- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Doug Pilcher, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Brad Davy, Alex Dreiling, Ray Morton, Rich Whitlow and Clark Hymas
Absent: Primo Rivera
Guest: Kevin Garland
Meeting began 9:00 p.m. EST.
Review of Meeting with IAC – Kevin Garland, Guest
Doug sent out the notes taken during the IAC meeting last Monday. Kevin thought the meeting went really well. A few of his ideas were discussed with the IAC and he felt that we got enough feedback to start on some of the ideas.
One of the biggest issues is to get our events posted to the IAC website. Only a member can post the events to the IAC page, which Kevin will be rejoining. Doug, Mike and Ales are members of the IAC. Kevin and Doug invited IAC to our International Judging School in Arizona. Kevin also mentioned to them about the aircrafts that are being worked on for training in the SW region.
An idea was mentioned of having joint membership in IMAC and IAC. Joint membership will be tough due to IAC being under EAA. They cannot offer rides to our members due to insurance. We can help them more for IMAC, but it will be a little more difficult for the IAC to help our members.
Rich will be doing a cross publication with IAC and our newsletter. IAC has a magazine and a digital version. Rich has received the information for their editor. We co do ads between the two publications. IMAC could also do some reporting on their big events. All of this depends on if they are restrictive with their print. Cross judging is a possibility. The IAC has more requirements for their judges, with amount of flights judged and amount of flights flown per year. It is a long drawn out process. Their judging is a little more difficult than IMAC. Our software that included a test at the end of each module is currently unavailable. Brad is working on another online judging school like he has held in the past.
The consensus of between the two organizations is that they are interested in the cross publication in the newsletters and to bringing our online judging school back. This is currently the goals set.
10% rule and Splitting the International Region – Adi Kochav
Adi informed the BOD that we need to get ahead of the issue on the 10% rule. This situation could arise at a contest where a pilot will appeal the 10% rule. The current IMAC rules state that the proof of scale is up to the pilot. He has had a question from a manufacturer. Adi believes that we should no longer leave this proof of scale up to the pilot, due to the ARF planes and the building kits. Adi made a recommendation that IMAC make a list of approved planes.
Adi has been researching plane specs and it is hard to find the actual specs online. He suggested that we show the pilots how to measure their planes. Currently, Rule 6.5 states the measurements come from the width and height from the fuselage and the wings. We take the 10% rule from the wingspan. Adi says we can get the wingspan and fuselage, but the height is almost impossible to get.
Adi has begun compiling a list of planes that fall under the 10% rule. Several European manufacturers fall under this rule except with the new Krill Laser. It is not within IMAC specifications. The rest are 3-5% off. The Carden is up to the 10% rule, along with JTec. Adi can measure the Extreme Flight planes. He suggests that we have a spreadsheet with all the specs.
Brad doesn’t believe that we can do this. We don’t have the manpower and the resources to undergo such an enormous task. A catalog of approved planes could be tedious and time consuming. Rich agree with Brad on not needing an inclusive listing of planes, but that a list of known acceptable or problematic planes should be made available to the membership. Adi says that may of the pilots do not know how to calculate the 10% rule and we need to provide them with a mathematical equation on how each pilot can make this calculation.
It come to the fact that they are within the 10% rule if you go by what they are claiming the full scale version. We accept that it is within 10% from the manufacturers. The scratch built planes would need to prove the 10% rule. Adi sees this becoming an issue at the next IMAC Worlds. Adi and Manrico has measured several planes and they are measuring at 15%. They are measuring the model wing and divided it by the real wing; then measure the model fuselage and divided it by the real fuselage. Brad state that the measurement Adi is talking about is on the wings, tail, and stabilizer. The rest is judging at 10ft away. Scale shall be determined by the wingspan. A change in wingspan will be a change in overall scale. Adi believes that we should enforce the rule and measure the airplanes.
One of the BOD members asked where this conversation has started. Brad said that it was started on Flying Giants, and it was a question on the AJ Laser. It was also share on Facebook. This isn’t just an issue in Europe; it is also an issue in the U.S. Adi said that the pilot needs to know what is acceptable and if they are flying a real IMAC scale plane.
Adi has been discussing with the BOD about splitting up the International Region. They are wanting to split this region into three different regions: Latin America ( South America countries), European (Europe Continent), and Asia-Pacific (Australia and Pacific countries). They will be requiring all pilots to be IMAC members. They have 43 members from Italy, which is almost every pilot. They signed up 36 pilots the other day. The regions are constantly growing. Argentina and Mexico will sign every pilot. By doing this, the International Region will have 200 pilots by the end of the year. Adi believes that splitting the region into three different regions, will give them even more members. With the split, there will also be a regional director for each region.
Adi has been discussing the splitting of the region with the BOD for quite some time. Brad recommended a proposal being brought to the BOD. The current BOD will appoint an RD until the next election. Within 60 days, members of that region can nominate a new regional director. Samantha had a question of if the regions would expect the regional funding that the current domestic regions receive and how we will manage this with the currency exchange rates. One of the ideas mentioned was that RD would spend the money and get reimbursed by Phil. Adi also believes that we should raise the International membership dues to $40. Adi will make a list and Brad brought up that we need to make a map of the boundaries.
Combo Pattern/IMAC Event – Rich Whitlow
Rich has been approached from District 6 to explore the possibilities of a dual Pattern/IMAC event. He knew that we would gain some exposure with the Pattern hobby, possibly have some cross members. The logistics are going to be very difficult to get in enough rounds for both events. Rich will sit down with this individual to see what it would take to do an event with each group. The first event won’t be until 2020. Right now, this is just in discussion. Pattern and IMAC will be doing a joint event in March.
