Northeast Area 2018 Annual Meeting

The following is an updated list of candidates from Barbara Smith, NEA VP:

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I would like to thank all the candidates for consenting to run for election in 2018.  I would also like to thank the Nominating Committee for their work in providing the slate of officers.

Save the time and date:

The annual meeting for the Northeast Area is by teleconference call on August 31, 2018 at 11:00.

The election will be conducted during the annual meeting per the NEA bylaws.

The slate of officers is a follows:

Louis Snow, running for Sr. VP, unopposed        F201098;

Donnie Osterhout, running for VP, unopposed F229123

Donna Merlino, running for secretary,               F365443

Deb Flattery, running for secretary                     F437041

Resumes will be available in the annual meeting package in the mail soon from the FMCA national office to chapter Presidents and National Directors.

Please call if you have questions.

Barbara Smith

National Vice President, Northeast Area

bsmith@fmca.com

978-764-7484

Northeast Motorhome Association Minutes: June 10, 2018

NEA EXECUTIVE BOARD CONFERENCE CALL MEETING MINUTES
6/10/18 – 7:01 PM

Meeting was called to order by the President at 7:01pm

Roll call was taken by the Secretary. All board members were present. The Secretary stated that the meeting was being recorded and asked for any objections. No objections were made
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Present:

  • Barbara Smith – Pres.
  • Lou Snow – Sr. VP
  • Jim Sennett – Tres
  • Donna Merlino – Sec
  • John Traphagen – VP
  • Don Osterhout – VP
  • Harley Soulia – VP
  • Tom Ziobrowski – VP

Pres asked for a sec report:

sec started she had minutes for 2 meetings – May 6 and May 20. The minutes for 5/6 had been sent to the board previous to the meeting for their review. The minutes for 5/20 had not been sent as they were not prepared in time. Pres asked about minutes for April 29. Pres stated she had changes for the 4/29 minutes. Pres stated she would email all of her changes to the Sec. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the changes that the Pres was requesting. The next 45 minutes of the meeting involved discussing those changes. The final decision by the Pres was: “I can submit these changes to you in writing so that can have a further discussion about it”.

There was no motion, vote or approval of the 4/29 minutes.

VP Ziobrowski requested the following statement be included in the minutes: “Because this is being recorded and be documented, when this first started about the Annual Meeting being an issue, I called national myself and verified for a fact that when the NE, I don’t know what year it was, 2013/2014, we had no Area Rally. Nobody complained that we had no meeting. Business went on as normal. #1 – and I let national know and why didn’t they do something about it and their reply to me was, because nobody complained, the 2nd issue I question – so if we don’t have one, was there ever a time when another area didn’t have a rally and the answer was yes. Years ago, and in that Area the agreement was made with them that they had to conduct 2 annual meetings the following year. I just wanted that in our minutes, because this whole thing has been blown out of proportion”.

Pres stated that the date for our Annual Meeting is scheduled for August 31 at 11:00 a.m. via Telephone Conference Call. Pres requested a change be made to the Conference Call Meeting Minutes for 5/6: her change is that was not a meeting because she was unable to attend to attend due to a “solemn occasion”. There was no motion, vote or approval of the 5/6 minutes.

Sec inquired about the minutes for 5/20. Pres stated: “those minutes are not in front of me and I would like them to be distributed so we can review them. There was no motion, vote or approval of the 5/20 minutes.

Pres requested a Treasurer’s Report. A report was not read. The Pres stated that she had a list of 8 questions and she would send them to Jim for his review. After Jim has had time to review and answer all questions they shall be emailed to the entire board for their review.

Pres asked for a Rally Report from the Sr. VP. – Sr. VP reported that there has been no activity in regards to Syracuse since the date was confirmed and they are holding the grounds for those dates. On a monetary expense issue, their rates don’t come out until after the first of the year. Therefore, we do not know what in fact the fairground is going to cost. However, we are committed to it.

The Sr. VP was also concerned about the email address for TZ – VP has been cut off again and asked that this issue be addressed with Home Office. The Pres stated that this issue has been discussed with the Exec. Director of FMCA and the IT Dept. She will call again tomorrow (6/11) to confirm that his email will continue to be available.

The Treasurer asked that the following be entered into the minutes: “I want it reflected that Tom Ziobrowski and I sat in the Key Bank office in Syracuse and Barbara declined having a debit card. Since that seems to be a big question, was there one? I want everyone to know that she declined one and I want that in the minutes. Thank you”.

The Pres then discussed the Roles and Responsibilities for the Rally in 2019. She has begun to have an appreciation of all the work that we do. She also stated that she was very happy that we have 4 Vice Presidents, because she did not see how it could have been done with just 3. She requested advice regarding Captains as she is concerned as to which ones we will have to replace. She wanted to know if the board would like to have a workshop to go over the Roles & Responsibilities Chart and mark it up together. She offered to drive out to NY, but the consensus of the board was that all members are now too busy to meet for an organizational meeting. She agreed to send the board a list of available dates and the board would let her know if they can accommodate any of them.

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the fact that the Pres announced that she will not be in Bainbridge NY with the rest of the board during the Annual Meeting Tele-Conference Call on August 31. The Pres will be in Wells, Maine and will preside over the meeting via the conference call from that location.

The Pres announced that it has come to her attention that the Risk Management Committee will possibly bring forth changes in regards to contract responsibility. There is a possibility that anyone that signs for a contract will be personally responsible for that said contract. The consensus of the board is that this is a very bad idea and that we do not see this being conducive for obtaining officers in the future as they will not want to be responsible for contracts. It will also be difficult to obtain signed contracts for future rallies due to the fact that no one wants that responsibility. The Pres will get in contact with Ned Boston at home office to confirm these changes and report back to the board with her findings.

The Sec asked for confirmation that the elections are being held by tele-conference. This was confirmed by the Pres. The Sec has a surplus amount of $58.73 to return to the Treasurer from an original amount she was given of $148.00 for expenses related to nominations and elections by mail. Some of that money was also spent on cards and stamps. The Treas requested that the Sec write a check to the Treas and send along with an updated expense report and all receipts to his attention. The Sec agreed to do this in a timely manner.

The Pres read the most up-to-date report that she received from the Nominating Committee Chair, Terry Metcalfe as follows: Lou Snow running for Sr. VP; Don Osterhout running for VP; Harley Soulia has agreed to stay on one more year so we get the rotation correct. Jim Sennett – Treasurer has agreed to stay on one more year so we get the rotation correct. Donna Merlino and Deb Flattery are running for the position of Secretary. The Pres received confirmation from TZ-VP that this report was correct.

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the question of checking credentials for the Annual Meeting Tele-Conference Call on August 31. Also many questions asked about the “Zoom” part of the conference call and concerns regarding internet service at Bainbridge NY where the remainder of the board will be located for this call. The Pres will relay our comments to the National Office and see what they say.

A question was then asked about training for this conference call and she informed the board that a training session can be held in advance.

A question was asked as to how this “Zoom” Conference Call came about. The Pres informed the board that “we have to find a way for myself and the board to communicate and have an Annual Meeting and an Annual Meeting by tele-conference was approved. Question was asked as to whom exactly approved this decision. The answer given by the Pres was “there was a phone call between Jon Walker and Tom, and there was discussion. I was presented a choice and I approved it”.

The Pres confirmed that there were no other questions and that we could continue any further discussions at the next meeting. The meeting was then adjourned at 8:36 p.m.
Donna Merlino
Secretary
NEA Executive Board

Approved 07/19/2018 – – Posted on 07/25/2018