Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Toby Silhavy, Primo Rivera, Alex Dreiling, Brad Davy, Rich Whitlow, Manrico Mincuzzi, Clark Hymas
Absent: Jorge Guzman and Michael Hobson
Guest: Adi Kochav
Meeting began: 9:03 p.m. EST
International Liason – Mike Karnes
When we split the international region into 3 different regions, we eliminated the liaison position to the BOD. Mike wants the BOD to reinstate the international liaison back to the BOD. The expectations are that Adi will continue in this position, but as a non-voting member of the BOD. A motion was made to appoint Adi Kochav as International Liaison as a non-voting member of the BOD by Brad Davy and seconded by Doug Pilcher. Motion passed unanimously.
Update: AAMA Announces LAANC – Doug Pilcher
AMA held a meeting with Doug, and not much more has happened. Immediately after the meeting, Doug emailed Chad and thanked him for getting the ball rolling. Doug is not going to let up until we have an open-forum meeting with the all the SIGs Leadership. He wanted Tyler Dobbs and the DC group included to have an open discussion. This is AMA’s intent after the holiday season.
Brad was encouraged that the AMA is one of 12 groups that is to be a part of the testing for the new flight standard. AMA is moving forward. AMA has put out a notice with a podcast explaining LAANC. There is an app for the smart phones that goes by your GPS and gives you top altitude that you can fly where you are at. They expect you to go to your field and launch the app and get your altitude restrictions. This definitely affects IMAC, jets, soaring, and pattern.
Establish a Committee for IMAC Affiliation Fees – Mike Karnes
Manrico is asking for mass registration discount again for the International regions. When Adi first discussed this idea with the BOD, Mike said not to use the “mass registration”, instead this is a discount for first-time IMAC members. The BOD has said that we didn’t have a problem with a reduced membership for first-time members. At the initial registration, you would receive the discount, but at renewal, the member would be paying established registration rate. Adi requested that all regions be treated the same across the organization.
The BOD is trying to get the International regions’ members the same benefits that the domestic regions’ members receive: RPS, regional monies, etc. If the International regions are looking at a $20 membership fee, there are things that the IMAC organization will not be able to give these regions.
Manrico believes that it is very important that we make sure that we get the maximum number of pilots registered. He believes this provides coverage of the region and the measurement of the true existence of the region. There are already hundreds of pilots in the regions. Some have several competitions a year, where some have very few. Manrico’s plans for Europe is to get as many or all the pilots registered. The question is how do we get them registered. There are many reasons that several have not registered; one of the biggest reasons is the cost of the membership.
Manrico wants the mass registration. If we move the responsibility to get the pilots registered through the country director, we can have the hope that the country director can get them registered. Manrico believes that the pilots shouldn’t have to pay for their membership dues. He believes that if you participate in the contests at a certain price, such as $30-40 Euros, they should receive the IMAC membership just because they participated. The cost of the membership would be in the cost of the contest. Since they are participating in the contest, they would receive the membership.
Brad questioned taking a portion of the contest entry fee at each contest and applying it to an IMAC membership. If the pilot makes one contest per year, it is not applicable. Brad asked where the proceeds of the contests go. The proceeds go to the local national organizations. Some of them are stand-alone organizations. The Country Director could create a local non-profit organization according to the rules and they would manage their own budgets.
Manrico asked how the US uses the proceeds from the contests. The local clubs host an IMAC contests. The club establishes the entry fees and keeps the proceeds from the contest. Each club establish their own budget for the contest. IMAC does not receive any monies from the contests. IMAC only receives the membership dues. A pilot is supposed to receive a $20 discount at the contest due to being an IMAC member.
Discussion Update – Amendments to By-Laws – Brad Davy
There are 2 proposed amendments to the By-Laws in the “Members Only” forum since October 29. There has only been one comment on the membership eligibility. No comments on the affiliation amendment. Brad recommends opening up to voting on January 1, 2020. The vote must be open for 14 days. Then, there is a 60-day period after the vote before the amendment goes into effect.
Doug will get the online polls posted effective January 1, 2020. The available answers for the polls will be yes, no, or abstain.
Nats 2020 Update and Budget – Rich Whitlow
For the 2020 Nats, there will be multiple rounds of freestyle. Rich is working on getting sponsorships and dedicated judges for the Nats. He has a budget together, put wants to wait and see if he gets results from sponsors. Rich has tried to incorporate all the suggestions for 2020.
Primo said that he would help with dedicated judges. Rich has a few names of other people that he is going to contact about being a dedicated judge.
2020 Budget – Phil Vance
Phil presented the 2020 Operating Budget to the BOD. Regional judging schools are separate from the budgets, because many of them are self-supporting. Each region was budgeted $1,250 for the year, which some regions did not use all the allocated budget.
A revised budget will be posted in the BOD forum to be voted on by the BOD.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
At the end of November, the balance in the General Operating account was:
Checking $ 8,199.85
PayPal $22,600.54
Total $30,800.39
As of tonight, December 16th, the balance in the General Operating Account is:
Checking $ 7,957.87
PayPal $23,753.02
Total $31,710.89
All Regional Issues – All RDs
The SE region had a great year. Primo reported that there are already contests on the schedule for next year. He is working on dates for the judging schools.
Nothing to report in the NE region.
Toby has the NC region contest schedule 2/3 completed. He hopes to be done within the next few weeks. They are working on the judging school for next year. There are plans to have a big presence at the Toledo Show.
Alex reported that he SW region has their first contest in three weeks. He informed the BOD that there are 3 fields that are closing in his region.
The SC region has their contest list completed. Several CDs already have their contest on the website. There will be a judging school and skills clinic in Shreveport. They have an aerobatic fun day scheduled in Kansas.
Clark reported that the NW region has several contests on the calendar. CDs are making flyers to go with them. Clark will not be approving their contests until they have a flyer.
Manrico has been busy organizing IMAC Europe region. They are struggling to create the budget for the 4th runway. They currently have 150 pilots registered. Everything is going well. They are in the middle of organizing the first addition of the Euro Cup.
Meeting adjourned 11:12 p.m. EST.