Cascadia RVW Board Meeting

March 22, 2008

Board Members Present:  Dorene Thomas, Judy Polenske, Kay Piehl, Alice Burk, Marne Parry, Pat Lebbert.

Guests:  Ten members/guests were present.

The meeting was called to order by President Dorene Thomas at 9:07 a.m. at North Whidbey RV Park in Oak Harbor, Washington

Minutes:  Judy Polenske read the minutes of the January 13, 2008, Board meeting held at Mitzel’s Restaurant in Fife, Washington.  An addition was made to the minutes to note that Diane Milnor wrote the article for the Western RV News.  Diane donated the $40 she received for writing the article to our Chapter.  The minutes were approved as corrected.

 Treasurer’s Report:  Kay Piehl reported a balance of $2,450.53 as of March 20, 2008.  Since then she has collected an additional $877.60 in dues, donations, new member fees and future event site deposits.  Expenses paid total $100.70, leaving a current balance of $3,227.43.  The Treasurer’s Report will be filed for audit.

President’s Report:  Dorene Thomas received an e-mail from Gayle Pierce who is working with the Elections Board on encouraging RVW members to run for office on the National Board of Directors.  Send your name, e-mail address and phone number to Gayle if you are interested.

Jeri McLees, from FreeWheelers, brought a concern before the National Board of Directors with regards to the guest policy where women can attend two rallies before joining a chapter.   After that it is $2 per guest at an event.  Her example was that sometimes members have caregivers that have to travel with them.  Jeri is asking for clarification of the intent of the policy.

Bonnie Blossom is chair of the group that is revising the Rally Leader Handbook.  There is a statement in the Rally Overview that says, “We will continue to enforce our philosophy…..”  Dorene read what was offered as a change to exclude the word “enforce”.

Dorene introduced Jo Schilling, our Chapter Scribe who writes the summary of each event for the website and the magazine.  Jo also sends notification of our upcoming events to newspapers in the areas where our events take place.

President-Elect Report:  Marne Parry presented a 2009 calendar of proposed dates for events.  If anyone has a venue that would be large enough for our group, please let Marne know.

Marne also asked if Cascadia should have a presence at the 2008 National RVW Convention in Charleston, SC; and, if so, should assistance be provided to help our President go?  Discussion followed.

Registrar’s Report:  Pat Lebbert said that registrations have gone smoothly except for a few glitches with the registration website.  Pat reminded members to scroll down the page to the registration form.  If anyone has problems registering, contact Pat.  There may be changes to the website from time to time because the parks make changes.  Some parks charge a day use fee for those not staying at the park, but are there for the day, and some parks don’t allow tents.

Event Coordinator’s Report:  Alice Burk reported that Event Captains are in place for the April event in Poulsbo and Mossyrock, but Bandana Divas and “Hi There” girls are still needed.   Event Captains are also needed for July, September, and October.

By-Laws Committee:  Bonnie Blossom and Mary Schoenfeldt set up goals last October.  The first goal was to deal with compliance of the National By-Laws, which has been completed.  Now they are asking input from members to clarify the roles of Board members.  Pat said the Registrar role should be changed because she doesn’t collect registration deposits.  At the same time, the Treasurer’s role would need to be changed to add the collection of registration deposits.

Dorene said the Chapter can change the by-laws as currently stated, on even years, and she suggested it may be done annually.  Mary said the by-laws are the skeleton of the organization and although they can be looked at annually, she recommended updating them every two years.  Bonnie distributed copies of the revised proposed by-laws and will add the reason why the changes were made.

Article VIII.A.3. states that a 2/3 vote is required if nominations are made from the floor during elections.  Bonnie suggested that it be changed to not needing a 2/3 vote.

There was some confusion on who is responsible for keeping the membership list current.  The Treasurer is making changes to the list and keeping it current.

Bonnie encouraged members to suggest changes to the by-laws.

Rules Committee:  Linda James proposed several rules/policies.  There was a motion to approve the proposed Chapter Rules as written and present them at the General meeting.  Motion passed.

Announcements: 

Jo Schilling announced that she will be selling raffle tickets for two free sites for the Canada event in August.

Judy Polenske asked for a volunteer to take the coffee pots to the Poulsbo event.  Jean Hart volunteered.

Lisa and Shelly said there would be a gathering for new members following the general meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 10:12 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

    Judy Polenske

Judy Polenske, Secretary