2009 Feb

 

Van Nationals Board Meeting

February 19, 2009

Clarion Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

 

Board Members present	Board Alternates present
Judith Pilon	Tim Ebright
Howard Furtak	Steve Ashley
Paul Wack	Rick Kenney
Greg Cooper  (Coop)	Gary Pennington (Woodstock)
Charlotte Jackson
Ray Whitley (Desperado)
Don Noone
Joe Madonia
Dave Desaulniers

 

Supporting Team Members:

Geoff Koome, Sonya Koome, Tom Chronister, Lynn Harmonson, Paul Walsh (Chooie)

 

Other Attendees:

Billo Seward

 

Board and Alternates not present:

Lew Skok, Dan Richard (Dimples)

 

Meeting Called to Order 10:10 am by Judith Pilon

 

Address Changes or Telephone Updates requested by Judith and recorded by Geoff Koome

 

Treasurer's Report by Lynn Harmonson

§  

§ Nats Board Incorporation in State of Nevada continues - $25. per year, our resident agent is Dave Bratcher.

§ Trademark renewal next year for @ $50. will be a cost to plan for

§ Suggestion to incorporate each year for the national’s event itself for further protection; this will be discussed and voted upon later

Motion by Tim to accept treasurer's report - all voted yes, report accepted as presented.

 

Other Misc. Items

§ Howard - for C of C it should be asked that if the Nats Board needs to host the Nats what would each of you be willing to do?

§ Desperado - I don't feel we should ask for help here at C of C and this should be pursued personally and individually within clubs.

§ Rick - go back to our own clubs and councils and talk to our own people since we know what they are capable of and recruit volunteers that way; Gate is always an issue so having the group who knows what to do and having one club vs. various shifts of different folks works much better.

§ Judith - ideally no one person should have to work the entire time; shifts would be great, and people wouldn't get burned out

§ Judith demonstrated vests possibilities (red, white and blue) - wear vest when volunteering, with a special patch for those that are volunteering; having a common vest to keep using and just adding patches at each event would be very economical and each person keeps their vest to keep bringing back to volunteer in.  Something generic on the back like National Truck In but not year - "Vanners Across North America"; vests cost approximately $3. to make and $2-3 for a patch (Joe Madonia)

§ Howard - Virtual has really been promoting vanning everywhere he goes and recruited vanners at Detroit show and promoted this as Vanners Across America

Coop - trophy plaques van oriented and sculpted on a plaque to help cut the costs; further discussion on how to make trophies.

 

Fundraisers

§ Judith - raffle tickets with cash prizes

§ Dave - $5. or 5 in a booklet so 5 tickets for $20.

First place:  $1,000. cash

§ Dave - in New England they only sell 200 tickets.  Each ticket is $100. and $10,000. is the first prize with several other lesser prizes.  You end up with $8,000. profit.  One in 200 chance with seeing your tickets in the display case seems to motivate people to purchase.

§ Start selling tickets now; some people asked if we really need that much money?  Many feel that we can always use seed money.

§ The $100 tickets are an item to consider for the future.

§ Dave - do we need the money?  We are trying to raise the bar.  If we have "excess" money for the Nats we can really do something spectacular.

 

ITEM VOTED ON AND THE $5. TICKETS (5 FOR $20.)

RAFFLE IS AGREED & PASSED

 

Open Meeting called to order at 2:10 pm by Judith Pilon.

 

Treasurer's Report

Accepted as presented (see am meeting for details)

 

§ Wacko - provide mileage expense for researching work for grounds.

§ Dave - feels we all do this, and it is part of our duties as volunteers; coming to the meetings, viewing possible grounds for Nats, etc.

§ No motion or action on this issue

 

Survey ?  Desperado

Response to Ray's statement that people are telling him: "Nothing to do, just show, nothing for teens or children to do."  Wants to create survey to determine what people want, what they like, what they don't like, etc.  Hand it out in Pennsylvania

§ Wacko - teens need more to do; Courtney Bently to survey teens and gather info for proposals of what they want and make these proposals to the Nats Board; drop curfew for teenagers.

§ Geoff - Courtney emailed Geoff to let him know how much they appreciate the Board recognizing the teens and wanting to hear what they have to say and listen to their ideas.

§ Tim - also in favor of relaxing the rules on the teenagers but there is liability if under-aged teens at Mr. and Mrs. Nats contest

§ Woodstock - what is the cutoff age for curfew?  14, 16? 

§ Dave - has teenagers.  At one time there were a lot of teens and a lot of things that happened at truck-ins that resulted in costs to host clubs (damage); anyone 16 or older is paying full price.  If they are 16, they can drive a van into the event so if they are paying the full gate fee then they have the same rights and should be held to the same standards as the adults.  It should just be age-appropriate participation.

§ Tim - ID participation in events, but announcing you need to be 18 or older to view events that takes the liability away from host. 

§ Desperado - never kids curfew until 12 kids were missing at the Nats in Ohio.

§ Judith - 16 or older treated as an adult, but you cannot participate in the adult show and announce anyone 18 or younger to please leave.

§ Howard - adult show was not an official part of the event so not on the main stage, if it showed up elsewhere oh well

§ When results of survey come in then that will determine the recommendation from the Nats Board.

 

Stickers

§ Howard - die cut stickers for Nationals; pay for die.