Membership Profiles per Region – Mike Karnes
Mike has been sending out membership cards. He just emailed to the RDs members with incomplete profiles. Mike is asking the RDs to please take time to work on the list. We need the members’ addresses to be able to send them their membership cards. So far, Mike has sent over 400 card to the members.
By-Law Change and How to Create Annual Meet – Brad Davy
Brad posted the information on the By-Law change and the annual meeting, and no one has made any comments. Brad suggests that we set a date now for the annual meeting. We need to get the membership comfortable with how the meeting will be held. Mike suggests the beginning of June to hold the annual meeting. The announcement of the annual meeting will have to be posted on the IMAC front page on the website. Then, an email would need to be sent to all members on record to notify of the annual meeting of the By-Laws. This must be done 30 days in advance of the meeting. Samantha mentioned to post the annual meeting to the Regional pages to help remind members of the meeting. The created forum would open for discussion the first of June and would remain open until June 14th. Mike would call the meeting to order in the forum. Once the meeting is open, the first topic of discussion is about the amendment to the By-Laws, Article 10. Then, it is just a matter of discussion for two weeks. At the end of the two weeks, we will close the forum to comments and initiate the online poll. This would give the membership the opportunity to vote for or against the amendments. The two forums would be separate: one for discussion and one for only the poll. The poll will strictly be a yes or no vote. By hosting the annual meeting online, we are providing all members, including the International Region, their right to vote. Right now, it requires a 2/3 vote of the members being present. This would be a 2/3 majority of the online vote.
For the additional changes, this would allow us to propose the amendment, have the membership discuss for 30 days, and then be voted on.
The Use of Electronic Scoring in IMAC – Ray Morton
Ray informed the BOD that he would be willing to try the electronic scoring systems that are currently used by other organizations. He has also received word from other CDs in the North Central region that they would be willing to try these systems. Ray asked for some guidance on which system to try. Ray informed the BOD that the pattern system will be used in the North Central region at his event. Brad said that to use caution with the Pattern system, due to the fact the pattern system is not incorporated within our score program. After the contest, all scores would have to be inputted into the IMAC scoring system manually. Ray believes that he will be able to use the import/export function. Doug also does not believe this to be the case.
Adi says that Italy has an electronic scoring system that works in Italy, called the Notaumatic. Dan Carroll is working on the integration that allows it to work with the score system that IMAC is using. It has been tested in several IMAC contests. Australia is going to do the first trial.
Doug informed the BOD that this discussion was held in a forum 6 months ago, which he reposted 11 days ago. Doug asked for a plan, which includes testing, funding, trials, etc. to be sent to him and he would present to the BOD. The only two replies were from Ray and Jeff Marsuchek. Doug hasn’t received a formal plan. Doug has spoke with Dan Carroll and Australia is going to do the trial run, but Dan is still not ready. We could have been a part of the beta testing, but Doug received no replies to pursue this, so he moved onto other projects. We are currently not ready and a plan is not in place to try and incorporate the Notaumatic or the Pattern system into our IMAC events.
Ray said that they are doing beta testing and we need to see if we can do the beta testing in parallel. Ray doesn’t think that it will be very difficult to incorporate into our current score system. Alex asked if anyone has spoken with Peter Vogel, who resides in California. The few BOD members that knew his system said it wouldn’t import into our score system. Mr. Vogel’s system uses at least 2 iPod units, which are currently being phased out. His system is around $1,000-2,000 for a contest setup. Mr. Vogel’s system also has so many different buttons and so many different inputs. Mike asked if Mr. Vogel would setup the IMAC score program in his unit.
Currently, the only system that will import is the Notaumatic. Adi says that the Notaumatic is more doable because of the break in sequence and other break penalties incorporated within the system. A Notaumatic system is 200 euros per unit. Each contest will need at least three units for each event. There is a $600 investment on hardware. Australia has bought 5 units and Italy has bought 5-6 units as well. France manufactures the Notaumatic. This guy also makes the score system for the Pattern system.
Mike would like to see a company manufacture these units, instead of an individual that could stop production or support at any time. What happens if we invest in these units and the individuals decides not to make them anymore? Mike used the IMAC app as an example. The individual that created this app decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. Mike would feel a little safer if a company produced these units, but it would be hard to get a company to produce only 20 units. We would also need a software solution that isn’t platform dependent. Our current system runs in multiple different environments that run Java. Brad suggests that we should have a two-button controller.
Ray is willing to volunteer to do any system for IMAC. He says there is a lot of enthusiasm in the NC region for an electronic scoring system. Ray believes that the sooner we get started the better. Mike asked Ray who would be available to write the unknowns into the program for testing. If we can borrow AMA’s unit, we need to see if we can try it at Mike’s contest in May. Ray said the system can be configured for an IMAC contest for the unknowns. With the International beta testing the systems, we will be able to get some feedback from them. They have been testing for 2 years and still are working on it. They are doing this independently.
M&M and the Toledo Trade Show – Doug Pilcher
Mike and Doug have been contacted by Matt Komar about going to the Toledo Show. Matt and some members of the M&M Committee are going as volunteers for the IMAC booth. They have received a free booth, along with 2 weekend vendor passes. One of the committee members will be doing all of the printing that is needed. Matt is asking the BOD to reimburse them for some fuel, parking, and extra badges. Matt has also asked if they can offer the $20 signup promotion that Primo has done. Doug told matt that he would be able to offer this as a one-time promotion. Matt also asked about stick planes and Doug told him to talk to Toby Silhavy. He will find out how much the planes would cost. They are asking for about 50 stick planes. The initial budget for the Toledo Show was $500 and the M&M committee is asking for some reimbursement of expenses. There is no cost for the booth. With the booth, it come with 1 table and 4 chairs. Right now, all members running the booth are volunteers.
