November Winter Meeting Notes

Present: Jim McKeon, Nelson Holmberg, Jerry Dunlap, Bill Mowatt, David Newton, Paxton Reunanen, Mike Hughes, David Heilbrunn. Quorum present. Excused: Rick Evans (technical difficulties with Zoom)
 
Chair Nelson called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m.
 
FINANCIAL UPDATE
Jim McKeon reported that the ending fund balance from 2021-22 season was $1,530.31. Jim shared that Ron Daum (previous treasurer) had some concern regarding a possible $400 variance in the reconciliation. Jim and Ron will meet Tuesday, Nov. 15 to go over the books to seek reconciliation, and to meet with the bank to transfer the signature card.
 
MINUTES
Secretary Rick Evans had presented minutes, via email, from the October 16, 2022 Board meeting on the same day as the meeting. Jerry Dunlap moved to approve the minutes from the October 16 Board meeting. Second by David Newton. There was no discussion or corrections/changes to the minutes. Motion carried unanimously.
 
OLD BUSINESS
End of Season Banquet Debrief: Directors and members in attendance discussed the end of season banquet and by-and-large agreed it was a successful event. Discussion points included the thought that the room was probably big enough for our group but was not set up well by the staff to maximize seating for our guests. It was also noted that we may want to find a place with an actual banquet room to reduce ambient noise from other parts of the restaurant. On positive notes, people thought the food was good and the service was attentive, speedy and good. There was also discussion about the positive effect of having acquired all of our season champion perpetual trophies, and caught up the engravings on each of them, as well as having all of our Gold Cups, including new ones for the classes/division we have added.
 
Rule change proposals process: Chair Nelson reported that he had a conversation with Competition Committee Chair Gerry Bordon about his preferred process for the potential/proposed rule changes for the 2022-23 season. Gerry told Nelson he believes – and prefers – that the process should be that members submit proposed rule changes to the board by a certain deadline. The board would then review those proposed changes and pass along proposals with merit to the Competition Committee for consideration among a slate of proposed rule changes. Gerry also shared with Nelson that the Competition Committee has prioritized adding a formalized testing process for motors. Committee members Mike Hughes and David Newton attended the Winter Meeting and confirmed that thought process. There are no expectations for major rule changes in 2022-23 at this point.
 
Perpetual trophies & Gold Cups update: This was discussed during the End of Season Banquet debrief, but it was important to note that the expense of these trophies was a lot more than expected and that a plan to raise revenue for future trophy catch up, and capital expenditure budget for said project, should be addressed in the future. The priority for the board going into 2021-22 was to get the season championship and Gold Cup perpetual trophies updated, and that goal was achieved.
 
NEW BUSINESS
2022-23 Chair’s Proposed Budget: Chair Nelson shared that he had prepared a proposed budget for the 2022-23 year and that it was being reviewed by Treasurer Jim and Secretary Rick. The budget includes the 2021-22 Ending Fund Balance of $1,530.31 as starting revenue and includes modest growth in revenue over the year – particularly in memberships/registrations, and in entry fees. Budgeted revenue for 2022-23 is less than the 2021-22 actual due to the fact that the DCR Coffee money ($1,000) was booked in the 2021-22 revenue. The proposed budget also includes $500 revenue for a possible 50/50 raffle to be offered at each race of the season. Expenses are mostly budgeted to hold steady or be reduced. The one exception is a capital improvement expenditure to purchase a new chase boat for the club prior to the beginning of the 2023 racing season. The budget, as proposed, includes an ending fund balance of $2,250. Nelson, Rick and Jim will finalize the proposed budget and present it to the board for ratification at the next meeting.
 
2023 Race Schedule: Race Coordinator Jerry said he will begin reaching out to our race sites and scheduling our events for 2023. Lacey and Longview have opened the process to begin accepting applications and Jerry will work on that. He has identified the same weekends as the 2022 schedule for the 2023 races as well and there’s been no objection to that so he will move forward. Nelson mentioned that Rick had suggested the idea we consider adding two more races to the schedule for a season of 12 total races. Season points champions would be determined by the best 10 races of the year. Jerry said he would check into potentially adding races in October and report back to the board and membership on his findings. Nelson said he would post a poll on the website to see whether members would be interested and supportive of adding two races to the schedule. There was also significant conversation about potential new race sites. The question was asked about returning to Woodland, Wash., but the Horseshoe Lake is unfortunately very popular with anglers, swimmers and kayakers, which would make it impossible for the city to close the lake entirely in order for ERCU to get insurance for a race event. Jim McKeon said he will look into ski ponds in northern Washington as possibilities. It was also mentioned that Vance Creek County Park in Elma is another excellent race site opportunity that ERCU once used and is not currently using. It’s located in between the most northern and most southern members of the club, so it could make good logistical sense, too. Jerry said he would check into it. There were also suggestions of a potential event in Banks, Ore., where Rose City Model Yacht Club spends time testing in the winter and spring.
 
End of Season Awards: Nelson shared that with the concern we have over the expense of this year’s end of season awards, and the fact that the Top-10 plates for each class were inadvertently not handed out with no one seeming to miss them, there would be a more in-depth review of our end of season awards program and what we actually purchase and give to members. This item was more of a heads-up that the board will be reviewing this and it will be an ongoing conversation that the board will keep members in the loop of.
 
Club Equipment Update: Nelson shared that the club equipment will be inspected this winter, like it is every winter, and anything that might need to be replaced or repaired will be taken care of prior to the beginning of the 2023 racing season in April.
 
Club Website Update: Nelson said the club website is due for another update in its appearance. After two years, the current design has become stale. He said he will gradually make changes to the appearance of the site over the coming month.

OFFICERS REPORTS
Inspector: Bill had nothing to report at today’s meeting, other than he’s ready to start inspecting boats for the 2023 season when owners are ready for their boats to be inspected.
 
Statistician: David stated that the 2023 final stats have been completed and are posted to the website. He also reported that the all-time results and career standings have been updated through 2022 and are posted to the website.
 
Race Coordinator: Jerry reiterated he’ll begin working on the 2023 racing schedule very soon.
 
Secretary: Rick was excused from the meeting due to technical difficulties with Zoom that kept him from attending.
 
Registrar/Treasurer: Jim said that a few registrations/membership renewals had come in already and have been recorded. Nelson said he will continue to push membership renewals/registrations in social media and direct email to members. Jim also reiterated he and Ron Daum will meet on November 15 to transfer the signature card for banking and go over details of transferring the duties. Jim also said his wife Patty is being incredibly helpful to him with this new job already.
 
At Large: Paxton attended the early part of the meeting but was called into work early and had to leave the meeting before we got to officers reports.
 
Chair: Nelson mentioned that in addition to finalizing a budget, the board will also be looking to establish spending limits and a procedure for appropriate spending with/without approvals.
 
BENCH RACING
Bench racing discussions followed as all members in the meeting updated each other on what’s going on in their shops and shared a few ideas of new tools, or where to find parts.
 
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Nelson adjourned the meeting at 10:58 a.m.
 
NEXT MEETING
The next Winter Meeting is set for Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023 at 10 a.m., via a virtual meeting tool (i.e. Zoom or Teams). It is possible that the board will meet to conduct business to finalize the budget, etc. Proper notice will be shared with the membership if such a board meeting is scheduled.