For the next Nats host we will do this

Light Show Score Sheet

§ Judith - do we have an official score sheet yet?  Coop worked on it but we haven't seen it yet.  Tim will assist and Rick will pull up what they have used in the past at their clubs.  Light score show sheet will be ready, printed and used for this July.

§ Charlotte - people will need a copy of this before the show.

§ Wacko - advertising for several years that no more engines starting in 2010 for light show.

§ Geoff - does it need to be reviewed or can we put it up on the website before the Nationals?

§ Tim - will probably use the same format.

§ Coop, Tim, Howard, Rick will complete this sheet

 

Van Show:  Best of the Best

§ Wacko - how many times are we going to give the same guy this trophy?

§ Coop, Tim, Judith - we did this, so this person doesn't keep getting the best of show and it puts them in another category to open up best of show to everyone else.

§ Judith - after two best of shows you go into the best of the best category.

§ Coop - as long as this person is THE best then they keep getting it until someone else can beat them

Questions from Audience:

§ HHR - why is a panel a van but the window HHRs are not?

§ Chooie - from Chevy HHR panel is a van and the HHR window is listed as a car from Chevy; this is how the dealership identifies it

§ Howard - window version of HHR and delete the last windows but still listed as a car not a van (car with a window delete and panel option)

§ Joe - where do you draw the line?  HHR what is the difference between the panel and the window?  Nothing really; just they way the manufacturer is typing them.

§ Joe - Minivans opened the doors to all of these other "van type vehicles", to PT Cruisers, to ...

§ Dave - you can have anything at your truck-in you want, but the Nationals is just for vans...

§ Discussion on other vehicles that might or might not be considered vans, but we looked at all of them and just the HHR Panel made it through and the others didn’t.

 

Nats Board - New Members

§ Geoff - thinks being an alternate first and attending a few meetings, etc. before officially joining the Board is a good route to go

§ Woodstock - those that are here to be alternates already know they want to be part of this

§ Judith - talk and think about it for a decision in July.

 

2008 Nationals - Steve Ashley

§ made a small profit and provided some money for Pennsylvania.

§ all of our members paid to attend the Nationals (pre-registered)

§ money donated forward and pre-entered all their members for the next year.

§ we did a good job sticking to the budget (always a plus and minus here and there)

§ budgeted $39,800.

§ profit of $240. approximate money made.

§ 470 vans

§ 35 of their own vans

§ still working on video

§ issue over golf carts

§ Howard to Steve - what was your three biggest problems?

§ 1.  Follow Through Issues with some people

§ 2.  Some Trophy Issues but we got through them.

§ 3.  No verbal agreements - make sure it is on the contract with the grounds.

§ Howard to Steve - what was great?

§ 1.  Burn out contest.

§ 2.  Keep on vannin' aerial shot.

§ 3.  Rush to see some people stepping up the way they did to get the job done.

§ 4.  Really likes not having a theme.

§ 5.  Artwork really brought it back; no cut and paste, true vanning artistic work (Coop)

§ 6.  Flyer a bit busy but there was so much going on and we wanted all on there.

§ Some kid problems - kids drinking and had to be taken to hospital to have stomach pumped.

Howard - slideshow, stands, burnouts, museum, etc. all fantastic and lots going on right there and people didn't have to leave to find something to do.

 

Alternate Replacements

§ 3 alternate openings to fill and be interviewed:

     -  Paul Welsh (Choose)

     -  Billo Seward

     -  Tom Chronister

     -  Sonya Koome

     -  Cathy Smith

     -  Phil Martin

§ (Gary Shoulders and SuperBeast will be eligible for next time)

§ Joe - so eventually anyone interested will be on Board as long as they stick around long enough and keep interested

§ Wacko wishes to abstain from voting and wants the rest of the Board to choose his alternate

§ Coop - need to show an interest and demonstrate effort that you want to be part of it all and you will work and support the efforts of the Nats Board.

Woodstock - why nine, why not just 18?

Alternate Replacements, continued

 

Howard:  Motion that the National Truck In Board have 18 voting members

Steve seconded motion.

 

Discussion:

§ Charlotte - leave it like it is with alternates.  Alternates are there to cover when Board members cannot be there to vote.

§ Coop - it is just all labels.

§ Charlotte - we all talk, and we all work things out, but if I can't make the meeting then my alternate is there to cover for me.

§ Tim - with 18 there is always a quorum, so it won't matter about alternates or board members.

§ Rick - still would have a quorum with 18 so again, alternates or not does not matter.

§ Judith - read the by-laws; currently only Board members vote and alternates only when the Board member they are alternate for is not present.

Howard has withdrawn his motion.

§ Judith - if a board member needs to be replaced than any alternate can replace that board member.

§ Coop - not regional anymore and no specific alternate with Board member

§ Wacko - would like to see his alternate from the West coast.

Group agreed that Board structure shall stay the same as it is now.

Nats Board interviewed Billo Seward.

 

Nats Board interviewed Tom Chronister.

 

(The other candidates have been interviewed at previous dates)

 

Nats Board and Alternates discussion ensued on each candidate.

 

§ Tom Chronister

§ Sonya Koome

§ Cathy Smith

§ Phil Martin

§ Bill Seward (Billo)

§ Paul Walsh (Chooie)

 

The Nats Board and Alternates Voted by Ballot and elected for the three new alternates to be:

 

Chooie (Paul Walsh) alternate for Charlotte Jackson

Billo (Bill Seward) alternate for Howard Furtak

Tom Chronister alternate for Paul Wack

Meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm