Old Business
- After a short discussion, the board unanimously agreed with the president's recommendation that John C. Walczak fill the treasurer position formerly held by Ed Kinney. Walczak is a retired banker and plans to first audit our accounts to better understand our expenses and income.
- 2nd VP Mike Ronnau presented the national advertising plan for the 2014 Nationals. John Lent was on hand to answer questions.
New Business
- Due to some venues raising their requirements for liability coverage, the board moved to raise the limits on our chapter liability insurance policy to $3M and the umbrella policy to $2M to satisfy these new venue requirements at a cost of $ 500.00 extra per year. Motion made by John Ratzenberger and seconded by Larry Randel. Motion passed unanimously.
- The board unanimously moved to set new limits for the number of Make N Take kits a chapter can receive for any one event to 50 with an annual limit of 75 kits per chapter.
Officer/Staff Reports
Dick Christ, President
David Morrissette, 1st VP, Interim Treasurer
- Reviewer Corps
- Added Caracal Decals, Plusmodels and Value Gear
- Late reviews down to 136. Late notices sent again.
- Assisting Virginia Beach with missing vendors.
- Supporting the Troops
- All RC's contacted regarding supporting the VA hospitals to pass to the
chapters for their support
- Jon Emery's Update -
- Kit donations continue to come in. I have been able to divert some
shipments from Washington state to go directly to Tom Marshall at
Mann-Grandstaff VA Hospital in Spokane. Saves everybody shipping costs.
IPMS-USA presently supports 4 VA hospitals with the "deal" being that they
are only to be used for inpatients recovering from war-related injuries and
to those who are permanent residents. "The price for freedom is visible
here". Not sure if that is on the entry of all VA Hospitals but I always saw
it at the 3 in my area while growing up.
- Our PoCs in Afghanistan are hanging in there. December was a light month for
shipments due to traffic of presents getting to troops. I have been making
it a habit to send during the months when America forgets about them -
January through March, dog days of winter.
- I was able to cash in handsomely at Michael's with their "after holiday 40%
off entire purchase sale"... bought a lot of Testor's paint sets and liquid
glues. Plus got a 15% veterans discount.
- If any clubs are looking to assist, we can always use paints and glues. I
receive tons of kits but am always looking for supplies to send with the
kits. The VA buys their own due to their restrictions on certain supplies.
- Speaking of "tons of kits", we have surpassed the half ton mark in shipping
of kits since taking over the program from Dick. Thanks to everyone who has
donated! I have been keeping up with adding donors to the website for the
most part, have to add some new ones. Suggestions are always welcomed.
Mike Ronnau, 2nd Vice President
- Advertising plan for 2014 Nationals has been sent to E-board members for their consideration.
Dennis Tennant, Secretary
- December minutes have been approved and posted.
- Received an email (on Jan. 16, 2014) from a representative of the ICM model company in Ukraine. She wanted begin a discussion about donating kits and sponsoring various IPMS/USA events. I forwarded this email to 1st VP Morrissette for action.
Larry Randel, DLC
- Charter Renewal Summary
- Annual charter renewal period began at start of October and ended December 31.
- Charter Renewal Currently at 203 of 238 chapters renewed - 85.3% completion rate. Most of the remaining clubs have a lot of checks in the mail or chapter contacts have changed or changed email. Working with RCs to whip them into shape.
- New clubs since charter renewal started:
- IPMS OMG Modelers #05-54 (Region 5)
- IPMS Central Texas Scale Modelers #06-51
- IPMS Bay Area Dragons (B.A.D.)(Junior Club) #09-31 (first chartered Junior Club)
- Notably successful regions:
- Region 5 and Region 7 at 100% complete
- Region 4, Region 10, and Region 11 with only 1 or 2 to go to be complete
- Not so successful regions:
- Region 9 with 9 of 14 complete for 64%
- Region 6 with 18 of 26 complete for 69% (the worst number for a large region)
- Region 13 with 5 of 8 complete for 63%
- Continuing to work with RCs to get remaining clubs complete. Clubs not complete by end of January will be removed from the active list and lose insurance coverage for shows and meetings (which usually gets their attention).
- Annual Awards
- Process getting started for RCs to pick their Regional winners and nominate them for National winners for Chapter of the Year, Newsletter of the Year and Website/Webmaster of the Year.
- Make N Take Program Summary
- Still slow but requests are picking up for events out into the beginning of the year. Reaction to $1.50 rate seems subdued so far (except from some Florida clubs).
- Have already shipped the 200 models for the Nationals. Not sure why so early.
Jim Pearsal, Historian/Publication Dir.
John Ratzenberger, Dir. Foreign Liaison
- Still working on 50th international awards.
- Still working SIG / International tables/visits; not much response.
Bruce Briggs, Membership Secretary
National Office Manager - MJ Kinney
Financial Report as of 1/16/2014
| Checking account |
$20,480.09 |
| Savings Account |
2,582.32 |
| Convention Savings |
14,286.78 |
| Cert of Deposit |
45,187.21 |
| Cert of Deposit |
80,831.37 |
| 2013 Convention |
30,288.65 |
| 2014 Convention |
13,027.30 |
| Total |
$204,353.72 |
- We will be mailing V26J1 to 4,117 - there are 214 that have not renewed since the last issue. New members in 2013 were 422 and to date in 2014 there are 20.
- We need to print more brochures and I am working with John Heck on this, as he laid out the last brochure for us. I have asked to have all new photographs, the wording will be basically the same except to change 'Support the Troops' to 'Wounded Warrior Program'. I have put the local printer we have used for many years on notice that they will be coming.
- The anniversary logo pins are ordered and should be here shortly, along with samples of the shirts. I will take photos and email them to each of you as well as Eric to put up on the shopping cart.
- I also needed to order additional IPMS/USA logo decals ( I include these in each new member envelope ) as well as sell them - and they do sell !! Our cost is $ .50 each.
- Our Directors and Officers Liability Insurance has been renewed at a premium of $ 902.00
Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary
International Plastic Modelers' Society / USA