IMPBA Minutes 2010

President Kevin Sheren called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM EST, and then asked the Secretary to take a roll call. Secretary determined a quorum for the meeting was present. Kevin then asked the visitors to the meeting to stand up and voice their name and IMPBA number for an official record of attending visitors. Each person complied as directed; Kevin then thanked all of them for attending the meeting which showed that they cared enough to attend. The minutes of the previous December 2009 meeting were accepted with a motion by Don, D12 and seconded by Randall, D1; voice vote approval.

Kevin then called for District Reports.

D1 - Randall mentioned that the district is doing well, but a club needed to switch to Mike Hallam’s pond due to weeds growing in the originally scheduled pond. He appreciated the offer by Mike to allow the event to be held at his location.

D2 - New Board Director Chris Rupley reported that everything is going good, but the district race attendance was down a bit. They had to cancel one race already. He then added that a couple of D2 clubs have new ponds and things are going well with these clubs.

D3 - No director

D4 - Paul reported that they have already had 4 races this year and are off to a good start. They have 6 more races before the final event in October, just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The final district race will be named the Turkey Run. The district is doing great.

D5 - No director

D6 - Allan Hoyle would be a bit late for the meeting.

D7 - Buddy had not phoned in at this time.

D12 - Don said that his clubs have already finished 3 races in their district point’s series, and clubs have seen a slight increase in race attendance. The next race is the GAS Clash which will be held in Delmarva in a couple of weeks, and he believes the attendance will be strong. Everything else is going well.

D13 - Jim had not phoned in at this time.

D14 - Mike told the Board that 3 races have been completed, and the last race in Madison did not have a good turnout, only about 40 boats. The first couple of district events had well over 100 boats. At his last local club event he had over 180 boats, so the boating is doing well in D14. He further added that there was an accident at the last race in Evansville. Mike concluded with the mention that Stu Barr informed him about a month ago that the Hobart Indiana race had already received entries for about 150 boats.

Records Director - Doug reported that all of the IMPBA record sheets are up to date.

Fast Electric Director - Randall explained that things are going well, and that a group in Canada will be hosting a race in London on Mike Hallam’s Thames Valley Club pond. The sanction has been approved by the district 2 director. This event would be hosted by the friends and supporters of the FE racing community, which is similar to the previous Regatta hosted by district 4 in Evansville. The intent is to maintain the interest in FE activities. Randall hopes the rest of the district will support the event. A September Labor Day weekend was selected for the race, which was met with some resistance.

Safety Director - Bill Zuber reminded the Board that we must not have any additional accidents or else our insurance rate may increase. He suggested that all of our clubs not use the orange plastic construction netting, but rather use cloth netting like the one mentioned in the Roostertail. The plastic netting will not stop a boat.

Treasurers Report - IMPBA Secretary had prepared a financial paper and explained the various monies that IMPBA has received by the newly implemented PayPal system and when the accrued funds were transferred to the bank account. John also explained numerous financial report line items in good detail. Printing and shipping the new member rule books was expensive, and when they went to Canada (and overseas), the cost went way up. He reported that overall membership was down when compared to the same time last year, and that we were about nine thousand dollars lower than last year. A detailed membership breakdown was voiced as well as the various sources of income for the organization. Kevin mentioned that the loss of members in 2 districts contributed to the loss of revenue. Kevin then called for comments on the report, none were offered, D12 made the motion to accept, D2 seconded, all approved by a voice vote.

D6 Director Allan Hoyle joined the meeting by phone.


OLD BUSINESS

Rule Book - Kevin elaborated that he spent over 9 hours adding the changes to the book, but found out that a couple of recent changes were not sent to him. He had prepared a batch of CD ROM disks, which he intended to send out to the Directors for review, but the disks are now deemed incomplete. Having the updated version placed on the website within a few weeks was the goal. Once the book was online we can stop sending out the costly printed rule books, members that have access can download a copy and save IMPBA a lot of money. Kevin then called for comments from the Directors. D4 said that many of his members do not have computers and that downloading was not possible. Kevin had a plan to add a checkbox on a revised membership application that mail in members could check to receive a hard copy. D12 offered a motion to upload all new rule changes to the website in a 2 week timeframe. This was seconded by Randall, D1. All approved by voice vote. D14 suggested that we also add a notice in the website front page stating that the book is up to date whenever a change is made.
Kevin introduced another suggestion concerning our life members which he would like to implement in 2011. These members would only have to fill out a membership application one more time, being the 2011 cycle. The application wording would be changed to indicate that all members would comply with all current and future safety rules. (This would come under new business).

