2009 Officers Meeting Notes

[Stu Jackson]

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Re:   Catalina 34 International Association Year 2009 Annual Officers Meeting

Dear Catalina 34 International Association Members, Officers and Board Members;

The Annual Meeting of the Catalina 34 International Association Officers was held via telephone conference call on Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 9:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 6:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.  The meeting concluded at 8:59 p.m. PST.

The 2009 International Officers are listed after these meeting.  Participants in this teleconference included all the Officers & Past Commodores listed except for Ken Juul, Past Commodore, and Bill Jenks who has elected to discontinue his participation (he purchased a C42 some time ago).

The meeting was based on the emailed agenda, dated February 24, 2009.

MEETING NOTES

1.  Message Board Restrictions:  Please read the link to the Message board provided in the agenda:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4649.0.html for discussion.

Background:  This topic was posted unsolicited on the Message Board in November 2008, started by a Message Board registrant who is a C34 IA member in good standing. Discussion was on whether content of the Message Board should be "privileged" similar to the content of the Tech Notes, and if doing so would add value for attracting additional membership.  Jon Schneider suggested the model of the educational TV stations, where suggestions for membership based on the quality of the content was more important than restricting participation.  Agreed to maintain current operations with only the Tech Notes Online limited to C34 IA members with the password.

2.   Associate Memberships:  Proposal considers a more detailed definition of "Associate Membership" with the goal for providing a membership without subscription to Mainsheet magazine.  The Constitution, here:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2542.0.html  has a definition of Associate Member in Article III, which is different from this proposal.  Note that the use of the existing Associate Member has not been used as far as I know in the past 11 years. To implement this new Associate Membership definition would require another Amendment, wording to be developed if deemed acceptable.

Discussion:  The existing Constitution defines an Associate Member as: "An associate member subscribes to the objectives of Article II, but does not own a Catalina 34 yacht.  He/she may hold local fleet offices other than Fleet Captain."  There is no different dues structure for this membership category. The potential exists for attracting additional membership to the C34 IA from groups as diverse as the C36IA and the All Catalina Fleets.  We noted that the C36 IA has Associate memberships.  Jon Schneider noted that the C36 membership dues were higher and advised his understanding that 15% of their members were C36 Associate Members.  He also noted their 3 year membership includes their CD-ROM, which has been updated twice in the past few years.  The advantage to revising the Associate membership definition, or adding a new one, would be to interest sailors who have memberships in other Catalina organizations who already receive Mainsheet magazine and would not appreciate paying for a second copy to join the C34 IA,  and would like access to our Tech Notes Online.  Indications are that an Amendment for this measure would be at least  revenue neutral if not positive, since our major yearly costs are for the distribution of the Mainsheet magazine (see Item 3 below).  In addition, some C34 IA members may already be receiving two copies and could choose to drop their C34 IA membership in favor of continuing their other less expensive dues source of the magazine.  Stu was assigned to draft a proposed Amendment for further discussion by the officers prior to formally proposing the Amendment for a vote by the Board.

3.  Financial Report & Projections - Ken Heyman

Balance is approximately $10K.  Projections for 2009 indicate a minor imbalance of $350 after expenses based on an income of 600 members.  Statement and projections accepted as presented.  Repeated mention that Mainsheet magazine costs are over 70% of total yearly expenses.

4.  PayPal - Ken Heyman, Dave Sanner, Jon Schneider

Dave Saner reported that he has fixed website links to the "Join" page.  Stu to deposit directly in local BofA bank to minimize risk in mailing checks to Ken. Stu will continue to prepare income analysis with periodic statements to Ken.  Ken continues to email Stu with PayPal receipts; Stu will eventually get up to speed and get direct link from PayPal, but the checks & balances works well this way.  Officers were encouraged to include the message that one does not have to be a PayPal member to pay with the service for C34 IA dues.

5.  New "wiki"

Officers were encouraged to include a thanks to those who transferred the data in their Mainsheet reports.

6.  Membership - Stu Jackson

November membership was 633.  Jon Schneider asked about the registrants compared to IA members.  Stu advised that, similar to earlier requests, the analysis would be time consuming and generally meaningless because the registrants include folks who are not eligible for C34 IA membership (we have at least one O'Day 35 owner) and many former C34 skippers who have since sold their boats.  The quantity of registrants goes all the way back to the inception of the message board software, and is 1,045 as of June 8, 2009. 

7.  Fleets - Steve Dolling, Jack Hutteball

New Fleet #4, Stockton Lake, Missouri, congratulations!  Stu to send Joe Pyle a list of C34 IA members in the area codes selected by Joe.

8.  Tech Notes Online & Website Issues - Stu, Jon, Ken, Dave

Stu to request specific issues original content from Mike Vaccaro.  Jon Schneider, Stu and Dave Sanner to discuss wiki issues.  Stu advised he still needs assistance with the coding for the Tech Notes Online.

9.  National Regatta 2009, 2010

No regatta scheduled for 2009.

10. Catalina Handbook – Stu

Stu reported that he continues to plan to work on updating the Handbook, originally prepared by Bill Jenks.  While the constitutional material was deemed inappropriate because of the existing Constitution and amendment requirements, the remainder of the handbook includes informative historical information.

