Minutes of Meeting – AlfaSeeYas
February 1, 2005
Brooksville, Florida
The meeting of the FMCA chapter of AlfaSeeYas was called to order by President Bruce Monte at 4:00 P.M. Bruce welcomed and thanked the members for attending the meeting. Present for the Meeting were the following officers: Bruce Monte, Rosemary Monte and Karen Hugo.
Karen Hugo read the Minutes of the Meeting held at Albuquerque, NM on March 16, 2004. Hans Butterwegge made a motion to accept the Minutes as read. Bill Dooley seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Bruce reminded the members that the hats were $10 and available here at the rally.
Rosemary Monte read the Treasurer’s Report which covered the time period from the beginning of the chapter on May 19, 2003 through December 31, 2004.
The chapter has taken in a total of $43,587.15. The amount of $31,411.59 has been spent leaving a balance of $12,175.56 as of December 31, 2004. This does not include monies received for the two January rallies and the expenses paid for them which will leave around $6,000 in the Treasury.
A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Judie Moore and seconded by Mike Lippert. Motion carried.
Rosemary explained briefly that it costs the chapter about $1,000 for each mailing of the newsletter which is done four times a year or roughly $4,000 per year. She also explained that the rallies take in about the same money as expended so they are breaking even. Also the $10 dues go toward the newsletter, postage, the chapter phone and operating expenses.
As of today, we have 594 members. We anticipate an increase of approximately 240 new members each year. We have lost about 34 members this past year – about ½ due to selling their coach; another ¼ due to quitting RV’ing or other reasons and the balance for no reason - they just don’t respond when contacted.
Bruce thanked Rosemary and Karen for the work they do throughout the year.
Bruce also thanked Liz & Dale Ouderkirk and Joe & Mary Schoenmaker for handling the pre-rally and caravan to Brooksville. They spent about a year planning, searching for an RV park, and getting things in order.
Bruce introduced Hannah Dubuc as our Membership Coordinator. She spots Alfa owners on the various websites and if they are not currently members, she contacts them and tells them about the club and sends them information. She also follows up on members as their dues become delinquent. She sends them an email after 3 months and then follows up again in 6 months. After 6 months they are dropped from the membership roster.
Hannah reminded the members they can renew for multiple years and to update their email address if there are changes.
Karol Lippert is already working on identifying RV parks as possible sites for the pre-rally next year in Florida.
Bruce introduced Jay Blumenthal to the group. He is running for Vice President over our FMCA International Area. Jay explained what the International Area covered and stated that he belonged to seven different International Area Chapters including Frustrated Maestros. He also asked us to let him know if there was anything FMCA could do to help us.
Bruce gave information on upcoming rallies:
March 17, 2005 – Amy’s RV Park in Tifton, GA caravanning on to Perry, GA, rally master – Bruce & Rosemary Monte
May 2005 – International Area Gathering near Lebanon, TN, rally master – Bruce & Rosemary Monte
August 2005 – Coeur d’Alene, ID – rally master, Linda Critchlow
September 2005 – Illinois - rally master, Mike & Karol Lippert and Jim & Kris Huber, rally masters
October 2005 – Albuquerque, NM – Balloon Fiesta – rally masters, Terri & Owen O’Neill, Cal & Patti Chastain
Bruce said that he sent out an email asking for volunteers for the Standing Rules Committee which is being formed. Volunteers will be notified by the weekend. The Standing Rules Committee will present their findings by March 15th.
Bruce introduced those who have volunteered to serve as Officers for the next 2 year term.
President – Bruce Monte
Vice President – Norm Duarte
Secretary – Karen Hugo
Treasurer – Rosemary Monte
National Director – Tony Monson
Alternate National Director – Bill Harju
He asked the members present if anyone would like to volunteer for one of the offices. No one volunteered.
Bruce announced that Terri O’Neill had volunteered to be Rally Coordinator and that he, Terri and former wagon masters would be working on a booklet to help future wagon masters.
Bruce also announced to the group that the name of the newsletter was See Ya Connection.
Bruce took questions from the floor:
There was a question from the floor regarding duties of the various offices, especially those of the Vice President. Bruce discussed that the Vice President would assist him in projects that needed to be done but hasn’t had the time to do. The duties of the Chapter Secretary and Chapter Treasurer were laid out according to the FMCA guidelines.
There was a question from the floor to Treasurer Rosemary Monte regarding auditing of the books. She responded that they had not been audited but that she planned to have an audit done in Tifton, Georgia.
There was a question from the floor regarding the Alfa National Rally in Gillette, WY. Bruce explained that this was an Alfa Sundancers function which had nothing to do with FMCA. He did explain that the Alfa Roadrunners chapter was hosting the Alfa National Rally and would be working at their pre-rally getting things ready for the Alfa rally.
There was an announcement by David Moore inviting everyone in the area to come to a Sunrisers luncheon on March 19th at 10:00 in Fort Myers, FL. - again noting that this is an Alfa Sundancers chapter, not FMCA. There was also a discussion regarding the states that the Alfa Sunrisers and Alfa Sunchasers cover.
Bruce thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.
Jan Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Paul Smith seconded that motion. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Hugo, Secretary
