Action Items

• Four board members (Bell, Morrissette, Van Schoonhoven and Shimek) conducted a 40-minute phone interview with treasurer candidate Mike Oberholtzer in late March and agree that he has the credentials necessary for the job. Following the interview and after giving the Board sufficient time to review the candidate's impressive resume, Mike Van Schoonhoven made the motion to name Mike Oberholtzer as our new treasurer with Dave Morrissette seconding the motion. The board voted 7-0 in favor and the job was offered and accepted by Mike. He will be assuming the treasurer's duties as soon as everything can be set up with the banks, etc.
• A vote was taken and passed to spend $1000 on updating and providing support for the Convention Management System. Mike Van Schoonhoven has more to say about this in his report.
• Our storage locker in Canton has now been cleaned out. John Shimek will be shipping copies of the Journal from the last two years to Marie Van Schoonhoven to use as replacement copies or to sell.
• One item of interest found in the storage locker was the rotating Chapter of the Year Award. It had not been updated nor used since 2001. The COY is supposed to receive a two engraved awards: one they keep and a shared trophy which they have for one year. They then bring the shared award back to the next convention and present it to the next year's winner. John Noack has taken possession of it and is getting it cleaned and updated.
• A new online store for IPMS/USA gear has opened for business on our website. The address is: http://www.ipms.deco-apparel.com and the site features all sorts of apparel and other useful items at very reasonable prices. Due to the efforts of our new Office Manager Marie Van Schoonhoven, a new vendor is running the store and we look forward to increased offerings in the future as well as improved turnaround time for delivery of these products to our members.

Officer/Staff Reports

Ron Bell, President

• No new items to report.

David Morrissette, 1st VP

• The IPMS/USA taxes need one look-over before submission. I will forward this info to Mike Oberholtzer along with a copy of Quickbooks.
• Kit reviews are behind compared with last year's numbers.
• I have been spending a lot of time acquiring kits. Major manufacturers are going through a slow spell.

Mike Van Schoonhoven, 2nd Vice President

• I have 3 confirmed bidders for the 2018 Nationals. All are still working on their bids and should have them for review two months before the 2016 convention.
• The contractor we hired to work on our Convention Management Software has signed a contract for the project. Work has been progressing on the CMS to get updated and ready for the Columbia Nationals. Target date to have it ready to go is May 1, 2016. I'm very impressed at the quality of work that our contractor has put into it thus far. The system definitely works a lot smoother.

John Shimek, Treasurer

• I am working on transition items and duties to hand off to our new treasurer Mike Oberholtzer.
• Oberholtzer has been added to our Bonding Insurance Policy today with State Farm.

Dennis Tennant, Secretary

• Mike Oberholtzer has been added to our email contact list and a copy of the board contact list has been sent his way.
• I will begin the hobby shop update project in the next few weeks by soliciting info from members about their favorite hobby shops and begin compiling a nationwide list for Eric to convert into a map much like the one used to display model contests and shows. Gathering the info is the first step in a process that will depend on input from our members to succeed.

John Noack, DLC

• Charter stickers are in Marie's hands and most can be sent out. Still waiting for regions 8 and 9 to respond to validate their mailing addresses.

Jim Pearsal, Historian/Publication Dir.

• No new items to report.

Marie Van Schoonhoven Interim, National Office Manager

• The organization's PO box has now been changed. The old Canton address will forward mail to the new one until March 30, 2017.
  
  Our new address is:
  IPMS/USA
  PO Box 56023
  St. Petersburg, FL 33732-6023

Eric Aitala, Webmaster

• No new items to report.

Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary