Meeting called to order at 12:35 pm at Tom Brodrick’s house. Present were
Brian Sheron, Superintendent, Marshall Abrams, Senior Assistant
Superintendent, Tom Brodrick, Paymaster, Bill White, Clerk, and John
Paganoni, Committee Chair.
Program Reports
Layout tours: one is scheduled for January, 2018. It was pointed
out that, despite numerous requests to the membership, no one is coming
forward and volunteering to host layout tours. A discussion ensued
regarding the option to terminate the layout tour program due to a lack
of participation. [Subsequent to this meeting, Nick Kalis volunteered
to take on the role of Layout Tour Coordinator (which he had held very
successfully for many years) and has started scheduling tours.]
Achievement Program: Matt Thompson was awarded his MMR at the recent MER
convention in Harrisburg, PA. Matt could not attend the MER convention,
so Brian Sheron brought Matt’s MMR package home with him and Matt
picked it up at Brian’s house. Brian is aware of a few other members
actively working on AP certificates.
Paymaster: we have $3,611 in our account.
Flyer:
seven articles are available so far for the next issue scheduled for
January, 2018. Marshall has been unable to get any members to assist
him in editing and publishing the Flyer.
Webmaster: nothing to report.
Op Sessions: not discussed
Old Business
LCC meeting: An LCC (Local Convention Committee for the October,
2018, MER Convention)
meetingwas
held earlier in the morning before the business meeting. Twelve
members, including the four Board members, were in attendance. Brian
opened the meeting by going over the various jobs that need to be done
before and during the convention, and asked those
in attendance to identify which jobs on which they would like to work.
While most of the members in attendance volunteered to work on a
number of the available jobs, there is still a need for more volunteers
to help with such jobs as staffing the white elephant sale and staffing
the A/V committee, (helping with ensuring that clinician’s
presentations are properly loaded on computers and ready for
presentation at the beginning of each clinic).
Committee status:
§ Layout Tours and Call
Board (Op Sessions): (Bill Demas) There will not be a
suggested tour route guide, because Marshall Abrams has produced a
digital App that will provide the route information between layouts.
§ Publicity: (Ed Rosado, Bill Day)
Although the PD was offered a table at the South Mountain Minicon for
distributing brochures, the committee decided that leaving a pile of
flyers on a table at their Miniconvention was sufficient. As the MER Convention
gets closer, ads will be placed in appropriate model railroad magazines.
§ Floor Manager/Hotel Liaison:
(Tom Brodrick) A cell phone was purchased by the Susquehannock
convention and offered to us.
§ Silent Auction/White Elephant Room:
(Bill Sydow, Gary Eames, Ernie Little, Bill White) Gary will check with
Bob Clegg concerning availability of his silent auction
software.
§ Photographer: Brian Benoit will
be the Potomac Division’s photographer at the convention. A suggestion
was made that Brian coordinate with whoever is the MER photographer
§ Raffle prizes: Bill Lyders and
Barry Thompson volunteered to contact model railroad manufacturers and
solicit them to donate products that can be raffled off.
§ Publisher: (Marshall Abrams)
Marshall reported that Bob Clegg from the New Jersey Division has
volunteered to publish the convention booklet. He said that a member of
the New Jersey Division has a company that can print the booklets, and
will give us a good price for printing them.
§ Banquet Speaker Liaison: (Brian
Sheron) Brian reported that Lou Sassi will be the banquet speaker at
the convention. Lou is a noted model railroading author and is also an
contributing editor at ModelRailroader magazine.
Lou will also be giving a few clinics, and requested a $200 payment,
since he needs to rent a van to carry the equipment he brings for his
clinics.
§ Commemorative models & merchandise
sales: (Ed Rosado, Tom Brodrick) Tom will check with the
Hagerstown and Carolina Divisions to determine their experiences with
providing a commemorative model kit. Marshall Abrams will price a
possible convention t-shirt.
§ Prototype tours: (John Pagnoni):
Possible prototype tours were discussed. Brian reported that he
contacted the Washington chapter of the NRHS regarding a walking tour
of Point of Rocks station and area. He said that the Washington chapter
told him that October was their busy month and they would not be able
to provide anyone to give a walking tour. He said that they gave him
the name of a person who might give such a tour. Brian has sent him an
e-mail but has received no response. The Trolley Museum in Silver
Spring was discussed as a possible tour. Brian reported that the
Walkersville Southern will be one of the tours. It will include both a short
train ride on vintage passenger cars, and a tour of the yard and
facilities. John will check on possible tours of the VRE near the
Manassas Airport, Manassas Station, and other sites.
§ Modulars: (Bill Sydow): Bill
Sydow volunteered to coordinate the modular layout setups at the
convention. Brian asked Tom Brodrick to provide Bill with the
dimensions of the room at the hotel where the modular layouts will be
set up, so that Bill can decide how many modulars can be set up in
that room, and how much space each modular group can be
allotted.
The next LCC meeting will be February 10, 2018, at
Ernie Little’s house.
Spring Business Meeting: is
set for March 24, backup date, if the hotel is already booked, March
10. We will have a speaker or clinics, possibly a white elephant room,
and will vote on two issues: (1) a one-word revision of the new by-laws
to eliminate allowing members to be notified of annual business
meetings by electronic means only, (2) two Board member positions.
Notice of the meeting for those without an e-mail address will be
accomplished by a postcard. Tom Brodrick will check with Vista Print on
printing and mailing. Bill White and John Paganoni will constitute the
nominating committee in accordance with Article XIII § 3 of the
by-laws. John will reserve three rooms at the Hampton Inn, Manassas,
for four hours at a cost of $375.
New Business
The Board is experiencing difficulties resulting from a lack
of members who are willing to volunteer for activities. Consequently
Brian Sheron will write an article for a special edition of the Flyer,
which will be limited to this vital subject. Discussion of
this problem will be the third item for the Spring Business Meeting.
Next Meeting: January 6, 2018, at Marshall Abram’s house or by
teleconference, depending on the agenda.
Action Items:
➢ Brian: write
an article on member non-participation for Flyer special
edition
➢ Marshall: check
on possibility of MER convention t-shirt
➢ Tom: check
with Carolina and Hagerstown Divisions on commemorative model kit.
➢ John: check
on local tour possibilities for the MER Convention
➢ Bill & John: prepare notice to members of election of two Board
candidates at the Spring Business Meeting.
➢ John: reserve
rooms at the Hampton Inn, Manassas for the Spring Business Meeting
➢ Marshall: check
on printer for postcard notification
➢ Tom: check
with Vista Print on postcard notification
➢ Bill:
prepare draft annual report to the MER for submission by Brian
➢ Bill:
write an article on the new Chesapeake Beach Museum Model Railroad Club
for the next edition of the Flyer.