Currently, there is a budget for the WRAM, Toledo, and Joe Nall of $1,500.
The BOD had initially agreed to not attend the Toledo Show. Phil believes that we don’t recoup what we put into the show. Rich believes that we should give them the money being requested. Ray has spoke with Rob Willis and the IMAC booth will be adjacent to one of the IMAC vendors. Basically, the booth will be covered at all times.
With one objection, the BOD agreed to reimburse for gas, parking and 5 extra badges. The BOD also agreed to offer a one-time membership promotion of $20.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
Phil has been having issues with PayPal. He had to write a letter to the IRS and have them mail back to PayPal , a 147 c form. It had to be faxed to PayPal and then they would reopen the account.
There is another issue with PayPal. The IMAC PayPal account was started back in 2004 by Steve Evans. It has been in Mr. Evan’s name ever since. The options we have are to change the name or close the account and start a new one. The only one who can close the account is Steve Evans. We won’t be able to transfer money with a new account. Phil has spoken with Melissa with PayPal and they are wanting to show IMAC as a business. One option that would help with this is to have the electronic debit of the IMPACT software to come out of the account. Melissa is going to work with the office and see what they can get done. With being incorporated, this should be easy.
A question arose that since IMAC is now incorporated, should we file income taxes for 2018.
Phil has sent the 2018 World financial statement out to the Executive Board today. The Worlds had done really well. Once the World financial report is approved, he will send out to the financial report for 2018.
The donation hasn’t been made to AMA for the 2018. Last year, we gave a $1,000 donation and bought a brick. A motion was made to purchase a brick by Samantha McKinney and seconded by Rich Whitlow. Motion passed unanimously. Phil will talk with AMA to purchase the brick.
The balance in the IMAC General Operating account as of today is:
Checking $30,432.17
PayPal $ 3,963.88
Total $34,396.05
Phil asked the RDs if they had received their regional reports. All regional accounts have been set back to actual per revised budget changes.
Regional Issues – All RDs
Ray has spoken with Bill Teeter. Canada Transport is potentially coming up with new rules starting June 1. These rules sound pretty restrictive and prohibitive. One mentions of a 400 ft ceiling limits.
Meeting adjourned 11:09 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
IMAC REVENUES
Membership Dues $19,453.28
IMAC Regions $ 2,845.37
Bank Refunds $ 76.01
AMA NATS $ 1,724.50
Red Book Sales $ 565.00
IMAC WORLDS REVENUES*
Pilot/Mechanic/Helper/Team Man $27,615.00
Sponsorships $ 7,395.00
Auctions $ 3,970.00
Banquet Tickets $ 6,310.00
Donations $ 1,675.00
Merchandise Sales $ 7,330.01
Banner Ads $ 125.00
Total 2018 Income $79,084.17
IMAC EXPENSES
Regional Expenses $ 8,928.51
AMA NATS $ 7,864.25
Awards $ 45.30
Bank Fees $ 41.01
GoToMeeting Account $ 295.00
Judging Guide Manuals (Red Books) $ 1,513.25
Membership Refunds $ 80.00
National Judging School $ 5,110.42
Office Expenses $ 2,487.52
Printing/Postage/Oper Exp $ 468.13
Regional Judging Schools $ 409.41
Shipping $ 21.20
Trade Shows $ 1,981.98
Software (Sequence Com) $ 99.99
Website Maintenance $ 3,852.00
Website (IMPACT/Training Link) $ 119.88
IMAC WORLDS EXPENSES*
IMAC World Championships $52,720.82
Total 2018 Expenses $86,038.67
2018 Surplus/(Deficit) ($6,954.50)
Add: 2017 Retained Earnings $43,883.22
12/31/2018 Ending Balance $36,928.72
*These revenues and expenses were incurred in just 2018. The remainder of the IWC Revenues and Expenses were accounted for from 2015-2017.*
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Doug Pilcher, Adi Kochav, Alex Dreiling, Brad Davy, Jeff Marsuchek, Clark Hymas, and Steve Sides
Guests: Ray Morton, Primo Rivera, and Rich Whitlow
Meeting began 9:00 p.m. EST.
International Judging School – Alex Dreiling
Alex informed the BOD that the International Judging School is ready to go. Phil said that Adi and Manrico have received their funds for the International Judging School.
SWAG – Alex Dreiling
Alex has been receiving questions on where IMAC merchandise can be purchased. Alex has done some research on some companies that we could use to sell merchandise and that we could link these sites to our own website. These companies do embroidery and screen printing. IMAC sets their margins. Alex has also spoken with Wayne Matthews with Sew Busy. His company does embroidery, not screen printing. Mr. Matthews would send IMAC funds for the merchandise that he sold each month. Phil informed the BOD that this is how he has done this in the past. There are also some pilots requesting to purchase more stickers that were sent out with the membership cards.
Brad hasn’t had a good experience with selling club branded merchandise. He said that the cost ended up being outrageous and wasn’t many requests for merchandise.
As a non-profit organization, we can make money to support our organization. With outsourcing to another company, they do not charge non-profits to setup the store. Alex will check to see if they can do international shipping. He will also check to make sure that each region can include their own merchandise, specific to their region.
Possible By-Law Changes for 2019 – Brad Davy
Brad started a post in the BOD forum regarding possible By-Law changes for 2019. There are currently five areas that need attention and further discussion.
The process to change the current By-Laws is going to be a difficult process. The current By-Law states that the By-Laws can only be changed at an annual meeting with a 2/3 majority vote of the members in attendance at the meeting. The initial problem is being able to host an annual meeting with several members in attendance. Geographically, this will be very hard to accomplish. A meeting could be held at the AMA NATS, but there wouldn’t be very many members in attendance.
