BMW Club of Canada
National Directors' Conference Call
November 5, 2002
9:00p.m ­ 11:00p.m. EST

PARTICIPANTS
George Garner, Bluenose; Phil Abrami, Quebec; Chris Pawlowicz, Ottawa; Gerry Low & Evan Weaver, Trillium; John Herbst & Kip Keylock, Southern Alberta; Jim Robson, Northern Alberta; and Rolf Drommer, BC Mainland. Absent with regrets: David Saville-Peck, Vancouver Island.

PREVIOUS MINUTES
Copies of the minutes of prior meetings and the 2002 budget proposal and rationale are available on the BMW CC web site at: www.bmwclub.ca

CONFERENCE CALL AGENDA & MINUTES

President's Report

The Fall meeting of the International Council of BMW Clubs was cancelled at the last minute by Mobile Tradition. Attendees were promised re-imbursement of their out-of-pocket expenses but this has not yet been done. The meeting may be re-scheduled for Spring 2003.

Phil Abrami spoke to Kevin Marcotte of BMW Canada and Kevin agree to explore ways to inform Canadian BMW owners of the existence of our club to increase membership. Possibilities include national mailing, promotions, and advertising by BMW Canada.

Phil Abrami worked with Craig Tilford, our insurance advisor, to arrange national CGL insurance and special event insurance for the year maintaining $5M coverage for both. Details were sent to all National director and Club Executive in Spring 2002 with instructions on how to contact our new brokers, Jones Brown and our agents, Kevin Best and Claire Clermont. Phil is currently working with both Kevin and Claire to transfer our D & O policy.

The issue of Chapter Names has been amicably resolved by the two BC clubs who have agreed to maintain the status quo.

Secretary/Treasurer's Report

Bank: we have $25,716.99 in the bank. $5k is in a short redeemable term to earn 1.75%. $15k is in a term that ends mid January and will net 2%, the balance is in regular deposit chequing (0.025% interest 1/4%). All funds can be accessed on short notice. Expenses have been for insurance and some office and web expenses, Industry Canada fees, plus the bill for the last phone conference. BMW has sent us a total of $20k for the year, hence all the cash. The rest is from dues and previous redistribution of former national funds.

In light of the funds surplus, I would recommend a moratorium on quarterly dues until we review some of our needs and future plans, including meeting options.

By-laws: they are finally in Ottawa. It took many phone calls, and a lot of info searching and compiling to get all the bits together. Bottom line is there was nothing wrong or unacceptable with the bylaws we passed. The feds only had us change one minor detail re electronic meetings to comply with their required wording. All else stayed as we had originally voted on.

The big stumbling block, and what Industry Canada wanted were all the supporting documents indicating that we had done due process, informed members, and voted on the bylaws properly.

The other big issue was the name, and apparent change of nature of the club. Industry Canada still only recognized us as 'BMW Car Club of Canada ­ Le Club Automobile BMW du Canada' as per the 1980 grant of letters patent and the bylaws filed with the app for letters patent in 1980, that despite apparent paperwork to the contrary in the form of the 1998 bylaws revision. They had no filing changes on record for either those bylaws of the revised name, and as a result the new bylaws and name appeared to them to be a radical change from what the 1980 version said. So in essence, that is what they objected to when they rejected our original bylaws submission.

As a result of my calls to some helpful folks at Industry Canada in Ottawa, they set me straight on creating the proper forms, getting them notarized, doing a NUANS search to claim our own name, and after a few other jigs and jogs, we got a fully signed and notarized set of documents together and sent them off along with the required money for registration. Now we sit and wait, as they indicated they had a summer work backlog. I'm confident we have submitted all the correct stuff, including 3 years worth of missing annual filings that needed to be dealt with so we would not be delinquent in filing. (Just a silly form that says we are still who we are.) Just for the record, the paperwork in running a simple not for profit club can be quite involved. All that just to have fun in the club.

NOTE: In early December, Industry Canada returned our application requesting additional, small changes. These have been made and the application returned for final processing.

Chapter Membership: Most clubs continue to grow. A few clubs are good at sending me updates on people and counts. It would be nice to clean this up a bit. If any clubs need help with a simple database solution, I can probably help. I can't give you an accurate head count on total membership at this time as I'm missing some updated chapter data, but it still appears to be over 1300 members.

Budget: As indicated in the bank report, we have money, and before we go spending it all over the place, we should try to get some grip on our new thoughts and directions. As said, I'm in favour of suspending dues payments (you may notice I haven't sent out dues notices since the 2nd quarter ended) until we decide what all we should be doing with the money. The previous budget had some ideas on things we could spend some of the funds on that would do some national good, but we need to review this as a group. I await your input.

Other bits: I've had to research new window decal prices for our local club, and can report that on an order of 1000 pcs self cling full color on clear vinyl, the price is about $980 plus taxes FOB Vancouver. The other stuff we get printed here for our local club is full color club intro cards, and a fold up membership brochure. For reference use, the prices came to $108.78 for 500 full color cards, and $893.09 for 400 full color membership flyers. I only put those numbers out for reference, and for discussion if we were going to get something printed up that was common we could probably save on a group deal.

Communications--Website, Newsletters

Major changes are planned for the National website by Chris and Rolf including revamping the BMW Canada discussion list/forum. National Directors will be responsible for providing up-to-date contact information and event information so National site is accurate, complete, and current.

