SEPTEMBER 2011
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:
I hope everyone had a great summer and you are all ready for lots of rallies and lots of fun this fall and winter.
We currently have rallies scheduled through June 2012 with the exception of December, which is usually dark, and February. Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to the plate. For those of you not hosting a rally, please consider doing so. I have lots of brochures for campgrounds from San Diego to Solvang so see me if you're having a problem selecting a place to hold a rally. I would like to see rallies scheduled for the remainder of 2012.
A special thank you to Cookie for taking my place at the September meeting so I could attend a 50th anniversary party in Las Vegas.
Paulette Kotan, president
MEETING MINUTES:
Mar-Tar-Awa RV Resort
Alpine, CA
September 10, 2011
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by vice-president Cookie Ringhand.
Members present: Dick and Vicki Bartlett, Gerry and Lin Chetelat, Nick and Ramona Escamilla, Russ and Pat Himmer, Hal and Cookie Ringhand and Steve and MaryLee Smith.
Guests present: Pat and Russ Himmer's son Rusty, grandson Garrett, daughter Terri and husband Brian. Hal and Cookie Ringhand's friends Walt and Pam Rose.
Cookie thanked the Himmers for hosting a great rally and planning a wonderful menu just for the group.
A motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting in May as they appeared in the blog was made by Ramona and seconded by Steve. The motion carried.
The treasurer's report showed a balance of $2,212.11. A motion to approve was made by Pat and seconded by Hal. The motion carried.
Director's Report: Nick read the director's report prepared by our national director after the FMCA Governing Board meeting:
The 2011 meeting of the FMCA Governing Board was held on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. There were 373 members present (76% of the voting members.)
New officers elected were as follows:
National President: Charles M. Schrenkle
National Senior Vice President: Allen Rein
National Secretary: Vicki Ferrari
National Treasurer: Will Young
The budget was approved after much debate. This year National Directors will receive $155.00 each for attending the meeting. It was voted TO NOT receive any monies for National Directors for 2012. This was done to try and keep FMCA afloat. FMCA has been losing money due to low participation at conventions. This year's convention had 1,809 family members, 101 exhibitors, 194 display coaches and 39 demo units for a total of 2,143 coaches. Since we needed 3,000 coaches to break even, the loss for Madison is anticipated to be around $74,000.00.
FMCA is currently $620,000.00 in the hole. It was voted to take money from reserves to pay the bills.
In 2010 FMCA lost $1,942,617.00 and in 2009 FMCA lost $163,027.00.
Dan Couch, Finance Board Member (who was also running for National Treasurer this year) found 1.3 million dollars in IRS taxes FMCA had overpaid and we were fortunate to get it back. This was over the past four years. If it wasn't for this money, FMCA would have been in the hole $1,463,027 for 2009.
The Executive Board voted and approved to spend $143,000.00 to upgrade our outdated computer systems. This will be taken out of reserves and should be completed in three months.
It was decided to only have one convention a year in order to save money. The convention that was planned for Pomona, CA was cancelled. It would have cost $500,000.00 in up front money to have the convention there. It was decided to take the loss of $100,000.00 deposit rather than take a chance in having this convention and loosing more money. It was voted on by the Governing Board to take the loss.
The 2012 Convention will be held in Indianapolis, IN
The 2013 Convention will be held in Hutchinson, KS
2013 will be the 50th anniversary for FMCA and the theme for Hutchinson will be Mile Mark 50. They are looking for a mascot. FMCA is asking each chapter to make one and bring it to Indianapolis to be judged and one will be chosen. The chosen one will be awarded a prize and used for the 50th anniversary convention in Hutchinson.
It was my pleasure to attend this Governing Board meeting on behalf of Rockwood West. If anyone has any questions, please contact me.
Respectfully submitted,
Lloyd Kay Holloway
928-230-3556
lwholloway@frontiernet.net
OLD BUSINESS: None
NEW BUSINESS:
The nominating committee presented the current officers for an additional term. These are Paulette Kotan, president, Cookie Ringhand, vice-president and permanent sheriff, Lin Chetelat, secretary/treasurer, Lloyd Holloway, national director and Nick Escamilla, alternate national director. There was no opposition to these nominations and a motion to have the election by proclamation was made by Pat, seconded by MaryLee and the motion carried by unanimous vote. The officers will be sworn in at the October meeting.
Cookie presented her guests Walt (the duckman) and Pam Rose for membership. The motion to accept them as members was made by Lin and seconded by Ramona. The motion carried.
MaryLee reminded everyone of the deadline for reservations for the Pismo Beach rally and she passed out additional flyers. Flyers for the Lake Elsinore rally in November were also distributed.
A discussion of the Lone Pine rally result in Walt advising everyone of things to do in Bishop during "Mule Days" since we will be within driving distance.
Walt and Pam Rose volunteered to host a rally in March 2012 and Gerry and Lin Chetelat will host a rally in April 2012.
A motion to adjourn was made by Hal and seconded by Dick. The motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.
RALLY SCHEDULE:
2011
October 20-23 Pismo Coast RV Resort hosted by Steve and MaryLee Smith and Henry and Lucille Yanoff
November 18-20 Lake Elsinore West Marina hosted by Dennis and Paulette Kotan
2012
January 11-15 WMHA Rally, Indio
January 18-23 Dome Rock BLM, Quartzsite hosted by Greg and Debbie Murrell
March TBA hosted by Walt and Pam Rose
April 27-29 Chula Vista RV Resort hosted by Gerry and Lin Chetelat
May 25-28 Boulder Creek RV Resort, Lone Pine hosted by Nick and Ramona Escamilla
June TBA North Rim, Grand Canyon arranged by Dennis and Paulette Kotan
WAGONMASTER'S REPORT:
The Viejas rally was very relaxing with beautiful weather. We had 9 rigs signed up but 2 had to cancel Friday night.
On Friday night we had three guests, friends of Hal and Cookie. Dick and Judy Keller with their granddaughter enjoyed our heavy hor d'oeuvres evening.
Saturday morning after a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage, Cookie handled a very professional meeting, it was great fun.
After the meeting people headed over to the outlet center. Naturally the men went to Black and Decker. Some of the woman went to the outlet center and some went to the casino. Then the whole group got together for sundaes and banana splits. Everyone was still able to eat dinner.
Saturday, our daughter Terri and husband Brian came for the day and later our son Rusty and grandson Garrett arrived. Rich and Linda Strobel also joined us to visit and have dinner. Dinner was good except the cooks started talking too much and dinner ended up with a smokey flavor. Everyone still enjoyed beef stew.
Our craft project was cancelled due to lost stencils. I am still unable to find them, sorry ladies. I will keep hunting.
Sunday, after a continental breakfast, we just kind of set around feeling lazy, at least I did. We were packed up and out of the campground by 1:00 p.m.
We enjoyed hosting the rally. It was nice seeing the group, it was a long time since we last got together.
Thanks,
Russ and Pat Himmer