Brad recommends that we modify the By-Laws to where it doesn’t require an annual meeting. In 2019, we could call an annual meeting online, which in turn, we would hold an online meeting on the website where the membership could vote. This would give every member online access, so they would have an opportunity to vote. With the 2/3 majority requirement, we would have to make it where it would be a 2/3 majority vote of the members present at the online meeting. The majority of the BOD believes we should host an online meeting. Every member must be notified of this meeting. The By-Laws state that we can mail each member a postcard, informing them of the annual meeting.
Another issue is currently the By-Laws state that to be a member of our IMAC organization, the member must be a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) or a recognized governing organization. Do we want to keep this as a requirement to be a member? IMAC does not have control whether our members are a member of AMA or other organizations. We are a special interest group of the AMA. Do we want to operate independently of AMA? In the sig meetings, this question has come up several times. IMAC is the only sig organization that requires their members to be AMA members or a recognized governing organization.
Another change would be to require an annual report to the membership.
Brad will create a draft of his recommended changes and post to the BOD forum. We shouldn’t vote on this issue until the new BOD enters in 2019.
Guidelines for RDs and their ARDs; What needs to be on the Contest before Approval is Granted; and IMAC Rules and/or Guideline Changes – Doug Pilcher
The Guidelines for the RDs and the ARDs are posted in the BOD forum for review.
Doug has worked on three new documents: How to get the most out of being RD; the Contest Standards, and the IMAC CD checklist. Gil had a question on the Contest Standards. The second table on the drop schedule and Gil doesn’t understand what it is saying, Knowns and Unknowns Drop Schedule. The first one is the percentage and the second one is the drops. The second schedule puts them all side by side. These schedules show how many sequences are dropped on the number of known and unknown rounds flown. This was changes due to a rainout where 2 unknowns were flown; one unknown round can still be dropped.
Brad had a question about the $20 discount on Contest Standards. What if a CD holds a contest and doesn’t offer the $20 discount, will it count as a regional points contest? Mike says that if we don’t offer the $20 discount, we are not benefiting our members. Why would anyone want to be a member if they don’t receive a discount? Mike says that it is time to make IMAC membership worth something and for the CD to step up and offer this. Brad says that we could potentially lose a member with the cost of the first contest being higher.
The original documents wording was “should,” instead of the new documents containing the word “shall.” Do we want to enforce the CD to offer the discount? By using “should,” it gives the CD more flexibility on new members coming to the contest. The CD would just add $20 to the IMAC member fee for the non-IMAC member fee. Steve wonders what happens at a contest and how does the CD know that the pilot is a member. Alex emails out the pilots’ list for score and spreadsheet of current IMAC members as of the day before the contest. With one vote for “should,” and the rest for “shall,” a majority of the BOD agree that the wording will be “shall” in the Contest Standards and CD Checklist documents.
A motion was made to approve the 2019 Contest Standards Guidelines and CD Checklist as presented by Doug in the BOD forum by Brad Davy and seconded by Phil Vance. Motion passed unanimously. Doug will upload the documents to the website.
The new rule book is published, but is not on the IMAC site. Mike will send to Roy to upload to the website and Mike will start printing them for the 2019 season.
Regional Monies to Carry into 2019 – Samantha McKinney
Samantha and Mike have been working with Phil on bringing the regional accounts back to actual retained amounts for the 2019 season. Each region will keep the money that they raised from 2015-2018. For expenses, if the region stayed under budget for that year, they did not keep the remaining regional funds left for that year. If the region went over budget for that year, the amount over the budgeted funding was subtracted from their regional account. Mike and Samantha worked on these numbers independently and have come out with the same 2018 ending balances.
Samantha will send the adjustments to Phil to make to the corrected amounts coming into the 2019 season.
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
The balance at the end of November in the IMAC General Fund is as follows:
Checking $19,577.13
PayPal $16,380.04
Total $35,957.17
The current balance as of tonight:
Checking $34,527.45
PayPal $ 726.06
Total $35,253.51
The invoice for the new RedBook binders were more than anticipated. There were setup fees and shipping that wasn’t added in. PayPal again has questioned our FEIN because it doesn’t match the IRS. Samantha made a suggestion to Phil to check to make sure that the name with the IRS matches the name with PayPal.
The IWC account has a balance of $4,715.39, which included in the IMAC General Fund. The BOD still needs to decided what they would like to do for AMA as a donation. Phil has spoken with AMA and they said that we could send a donation or buy a brick. If we buy a brick, we need to decided what to have put on it.
Phil is still having domestic members renew under the International fee. It averages out to about 2-3 members per month.
Regional Issues – All RDs
Brad has had several pilots who want to be ARDs. He will get the pictures and names to Doug. The scheduling looks the same as 2018. Brad hasn’t heard any feedback on WRAM.
Mike informed the BOD that we will not be attending the Toledo Show in 2019. It was a major expense for IMAC, with not much feedback..
Steve has been working with Primo on the South East region, getting him ready to go. Primo has been receiving positive feedback with him being the RD. He has some ideas that he will run by the BOD at the January 2019 meeting.
The North Central region is doing well. Jeff is working with Ray on the transition. Jeff has ordered the RPS championship jackets from Sew Busy. Brad said that these jackets are a great idea for each region and would like for Jeff to share the information with the other RDs.
The North East region is also doing well. Clark is working on the 2019 schedule. He has found a spot for the regional judging school that won’t cost anything.
Alex reported that the South West region is doing well.
Doug needs to work with the new RDs on getting their Live Writer program setup and training done for Live Writer and the scheduling of contests. Doug would like to see a post from all the RDs for the New Years.
