GMCWS General Membership Meeting
Pechanga RV Resort, Temecula, CA
May 5, 2016
Meeting was called to order by President Nick Roenick at 10:02 a.m.
Board members present were Nick Roenick, President; Carol Minnie, First Vice President; Gary Bovee, Technical Vice President; Dave de Graffenreid, Treasurer; Donna Ventura, Secretary; and Armand Minnie, Webmaster. Absent: Sharon Work, FMCA National Director.
Ralph Mundia led the group in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. President Roenick introduced the Board members. First time attendees were introduced and were warmly welcomed: Tom and Mary Mishler of Cardiff, CA; and Bill Bolka of Sun City, CA.
President Roenick expressed the club’s thanks and appreciation to the rally hosts, Phil and Joanne Hernandez, for their hard work in making this a wonderful rally.
President Roenick asked club members to go onto the GMCWS website and ensure that their personal information, such as address and phone numbers, is current. There are several members to whom we have to resend the roster and newsletters because we don’t have their current addresses.
Secretary’s Report
A motion was made, and seconded by Jodell Banovich, to abstain from reading the minutes of the Fall 2015 meeting, since they were reported in our October 2015 Newsletter. Motion was carried; the minutes were approved as published in the Newsletter.
We now have 198 members in the club. The Secretary asked for feedback on the revised format of the roster sent out a few months ago.
Treasurer’s Report
We have about $15K in the coffers, down from ~$30K a few years ago. We need to ensure that we have enough funds in the bank account to support our rallies. No funds were used to support this rally (Pechanga), and to date no funds will be needed for the Fall Rally in Coos Bay. Possibilities were discussed for cutting costs, especially printing and distribution costs for the newsletters and roster, since these are our largest operating expenses during any year. It was agreed that we will decrease the number of newsletters annually, from 4 to 3. The Secretary/Newsletter Editor will question our members who get the printed newsletters to see if they will be willing to view the newsletters on our website, thereby reducing printing and distribution costs.
Fall Elections/Nominating Committee
All Board members have agreed to serve for another year, except Gary Bovee, our Technical Vice President. He has served for 2 years and done an outstanding job. The following individuals have agreed to be the Nominating Committee for the Fall Election: George Banovich, Gary Bovee, and Ed Staal.
Award for Cantrells’ GMC at Redondo Beach Car Show
At a Corvette Show in Redondo Beach in April, five GMCWS members attended this show with their GMCs, and Dave and Arlene Cantrell won an award for “Most Distinguished Motorhome”. There was a great amount of interest shown by car show attendees. It was discussed that this may be a good way to generate more new members. Therefore, GMCWS will pay entry fees for any GMC owner who wishes to enter his/her GMC in these shows.
New Members
We had several viewers of our GMCs at this rally, and signed up one new member – Penn and Susan Lenson from Temecula. We look forward to seeing them at our rallies.
GMCWS Population Distribution Map
President Roenick developed and presented an interesting map that shows the location of our members across the United States, Canada and Australia. It will be useful for informing our members of other members in their areas, and encourage them to attend our rallies. It is hoped that in the future we can develop this into an interactive tool on our website.
Thanks to our Vendors
President Roenick thanked our vendors – Jim Kanomata, George Banovich, and Gary Bovee - who attended this rally.
Future Rallies
There was a discussion on holding rallies on weekends vs. during the week. It was acknowledged that having rallies during the week makes it difficult for some of our members who are working to attend. However, RV sites are typically higher on weekends, so it will be difficult for the rally host to keep within our rally budget limit of $400.
An ongoing problem for the rally hosts is to keep cost per coach under $400. GMCMI has raised their maximum to $450. If we stay at the $400 limit and want to include a weekend, we may have to reduce the 5 day/4 night rallies to 4 days/3 nights. This may also be unavoidable if, in the future, we don’t raise our limit to $425+.
The issue of appropriate rally fees for non-GMCWS members to attend our rallies was raised. Since they don’t support the club by being a GMCWS member, it was proposed that we charge them an additional $10 rally fee, starting with their second rally. George Beckman motioned, Carol Minnie seconded. Motion was carried.
It was suggested that we include an auction at each rally to benefit the club’s Treasury.
Annual Dues Increase
President Roenick raised the issue of increasing our annual dues, from $20 to $25 or $30. We charge less than most, if not all, other GMC RV clubs. Reasons for the proposed increase were discussed. Our intake – annual members’ dues – do not cover our annual fixed expenses, hence we have seen a corresponding reduction in our bank account over the last several years. Ralph Mundia made a motion to accept the increase in dues to $25. Hoss Hauge seconded the motion; the motion was carried. However, there were a couple of nays from members who wanted to raise the dues to $30. It was agreed that we will address this issue in a year and perhaps at that time raise the dues if necessary. Other options include member donations to our Treasury, or doing an assessment if our situation becomes dire.
Volunteers Still Needed
We need a volunteer for the position of FMCA Alternate Director – Sharon Work is our National Director. Duties are to attend the national FMCA rally in the event the National Director is unable to do so. Let the President know if you are interested.
The Club also still needs a Wagon Master, who primary duty is to find members who will be our rally hosts, and assist them as desired or needed. Please let the President know if you are interested.
New Members
Four new members attended this rally – William Bolka of Sun City, CA; Tom and Mary Mishler of Cardiff, CA; and Annette Elmer, Mark Elmer’s new wife, Annette.
Fall Rally
Gary Bovee discussed the upcoming Coos Bay Rally, to be held October 10-14. It will be a joint rally with the Cascaders, the Pacific Cruisers, the Mountainaires, and the 49ers. Gary, the host for this rally, encourages members to register early when the registration form is available on our web site (approximately June 1). If you want to stay extra days, contact Mill Casino directly. The technical presenter lineup for this rally is impressive. Gary has arranged a BBQ for one evening, and a karaoke expert for entertainment another evening. The fee is expected to be under $400 per coach. Past rallies at this location have been awesome and lots of fun.
Motion was made to end the meeting by George Beckman, seconded by Mark Elmer, and carried.
Meeting was adjourned at 11 a.m.