Concerned Bikers Association/ABATE of NC, Inc.

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CONCERNED BIKERS ASSOCIATION/ABATE OF NC
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING
Randolph County CBA Meeting Hall
18 October 2009
CBA BOD Hosting

The meeting commenced at 9:15 am

BOD present:
President Randy Norris, Legislative Director Thomas “Doc Ski” Wasileski, Membership Services Director Gail Rumler, MSAP Director Matt Shamblin, Treasurer Darlene Kimsey, Secretary Cat Mohan, Eastern District Coordinator Charlie Boone, Central District Coordinator Robert ‘Shaggy’ Causey

Members were reminded that questions and responses are to be made by members only. 
Voting:  Maximum of 5 votes per chapter; At-Large: One vote per member with a maximum of 5 votes.

Opening Prayer was offered by Bill Starnes
Pledge of Allegiance was led by Doc Ski

Chapter Roll Call & Introductions
Chapters present:  Alamance, Brunswick, Buncombe, CBA of The Pines, Cabarrus-Rowan, Cape Fear Valley, Carteret-Craven, Chatham, Charlotte, Columbus, Davidson, Gaston, Granville, Hickory, Iredell, Macon, Raleigh, Randolph, South Piedmont, Surry, Tar River Basin, and Triad.  All chapters were represented!   One At-Large member was present.

Announcements
Chapters were reminded that all chapter Treasurers need to clear Membership Services with the State Treasurer and State Secretary;  all quarterly reports go to Cat Mohan and monies/bank statement copies go to Darlene Kimsey. 

State Secretary’s Report:  Cat Mohan – minutes from the July 2009 Executive Council meeting were posted in the state newsletter and on the Statenchapter yahoo group.  A motion was made to accept minutes as printed; 2nded and passed.

State Treasurer’s Report:  Darlene Kimsey – this report was delayed due to Darlene having a mishap with a copier.  When Darlene was able to report later in the morning, she passed out the 3rd quarter accounting to include all expenses, inflows, and chapter/district contributions.  A motion was made to accept the report; 2nd’ed and passed.

OLD BUSINESS

• State Officer Elections – Board of Directors election results: Randy announced the names of the 2010-2011 officers: President - Randy Norris, VP - Charlie Boone, Legislative Director – Doc Ski, Secretary - Cat Mohan, Treasurer - Darlene Kimsey, Information Director - Terri Hairston, SEA (Safety, Education and Awareness) Director - Charli Chandler, Membership Services Director – Dale Carroll, Eastern District Coordinator – Matt Shamblin, Central District Coordinator – Robert ‘Shaggy’ Causey, Western District Coordinator – Bill Starnes.
  
• State party report

• Robert Causey gave a report on inflow and outflow of monies from the State Party at Ole Gillians Mill in Sanford.  The overall balance was ($112.88).
• The park rental was more than first negotiated.  The State Events committee will be looking for another place to hold this event next year. 

• 2010 State CBA Budget Proposal

• Randy asked membership to consider the following budget for 2010:

Membership Services - $7,080
PR - $8100
Legislative - $7000 (due to short session)
MRF - $1500
SEA - $5,000
Constitution - $1,000
BOD - $3,500
Total $33,180
Rollcall vote:  passed 111-0.

• 2010 Committee Meeting and Executive Council Dates – Randy read the proposed dates for the 1010 EC meetings; these were passed with aye vote:
  

16-17 Jan 2010 – Eastern District hosting
17-18 Apr 2010 – Central District hosting
17-18 Jul 2010 – Western District hosting
16-17 Oct 2010 – BOD hosting

NEW BUSINESS

Congratulations and welcome to Lincoln Co. chapter which received their charter today.  Many of the new officers and members were present today to receive the charter including chapter President James Hughes.  You can visit Lincoln Co CBA’s website here:  http://sites.google.com/site/lincolncountycba/Home

On the other hand, Cape Fear Valley has recently turned in their charter; they have tried to pull themselves together but it has not worked and they regretfully give back their charter.

