Davenport, so the rumor is........

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear All, this thread is getting all over the place, but I'm pleased to see fresh ideas on the 'transparency' issue that I didn't think of during my time on the Club Steering Committee. The Board has looked at Webcasting the Board Meetings, but it doesn't seem worth the expenditure given the likely interest. Can I remind you that the AMCA Policy and Procedures Manual allows a couple of members to sit in on Board Meetings subject to confidentiality and behaviour rules, and we've never seen this option exercised. I sat in on a British VMCC meeting and saw twenty older guys working hard to do their best for their Club. If any interested parties on this forum are prepared to put in the 8.5+ hours the Eustis and Davenport meetings took, why not give notice to the Secretary, spend the time, then report back to this forum?

[bikerdds]

Potomic two step Fred. You know well what the disclaimer is. It isn't worth the paper it is written on. You also know the judging is not what it used to be.
Further, any insurance company wanting or thinking the judging can be used as a verification is a haunting thought and flies in the face of the disclaimer. We USED to have the best judging in the world. You can dance all you want and make excuses, but the bottom line is there is no credibility in the judging.
The club brochure for new members said until last year have your motorcycle judged which may increase it's value [not exact words]. This was in place since the beginning of the club. To even think to represent a judged bike to back up an owner for insurance purposes is the same as placing a value and flies in the face of disclaimer. Again, the disclaimer is a joke. It is unnecessary in the form it is written although some form of disclaimer could be written that is far simpler and non offending. I have discussed this with others, on up to the president and the opinions of club members falls on deaf ears. This is over reaction to a theoretical situation. Legalism is killing our country just like it is killing our club. D.J., you are correct. it is a double standard.

[Rubone]

bikerdds,
I am not sure what you read but what i read is that the insurance company would use the club for identification and age dating of proposed insured vehicles. NOWHERE was it mentioned that valuation would be placed on them. Sometimes when a person is so consumed with their own issues they are not able to see beyond them.
Just my interpretation of what i read. You are welcome to your own!
Robbie

[BNSONS]

As a past president of the AMCA, a director on the Foundation Board, and a member, I'd like to offer a few comments if I may. The club and its structure is not perfect. I agree, and always felt that there should be more membership input, but in reality there isn't that much interest by most members. It is difficult to get suitable volunteers, let alone anyone who wishes to campaign for any of these jobs. When I say "suitable", I think anyone can understand the need for a secretary to be able to read and write intelligently, a treasurer to be able to add and subtract as well as understand accounting and so forth. The president, as titular head, must have a good foundation in business practices, as running the AMCA is like being a CEO of a medium sized company without the financial rewards.
Respectfully, Pete Gagan

I have to say Pete you must really feel highly of yourself. This isn’t the first time you rambled on about how hard it is to find suitable people. Maybe if the club would have found suitable people with the ability to listen to the membership the club wouldn’t be in such disarray.
Dave #5189

[davidsonp9]

I was not going to involve myself with the discussion but after reading Pete's post I feel a need to chime in.
I was the President of the Viking Chapter for 3 years up until this past year. Over that time I was never contacted once by the National President nor received any correspondence regarding meeting minutes nor decisions made. During my Presidency the Viking chapter had a membership greater than 300 members which I like to believe is the largest in the AMCA however, this never seemed to matter much to the BOD because each time I offered input as to methods of recruiting and retaining members I never received a response. I guess the statements I keep hearing about dwindling membership must not be true.

Last year I was asked to submit an application for a National Director position. I did so after some long thought with the hopes that if I was selected I could hopefully bridge some of the gap that seems to exist between the BOD and chapters. Obviously I did not get selected and one of the reason I heard as to why is that the President did not know who I am. I found this to be quite interesting.

So, no matter what the BOD wants to have everyone believe there are competent people willing to volunteer that would be great candidates to make the AMCA more member friendly. It just seems that they may not be part of the Good Old Boy network.

Presently we have a Director of National Meets that can not figure out how to use email and rarely responds to questions. We have a President that is not familiar with the Chapter presidents and we don't have a Chief Judge and we are supposed to believe that the BOD has the best interest of the members in mind?

[exeric]

I understand many Viking Chapter members are very unhappy with the demise of the Farmington meet. Did you have anything to do with that? If so, how did you handle that. We are going to have the same problem with the ex-Eustis meet.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear All, for info, Carl Olsen was introduced to us at Davenport as the new Chief Judge. I'm hopeful he will be a safe pair of hands. In his brief introduction to us judges last Sunday morning he said he would try to get the fun back into judging. We could sure do with that.

[koanes]

Galena Road Run 001.jpgCarl Olsen is a friendly, easy going fella, a true force of nature. I think He'll do well as Chief Judge. Even while untangling his favorite sweatshirt from the chain and sprocket of his trusty steed "Ruby" he keeps smilin'.

[fillibuster]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7161[/ATTACH]Carl Olsen is a friendly, easy going fella, a true force of nature. I think He'll do well as Chief Judge. Even while untangling his favorite sweatshirt from the chain and sprocket of his trusty steed "Ruby" he keeps smilin'.