Adi reported that he and Manrico are working on the 2022 IWC and the 2020 Europeans. There will be a regional contest in Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. The Asia Pacific will be held in Australia. The pilots must be an IMAC member to participate in these regional contests.
Adi mentioned that it is time to make the International Region equal to the 6 domestic regions. We need to discuss splitting the International region into three regions: Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Each region would have its own RD.
Michael Hobson is the new ARD for the Asia Pacific area. Mr. Hobson is the President of IMAC Australia.
Mike will be giving the International membership cards to Adi at the International Judging School in January for distribution to the International members.
Ty Lyman wants to have IMAC represented at Joe Nall. He is going to talk with a couple of people to help out with these event. Primo volunteered to help out with a booth. Primo also mentioned that we could do an IMAC demo.
Thank You – Mike Karnes
Mike thanked Jeff, Gil, and Steve for all the hard work they have done for IMAC for the past several years. Their work is much appreciated and will still be working with them in the future.
Meeting adjourned at 10:44 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Mike Karnes, Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Brad Davy, Steve Sides, Clark Hymas, Doug Pilcher, Alex Dreiling, and Adi Kochav
Absent: Jeff Marsuchek
Guests: Ray Morton, Primo Rivera, and Rich Whitlow
Meeting began at 9:00 p.m. EST.
Welcome and Congratulations to the Winners – Mike Karnes
Mike welcomed Rich, Ray, and Primo to the BOD.
Emails from Members about Negative Posts – Mike Karnes
Mike has received several emails about negative posts. Mike did inform the BOD that he did write a post in one of the forums. It was the consensus of the BOD to not respond to any of the negative posts.
Judging School – Alex Dreiling
Alex reminded the RDs that it is up to them on who they are sending to the judging school from their region. He asks the RD’s to let him know by the last week in December. Currently, Gil and Steve will be attending the Friday portion. Adi and Manrico will also be flying in for the Judging School.
Mike is in the process of ordering the Red Books. Currently, he has 200 binders ordered. Phil has sent the proof of the cover for the Red Books to the Executive BOD for approval. The inserts have not been printed yet. We are waiting on AMA approval. They should have it approved by December 1. The price is $5 for the inserts and $10 for the binder and inserts.
Alex informed the BOD that to rent the projector is $400 per day. Mike will bring out a projector for the Judging School.
Alex asked the BOD on what they thought about bringing Leasha Bull out to the International Judging School for social media. Everyone thought this would be a great idea. Currently, a round trip ticket would cost around $250. Leasha wants to come and wants to stay involved with IMAC doing our social media. A motion was made to pay for Leash Bull’s airfare for the International Judging School by Alex Dreiling and seconded by Gil Major. Motion passed unanimously.
Alex has been talking with Shane Snyder and Ty Lyman on doing a video recording of the school. He is talking about a possible live feed or a recording that can be edited. Alex will speak with them again on their thoughts for the project.
Guidelines for RDs and their ARDs – Doug Pilcher
A regional director from 2012 had created guidelines for RDs and their ARDs. Doug is currently rewriting this document, since much of the information is outdated. This is just a baseline of information for the RD’s. Doug will post it out to the BOD forum before next month’s meeting.
The updated Contest Standards is Version 11. It talks about the $20 IMAC member discount. At some contests, a member has the same fee as a non-member. We are not telling the clubs what to charge for registration, but we are expecting a $20 discount to be given to IMAC members. This is another benefit to our members. The hyperlinks to AMA had to be changed and will need to be updated again when AMA completes their website upgrade. Doug is also working on this document and will also post to the BOD forum.
The CD checklist has been updated to also include the $20 discount to members over non-members. This will be posted to the BOD forum for approval to get all new documents uploaded to the website before January 1st for the 2019 season.
Currently, we have contests being approved without all the contest details being provided. The RD should make sure that the contest requested is completed. The contests will still be posted but will be highlighted in yellow to show that it is pending approval. At minimum, the details page must be completed for approval. After the initial request, any additional information in details or addition of flyers for the contest can be added through the region’s RD. Doug said that this will be added to the contest guide.
Novice Class – Mike Karnes
Mike knows that there are some BOD members who don’t like the Novice class. This class is an invitation to try IMAC and build a relationship with the pilots to invite them to join. There might only be 1-2 people show up, but there could also be 10 people that attend. Mike has created an Aresti with 7 figure sequences. They are basic turnaround maneuvers and a loop. The pilot should be able to do any of these maneuvers with any plane that is brought.
If we do nothing, we are going to get nothing. There are very few pilots that might show up if they don’t hear a contest is being held. A CD would go on the AMA site and search for the local clubs in the area. Then, contact the club president or secretary and send them a flyer, inviting their club to come to the contest to see what IMAC is about. This flyer would need to be sent at least 30 days in advance to be read at the club meetings. This would include getting the ARDs more involved.
The Novice class is limited to 97” wingspan or less. The pilots will be scored. There will be 2 judges in the chair and they will critique the pilot, along with the caller, after the sequence is completed.
Brad believes that we are overcomplicating this issue. He doesn’t want to have 6-7 people show up and try to find other pilots that would help them fly a special sequence. They will take up the judges’ time. Brad says that they can fly the Basic Aresti and their scores wouldn’t have to be entered in the score program. He believes that the time to contact and send flyers to the clubs would be very time consuming on the RD, ARD, and CD. He says that some of the clubs have zero interest. Mike asked for an alternative away to invite these clubs and Brad says that it is up to the CD to promote their contest.
Adi agrees with Mike about something needs to be done. He asked when the Basic class became so competitive. With creating the Novice class, this would create another class. He asked how we take the rules from the Novice class and apply them to the Basic class. Currently, Basic class can fly any plane. This would leave our classes the same.