Posting of Meeting Minutes - Kevin requested that the secretary post the minutes on the website within 2 weeks of the meeting.

Roostertail - All directors need to send something in for every issue. D1 mentioned that his email to the office has been bouncing and that his last email had been apparently sitting in cyberspace. He received a reply of this fact a few days after the Roostertail was published. Kevin was contacted by a club member that had submitted an article, and was puzzled why the article was not in the Roostertail. A solution offered by the President would be to send the article to John at the office and also to him (Kevin).

Insurance Fund - President explained the details of the medical contingency fund that is in place, with additional comments by the Secretary concerning previous expenditures. Kevin suggested increasing this fund from the current 5 thousand, to 10 thousand dollars. D2 offered a motion for increase and D12 seconded. Kevin called for a discussion, especially from the telephonic Directors. Comments were offered and additional explanation of how the process would work was heard. Secretary reiterated the process for clarification from the office standpoint. Voice vote approval ensued to increase the fund to 10 thousand dollars. (The 10 thousand will be identified on the financial paperwork as an earmark for expenditure if the need arises and that a separate fund for this medical would not be set up. Any payments would actually be paid from the bank account with the mentioned notation.)

Approved Hull List - Kevin introduced the topic by talking about a pictorial drawing that was sent to out Technical Chairman Mike Schindler. The reason for the drawing was a formal request from the submitter to have the hull evaluated and accepted for inclusion in the approved IMPBA hull list. It was noted that we do not have an approved hull list since it would require all existing hulls to be examined for IMPBA compliance. Secretary commented that this process was discontinued long ago due to the number of hulls involved. At the current time only 2 hulls are not approved. Kevin asked Mike if the hull in question met our technical specifications, answer was yes. The current practice is to protest a hull at a race. Question and answer period followed with several suggestions offered to alleviate the problem. The final outcome was to keep a list of the un-approved hulls. No additional directives are needed. Quick mention was made that the Matthew Waldron lawsuit was dropped, and that no additional paperwork concerning M&D as an OEM was received as of this date.

Race Disturbance Incident - President had brief comments concerning affidavits that were sent to D6 Director Allan Hoyle, and also had a copy of the letter to the individual which was sent by IMPBA citing a suspension for a period of 60 days per our established rules of conduct. Kevin then asked Allan, who was at the event, to inform us in his own words what happened. The boat being driven by the racer was washed out and the engine quit. He immediately began pushing and shoving other racers and race officials as they attempted to quell his violence. Additional threats and cursing was heard as he finally made a move to go after a fellow racer. Several people including his own Dad were successful in removing him from the drivers stand. He continued his cursing very loudly where even wives and children could hear the ranting. It then became apparent that things could escalate out of control, so a call was placed to the police. The police arrived and the individual began to curse the officers, which promptly subdued him and placed him in the back seat of their cruiser. The officers then questioned race officials and several race attendees. Race officials did not want to press charges, so the police offered him the options to leave the event with them, or on his own, he left on his own.
Many Directors joined in the discussion at length, with everyone voicing the need that a suspension for the remainder of the year and possibly even more be considered. D1 inquired if any response from the individual had been forthcoming, nothing was received from the offender. It was suggested that the offender be suspended from IMPBA for life, Kevin explained that that was not an option for a first offense per existing guidelines. It was finally recommended that we suspend him for the rest of the 2010 season, plus 2 additional calendar years (2011, 2012), and place him on probation for 5 additional years. D6 was in favor of that, but Kevin needed a motion before we could proceed. D6 then repeated the wording as a motion and added that if the offender violates the probationary period he would be banned for life. D4 seconded the motion. Bill Zuber would work on a constitutional wording change to add the banned for life clause. Kevin had the secretary call for a district by district vote. All districts voted yes to suspend for the mentioned 2010, 2011, 2012 and then 5 more years’ probation. A letter will be drafted and sent by certified mail to the offender and copies to the Directors.

D13 Director Jim Ragan joined the meeting by phone.

Timing Set - A third timing set will be prepared and stationed at a newly assigned Eastern Depot. Components that D1 has at his location will be used to build the set, plus additional lacking parts will need to be purchased. Enough of the critical components are already in hand. Randall will procure and add a second display unit to the console he supplied for the set.