I like it! I like it!
and I hope HE can like it!
I just might send him an email and volunteer, something small, really small, .....

[davidsonp9]

I understand many Viking Chapter members are very unhappy with the demise of the Farmington meet. Did you have anything to do with that? If so, how did you handle that. We are going to have the same problem with the ex-Eustis meet.

Hi Eric,
I was not part of that decision. I came into the Viking BOD the next year however, I did support the move because it presented a much better venue for the direction the chapter wanted to take the meet and we had an annual date conflict with the Back to the 50s' car meet which many of our members are involved in so many of them would miss our meet. Trust me, it was not as bad as you probably may have heard. Outsiders always only seem to hear the negative reports and by the time they pass through several people the whole sky is falling. Be it known that the Viking Chapter membership grew after that move. Sure, we may have lost some members but we gained many more and the attendance at the meet also grew. I will admit that vendor totals declined but they were already on a down slide. With the economy people are being more selective on the meets they attend so the smaller regional meets are taking a hit.
Good luck with your meet. If you ever care to discuss details of how we managed our move and improvements we put in place feel free to contact me.

Paul

[shelbyinparadise]

Steve,
The Board had no indication the Chief Blackhawk Chapter was contemplating going from a National Meet to a regional meet in 2012 until Rick Najera, National Meet Coordinator, received a letter from the CBC. The Davenport Meet was approved as a National Meet in 2012 by the Board in 2011. This is common practice for the Board to approve National Meets a year in advance.
In an effort to understand why the CBC made the change, we invited the Chapter President and his committee to the Board meeting in Davenport to ask why. The Board never received an answer because the CBC President wanted to record the session and the Board has never recorded a session in the past and advised the President that he would not be permitted to record the session. The CBC President and the Vice President were advised of the Board's decision by myself and Board Counsel, John Wendel, in the lobby of the Comfort Inn in Davenport. What happened next is described in the previous posts by Board members Red Fred and Lonnie. The Board still doesn't know why the CBC made its decision.
Richard Spagnolli

Seems like this highlighted quote is different from recent statements about the Sunshine move in a different thread. Are events approved by the Board a year in advance or not? Shelby

[DanM]

Shelby- All I can add to this is: The Yankee Chapter submitted 2015 meet proposals for the 2013 Fall board meeting at the White Rose meet.

[shelbyinparadise]

Shelby- All I can add to this is: The Yankee Chapter submitted 2015 meet proposals for the 2013 Fall board meeting at the White Rose meet.

Hello Dan, Thanks for your comment. That is the way we also did it for our Road Run, We changed host hotels and was sure the National knew of the location change as required by P&P rules before the National Board gave us our approval for 2014. Richard stated quite plainly Black Hawk was wrong not following the rules, while maintaining there was no wrong doing on Sunshine Issue not following same requirements. All changes required approval to the same level of criteria given to a new meet to protect the National Club.

My post was in response to a National Board member on a different thread stating the national had no say, and there was no requirement for the Sunshine Chapter making a mid year location change to seek Board approval. His post was edited to delete only his incorrect statement, without admitting he did mis-speak on not understanding the rules in the thread. No disrespect to the Board member, He responded to a PM from me on the issue.

At the Chapter level we try to understand the rules we are supposed to live by to protect the National, While the National just keeps writing more rules they do not follow at times. One of the Board of Directors primary functions was to protect the Not For Profit under IRS rules, and now they rewrote the first pages to remove the wording of IRS rules, so that they appear to have done nothing wrong becoming a For Profit under IRS Rules while being incorporated in Florida as a FOR PROFIT Not for Profit, takes a lawyer to figure that one out which I am not. Shelby

[Runnlo]

I just wish we could go back to the time when Davenport was the largest antique motorcycle show and swap meet in the world...when everything was in the little building, and all the bikes were judged on a concrete pad where the new building is now....and the swap meet (with nothing but "antique" motorcycle parts) was behind the little building, in that small wedge where all the motorhomes are now. Nobody wanted to miss Davenport!
I bet Slojo knows what I'm talking about. Oh well it'll never be like that again, time keeps on marching on.
I'd also like to mention Bob and Gala Saar....Bob has been gone for a while now, but they are two of the nicest people I have ever met in the AMCA.

[T. Cotten]

I just wish we could go back to the time when Davenport was the largest antique motorcycle show and swap meet in the world...when everything was in the little building, and all the bikes were judged on a concrete pad where the new building is now....and the swap meet (with nothing but "antique" motorcycle parts) was behind the little building, in that small wedge where all the motorhomes are now. Nobody wanted to miss Davenport!
I bet Slojo knows what I'm talking about. Oh well it'll never be like that again, time keeps on marching on.
I'd also like to mention Bob and Gala Saar....Bob has been gone for a while now, but they are two of the nicest people I have ever met in the AMCA.

Runnlo!

Bob befriended me as well, as I think he did everyone.

Meanwhile,... D-port hasn't gotten any smaller.
I hear there is a larger meet in Germany, but it isn't AMCA either.

....Cotten