The Novice class would not create a By-Law change. The By-Laws are organizational. We have the Contest Standards, which defines how the contest is run. Mike’s proposal does not require an AMA rule change, it would require a revision to the Contest Standards. There are two proposals in the BOD forums on the potential Novice class, Mike’s and Brad’s.
Brad’s proposal is an alternative approach to the Basic class. Adi suggested restricting the size of the airplane in Basic, but this would require a rule change. It would have to be announced at least 2 years in advance to the membership for everyone to be prepared. If we write an RCP, the Scale Aerobatics Board would still have to approve it.
Mike will take what has been discussed and add it to the proposal. Mike reiterated that if we can’t get new pilots to the contests, how are we going to get them interested in joining IMAC.
Membership Discount – Steve Sides
Primo will be hosting some Basic demos to try and promote IMAC in the South East region. Steve has asked the BOD for approval of offering a $20 membership at these demos for new members. This would be an incentive for new members. Primo’s first demo is December1, 2018.
Brad had discussed this before as an introductory IMAC membership; first year member would receive a 50% discount. This could also include prior members of IMAC who have been away for a yet to be determined period of time. Doug likes the idea of the introductory discount. This would be a one-time, initial/or re-entry after a specified amount of time away from IMAC discount only.
A motion was made to introduce a $20 introductory membership to new members and prior members. Phil asked how this would be handled and how he would verify that they were first-time members or back from an extended period yet to be determined. The mechanics behind this would take some time to get established. Doug believes that the best approach to this is to run the introductory membership through the RD in that region. This lets the RD determine if they are a returning member or a new member. The RD would take the membership fee; the pilot would create the account on the IMAC site; and the fees would be sent to Phil direct from Region RD.
If another button gets added to PayPal, this could create another scenario that we currently have with the international button being clicked, instead of the U.S. button. We still have some pilots who click on the wrong button. With the demos, Primo will take the money and would send the fees to Phil, so he can assign the membership numbers.
The RD could create a spreadsheet of the new members and send them to Phil at one time. If it comes straight from the RD, Phil will know that this is new membership or extended period of time away from IMAC return. This would help Phil out a great deal. The members will still have to create an account on the IMAC site so Phil can assign their membership number. Brad doesn’t agree with the RDs having to send this information into Phil.
Brad says that we should have these options on the site for members or potential members to be able to click. The other RDs have no problem with sending the information to Phil. Brad is trying to put in place a long-term plan by using PayPal via the site. We don’t have to use PayPal via the site when it can be mailed or PayPal’d direct from RD to Phil.
The consensus of the BOD is to have an introductory membership. Doug will get with Primo and Steve will send him an email.
Adi has been talking with Manrico and they would like to have a mass registration in the International region. They want all pilots to join IMAC. He says that they could register more than 100 pilots right now. Adi would like to offer these members a $5=$10 discount. Every International member will be required to join IMAC. They will sign-up every pilot that flies in the contests. Brad questioned why the International members can’t go to the website and become an IMAC member, since they must have an account to be assigned a membership number. Adi says that we can raise their price to $40 per year and this would create a budget for the International region. If the price is raised, it would show them that they are receiving a 50% discount for new membership. Adi believes that even though International doesn’t receive the same benefits, the membership fee should be the same across all regions. Adi suggested the 50% discount, or $20 one-year membership for everyone, but the consensus of the BOD was to only offer the $20 membership to introductory members only.
Possible By-Law Changes for 2019 – Brad Davy
The By-Law changes were tabled until next month for the documentation to be completed.
IMAC Rules and/or Guideline Changes based on tonight’s discussion – Mike Karnes
This item was tabled until next month for the documentation to be completed.
Final Budget Discussion and Vote – Mike Karnes
Phil presented the final budget to the BOD members to review. The BOD thoroughly reviewed the budget presented. Phil said that we have never spent $14,900 for the International Judging School, but that is what is budgeted currently. We are cutting the staff down for the NATS to 6 paid staff members.
The website maintenance fees have been lowered to $200 per month. A questions was asked what IMAC receives for the website maintenance for $2,400 a year. Mike mentioned that if anybody knows someone who would like to do the website, bring in a proposal. This is not a simple website; it has a huge background behind it. With some members continuing to attack the integrity of our current webmaster, we won’t have a website. Doug says that we will not get anyone that will do it for less than $2,400 a year currently charged.
We are not going to do Toledo in 2019. We spend too much money and don’t get much feedback. The show is getting smaller and with less participation. The symposiums didn’t work. We have added Joe Nall to the budget. We would need to talk to someone who is going out there to see if they would oversee a booth. The minimum cost for a booth is $400.
Regional expenses got bumped up to $1,250. Many of the regional judging schools are self-supporting. Each region will keep in their account the funds that they have raised in their respective regions. Mike and Samantha will work on the regional fund accounts to get their accounts back to actual amounts with in region earned funds vs expenditures. There will be no carryover of funds from each year of the budget funding that is not spent, except monies earned in region for that year.
A motion was made to accept the budget as presented by Steve Sides and seconded by Doug Pilcher. By roll-call vote, motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer Report – Phil Vance
Phil has received a letter from PayPal saying that the IRS EIN doesn’t match the EIN that the PayPal has. Phil handles this each year. The IRS must write a letter to PayPal confirming the EIN.
The ending balance for the IMAC accounts form the month of October was:
Checking $25,146.32
PayPal $15,200.20
Total $40,346.52
The current balance in the IMAC accounts as of tonight is:
Checking $19,527.10
PayPal $15,881.08
Total $35,408.18
Phil has been having an issue wiring the money to Manrico and Adi for their approved reimbursements for the International Judging School. Funds cannot be transferred through PayPal due to the laws in Israel. Phil will get with Adi and see if they can get this problem corrected.
