GMCWS General Membership Meeting
Wine Country RV Park & Resort
October 8, 2017
President Nick Roenick called the meeting to order at 9:12 a.m.
President Roenick thanked the hosts of this rally, Dave and Donna deGraffenreid, for all their hard work. He introduced officers present:
- George Beckman, Second/Technical VP
- Dave de Graffenreid, Treasurer
- Donna Ventura, Secretary
- Sandy Clark, Newsletter Editor
Absent: Carol Minnie, First VP, and Armand Minnie, Webmaster.
Current and past GMC Presidents present were acknowledged: Frank and Freddi Condos, GMCWS; Mike Burtch, the incoming 2018 president of the GMC 49ers; President Bobbie Schultz of the Pacific Cruisers. Also acknowledged were Jim, Adele and Barbara deCheine representing the Saguaro Jetsetters, and Terry and Gloria Morris from the Cascaders.
Newcomers
Several newcomers were recognized and welcomed: Richard and Ruth Peiars of Atascadero; Mark Druyts – aka Dutch Marc – from Los Angeles; David Horowitz from Raymond, CA; and Jinx Deruisa from Watsonville, CA.
Spring 2017 Minutes
Freddi Condos made a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the Spring 2017 Membership Meeting, as shown on the GMCWS website. The motion was seconded by Manny Trovao and accepted by the members present.
Treasurer’s Report
Dave de Graffenreid: Our Treasury has a balance of just over $22,000. This rally’s raffle brought in $430. Jim Kanomata offered to match those funds, giving kudos to all the club members and vendors he deals with in support of our club’s members. It was suggested that we use some of the Treasury’s funds attract new members. A motion was made to accept the report as presented; motion was seconded and passed by the attendees.
Election of Officers for 2018
The nominating committee was represented by George Banovich. All current officers have agreed to serve for another year. No additional nominations were made from the floor.
President Roenick again expressed the need for both an FMCA National Director and an Alternate National Director. He stated that because of our bylaws, Sharon Work is no longer able to serve as our FMCA Rep (she and Jerry no longer own a GMC). Nick gave an overview of that position’s duties, which is to represent our club at FMCA functions and voting in administrative matters. Example: Sharon Work brought to our attention the issue of towing our motorhomes, and she kept us updated until it was resolved. Per Jim Kanomata, FMCA membership numbers are also dwindling. Therefore 5th wheelers are proposed to be included in FMCA. In his opinion there will be repercussions if they decide to expand the definition of “motorhome” in this way. It is seen as a financial advantage for FMCA and, per Carla Bolton, one of the goals is to attract younger/more people to keep their rates down.
Technical Vice President George Beckman talked about the difficulties of getting presenters for rallies’ tech sessions. You don’t need to do a lot of preparation. Members need to step up and do even short discussions. He finds the reticence of our members to “present” very frustrating.
Motion was made by Jim Kanomata to accept the slate of officers for 2018; motion was seconded by Manny Trovao and passed/approved by the attendees.
Recruiting New Members
President Roenick stated there are at least 8 GMC Motorhome Facebook sites, with more than 12,000 views. Where are they? The Facebook pages contain lots of technical information, but viewing these pages isn’t the same as attending a rally, where there’s even more technical information and lots of social interaction.
Suggestions by members for aiding in recruiting new members:
- Exposure at car shows - These are a very popular attraction
- Add positive comments on Facebook pages about our GMC experiences, including rallies, as opposed to just negative comments about the GMCs’ breakdowns and repairs.
- Dutch Marc proposed that we video our technical presentations and put them on the web, for viewing by members only. This may result in increased membership. Dave Horowitz said it can be done inexpensively.
- Dave is also willing to work on creating a Facebook page and offered to work with 2-3 people to get it going. It was suggested that we represent both social and technical perspectives of our community.
Donna Ventura made a motion to explore the avenues of technology cited above and ask Dave and Dutch to work together to explore proposals above for future discussion. Carla Bolton seconded the motion, passed by attendees.
Feedback, for Future Rallies
President Roenick requested feedback on this rally – what worked and what didn’t?
- Freddi thanked Dave and Donna for stepping up at the last minute to be the rally hosts.
- Social activities were enjoyed and appreciated
- Swap meet was very informative
- Auction with Auctioneer Dave Kittredge was very entertaining and a boon to our Treasury
- Atmosphere was very welcoming to newcomers and guests
- Everyone pitched in and helped with putting on this rally
Newsletters
Please be sure to send rally photos to Sandy Clark for the next newsletter. We want to show our members what a good time we have and entice them to come to the next rally.
New Business
President Roenick informed the meeting attendees that immediately following the membership meeting, he will host a discussion regarding proposed changes to the bylaws; specifically, expanding the definition of “member” and the proposed addition of a new category of “associate member”. Everyone was strongly encouraged to attend and participate in the discussion.
Future Rallies - Dates
Spring 2018 - April 6-12, 2018, at Lazy Days RV Park, Tucson, AZ, in conjunction with GMCMI. Armand and Carol Minnie will be our rally hosts. Armand is working with Kim Weeks, GMCMI, to have a GMCWS day, with the goal of getting more members from the GMCMI community to join GMCWS, since there will probably be GMCMI members there who don’t normally come to our rallies.
Representatives from several GMC clubs gave information on upcoming rallies. See their websites for more information
GMC 49ers:
- 49er Anniversary Rally in November in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Hosts are Carla and Mike Burtch.
- New Year’s Eve at Casa de Fruta. Hosted by Manny and Deo Trovao and George and Jodell Banovich.
Pacific Cruisers:
- Thanksgiving rally, at the Fountain of Youth
- Christmas Rally, December
- Hot Air Balloon Festival Rally, January, Lake Havasu, AZ
Cascaders – Christmas rally in Westport, WA
Saguaro Jetsetters – monthly rallies, all in Arizona
Closing
Again, many thanks to the rally hosts and seminar presenters. President Roenick also thanked Jesse of MB Farms BBQ for delicious dinners cooked on site.
Motion to adjourn was made by Hoss Hauge and seconded by Jim Kanomata. Meeting was adjourned at 10:15 a.m.