Condon-Skelly were suggested.

Advertising

Advertising seems to be a bust. 13 packets were mailed, 5 distributed by email. Followup is required. David Kellogg-Achin volunteered to help with followup phone calls to companies that have been contacted by email or by USPS

SUNI update:

Tom Ehrhart noted that SUNI is pronounced as “sunny”

 September 13-17 Hilton Garden Hotel, Independence, MO
Key target dates

• Apr 1  Registration Opens
• June 1  Date we must commit $$$. Will evaluate expected attendance and COVID conditions
• Aug 14 Last date to cancel and reschedule for 2022

Tentative schedule and possible invited guests were shared. See slide #20-21

Preservation Class

Jim Lindner shared information for purchasing bumper badges  from Rallye Productions and Quality Lapel Pins.

Joe Parlanti questioned the fee quoted by Rallye Production and volunteered to send the last quote he had to Jim for further conversation.

Because we don’t know how many of these may be required, it was decided that we purchase them on an as needed basis, likely in the $20-30 range rather than invest $550 to purchase a supply.

Tom Ehrhart asked that Jim confirm that the material used in manufacture be weather proof.

New Business:

Rootes Archive Donation

When the $1200 donation to RACT was approved last year, we discussed ways to recoup that money. The primary suggestion was to eliminate one issue of the RootesReveiw. General consensus is that that is not a prudent option.

It was suggested that we send a quarterly email appeal to the membership requesting donations be sent to the club to then be sent to RACT in a lump sum near the end of the year.

Because of the way the membership software processes payments, there is no reasonable way to manage donations there. Discussion will continue on this idea.

It was suggested that we look into getting the club to be designated as a 501 ( c ) 3 charitable organization. While in general it was deemed to be not feasible requiring bylaws and articles of incorporation changes, Joe Montecalvo volunteered to send the bylaws of a Volvo club he  is a member of for review of the possibility of this changer

United 39 (2022)

It has been hoped that the 2022 United would be held in Canada. There are mixed reviews of whether people are excited about going or apprehensive of the cross border crossing. Gary Corbett agreed to think about it and talk to Ron Stein and hold open the idea. But he did not sound confident. He reported that Canada has much stricter rules around the COVID quarantines.

United Chairperson Courtesy

Barb Geschke suggested that registration for the United Chairperson should be free. This passed easily by consensus.

Printed Roster 

Joe McConlogue proposed producing a printed roster.  However, with a cost exceeding $2000 this does not seem feasible at this time. Kerch reported that there were only 73 unique page views in 6 months.  Kerch also shared a screen to show where the roster is now available on line.

Membership Incentives

Regional reps should make calls to lapsed members. Personal contact is the key. Joe McConlogue will distribute appropriate lists to the reps to include the date of their expiration.

Parts sales via TEAE website was just nixed!

The meeting was adjourned at 3:05

Respectfully Submitted,
Kerch McConlogue
Secretary