IPMS LogoInternational Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS LogoInternational Plastic Modelers' Society / USA

IPMS LogoIPMS/USA

IPMS LogoIPMS/USA

Officers Present
  • John Noack (President)
  • Phil Peterson (1st VP)
  • T.J Misiolek (2nd VP)
  • Dennis Tennant (Secretary)
  • Mike Oberholtzer (Treasurer)
  • David Lockhart (DLC)
  • Jim Pearsall (Historian/Publication Director)
  • David Knights (Recruitment and Retention Secretary)
  • Marie Van Schoonhoven (Office Manager) *
  • 2020 Convention Chair Len Pilhofer also joined the board for the June 25th special meeting*

* = Non-voting staff or Guest

Minutes

General discussion and action on the 2020 Nationals

  • The board met, at President John Noack's request, on June 25 for a special meeting concerning the 2020 National Convention. Given the current state of the COVID-19 virus in Texas at that time, the majority of the board and Convention Chair Len Pilhofer felt that the best course was to cancel the 2020 convention and move it to 2023 at the same location. Noack, Pilhofer and Knights (acting as our legal counsel) negotiated with Embassy Suites to cancel and reschedule the convention for a cancellation fee of $10,000. Negotiations were not final at the time of this meeting and the three will continue working with Embassy Suites management to finalize arrangements and move the convention to 2023.
  • A motion to pay the cancellation fee and hold the National Convention in the same location in 2023 was made by Secretary of R&R Knights and seconded by Secretary Dennis Tennant. The motion passed.
  • Pres. Noack and Convention Chair Pilhofer will communicate the news to the membership immediately.

The following minutes are from the May 31, 2020 Executive Board conference call

General discussion/action items (May 31):

  • The Executive Board discussed the upcoming Nationals in San Marcos and decided to delay making any sort of decision about cancelling or postponing the convention until President Noack meets with the San Marcos team to gather as much information as possible before deciding our course. He and 2VP Misiolek plan to meet with the convention organizers in the very near future and will report back to the board with their findings and recommendations.
  • President Noack suggested the appointment of Stephen Broughall as the new IPMS/USA Military Support liaison for our Support The Troops/M4T initiatives and received unanimous board support for the appointment. This is a volunteer, non-voting, adjunct position that reports directly to the president.
  • The board also decided to no longer reimburse Board members for the use of their personal Internet accounts. The subsidy was originally put in place back in the days of expensive AOL and Compuserve accounts and, the board unanimously agreed, was an unnecessary expense given the changes in Internet access in the last decade.

Officer/Staff Reports

John Noack, President

  • Nothing to Report.

Phil Peterson, 1st VP

  • Nothing to Report.

T.J. Misiolek, 2nd Vice President

  • Nothing to Report.

Mike Oberholtzer, Treasurer

  • Looking at the May financial report, we are down about $100,000 in net revenue over the same time last year. Our income is down primarily due to lower convention revenue ($15,000) and lower membership revenue ($13,000). Expenses are up primarily due to the late payout to Chattanooga ($36,000), higher 2020 convention expenses compared to last year ($16,000), and higher expenses for the Journal ($10,000), Support the Troops ($4,000) and Web/Computer ($2,000). However our total assets are only down $12,000 from last May, since most of our 2019 revenue came later in the year. Depending on the eventual costs and revenue for the 2020 convention we may or may not see improvement in our finances for the rest of 2020.
  • UPDATE July 6, 2020:
    • As of June, we are down in net revenue by $113,000 over this time last year. As reported previously, $36,000 is due to paying out the 2019 convention in 2020. The rest is primarily lower convention income ($33,000), lower membership income ($15,000) and higher expenses for the 2020 convention ($9,000) and the Journal ($10,000). The rest is smaller increases in expenses including web/computer, Support the Troops and credit card fees. Some of these are normal fluctuations in timing at this point, but we should expect to see a larger loss as we sort out the cancellation costs of the 2020 convention. While total assets are down just $23,000 this year so far, we should expect them to drop more since we will have both convention cancellation costs to cover as well as lost convention income.
    • Membership is the other big unanswered question. A 25% decline in membership income is clearly significant. Historically many members renew when registering for the convention, and of course convention registrations were down quite a bit. We may need to take some action to encourage renewals in this very unusual year.
    • (Two supporting charts have been included with this report: a statement of financial position and a comparative statement of activity from January-June 2020.—dt)

Dennis Tennant, Secretary

  • The SIG listing has been updated and has been sent to the Journal editor for printing in the next issue. Also, following our special meeting about the 2020 Nationals, I contacted Dave Goldfinch, the guy who hosts the "On the Bench" podcast to ask that he share the news of the cancellation of our 2020 Nationals with his worldwide audience.

David Lockhart, DLC

  • Of the 219 chapters, 203 have rechartered, still chasing 16 chapters for their rechartering forms.
  • Most local shows have been cancelled. Have contacted chapters about insurance disclaimer to go on the event page and with flyers.

Jim Pearsal, Historian/Publication Dir.

  • Not much happening. The Journal came out on time. I received two "missed issue" emails, which Marie handled admirably.

David Knights, Recruitment & Retention Secretary

  • Nothing to Report.

Marie Van Schoonhoven, National Office Manager

  • The number of Journals mailed to members for V32J2 March/April was 3862. The number of issues mailed for the May/June issue was 3906.
  • I am still waiting for an Event Cancelation Policy to be issued. I have re-sent a request for a third time as I never heard back from earlier inquiries.!

Submitted by Dennis Tennant, Secretary