New Judging reference handbook

[bikerdds]

Gerry, Fred, and all, what is really a shame is that we, the rank and file members have had to stoop to using the forum as a mouth piece due to the inaccessibility of the board. I have heard every excuse in the book, about how hard working the board is, etc,etc but the lack of accountability will be it's ultimate down fall in the eyes of the members. They just don't get it. I don't care who the chief judge is or was, but it is one position [or asst or national deputy] that must be at meets, especially to see to new bikes being elected to winner's circle[at least that was one intent] and insure bikes are properly dealt with by those most familiar and accomplished with the judging process. No bikes should receive the top awards without one of those individuals present. Board members DO NOT have to attend meets unless there is a board meeting. Unless the board wants to eliminate judging, the person holding responsibility for judging should be allowed proper compensation, especially with the amount being allowed the president that the board voted for. Incest begets incest.

[redfred84]

Well, I am on the BOD and I'm on here. So is Steve Slocomb, who also happens to be on the Judging Committee. Marty, you too were on the Judging Committee, until you decided to step away. So you know what we do as a Committee, and I am here to communicate anything you may want to know about the BOD. It is transparent these days, and made up of mostly Chapter Prezs, so there is actually a form of membership representation by it's very make up.
The way the Judging has always stood for representation though; is that either the Chief, Assistant Chief, or a National Deputy are to be present (and compensated for travel) at each & every Judged Meet. No one is denying this.
All travel expenses, across the Board were changed from the National Rate (unless someone is hauling the trailer). This does not effect air travel however, which is how most of the travel is done (and cheaper).
I can assure you that the BOD does NOT wish to eliminate judging, and is very thrilled with the job that Steve Dawdy is doing. As it stands now, Steve will be compensated for each and every judging meet he attends as the Chief, at the same rate as the Prez, or anyone else who would be required to attend (merchandise manager is probably the only other though). Economy Cabin flights are compensated fully. I can't imagine someone attempting to drive to each & every meet, when they can fly. There is no real equipment or material that needs to be lugged around anymore either. The great new trophies, again, another fantastic idea developed by Steve Dawdy, are much lighter, and streamlined, lending themselves to be shipped ahead of time, or mailed after the fact. No more big heavy chunks of wood!
Are you proposing the Club buys the Chief a new Limo? of maybe an Indian Traffic Car would be more apropo?
RF

[bikerdds]

Fred, I didn't quit, and if you believe I did, it is typical of how the bull is covered up. If you believe otherwise, you are enjoying the koolaid. I didn't quit, Big Walt didn't quit, Mark didn't quit, need I go on?
Gerry is right to fight for the government rate that allows wear and tear.
I'm not a limo type. Traffic Car all the way!

[Sargehere]

Well, I am on the BOD and I'm on here. So is Steve Slocomb, who also happens to be on the Judging Committee. Marty, you too were on the Judging Committee, until you decided to step away. So you know what we do as a Committee, and I am here to communicate anything you may want to know about the BOD. It is transparent these days, and made up of mostly Chapter Prezs, so there is actually a form of membership representation by it's very make up.
The way the Judging has always stood for representation though; is that either the Chief, Assistant Chief, or a National Deputy are to be present (and compensated for travel) at each & every Judged Meet. No one is denying this.
All travel expenses, across the Board were changed from the National Rate (unless someone is hauling the trailer). This does not effect air travel however, which is how most of the travel is done (and cheaper).
I can assure you that the BOD does NOT wish to eliminate judging, and is very thrilled with the job that Steve Dawdy is doing. As it stands now, Steve will be compensated for each and every judging meet he attends as the Chief, at the same rate as the Prez, or anyone else who would be required to attend (merchandise manager is probably the only other though). Economy Cabin flights are compensated fully. I can't imagine someone attempting to drive to each & every meet, when they can fly. There is no real equipment or material that needs to be lugged around anymore either. The great new trophies, again, another fantastic idea developed by Steve Dawdy, are much lighter, and streamlined, lending themselves to be shipped ahead of time, or mailed after the fact. No more big heavy chunks of wood!
Are you proposing the Club buys the Chief a new Limo? of maybe an Indian Traffic Car would be more apropo?
RF

Fred, I am curious. You advocate that the Chief Judge or his proxy should probably use air travel to attend National Meets, and that they'll be compensated by the club. Some people, and I think it includes Steve Dawdy, don't appear to prefer air travel over using our good old interstate highways, for the most part. And I do know officers (presently, of other organizations, but we could get one here in the AMCA) who are completely anathema to flying, and motor everywhere. So there need to be other options available that don't cost various club officials an-arm-and-a-leg out of their own pockets for the "privilege" of making the AMCA run on all cylinders.

Now, "economy" plane tickets are one thing (Gawd help us!) but that also seems to entail at least the rental of a car at the destination city. What I understood to be the limits of compensation (if driving cross-country) are "fuel receipts and two nights in a (cheap) motel" for either the Chief Judge, or the Assistant Chief Judge or a National Deputy Judge designated to act for the Chief. What I'm asking, is: "just how far does the club go to cover real expenses for working officers, and how much are they expected to donate, "kick-in," of their own money to perform their duties to the members at meet-after-meet?"