We have not given a donation to AMA for the 2018 IMAC Worlds Championship. Phil is still working on finalizing the numbers. He believes that we made a profit of $4,500. All bills for the 2018 IMAC Worlds have been paid in full. Phil is thinking about a donation of $1,200. AMA recommends that we purchase a brick, which would give recognition to IMAC and IWC 18.
Regional Issues – All RDs
The RDs currently have no regional issues in their respective region.
Mike informed the BOD that once minutes are posted for approval in the BOD forum, BOD members will have one week to make changes to the minutes before they are posted to the IMAC site.
Meeting adjourned at 11:25 p.m. EST.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Pilcher
- Category: Club Business
Present: Gil Major, Phil Vance, Samantha McKinney, Brad Davy, Doug Pilcher, Clark Hymas, Adi Kochav, Jeff Marsuchek, Alex Dreiling, and Steve Sides
Absent: Mike Karnes
Guests: Ray Morton and Primo Rivera
Meeting began 9:00 p.m. EST.
Welcome – Gil Major
Gil welcomed Primo Rivera and Ray Morton as incoming regional directors to the BOD. The BOD is looking forward to working with both of them.
IMAC Forms and Rules – Steve Sides
Steve wanted to make a change to the contest guide relating to how it would apply towards the SE Regional Championship. Steve said that he had been at Tucson and hasn’t posted his recommendation to the BOD forum. Doug will check back with him.
Budget – All BOD Members
Mike has sent the IMAC budget in Word format to Phil. Phil has reviewed the budget that Mike has presented. He believes that the projected income is high. The projected income is at $20,400 for 2019. Phil informed the BOD that November and December is the biggest months of the year for income received. Adi believes that IMAC will grow Internationally in 2019. It will take precedence in Italy first, and then grow from there.
Phil informed the BOD that it is hard to budget the expenditures. We don’t know costs for the 2019 International Judging School. We know the each region can send up to two members. Also for 2019, we will only be charged $200 a month for website maintenance going forward.
Phil has made some changes, except for the expenditures that he knows of currently. Phil will discuss the projected budget with Mike and get final numbers. The Executive BOD will discuss the budget and present at next month’s meeting. A motion was made to table the budget til November’s meeting for the numbers to be finalized by Brad Davy and seconded by Doug Pilcher. Motion passed unanimously.
Basic Split to Novice Class – All BOD Members
Adi believes that we have nothing to lose on splitting the Basic class. Basic is supposed to be a class that isn’t intimidating. If we want pilots to try IMAC, the Novice class will give them the opportunity and the Basic class will remain competitive. We can still use their scores and judge them. Their scores will not be included in IRPS.
Brad is opposed to the split in the Basic class. He believes that we are doing something that is very complicated. He questioned that is this something that we try and it fades away. Brad says we don’t need to enter their scores in the score program; just hand them the score sheets after the judges are done. Doug believes that we should enter the scores. This allows the pilot to see how the scores compare to other competitors. By entering scores, Brad says that this is considered complicated and extra work on the scorekeeper. With entering scores, it would give the pilot a chance to feel what IMAC is about. We could offer reduced registration fees. Currently, in the Basic class, a pilot can fly whatever they want to fly.
Adi believes that this would give an option to the pilots who don’t want to compete. The ones that don’t want to compete are the pilots that show up with a smaller aircraft. Currently, Brad and Steve are against the original proposal, but several BOD members are in favor. Brad says that if we split the class, it would have to be done during a rules cycle. It requires AMA rule change, due to redefining the class. With the original proposal, we are not changing the rules. It is giving the CD the option to change. To AMA, we are still Basic class through Unlimited class. With IMAC, we are simply adding another class. With most contests, there may only be 2-3 guys that are interested in this class. It is the same principal as a boot camp.
With the original proposal, its intent is to get rid of the intimidation factor. Brad believes that the only way to get rid of this is size limitation within the class. With size limitation, this would eliminate the 3D pilots that would give IMAC a try. With this limitation, it takes an AMA rule change. We cannot have any AMA rules change until 2021. Adi agrees to a size limitation in Basic and Brad disagrees. Brad and Primo have not seen anyone who is intimidated by the size of the aircrafts. It is the pilots that don’t show up who are intimidated. The pilots say that they don’t have faith in their own flying abilities.
A question was asked about a pilot showing up with a 40% aircraft and the CD says he can’t compete under the Novice class. This pilot would be able to fly the Basic class, but he wouldn’t be able to compete against the pilots with smaller aircrafts. Adi believes that this proposal won’t work if we don’t have a size limitation.
We could do an advertisement on the new class, if the BOD passes the proposal. This would be a good campaign and can do it now without going to the AMA. In the future, we can make the rule change with Basic and the size limitation.
Gil asked Brad to write up a proposal for the 2019 contest guide and present at the November meeting for a vote. With Brad’s point, we can introduce Adi’s proposal without going to AMA. The original proposal and Brad’s proposal will be discussed at the November meeting.
International Issues – Adi Kochav
Adi has made the proposal to split the International region into three: Latin America, European, and Asia Pacific. We currently have ARDs in these regions. Each region would have an RD and an International coordinator. They want to make these regions even bigger. Each and every region will have its own premier contest. The premier contest would be every 2 years and the Worlds would be every four years. To participate in these contests, it will be mandatory to be an IMAC member. We could even have a premier event within the United States. In the USA/Canada, we cannot enforce membership.