• Training Seminar and Awards Banquet- 21-Nov-09
• Training Seminar – 11am – 4pm.  There is no cost to this seminar which will feature the following:
• An NRA representative will speak about gaining and retaining membership
• Dr. Ling will speak about non-profit marketing
• Jeff Nixon will speak about how to become a political candidate and get elected
• There will also be a presentation about how to run a non-profit organization legally
• Lunch will be hot dogs and chips around 12pm.

This seminar is open to the general public as well as CBA members.

• Awards Banquet – 6pm start
• 150 tickets are on sale for $15 each to include a dinner (chicken cordon bleu) and entertainment (Willie P Richardson).  Keynote speaker booked to date is Representative Dale Folwell. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=House&nUserID=521 
• Tickets will be sold to the general public after 15-Nov.
• A block of rooms has been reserved at Holiday Inn Express in Asheboro but these are going fast. 
• Donations of baked goods for dessert will be appreciated.
• Please bring items for the silent and live auction.  Profit from these auctions will be donated to the Roadblock Defense Fund.

• 501c3 Foundation – Randy informed membership that at the MRF Meeting of the Minds, he discovered that a lot of the ABATEs are creating this foundation which they formed in the part of the organization dedicated to the education and safety part of their programs.  If we were to add this foundation to our current program, it would allow us to have coffers for Education & Safety programs; it can also let us go to patrons and receive donations which will be tax deductible.   It will open us up for some other grants for which we may be eligible.  Cost will probably be a few hundred dollars with lots of paperwork.  A motion was made by Allen Hutton for the BOD to research this endeavor and bring back findings to the next state meeting; 2nd’ed and passed.

• MRF
• Randy showed membership the appreciation certificate received from the MRF to NC/ABATE of NC for our continuing support.
• Randy asked the membership for a donation to be made to the MRF; Charli Chandler made a motion that we donate $2,000; 2nd’ed and passed.

• Gaston Chapter review – Randy told the membership about some complaints that had been received against the Gaston Co. CBA.  Randy has visited a few of the Gaston meetings to talk to their officers/members.  They are working through all these problems and Randy advises us to put all this conflict behind us at this time as the complaints have been found to be false according to Sugarfoot (Gaston President) and a Gaston County sheriff.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

• Legislative Committee:  Doc Ski – some topics covered:
• ROW bill – we would like to get another bill in place; Rick Killian (Charlotte area) will support a new bill that we need to write up.
• Anti discrimination – would like to get cultural attire and mode of transportation added into these proposed laws.  Contact Doc Ski if you are discriminated against so he can direct you to the NC COC website where you can report the incident.
• Noise pollution law in NYC & Boston.
• A new committee has been formed:  Roadblock Defense Fund regarding checkpoint discrimination.  Some of the roles include:  Doc will help overall, Randy is to communicate with legislators, and Raz will do research.  Also, Bob Donut (AIM attorney) is involved; he stated around $1500 will be needed to get the depositions.  Charlie Boone is to figure out how to get this $$$ to work on this defense.  Bob mentioned that we need information from victims of this discrimination – specifics such as name(s) of officers involved, date/time of checkpoint, etc. would be very helpful.
• Helmet citation defense fund – Bill ‘Blast-Off’ Starnes has taken the lead on this project.  Please go back to your chapters and get a member to help with this committee; call Bill at 704 747 1450. 
• 19-May-10 will be Lobby Day in Raleigh (opening day is 12-May).  Reminder: BikePac will help with your expenses to go talk to your legislators. Doc encouraged members to have a fundraiser for BikePac.
• Appeal the helmet law – we are still working on this. 
• NHTSA and other agencies are collaborating against us in our freedoms; we need to keep an eye on the agencies that manage the $$ that was earmarked for highway safety.

• MRF: Cindy Hodges
• Report on Meeting of the Minds.
• Highlighted the MRF President’s article in the newsletter thanking everyone for their support; doing much better financially.
• Hot topic is the ‘distracted driver’ issue – MRF feels there’s too much legislation; so many laws from so many states on the same issue. 
• Charlie has written a report on the breakout sessions; this will be in the state newsletter.
• We are looking into special insurance thru SMROs; stayed tuned.
• Randy brought up the September 2012 Meeting of the Minds seminar and asked membership if they would consider hosting; membership supported the possibility of hosting in Raleigh. 

