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International Comanche Society

General Membership Meeting

Reno, Nevada

September 9, 2002

 

The ICS General Membership Meeting was called to order by President Bob Noble at 1:40 PM on September 9, 2002, at Harrah's Hotel in Reno, Nevada.

Larry Rackley welcomed everyone to the Convention, and provided various announcements concerning Convention logistics.

 

President's Report:

It's been a lot of fun this year. There have been a few bumps in the road, but we made it. We met a lot of new people, attended a lot of fly-ins, and had a lot of fun. We just need to pull together a little more. And we need to get more people to come to our fly-ins.

The Tips Special is done. They are out. The Pathfinder will be here Thursday. We had a few problems, and changed the format, but it's out. The membership could help us a lot if they updated their Email addresses with headquarters. It would make it a lot easier for us to communicate with everyone.

We changed accountants in January. All headquarters cash items are now audited on a monthly basis. Our new accountant went through our books over the last 3 year period, and they were only off by $108.00 and a few cents. The accountant was astounded and said she wouldn't have done the audit if she had known our books were so accurate.

We had a good strong presence at Sun and Fun with the Southeast Tribe. And the North Central Tribe did a good job at Oshkosh. I went to Oshkosh this year for the first time. This was the 50th Anniversary of the EAA Fly-in. It is really worth the time and effort to go.

Our CFI Program that Larry is working on is coming along. We need to make a few changes, but it's coming along great. All in all, it's been a great year.

 

Minutes of the General Membership Meeting in Detroit:

Harley McGatha moved to accept the minutes of the General Membership meeting in Detroit as submitted. Roy Roberts seconded the motion. The motion passed.

 

Treasurer's Report – Jim Martin:

Jim discussed the rising cost of doing business, and the benefits of being an ICS member. The price that we get for ICS membership is peanuts compared to the cost of other things that we do and buy. The ICS is broke!  We're operating in the black, but we don't have any money! When we authorized the dues increase in Galveston two years ago we were in a great economy.  Little did we know that 10 months later we would enter a major recession.

In Galveston we authorized the Board to adjust dues by up to 5% in any one year. That is only $3.00 per year. We will need to allow the Board further discretion to adjust dues in the future if we are to keep the Society viable and healthy. Fifteen years ago today, we were in Louisville Kentucky, and we had about $150,000 in the bank. One of our members got up and suggested that we donate this money to the hurricane victims in Florida. Today we have only $50,000 left.

Many Emails have been circulating around this year from the Northwest and Southeast from Roger Smith and Skip Dykema containing derogatory remarks about our Board members and our Headquarters staff. This went on from the Fall Board Meeting until the Spring Board meeting when I got a call from Maurice Taylor concerned that our Headquarters as we know it was going to go away. I told Maurice that he has been reading too many Emails from a very vocal minority. I told him that when we meet, and the silent majority is heard, we'll be operating just as we have been up until now. And that's exactly what happened.

I say to you ladies and gentlemen, that although our Headquarters personnel are not perfect, they're doing a great job. I go to these fly-ins to have fun, fellowship, meet friends, and enjoy myself, and if that happens, I come away feeling like a new person. But if I go to a fly-in where there's only grief, strife, discord, and dissent I come away feeling bad.

I believe that the past Presidents and past Boards have done a great job in setting up our organization and in getting it to where it is. The Board of an organization is to support to best interests of the organization, and is supposed to abide by the majority vote of the Board. And if any Board member can't abide by that majority they should not be a member of that Board. Thank you.

 

Nominating Committee Report: - David Buttle:

The nominating committee was composed of David Buttle, Frank Sergeant, and Bill Anderson. They considered the future of the society and were unanimous in their recommendations. The Nominating Committee nominated Larry Rackley as President, John VanBladderen as Vice President, Jim Martin as Treasurer, and Carolyn Moody as Secretary. The nominating Committee's recommendation was seconded by Carl Hipp.

Chuck Medicus nominated Carloyn Moody as Vice President. Pat Rowe seconded the nomination.

Harley McGatha nominated Jim Martin as Vice President. A. Freyberg seconded the nomination.

Shell Bressen moved that the nominations be closed. Jess Bootman seconded the motion. The motion passed.

A discussion followed as to how a single person could be nominated for two different positions. It was decided that the membership would vote for each officer one at a time. Each of the nominees were then given an opportunity to speak for two or three minutes.

Larry Rackley was elected President via a show of hands. John Van Bladeren was elected Vice President via secret ballot. The ballots were destroyed.

Dale Vandever moved that Jim Martin be elected Treasurer by acclimation. David Morgan seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Jim Sandilos moved that Carolyn Moody be elected Secretary by acclimation. Karl Hipp seconded the motion. The motion passed.

 

Proposed Budget for 2003 – Jim Martin:

Jim Martin presented the proposed budget for 2003. Harley McGatha moved that the Budget be accepted. Doug Pickett seconded the motion. Discussion followed.

Questions:

  • Does the ICS really want to budget $6,000 for the CFI Program? If the membership wants the program, they have to pay for it. In 2002, we also budgeted $6,000.00. So far in 2002 we've spent $995.00. The cost is split 50% - 50% with the CFF. The purpose of the program is to train CFI's to fly and instruct in the Comanche. How often the program runs depends on the CFI interest. We probably won't spend $6,000 next year. The Board should have the option of making this decision. If the $6,000.00 saves one Comanche members life, it's worth it.

The motion passed.

 

2002 Convention:

Larry Rackley reported that they have approximately 300 convention registrations at this point. The convention is proceeding very well. Mercury Air should be commended for doing such a great job.

 

2003 Convention:

Charlie Liller reported that the 2003 Convention will be in Tampa Florida, using Peter O'Night Airport on Davis Island, and the Wyndham Harbor Island Hotel. The hotel has 300 rooms, and every room has a water view. There is a free shuttle service that runs from the hotel around downtown Tampa. The dates of the Convention are September 9 – 14, 2003.

 

2004 Convention:

Darrel Norris reported that the Mid States Tribe will host the 2004 convention at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in Kansas City. They will use Kansas City Downtown airport. The dates of the convention are September 15 – 18, 2004.

 

2006 Convention:

The Australian Tribe will host the 2006 Convention.

 

By Laws and Standing Rules Committee – Dale Vandever

Bob Noble asked a group to serve on a Committee to review the Bylaws. Bryce Campbell was the chairman of the Committee. Bryce could not be here because of bad weather. The report is not a consensus report of the Committee, and there is a lot of additional thought that is required to get the Bylaws to a point where everyone is in agreement.

Don Nelson moved that we not vote on the new Bylaws at this point, and that we send them back to the Committee for additional thought and work. Chuck Medicus seconded the motion.

The motion passed.


 

New Business:

Membership Brochure – Hugh Crowe developed a New Membership Brochure and has donated 2,000 copies to the Society. It is an excellent brochure. Send Hugh an Email thanking him for the Brochure. It will be the new Vice President's responsibility to work with the Tribe Chiefs to get them to use the brochure.

Insurance – One of the biggest complaints that we are running into relative to insurance are that we don't put the gear down, and we don't put enough gas in the plane. So make sure you put enough gas in the plane and you remember to put your gear down. We are talking to a new insurance company about Comanche Insurance rates.

Bob Noble presented a new President's Badge to Larry Rackley.

 

Adjournment:

Pat Rowe moved that the meeting be adjourned. Barb Rackley seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 3:20 PM.

 

Jim Schock

ICS Secretary

 

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