Chris will also try to revive newsletter distribution list and get editors to share. There are still no current plans for a national magazine or newsletter; the national website will serve this purpose.

Trillium is in the process of constructing their own chapter website.

Motorsport

Instructor training materials have been prepared by John Herbst and he welcomes input and sharing.

A driving school video has been prepared by Bluenose Chapter; contact George Garner for a copy. Comments and suggestions welcome.

The BMW CC student manual is still available in print format only.

Those requesting information on the educational tax receipt process should contact Rolf Lange who has the registration number.

The National Directors again voiced their disapproval of chapters who wish to host lapping days rather than schools. Chapter members who do so as private events were cautioned that without adequate insurance an event incident could cause great personal loss.

Chapter Activity Reports

We did not have time for detailed reports but every chapter had a busy slate of activities. The report from Vancouver Island is below given they could not participate in the conference:

Hello all,

As your National Director, I am very happy that the way the National Club is progressing. Even though we had some difficult times with regard to the Trillium Club, we are continuing in our efforts to get them "on board". A decision was taken NOT to hold an annual conference in 2003, but rather to continue to conduct our business by conference call. Unfortunately I was away in the UK for the last call.

The National Web site is continually being update, particularly with the efforts of Rolf and Chris, who are doing a terrific job.

Now that the racing season is over for most people, ( I am STILL racing in a Winter series in Monroe WA, won 3 races last weekend, next race in January!) I am sure that we shall get some more work done in the new year.

News on my own front is that, we now have over 2,500 kms on our Prototype Super 7 and all is progressing well, with the next car sold to Paris France. http://www.super7cars.com

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy holiday season.

David Saville Peck
National Director
BMWCC VI

E-mail from Murrray Bradley, President, BACVI

The purpose of this e-mail is to get some idea of what your plans are vis-a-vis continuing, changing or resigning your current positions with the club for the upcoming year. I would like to put something in the next Newsletter soliciting nominations for the various executive and volunteer positions in the club and it would be helpful to know all our plans well before the AGM on January 14, 2003 and hopefully before the upcoming Newsletter.

We have had an interesting year with the almost complete change of the Club Directors, Newsletter "Staff" and the posting of half of our Events Coordinators to a war zone for over six months!!! In spite of that we seem to have survived and have been able to sort out the move to national club status which also brought some unanticipated problems.

Personally I have decided that I will not run for any Executive position in the upcoming year. I was in essence a stop-gap measure at the last election of Directors to allow the club to continue as a legal registered entity and this has been accomplished. Since then as some of you know family matters concerning elderly parents in Ottawa still living in their own home have become an increasingly acute concern in that they will have to be moved out to some kind of retirement home within six months. That will entail considerable time, effort and stress so I think I should bow out for the duration of that process.

I will still be active in the club and could serve in a number of short term capacities, on commitees, for specific events, etc. One suggestion that I would like you all to consider is naming the Past President as a member of the Board of Directors as many if not most clubs do to ensure a degree of continuity as players and issues change from year to year. I would be happy to serve in this capacity and it would not put too great a burden on me given the pressures Sheila and I will be facing during the upcoming year.

Please give the above some serious thought and I hope all of you decide to serve another year in your current positions. Let me know asap what your plans are. If you would rather discuss the matter with me in a more personal way please give me a call at (250) 598-4816. Since I am "unemployed" I am available anytime and in fact if any of you want to get together for lunch (or a beer!) just let me know and I'll be there!!!

Hope to hear from you soon,

Murray

PS. Articles for the next Newsletter have to be in to the Editor (Scott) by Sunday evening (Dec. 15) at the latest!!!!! So if possible please don't delay your replies.

Elections

National elections/appointments for two years (Bluenose, Quebec, Southern Alberta,
& Mainland BC). Phil Abrami drafted and distributed the following memo:

November 6, 2003

Dear BMW CC Chapter Executive Members,

The BMW CC Bylaws call for the local election or appointment of National Directors from the following chapters in 2003: Bluenose, Quebec, Southern Alberta, and Mainland BC. These appointments will be for two years and each chapter should announce them by December 31, 2002.

The inaugural year as a new national umbrella organization was both challenging and rewarding. We took great strides forward but did not accomplish all we hoped to. What we discovered is that there is work to occupy the National Directors and that we need dedicated and active volunteers willing and able to take on national chores.

I therefore recommend that as each chapter considers candidates for the position, they emphasize two qualities: first, the ability to represent the chapter's views and interests nationally; and second, a willingness and availability to take on national work and responsibilities. Some of these chores and positions include: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Motorsport Director, Communications Director, and Marketing and Merchandising Director.

With a strong team the work done by each Director need only be 1-2 days per month, less during the "driving season".

I look forward to learning from you who our four new Directors will be.

Sincerely,

Phil Abrami, President
BMW CC

National marketing & promotion

Rolf will look further at the pricing of BMW CC window decals. Chapters should submit reasonable requests for these decals and when they are produced they will be distributed free of charge this time only.

National Congress

The National Congress was planned for Toronto, February 7 & 8, 2003. The Directors voted to hold a conference call and to cancel the congress this time.

Other Business

Gerry Low, National Director from Trillium, reviewed developments this year particularly those related to old budgets and dues. The National Directors were satisfied with Gerry's report and voted unanimously to accept it and finally close the matter of past concerns.

Respectfully submitted,

Phil Abrami, President
BMW Club of Canada