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MINUTES - CAROLINA SOUTHERN DIVISIONANNUAL MEETINGSaturday, February 6, 2010The Annual Business Meeting was called to order January 30, 2010 at 1:30 PM by Steve August – CS Division Superintendent. Steve made a motion to recess the meeting until 1:30 PM February 6, 2010 due to very bad weather and road conditions. The location to be the Texas Ranch Steak House located on Sugar Creek Road, Charlotte, NC. The motion was seconded by Fred Miller. The 14 members present in person or by proxy voted in the affirmative to recess the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 PM. The Annual Business Meeting reconvened February 6, 2010 at the Texas Ranch Steak House located on Sugar Creek Road, Charlotte, NC. The meeting was called to order at 12:45 PM by Steve August, Superintendent. Twenty Division members were present along with three NMRA members from outside the division, one representative of the MidEast Region and eight visitors. The Clerk declared sufficient attendance to conduct the Annual Business Meeting. Steve opened the meeting by announcing that we had paid attendance of 85 at the RMU that morning. He expressed his thanks to Joe Howard and his committee for a very successful event. Steve asked for approval of the minutes of last year's Annual Meeting. Rick Knight moved that they be approval as submitted, Dave Chance seconded. They were approved by a 19-1 vote. Dick Bronson read the Treasurer's report. The Division has a current balance of $961.93. In addition $150.00 was advanced to the RMU for change for the cashiers. The balance does not include any registration fees received for RMU. Jack Haynes presented the Clerks report. The Division membership increased by 5 over last year from 84 to 89. There are also 8 NMRA members from outside the Division area who are frequent attendees at Division events. Five of these live in the counties that will join the Division if the transfer is approved by National. The transfer will also add 7 more NMRA members from South Carolina to the Division. There were 5 issues of the newsletter, the Brass Pounder, published in 2009. The newsletter currently has a distribution of about 150. Steve noted that there were 6 RailPass applications collected at the RMU. He also stated that the National Board is scheduled to vote on the transfer of SC counties to the Division at a meeting February 19. Dave Chance submitted the 2009 AP report. It was the best year ever for the Division with five members earning seven AP Certificates. He presented the Association Volunteer Certificate to Jack Haynes, his first. Steve said that the Division is looking to have more judging for AP awards to help boost AP participation. One merit award was given in today's judging with some models still to be judged. Steve introduced Chuck Hladik who is visiting the Division to help with the AP judging program today. He is also running for MER President and the current president is not running for reelection. Gil Brauch was not present but his reports on the web site and Brookford project will be posted on the web. Steve noted that Gil is working on a redesign of the web site that will include upcoming events on the home page among other changes. Steve then opened the elections for Division officers. Roy Becker noted that the restaurant staff was bringing in lunch and he moved that the meeting recess until after lunch. Rick seconded. The meeting recessed at 1:15. The meeting reconvened at 1:55 Steve announced that Dick Bronson had been nominated by the Directors for Paymaster and opened the floor for additional nominations. None were offered. The vote was 18 for 2 against. Steve announced that Jack Haynes had been nominated by the Directors for Clerk and opened the floor for additional nominations. None were offered. The vote was unanimous for. Steve announced that Jim Rager had been nominated by the Directors for Director 2012 and opened the floor for additional nominations. None were offered. The vote was unanimous for. Steve announced that Bob Halsey had been nominated by the Directors for Assistant Superintendent and opened the floor for additional nominations. None were offered. The vote was unanimous for. Roy Becker then took charge of the meeting and announced that Steve August had been nominated by the Directors for Superintendent and opened the floor for additional nominations. None were offered. The vote was 19 for 1 against. Steve then resumed as chair of the meeting. He stated that the RMU was very successful and for the remainder of the year, he intends to have a meeting every other month. The Ops Weekend 2010 has been rescheduled for October 15-17 as there was a potential conflict with the MER convention on the previous date. Meetings should include some tours including one of garden railroads hopefully this spring. He is working with other local clubs on joint activities. He stated that the BP is always looking for articles to publish as is the MER Local. He also encouraged members to send photos of railroad subjects to the BP editor and/or the web master to be included in web site info. Old Business: The transfer of Lancaster, York, and Chester counties in SC has passed both Region Boards and is on the agenda for the February 19 meeting of the National Board. Steve stated the the Jim Teese Award was presented at the National Convention last year and was awarded to an MER modeler. He proposed to change it to an award within the Division or at the MER convention. Chuck Hladik noted that awards at the Region must begin in even numbered years and have a two year commitment. After some discussion, Dave Chance moved that “The Jim Teese Award will be continued as a Division award with the parameters to be determined by the Division Board of Directors to be submitted to the membership for approval at a future meeting”. Jack Parker seconded. After additional discussion, Dick Bronson moved for a vote on Dave's proposal, Rick Knight seconded. Vote was unanimous for approval. New Business: Jack Haynes, filling in for Bob Halsey, chairman of the committee looking into incorporation of the Division, explained the need for incorporation springs primarily for legal protection of the officers. Going further to qualify as a 501(c)3 organization will make contributions to the Division tax deductible for the donor. After some discussion, Jack presented the following motion: “The members of the Carolina Southern Division, Division 12 MER, NMRA authorize the Board of Directors to incorporate the Division under the laws of North Carolina and to pay the $60.00 filing fee.” Roy Becker seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous to approve. Jack then presented a second motion: “The members of the Carolina Southern Division, Division 12 MER, NMRA authorize the Board of Directors seek approval from the IRS as a 501(c)3 corporation and to pay related legal or other fees the Board deems reasonable and prudent up to $500.00”. Rick Knight moved for approval, Dick Bronson seconded. The vote was 18 for approval, 1 against. Chuck Hladik then addressed the meeting. He asked what the Region could do for the Divisions to better support them. Several members who had worked on the transfer of the SC counties and other projects that had to interact with the Region and National suggested that efforts be made to limit the bureaucracy and excessive paperwork required. The Division had to send out 13 copies of a thick packet of paper to various SER, MER and National offices. In these days of electronic communication, there should be a better way. Other suggestions were for the Region to have better communication to the Divisions. One way to accomplish this would be to include Division Superintendents as members of the Region Board. Including them in the decision process would help in having greater support from Divisions for Region decisions and projects. Chuck replied that he would take our suggestions into consideration, but that having a much larger Board would make it even more difficult to reach consensus at meetings. Roy Becker moved that the meeting be closed. Rick Knight seconded. Vote to approve was unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 2:55. Submitted 2/7/10Jack Haynes Division Clerk |
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