BMW CCA, Puget Sound Region
Board Meeting Minutes
December 5, 2002

The meeting was called to order by President Karl Seeger at 7:02 PM at the Mercer Island Community Center. Those in attendance were:

Karl Seeger, President
Lance Richert, Past President, Concours Chairman
Jim Millet, Zundfolge Advertising Manager
Tom Cox, Treasurer
Ken Olsen, Tour Coordinator
Greg Mierz, Roster Manager
Ken Hill, Vice President
Wes Hill, Track Events Chairman
Rick Gulstrom, Membership
Miki Haraguchi, Web Site Coordinator
Doug Adams, Jr., Member
Chris Chow, E30 SIG
Ken Wear, 02 SIG
Doug Haussler, Member
Tom Olsson, Member
Louis Hesselt-van-Dinter, Member
Joni Candey, Member
David Lightfoot, Secretary

Opening Comments

Karl welcomed everyone. Introductions were unnecessary.

News from National

Driving Events Committee (DEC)
Regional reps will be elected by the driving events chairs of each chapter. Wes is running against the incumbent, Dan Tackett, without a hope in Hell of winning. The Driving Events Congress will be held March 1 and 2, at a location to be announced. Each chapter can send two people.

New Benefits of Membership
A Club emergency roadside assistance program is now available. The vendor is Cross Country Warranty, the same vendor used by BMW NA. There is probably a subscription charge but it wasn’t clear.

New Club Merchandiser
There will be a new Club merchandiser as of December 1st. Nothing else is known.

Bylaw Changes
Two bylaw changes were considered by the Board. One would have imposed term limits and was defeated. The other concerned a supermajority requirement to introduce a motion between Board meetings. It was decided to not put this on the ballot.

Yahoo! Digests
Various Yahoo digest lists are available including Driving Events Committee, Presidents’ Digest, Treasurers’ Digest and Newsletter Editors’ Digest. There is also a bulletin board for all members called BMW CCA Talk.

National Elections
The online voting system proved to be far too expensive. Balloting will be traditional paper ballot.

Local

ICSCC Affiliation
Our chapter’s affiliation with ICSCC might not be renewed by ICSCC due to insurance concerns. This would be an issue only for the 28 members who currently race under the BMW CCA banner. These members would have to join one of the racing-oriented clubs. We will send representatives to the ICSCC meeting to try and influence their decision. We would like to keep the affiliation.

Board Job Descriptions
Only two or three Board members sent their job descriptions to Ken Hill.

Nomination Committee
Jim Millet, as chairman of the Nomination Committee, actually read the bylaws and determined that we need to have a ballot and vote at the December meeting on the appointed Board members. Jim created such a ballot but the nominations were accepted by acclimation. These positions and those who will fill them for 2003 include:

•  Wes Hill as Driving Events Director
•  Lucetta Lightfoot and Jim Millet as Zundfolge Editors
•  Doug Haussler as Tour Coordinator
•  Miki Haraguchi as Web Site Coordinator
•  Chris Chow as Special Interest Group Coordinator
•  Tom Olsson the Technical Service Coordinator

General Meetings and Events

E36 Tech Session
Jim Millet said the event was a success. Forty people signed the sign-in sheet but there were more there. Those in attendance indicated they would like another session but covering the simpler stuff. There was also some interest in a ladies-only session. Lance sold five shirts.

Z4 Debut
BMW Seattle was very pleased with the excellent turn-out at the debut for the new Z4. Karl commented that they showed the poor judgment to turn him loose in the Z4 without supervision. Karl describes the performance as “adequate.”

Video Night
The car chase scene video night was a big success with a capacity crowd of about 60 people. The video rental fees of about $54 were the only cost. Lance has lots more videos we can use for a future event.

Bradley's Detail Session
Tom Olsson has scheduled this tech session for February 15th. Bradley’s wants to have a four station event with 75 people. Tom is trying to make it a bit smaller because the weather could be lousy. Lance is helping on the event.

BMW Books
David has scheduled this meeting for February 22nd at the Bellevue Regional Library. The meeting room is free. The only cost should be making copies of handouts.

All Members' Meeting
Rick has scheduled this at Bison Creek on March 15th. Lance is supplying a video. The all-you-can-eat pizza deal will be offered after the meeting. The restaurant can hold about 120 people. Rick will be getting some door prizes from National. Lance will have the Club shirts for sale. Tom Cox has the Club banners which will be hung on the outside of the restaurant. We will use our PA system for Board members to address the group.

Haury's Auto Body
Tom Olsson has scheduled a tech session at Haury’s on March 29th. This date may have to be changed due to a conflict with a track event.

LeMay Tour
Kevin Chow was not in attendance but he is putting together this tour to the LeMay Collection in Tacoma.

Spring Rally
The Spring Rally will be held April 26th.

Wine Tour
Karl reported that Tom Williams and Bill Linder are not interested in leading this tour again. Karl may do it himself. Doug Haussler may also help put it together. It will be in June some time around Father’s Day.

SUV Tour
The Hills said we will be doing this again and the event will be some time in September.

Collectibles Meeting
David agreed to put together this meeting again for November 2003.

Griot's Meeting
Tom Olsson said this is lined up for May or June some time. Mark Greene from Griot’s is excited about hosting the Club again. We must work around the SOVREN events as Griot’s goes to those events. Griot’s will be open Christmas Eve until 2:00.