It sounds a lot to me like the club has recently pared-down compensation paid back to our officers so far that they are now expected to donate a considerable amount of their own lucre, besides their time and wonderful dedication, to perform their routine duties to make our club function. Even yourself.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Gerry and all, like Red Fred I'm on the AMCA Board and am a member of the Judging Committee. I can give my personal experience, but please accept this as just my own view. Our Club has been running on fumes for the last three years, but there has been no desire to put up dues when the economy is in poor shape and our members are suffering. The Club has reduced the number of Board members, and reimbursement is a long way from feeding at the golden trough. Economy air fare, two days motel and two days rental car meant I claimed $900 plus last year for Eustis. I choose not to claim for the Davenport Board as I'm there in any case vending and hunting for parts. But $900 is still 30 dues payments, and I always imagine 30 members saying 'are you working hard enough Steve?'. So far so good. This Eustis I arrived Wednesday evening, worked on Club business all day Thursday, went to the meet until 3 pm Friday, sat in the Board Meeting until half past midnight, back to the meet Saturday, then judged 8am to 1pm Sunday before heading to the airport. I'll eat the extra two days motel and rental car expense, and still reckon I had a good time.

We do this because we are passionate about bikes, but there are limits, and we must be approaching these with the Chief Judges expenses. A year ago the Board decided to tighten its belt by reimbursing only gas money and not the Federal mileage rate, but the plan was surely not to have the Chief Judge thousands of dollars out of pocket. As Red Fred suggested, we're working with Steve Dawdy to try to find a way to manage the 2011 judging program in a way that does a good job without spending too much Club money or penalising any individual. I'm hopeful we can do it, and plan to be at Oley to do my bit for AMCA Judging.

[Sargehere]

Thank you, Steve, for that explanation. I, for one, was far from accusing any of the members of our BoD from wasting club funds frivolously. On the contrary, I heard Steve Dawdy begging "poverty" at being required to donate vast amount of his own treasure to travel all over the 'States to perform the job he's needed for; and that's not right.

I believe that the Chief Judge, or his designated representative, should also be paid the IRS Mileage Rate for his travels. The judging operation is too big at any National Meet, these days, to allow him (for instance) to try to recoup his costs by operating a vendor's space. It hasn't been that way since the late Doc Patt's chief judgeship, I'm sure.

I'm glad to have been able to speak up and express my concerns and receive answers from two of our most esteemed board members via this thread. I'm certain now that you will work out, within the BoD, all that needs to be done. Thank you for your dedication to jobs that you do, all of you. And, once again I hope to be able to see you at Oley in April, God willing!

[fillibuster]

g'morning, Sarge! .... 5:18 am! job site's waiting for me too!

Sarge and Steve: Those judging duties are regarded by me as what must be motivated by a sense of public duty, because there is doubtless no monetary profit (or balance) to be gained. For the club to sustain its judges' contribution, some off-set has to be in order, and I agree with you, Sarge, on your focus, if not the mechanics (I'm only interested in the work, from the "outside").

The meets I attend are so full of other fascinations that I find myself too anxious at sacrificing other temptations while sitting in seminar, or doing the duties of judging (that darn clipboard must get heavy!). Kudos to those who forfeit their place in the hunter's line! ... or perhaps the vendor's booth. Anyone else recall how hard it always was to catch Robin at Davenport? We've all been the beneficiaries of the special passions of those like him, and as preservationists we need to accommodate our judges' needs if we are to benefit from their contributions.

[redfred84]

This is very refreshing for me to see such interest and concern on the Judging. Usually one would expect to hear gripes on Club spending, where here we see the opposite; and for an important issue. I have been communicating the mechanics of this reimbursement structure on this thread here. I did not make these rules. The adjustments to the fuel-only reimbursements came before Steve Dawdy came on board. Steve Dawdy is on the BOD as well. All of us in Judging, and on the Board are extremely extatic by working with Steve. I know I am.
I fully understand the pains of poverty so to speak, as I have been un-employed for 2 years now. Last year I drove out to Davenport from SF, which took a few days each way. I was only compensated for fuel, and none of the hotels along the way. No wear & tear on the vehicle either. I'm finding myself willing to part with bikes I considered "keepers" now. Times are tough.
It is refreshing to see concerned input toward keeping our Judging a Class Act though. I hope this all works out, and Steve D. and all of us can endure these finances.
Thanks to all of you for doing what is "Best for the Club" and sharing your knowledge and judging skills un-selfishly for the benifit of all our members. RF.