11.  CD-ROM Update - Stu - Online content vs. historical "take it with you" data; downloading whole website

The original concept of the CD-ROM was to provide skippers with information that was available on the website but that couldn't be accessed when onboard.  Those days are gone with the proliferation of laptops, WiFi and phones with internet connections.  It appears that the usefulness of the CD is past its time.  Jon Schneider noted that the C36 IA requires a three year ($90) membership to obtain their CD.  There may be merit in continuing discussion of a redesigned CD, but the material on the current ones is dated, although Stu noted it remains valuable for new owners of older boats.  Stu suggested it be discussed again next year.

12.  Webmaster as Officer - Stu & Dave; Amendment required

Jon Schneider proposed consideration of adding the webmaster (Chief Technology Officer) as a position that warranted an honorarium.  Jon and Stu to discuss and suggest draft wording for an Amendment for voting by the Board.

13.   Fleet Support

Jon Schneider expressed his opposition to the basic concept of Fleet Support, maintaining that it unfairly compensated fleet members.  All benefits should be distributed among the entire membership.   Others noted that Fleet Support has been helpful in attracting new members and keeping existing members. Other methods of reducing a potentially unnecessary bank balance for a non-profit organization were discussed, including spreading dues periods for renewals (easy to do) or reducing dues (hard to undo later).   Motion made to extend the Fleet Support for $10 for one year, requires a discussion and a motion for renewal every year.  Motion passed 6:1.

* End*


June 2009

The 2009 International Officers listed were duly elected by a majority of Fleet Captains and the Past Commodores in accordance with the C34 IA Constitution.  Commodore Kuba and Vice Commodore Shaner were elected in April and May 2009 to fill vacancies in those positions.

2009 C34 International Association Officers

2009 Commodore Bob Kuba
#1291
kuba3@rcn.com
773-327-9331

PAST COMMODORES

Dave Davis (Fleet 1)   
#707
Davis_707@yahoo.com
(650) 948﷓3461 

Jon Arck (Fleet 1)
#1346
jonarck@kelarc.com
2004 &2005 Commodore
2004 Vice-Commodore
925-683-3997

Bill Jenks
#1484
2003 & 4 Past Commodore
2005 - 2006 Treasurer
Jenks@mashell.com 
(360) 832﷓8760

2007 & 2008 Commodore Ken Juul
#1090
kenandvic@cox.net
757-229-7611

2009 Commodore Jon Schneider  (#1058)

Officers

2009 Vice-Commodore Michael Shaner
#300
michael@augustasteel.com
540-886-0454

2009 Secretary Stu Jackson (Fleet 1)
1999-2008 Secretary
#224
mraquaq@aol.com 
(510) 208-1906

2009 Treasurer Ken Heyman
2007-2008 Treasurer
#535
kenheyman@msn.com
(847) 422-3371 (cell)

2009 Chief Measurer Ray Irvine (Fleet 1)   
#1383
c34irvine1383@comcast.net
408-741-5918

2009 Mainsheet Editor Jack Hutteball  (Fleet 5)   
#1555
JhuttebalL@comcast.net
360-558-4242

2009 Webmaster Dave Sanner (Fleet 1)   
2005 to 2008 Webmaster
non-voting
#611
sanner@big.net
775-588-6699

2009 Technical Editor  Mike Vaccaro
2005 to 2008 Technical Editor
# 563
vacntess@mchsi.com
850-286-5352

2009  Associate Technical Editor Ron Hill (Fleet 12)   
#788
non-voting
2004 - 2008  Associate Technical Editor
Past Technical Editor
(540) 891-5297
ronphylhill@comcast.net




Fleet Captain Email List for Voting for Officers: (Fleet Captains & Past Commodores)

davis_707@yahoo.com(dave davis), c34irvine1383@comcast.net, toneydot@bellsouth.net(Dottie Toney), mikejansmith@yahoo.com (Mike Smith), jonarck@kelarc.com, kenandvic@cox.net, cillman52@gmail.com, teknikr2004@yahoo.com, wjpcsp@msn.com

Officers Email List with Past Commodores
(Bill Jenks has graciously declined to join – he now has a Catalina 42)

kuba3@rcn.com, michael@augustasteel.com, mraquaq@aol.com, kenheyman@msn.com, c34irvine1383@comcast.net, JhuttebalL@comcast.net, sanner@big.net, vacntess@mchsi.com, ronphylhill@comcast.net, Davis_707@yahoo.com, jonarck@kelarc.com, kenandvic@cox.net, 

[ed webb]

Regarding associate members. Through my employer, I have been a member of different associations related to my work. We have had associate members of these organizations that were mainly magazine publishers that serve the industry. Perhaps allowing limited advertising and charging an annual fee to potential advertisers would help to defray the cost of the main sheet

[Stu Jackson]

Ed, my initial feeling is that it would be too complicated.  We permit advertisers to use the website message board under Ships Stores.  The Associate Membership idea was because of the duality of some C34IA members who get their Mainsheets via an All Catalina Association membership.  Managing your suggestion would seem to be even more work than what we have now, and our short term and long term goals are to maximize the content of the website, because of its immediacy and interactive nature, which is not available through the magazine.   Thanks, Stu