• NCOM:   Doc Ski – has asked to be relieved from his position on NCOM.  Doc has nominated Randy for this position.  Randy has accepted the nomination and received support from the membership. 

• NC Confederation of Clubs:  Doc Ski –  With Bob Donut, Doc is working on a discrimination issue from a few years ago where police would not help with road blocks for a Charlotte CBA fundraiser (Toys for Tots) if the patch holders wore their patches during the run.

• Products Committee:  Darlene Kimsey - Products were turned over to Nicole Smith of the Hickory chapter.  We will have you caught up on the information around products at the next state meeting.

• PR/Newsletter/Web Page Committee:  Deb Knox
• Deb was absent so no updates

• Membership Committee:  Gail Rumler
• Presently we have 1,640+ members.
• Gail will be working with new Membership Director, Dale Carroll; looking forward to a smooth transition.
• Gail spoke about etiquette on yahoo groups; let’s stick to the subject on the groups please.
• Membership recruitment recognition; Macon Co., Buncombe Co., and Gaston Co.
• Gail thanked members for their support during her time in office; membership showed their appreciation with a standing ovation.  Randy presented Gail with a gift from the organization for her efforts to include a locket with the years of her service engraved on it. 

• Safety, Education and Awareness:  Matt Shamblin – Matt covered the following:
• Health cost study/deficient roadways.
• Discontinuities in roadways – please read the article in the newsletter/website – www.artba.org/mediafiles/pirestudy.pdf.
• Motorcycle touring tires/Dunlop – failure of these tires.
• NHTSA study regarding cellphone use (distracted driving).
• Motorcycle fatalities are down from last year but crash numbers are still consistent. 
• Charli Chandler read off the MSAP numbers thru the 3rd quarter – over 7K students have been taught so far this year.  

• Constitution Committee:  Charlie Boone
• Constitution changes/updates voted upon at this meeting:
• BOD, Art IX, add Section 5) - The Board of Directors has the authority to make decisions on governing this organization on Constitutional meaning and intent that a chapter must abide by.  If the chapter is not satisfied, they can make an appeal to the State Executive Council.   Rollcall vote:  passed 106-5.
• BOD, Art. III, Section 2) B), add new sentence (this is in reference to State VP duties) - He/she will be responsible for all security arrangements at any state event.  Rollcall vote:  passed 111-0.
• Charlie read the new proposed changes for officers to take back to their chapters.  These changes are located on the state website:  State Information/Read pending changes to the Constitution.

• Events Committee: Steve Knox/Robert Causey
• State Party Event - Report had been given by Robert Causey earlier in the meeting.
• EasyRider Bike Show in January 2010 – Charli made a motion to have a booth at this event, membership approved the proposal.  Cat will check with Chatham member, GB Lewis, regarding tickets for members who work the booth.

DISTRICT COORDINATOR REPORTS

Central District:  Robert Causey

• The Central District financially sent Charli Chandler to MRF’s Meeting of the Minds with $$ help from South Piedmont & Chatham Co chapters.
• Upcoming events were reported.

Eastern District:  Charlie Boone

• Eastern District Event may be moved to the month of May since it has been hard to get participation due to typical harsh weather in February.
• Upcoming events were reported.

Western District:  Bill Starnes for James Buckner

• Upcoming events were reported.

Other Business

Calendar – Charlie Boone will take the input for the 2010 CBA calendar to the printer in the next few weeks.  He needs ads and photos of members who are active military; also chapter info/chapter events are welcome.

Randy expressed his thanks for outgoing BOD members Deb Knox, Steve Knox, and James Buckner for their service to this organization as BOD members.  Their efforts are greatly appreciated.

Randy gave kudos to Buncombe Co CBA as they turned in over $8K to the State resulting from their Hot Springs event.

Due to health issues, Darlene talked to the membership about how she cannot take care of the food/meals for the 2010 State meetings. Each district will be responsible for buying, transporting, preparing and serving meals for the state events.   Typically, breakfast is offered on Saturday and Sunday mornings, lunch is offered on Saturday. 

Matt Shamblin won the 50/50 raffle.

CLOSING COMMENTS

• Next State Meeting Date:  16-17 January 2010, Eastern District Hosting
• Closing Benediction offered by Bill Starnes
• Adjournment at 12:38pm