[bikerdds]

Fred and Steve S, what does not make sense is if the board has voted to change the mechanics of reimbursement for the head judge, why has it now decided to reimburse the president up to $1000 per month in discretionary funds? Steve Dawdy emailed his resignation to the judges this morning effective for April 6. Evidenty, at the last board meeting when he said he was resigning, the board must have tried to keep him on behind the scenes, as it wasn't really reported then, but chapter presidents had gotten the word out. It is obvious the board has more concerns for the president who had a discretionary fund of $2500 per year before, and now $1000 per month? And Steve couldn't get a better reimbursement? The board went and bought the trailer several years ago with out it going out for bid. Now it has decided to ditch the trailer because it cost's too much? How much will we lose on that deal? I noticed Steve wants to remain on the board, but didn't the board ask him on because he was chief judge? Should he remain under those circumstances? Fiscal responsibility? Give me a break. All this started over Kevin concerning Robin being reimbursed when for most of 35 years he helped and never got a damn thing except the last two years until the blow up at last years board meeting. Now look what it has escalated into. I guess the board wasn't exstatic enough with Steve, eh? I hope you self serving board members are happy over what you have done. You are the ones who need to hang your heads in shame; not Steve, certainly not Robin. It is bad enough how Robin was treated. Now Steve? Let the members elect the board. I for one am sick of the board puffing itself up when these childish activites still continue. You wonder why the club is bleeding? Members are sick of your actions. This judging thing has spilled over into the membership whether you want to believe it or not. It isn't just the economy. While many members may be happy with a magazine and going to meets, there are others who also are interested in the mechanics of the club and are truly disgusted. The judging was our bright shining star, even if many members had no interest in it. That luster sure seems to be fading. You may not have made the rules, but have sure seen them bent to what suits the board. I wish this whole thing was just about judging. The actions of the board and the president since last year are what has caused this.
Sarge, while you may have been right in wanting to see things move forward, it is obvious that the detritous from the past has come back to haunt us once again. And the real shame of it is the whole damn thing is over money. Remember, the president doesn't have to go to every meet, but a representative of the head judge does, either head judge, assistant head judge, or a deputy national judge if we are to have national judging.

[Sargehere]

No one was more disappointed than me to hear that Chief Judge Steve Dawdy has gone ahead and tendered his resignation, Marty. What the club needs now is stability and consistency; uniformity, overall, at the helm at least "for a while" in judging. I don't know, haven't delved into any other aspects of the club's finances, but just know that all these judging changes were mandated by vote of the BoD at the Eustis meet last year, and now they've made a conscious group decision to discard the man who was asked to make them into a workable system, about halfway down the path.

No one not exceptionally wealthy is in a position to perform the duties expected of Chief Judge now as written in the by-laws as only an un-reimbursed / only partially-compensated judging official of the club. Which doubtless means that we're going to see a lot more of National Deputies and the Assistant Chief Judge acting as the senior official at many more National Meets in the future. I can only imagine that's what is on the minds of our BoD now, following the discussions we've had with several Board Members in this thread.

I will miss the drive, and the calm and reassuring style, of Steve Dawdy as he went about his duties as Chief Judge.
And now the personnel search resumes. Popcorn and Crackerjack, anyone?

[redfred84]

Hey Gerry,
I'm pretty disappointed also about losing Steve as our CJ. Steve is very intelligent, and approachable. Steve and Sandy both gave their all for the Judging cause. A shame this all happened. It will be up to our National Deputy Judges, and Assistant to fill in this spot for now.
BTW, the $1000 subject for the Prez is the amount he is allowed to spend in an emergency w/o BOD approval beforehand. It still gets reviewed by the BOD though. Anything over the $1000 must be approved beforehand. It's an emergency action alotment only.
RF.

[Chris Haynes]

Fred,
I can't imagine what kind of emergency the Pres. would need money for. I would appreciate your thoughts.

[silentgreyfello]

Fred,
I can't imagine what kind of emergency the Pres. would need money for. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Oh, I can. Say Rocky forgets his grease for his hair. He may have to run to Walgreens. Or, if he blows a top and stomps off like he ususally does when he doesn't get his way, he may sprain his ankle and need medical care. Or perhaps he insults another member, gets in a little scrap, he may need to get his grille fixed at a local dentist. Perhaps he forgets his favorite floral Hawaiin shirt that he wears to every meet... Someone would need to FedEx it to him. I love our prez... but worthless as tits on a boar.

[redfred84]

I'm not the answer man to everything, but one such incedent was when the web provider didn't get paid due to some oversight from an out-going BOD member. The bill needed to be paid pronto, as our site was actually shut off. Another recent time was when our National Treasurer Raymond Dhue passed; the Prez flew to Florida to re-arrange all the details of our banking, etc.... and change things from his signature. That had to be done pronto also.
It's not un-common to have such a clause. Our little 107 year old SFMC only has about 100 members, but our Prez has a $750 allowance for special circumstances. I'm not defending, or complaining about this feature, just answering the question. But I feel that it makes sense. I'm not worried about Richard Spagnolli running out and buying a Vincent carb on us, or our SFMC Prez scoring a 101 magneto and floating it on the club.
HTH, RF.

[silentgreyfello]

I'm not worried about Richard Spagnolli running out and buying a Vincent carb on us,.

What, Rocky is out? You're kidding, right? I don't pay any attention to the politics in this club anymore because of the judging debacle last year. I guess I'll lay off him now.

For what it's worth, I know quite a few guys, including me, that don't bother having their bikes judged anymore because it is too much of a hassle hanging around until Sunday. The meets are DONE by noon Saturday, and we are supposed to hang around for another night, just to have the bike judged. That means missing work on Monday if you have a long drive.