Minutes
Potomac
Division Board of Directors Meeting
April
7, 2013
The board met at 12:30 PM at Bill
Day’s home with Marshall Abrams, Brian Sheron, Mike White, Andrew Dodge, Roger
Sekera, and Bill Day attending from Potomac Division with Tom Casey of the
Chesapeake Division on the phone.
The first item of business was to
welcome Roger Sekera as the new editor of the Flyer. Roger presented some of his ideas for future
articles on various members, updates on activities and layout progress in the
division, and a publishing calendar for the Flyer.
The board next reviewed the status
of the C&P Convention in Rockville, October 10-13, 2013.
· Andrew gave a review of the module layout
program, which included Bantrak, MAARS, and three O
scale groups agreeing to attend. Final
commitments must be made by the end of May in order for each group to retain
its allotted space.
· Marty reported that he will begin putting
together a schedule for the confirmed clinics.
· Brian is working on a layout tour schedule
with most slots filled for Thursday evening but Sunday is still open.
· All the model operation groups’ still have slots
open except Brian’s session.
· Bill reported that he is still working on and
looking for volunteers for registration, the White Elephant Room, etc.
· The prototype program with the MTA is
unsettled and is in the “Maybe” category.
· The B&O Museum will be offering a program
of firing-up some of its 19th century steam engines and special
membership rates for NMRA members. It
was also mentioned that C&A Live Steamers will have an open house on Sunday
from 9-3 or 4.
· The question of Door Prizes is the focus of
several questions as to who is responsible for prizes (LCC or Cat) and who
might head the program. Several names of
those who might serve were mentioned.
The board approved a motion to contact MER if our efforts did not
produce results and inform the regional officials that the PD would not have a
Door Prize program.
Action items
relating to the C&P Convention:
· Marshall
was to send Andrew contact information for PMC and NVNTRAK.
· Andrew
will extend invitations to PMC & NVNTRAK to participate in the C&P
Junction convention if there is space available. (BANTRAK, MAARS, Mad Modules,
James River Module Group, and Bernie Kempinski’ Civil
War Module have agreed to attend but not finalized their commitment as of April
7.)
· Marshall
was to send the MER convention handbook to Bill Day.
· Bill
had an action item to be volunteers coordinator.
· Brian
was to finalize the schedule of layout tour areas. This is necessary so that
clinicians who are also hosting layout tours will know when these tours will
occur
· Marty
will schedule the clinics after Brian has finalized the schedule of layout tour
areas.
· Mention
of Steve King's book was to be added to the clinic information. Bill Mosteller (Webmaster) would have the
action to update the clinic description.
· Marshall
was to add Roger to the C&P crew group on Yahoo.
· Roger
was to ask John Glaab if he would solicit merchandise for the raffle. If John
did not accept, Marshall was authorized to inform MER officers that the LCC had
made a good faith effort but failed to find someone to solicit merchandise and
that the LCC believed conduct of the raffle and soliciting merchandise was a
CAT responsibility. Marshall was to contact prior MER convention chairs to
determine their experience with soliciting merchandise and conducting the
raffle.
· Marshall
was to send email announcements of the White Flag Extra on May 4, both an
initial announcement and a reminder.
· Marshall
was to create a Doodle to schedule the next meeting.
· Marshall
was to appoint a nominating committee.
· Marshall
was to send an email to PMC explaining the decision to recommend a Bylaw
amendment elimination the liaison position.
· Arthur
was to continue negotiations with the B&O Museum. I believe that we decided
on preferred outcomes, but don't have notes on what they were. I think that the
decision also included changes to the web page and informing somebody in NMRA
about the 50% discount.
Following a short report or update by each officer (see board member’s
reports), the board elected the slate of officers for each position on the
board. The board membership and
positions remained unchanged.
The final piece
of major business was a review of the By-laws.
A
motion was made and approved to recommend to the membership amending Article
XIII, 8. of the bylaws to increase the maximum time between Election Meeting
from 18 to 20 months. This is a technical correction recognizing the time
between a Minicon and an MER convention hosted by PD.
The next board
meeting will be at Marshall’s home at a date to be determined.
By-laws Addendum:
Moved: To modify the Potomac Division, NMRA By-laws by:
1. Strike Article XI, Section b(3) specifically:
#b. “Officials who are non
voting members of the Division Board,”
#3
“Liaisons with the Potomac Division HO Module Crew and Northern Virginia
NTRAK” from the By Laws.
2. Further Moved:
To
modify Article XI, Section b (4) to become Article XI section b(3) Layout Tour
Coordinator and Modify Article XI, Section b (5) to become: Article XI b(4)
Database Administrator"
PD Board’s Position:
The Board takes the position that every organization within the
Potomac Division should have equal status, position, and access to the Board in
an effort to provide equality of service to all.
Although the Potomac Division supports efforts to publicize the
model railroading hobby, there should be no official or specific relationship
between PMC, NVNTRAK, or any other group or club within the Division BOD that
requires a non-voting Liaison.
Respectfully Submitted,
Andrew Dodge April 7,
2013
Accepted as amended, June 29, 2013
Board Member’s Reports
Paymaster: Mike
reported:
Assets of
$3,877.34 at the beginning of the period.
Disbursements:
B Sheron: $3.05
B Day: $24.52
Checks not
posted:
B Day $4
B Day $24.52
Balance to date
is $3,878.29.
Layout Tours: Brian
reported:
April - Brian Sheron
May - John King
June - Jim Stapleton
July - no open houses
August - no open houses
September - Tom Brodrick
October – C&P Convention
November - Jim Brewer
December - Nick Kalis
January
(2014) - Larry Nyce
White Flag Extras: Bill
reported:
An
Extra in the form of a seminar was held at Bill Day’s house in January with six
modelers attending. Theme: Easy Animation. The afternoon included a power point
presentation, a demonstration of animated features on Bill’s layout, and a view
of successful and less-than-successful animated structures.
The
next Extra is on Saturday, May 4, at the Dolly Madison Regional Library,
McLean, Virginia. Clinicians Clint Hyde
will present a power point and hands-on demonstration of airbrushing and Tom
Brodrick will present a power-point presentation on cranes.
White Flag Seminar:
Andrew reported:
No activity.
Clerk: Andrew reported:
Reviewed By-laws
and made recommendations to the board
AP Program:
Brian reported:
Achievement Program: no new activity.