Internats Format and Manual - Kevin would like the manual (International Regatta Contest Directors Guidebook) to be updated and changed because it was costing host clubs a lot of money to comply with it. The manual was some 20 years old and needs changing. D12 commented that he has heard from racers that the Regatta is too long for them to attend. Don then went on to report the low turnout the Regatta has had for the last few years. Even NAMBA and AMA have had lower turnouts. He also explained that shorter race events like Charleston and Hobart are selling out way in advance of the event. His suggestion for a shorter Regatta could be called a “Short Option” which would only be 5 rounds of racing and the winners named “National Champion”. A discussion followed for about 20 minutes with several directors and visitors adding comments. D12 gave a quick rundown of race attendance at several big races and even the monies they could have collected. A visitor postulated conducting the Regatta every 4 years. D1 reminded the Board that a 4 year cycle must be voted on by the membership. (Note: The manual is only a Guidebook and contains suggestions; it is not an absolute document)

Evansville Accident - President called upon D14 Director Mike Schindler who was on the scene to explain what happened. A racers boat lost radio, (went wild) and the boat came up onto the beach about 75 feet past buoy 5 and struck a lady who was watching the race. She received several deep cuts and was bleeding. An ambulance was called and she was transported to the hospital. Kevin then told the Board that he had received several bills, which he identified and instructed the secretary to pay them. He further added comments that he had talked with the injured several times by phone, and she was in a lot of pain. She did not want to sue; she just wanted all of the bills to be paid. Kevin wishes to receive the Boards approval for the intended course of action. The owner of the offending boat has since purchased a ready to run boat for the lady’s family. Kevin also suggested that with the Boards approval, he would like to give everyone in their family a membership for the remainder of 2010 and also for 2011. Several members had comments about the accident and membership. D1 made a motion to accept the suggested 2010 and revised the thought, for two additional years. D12 seconded, and a voice vote was accepted for full approval. Secretary will obtain the names of all family members from Mike and send their cards to him for presentation at the next race in September where the family was indicated to attend. Each of the family members would also sign the printed membership application. Kevin thanked Mike, Ryan Hobby and the members of the Evansville club for keeping him advised of all accident activities.

Member Complaint - President received a complaint that a Director had not forwarded a race article. (onward to the IMPBA office) No further conversations.

CD Test - Kevin solicited help from interested parties to re-write the current CD test. He mentioned that several questions appear on the document multiple times. The test is also a bit long, an oftentimes people answer the redundant questions differently each time. He called for any volunteers before he appointed D2 Director Chris with the help of Records Director Doug Smock with the task.

Sanctions - President reminded everyone that race sanctions can only be issued to IMPBA clubs.

IMPBA Internet - Kevin explained our prior internet website hosting activity and its fees of $300 dollars. He then revealed that Marc Levac, who built the new website, is now providing this service for free and should be compensated. Comments were called for, but nobody voiced objections. Mark will be paid using the PayPal process. While on the subject of website, Kevin mentioned a conversation he had with Marc concerning some new software that would enhance the existing website with additional useful features. Board approval would be required. The program would automatically register an individual and send a notice at years end that renewal is due.

It would also keep track of active registrations and terminate them at year end. The cost is between $500 and $700 dollars. Comments were called for. During this time Kevin also explained several new options that will be added to the website including a new District Director moderator area, a for sale section, and a forum. For each of these, a person’s real name would appear instead of a nick name. D2 made a motion to buy the software and D12 seconded. Additional questions concerning the software license period were voiced. A Board vote was called for and all approved to purchase the software.

Lessons Learned Safety Document - Safety Director Bill Zuber scripted a formal document concerning the recent accident in Evansville, Indiana. President instructed all Directors to read the paper since he deemed the paper very important. In association with the Lessons Learned document, Kevin brought to light Bill’s proposal concerning radio impounds and the 2.4 GHZ radios. The submitted proposal was deemed a safety rule and would not require a member vote. D7 Buddy Stone had questions about the frequency flags and wording stipulating FCC approval. The words “as approved by FCC” will be removed per agreement by Bill.

Hall of Fame Nomination - President asked all of the Directors to read the nomination. Several comments were voiced. Past President Bill Zuber made a motion to approve, D14 seconded, a District vote followed with approval to induct John Otto from Florida into the IMPBA Hall of Fame.

D7 mentioned that Joe Dugas would be entering his name for the D7 Directorship.

D6 Director Allan made a motion to adjourn, Past President Bill seconded, meeting adjourned at 9:17 PM

Executive session for a short period of time.