Adi wanted the BOD to consider his three proposals. The first proposal is to take the International Region and split into three, which would put two more RDs on the BOD. The second proposal is creating regional premier events. The third proposal is to make it a requirement to be an IMAC member for the premier contests. Adi said that only IMAC members can compete in the 2020 European Cup. There isn’t anything preventing the premier contests in the International region. Brad recommends that we delay the proposal to split the region and adding two more RDs to the BOD until the new BOD in January of 2019. We could consider having a special election for the International region in the Fall of 2019.
Membership Cards and Profiles – Steve Sides
Steve has many questions about the email that was sent out regarding completed member profiles and the membership cards. They are requiring that the member profile be completed for the membership cards can be sent to the members. The cards were also created for the IMAC members to receive a $20 discount at contest registration. The judging instructor signature line is just for informational purposes that the pilot has attended a judging school. This could also be an alternative for a judging school’s certificate. Some other ideas that were mentioned for this was giving an additional discount for attending a judging school. In the $5.00 range was discussed as a possibility with Ty Lyman and Doug Pilcher. To this point, only has been an idea.
There is a banner above the election ballot that says your vote will not count in the election unless your member profiled is completed. This suggests that if our member profile is not complete, you cannot vote. This is against our By-Laws. Steve’s second question is why are we requiring this. Brad and Steve’s argument is that requiring member profile being completed changes the voting process.
The voting was setup by our webmaster and Doug has no knowledge of this being tied to the member profile directly other than regionally. Our By-Laws state that we must publish the election method on when the election will take place. The voting process was never voted on by the BOD. Mike made the forum post two months ago on the voting process, timing, and method two months ago on the Member’s forum. Mike posted in the Member Forum on September 13. It was opened a few hours earlier due to the hurricane. A motion was made that all members in good standing should be allowed to vote by Steve Sides and seconded by Brad Davy. By roll-call vote, motion passed unanimously.
Samantha made mention of receiving an election letter from one of the VP candidates. Alex was also caught off guard being receiving this email. The BOD was not aware that members had access to member profiled information. Doug is currently contacting the webmaster to have this removed for all members, except for the BOD. European law has been passed that their citizens cannot have their information posted on websites.
Doug has drafted an email (During BOD Meeting) to the changes being requested by BOD to the webmaster. These include the removal of the “Member Profiles being completed to vote” banner and a “Member Lookup feature to be removed from the site as it was intended for BOD members only.” *See Addendum*. A motion was made to accept Doug’s email on the changes to the webmaster by Brad Davy and seconded by Steve Sides. By roll call vote, motion passed unanimously. Email was sent to entire BOD and Webmaster at 9:33 p.m. CST during meeting.
Brad suggested that the voting be extended by two weeks from the date the banner and the coding is removed from the website. A motion to extend the election by 2 weeks from when the banner comes down on the voting restrictions on member profile for just strictly the website and will do an email blast letting members know the change was made by Brad Davy and seconded by Steve Sides. Motion passed unanimously. *See Addendum.*
Treasurer’s Report – Phil Vance
At the end of September, the balances in the IMAC accounts were as follows:
Checking $29,231.86
PayPal $13,453.20
Total $42,685.06
The current balance as October 22 in the IMAC accounts is as follows:
Checking $26,256.00
PayPal $13,566.06
Total $39,822.06
The balance in the IWC account is $4,909.29, which is included in the IMAC General Checking account. All IWC bills have been paid. A mention was made to make a donation of $1,200 to AMA for the IWC. We can buy a brick or just given them a donation.
Phil wanted to get some clarification on the amounts for the International Judging School. In the past, we set aside $700 per person for 2 members from each region to be sent to the Judging School. On the International region, Phil believes that we should cover the whole cost of the airfare. Phil says that is is imperative that we have them attend these schools. A motion was made to cover up to $1,100 per person for Adi and Manrico to attend the International Judging School in 2019 in Phoenix by Phil Vance and seconded by Doug Pilcher. Motion passes unanimously.
Phil received a letter today on our domain name via Weebly. Doug will check into this letter and get back with Phil and the BOD.
Regional Issues and Updates – All RDs
Brad reported that the Northwest Region has its 2018 season wrapped up. Jeff reported that the North Central Region ended up well. There were some new pilots that came to fly Basic. North Central had a very good season and have started working on dates for the 2019 season. Jeff is currently working on ordering the jackets for the IRPS regional champs. The Northeast region finished their season in September. Clark said that they didn’t have as many attendees as they would’ve liked. The Southeast regionals will be held the first weekend in November. The South Central has a first-time contest this weekend in Pampa, Texas. The contest is at an AMA district representative’s field. Doug said two weeks after that contest is their IRPS finish in Sherman, TX. Alex reported that the Southwest region is getting ready for regional contests.
Gil would like to see the Worlds moved away from Labor Day weekend. Adi reported that the Worlds will be in August of 2022.
Meeting adjourned at 11:06 p.m. EST.
**Addendum**
The request to Webmaster during this meeting, to remove verbiage of any voting restrictions had been completed before the October 22nd meeting had concluded. Throughout the meeting and over the next roughly 12 hours, Doug had been in correspondence with our webmaster, with entire BOD included. Webmaster advised that there were no voting restrictions in place at the time of the election different that years past web election process. Each member needed to have the “State and Country” field completed to place their vote for the Regional Director only. There was only one contested election for Regional Director, the South Central Region, so this restriction only applied to South Central members in that race and as it applied to State and Country only. With no other voting restrictions in place, the BOD had not pressed in the BOD forum (nor replied to email chain with last email exchange at approximately 7:51 a.m. on the 23rd of October CST) for the need to extend the elections by two weeks. This appeared to be a non-issue with the BOD members who raised this issue with no replies following and with the Webmasters explanations supplied.