Workers Appreciation Meeting
This is tentatively scheduled for December 2003.

Stongard Meeting
Stongard is willing to host a tech session. Tom Olsson will contact them.

E30 Picnic
Lance and Chris Chow said there will be a second annual E30 Picnic, probably June 23rd.

State Patrol
We may have a meeting where they will have a chance to state their side.

'02 Tech Session
Ken Wear said the 02 SIG will be having another tech session soon.

Zundfolge
Paulette Eichman, our desktop publisher, asked for a raise from $850 to $1,000 per month. This was discussed by email before the meeting. The raise was approved but several Board members expressed concern that there not be another increase soon given how soft the local economy is.

It was noted that Lucetta was not in attendance for the forth Board meeting in a row. This means that Zundfolge budgetary issues can’t be discussed with the Editor and event promotions also can’t be discussed with the Editor.

Jim Millet related that photographs must be high resolution—350 dpi in a tif file. Promotional articles should also include the brief mention for the Kalendar. The Zundfolge staff would like contributions from the various SIGs on a rotating basis. Photos also need to have a release if they are copyrighted.

The deadline for the February issue is January 7th. Jim was asked to get both deadline and distribution dates for the whole year to aid in planning for event promotions. Jim also reported we have two new long-term advertisers: Haury’s Auto Body and a waterless car cleaner representative.

Roster/Membership
Greg reported that we lost a net of four members since last month. We have 3,013 members of which 2,719 are full members and 294 are associates. Greg said he will handle the bulk email system until January 1st and then Doug Adams will take it. Greg also noted that he has been on the Board for 24 years and this will be his last Board meeting. He has missed only about three meetings in 24 years.
Rick said he had plenty of membership supplies.

Track Events
Wes said that he has decided that it will be easier to just hire corner workers. He is talking to two groups. We have received our track dates for 2003. They are:

• March 1 - Bremerton Instructor Clinic
• March 9 - PR Instructor Clinic
• March 29 - Bremerton Novice School
• April 20 - PR Novice School
• Mid-May - Monroe Speedway
• May ?? - Bremerton
• June 8 - PR Lapping Day
• June 17 - Thunderhill
• July 13 - PR Lapping Day
• July 30 - Bremerton
• August 3 - PR Lapping Day
• August 20 - Monroe Speedway
• October 26 - Bremerton Novice School
• November 4 - Laguna Seca

Some of the dates may change. In particular, the April 20th date is on Easter Sunday. Wes is going to try and get a weekday date instead.

Wes is also trying to get a date at the State Patrol Academy’s course in Shelton. There will also be a BMW/Proformance School in mid-summer.

We owe Pacific Raceways $27,000 for our 2003 dates. We have to pay half in advance. Wes is going to see whether we can get a discount is we pay 100% in advance.

Banquet
Kevin Chow was not in attendance. David said that the promotional articles have been written. The cutoff date for discount registration is December 31st. A mass mailing will be too expensive so we will do a bulk emailing. David Hobbs’s arrangements have been confirmed.

Tours/Rallies
Doug Haussler handed out the results of a survey he took. Some of the results can be incorporated into future tours. For example, most people want to stop at a point-of-interest. Most would rather stop at a restaurant rather than bring their own food. Almost everyone is willing to drive in the rain but almost no one is willing to drive in the snow.

Ken Olsen noted that our rallies are currently bigger than any others being held in the Northwest. We will have Club rallies next year in April, June and November.

Concours d'Elegance
Lance had nothing new to report on the 2003 Concours d’Elegance.

SIGs
Chris Chow had nothing new to report.

Technical Sessions
Tom Olsson is busy scheduling tech sessions for next year. He was told that the typical stipend for refreshments at these events is up to $100. Tom and Lance are working on putting together a list of model enthusiasts as resources for members.

Treasurer's Report
Tom Cox reported that we have $64,468.20 in the bank.

Web Site
Miki had nothing new to report.

Roundabout

Wes—had receipts from the track event for Tom. Wes asked if he should schedule the next several Board meetings at MICC and was told he should.

Ken Wear—said the 02 SIG would have one more drive before the end of 2002. Ron Ager is having a big garage sale soon. The SIG will hold another concours next year in July or August. They will also be holding a tech session at Brian Capp’s.

Ken Olsen—said a member was looking for a pristine 3.0CS for use in a commercial.

Lance—said that the Club Christmas cards will get done before Christmas.

Doug Haussler—said he had a friend on the planning committee for Tech Fest West. He says the reports from National that the event might not happen are untrue. There will be a track event and representatives from BMW Mobile Tradition.

Jim—said something about monitors on the bulletin board. (Help me out please!)

Rick—asked if there was any news on the future of Pacific Raceways. Wes said he hadn’t heard anything.

David—said he got another speeding ticket. Chris Bangle was named Automobile Magazine’s Man of the Year. The 7 Series is getting so many complaints that BMW no longer counts it in the dealers’ CSI ratings.

Karl—said that Bill Spornitz said that our insurance is good through April 2003.

Greg—said his 24 years on the Board have been a great ride. He noted that he got more out of the Club in the way of friendships than he put into it. He will still write his Zundfolge column. The Board gave him a round of applause and thanked Greg for his years of service.

Tom Cox—noted there is a 2800CS in the Seattle Times for $5,000 OBO.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
David Lightfoot
Secretary