Board Meeting Minutes; WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas, CA 7/18/2022

Secretary Reports (Kelly Shane)

• Policy and Procedure Manual is in the works.
• AHRMA Handbook restructuring is underway to improve understanding and usage for the off-road side.

Read/approval of prior meeting (Daytona) minutes

Jim Korn motioned to approve the minutes; Kelly seconded.  The minutes were unanimously accepted by those in attendance.

Executive Director Report (Craig Grantham)

Executive Director’s Presentation (Craig Grantham)

• Financials
• Price & Fee Adjustments
• Key initiatives
• Personnel
• Second half 2022 outlook & 2023 planning
• Corporate status

Presentation may be downloaded here or by clicking the. button below.

2022 Price Adjustment (Craig Grantham)

• Recording of Trustee votes. 
  • Email Meeting Vote: Motion to increase the member dues to $95 for Full members and $60 for Associate membership, and a $5 price increase for individual purchases (includes track days, practice days, race entries, camping, garage rentals…etc. Not transponder rentals).
  • Motion made and seconded. 9 in favor, 3 dissent: Beno Rodi, Luke Sayer and Albert Newmann.
  • Brian recognized that the communication for this increase and team communications were lacking and apologized.
  • A board member and operational team will formulate a meeting to plan the path forward.  This task was entrusted to the Chairman.
• Open discussion (Trustees). 
  • Jim Korn:  Member experience is great for road racing.  He expressed concern with the financial aspect.  We need to have member centric reporting for financial clarity.  He felt pressured to make a decision regarding the price increase, but detailed financials influenced the “yes” decision.
  • At the time, the impact of the decision on the implementation team wasn’t considered

Member Comment Period

Jennifer and Dan Thornton, Wisconsin (Membership Coordinators).  Would rather see a price adjustment for individual transactions vs. a transaction fee.  There are perceived issues with Membership communications (phone calls and emails) which need further research.  Race number assignment and issuing duplicate membership cards are issues we need to address.

Tyrus Wilson, California. Congratulations to all new positions staff.  It was a great event at Laguna Seca this year.  There were some scheduling conflicts and misinformation which created a challenge for some attendees.  We need better schedule information and presentation, and better spectator info.

Richard Brodock, Tennessee (Dirt Track Director).  Regarding youth class consideration which is an agenda item we should change minimum age limit in Dirt Track racing from 18 to 16, to align with our off-road disciplines. Richard requested that we change minimum age to 16 immediately.  Age and displacement will be matched accordingly. Membership fee increase is long overdue, but not messaged well. Directors should have a voice in the decisions.  Race shut down time review needs to take place for the Laguna Seca event to allow better pacing of competing disciplines / events.

Scott Stewart, Washington. Scott would like to see the Trials Air-Cooled Mono Shock class taken off provisional status.  This class should be promoted as modern-day vintage trials riding and requested that this be made an official class.  It has been an “exhibition” class for going on 3 years, and it should be made official for 2023.

Dewanna Comer, Tennessee (Road Race Director). It’s truly a privilege to be part of AHRMA. It was the love from road race members that talked her into being full time Road Race Director. The recent requirement for transparency resulting from the new expense report resulted in increased travel expenses across the board. In Thunderhill we had issues with using local workers. The Ridge was cancelled due to lack of participation. We should be offering the same rider experience at every race for the members whether in the east or the west, and the way we do that is through continuity with our volunteers that make this program run. Thirteen Road Race events for 2022 is too many events. We will regroup for next year and the off-season planning will include right sizing for our 2023 schedule. She considers 2023 as the year of recovery after the challenges and losses we faced in 2022. In the off season leading up to 2023 we will prepare for targeted marketing better to reach specific user groups both demographically and geographically. Items discussed that are admin related should include all team members that have a role in executing changes, this includes Directors, Membership Coordinators, etc. Rather than applying a “transaction fee” to each race entry these rate increases should be just that, race fee rate increases.

Terri Korn, Florida.  Elect a trustee we trust or vote out those who don’t do their job.  Do not put in the transaction fees.  Terri requested that the board reconsider the decision.

Ralph Wessell, Florida. Road Race on comments on efficiency. Make the racers happy. I talk to racers. Don’t worry about Facebook participants, as they aren’t here. I spent four days here. I hope to do Daytona next year. New membership forms needed. We should address the pricing issue, change from Transaction Fee to standard price adjustment and move forward.  We should acknowledge the new approach with a communication for the members.

Bylaws:  SECTION 3. Status.  The Association shall be an Ohio non-profit corporation.

• AHRMA is a 501(c)(4) Not for Profit, not non-profit.
  Kelly stated this is a housekeeping issue for how it is stated in the bylaws and will be addressed

Trustee Topics

• RR Competition License (Rob Poole and Al Anderberg).  Rob Poole suggested that there should be consideration for giving race directors management of their own budget.  Road race requires so much money to operate, it should not be paid out of the general fund.  Adding a competition license for an additional fee could help with the deficit. General discussion followed with input from Jim, Brian and Kelly. Kelly recommended that competition licensing should be discussed in closed session – possible competition license for all disciplines.
• Nationwide Voting Policy(Rob Poole).  How do you know who to vote for in the opposite region? Can you choose a person based only on a blurb in the magazine or hearsay? 56% of the votes are east of the Mississippi which could sway the votes in the west. Discussion followed with input from Brian, Albert and Kelly.  Motion: To create a poll that would request the member comment on how they feel about voting procedure nationwide or east and west or other.  Motion made and seconded, the vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.  The task of creating this poll was assigned to Kelly.
• Road Race Safety Issue (Jim Korn, Trustee/Road Race Referee).  Handout for the topic was given to the board for a closed session topic.  Safety issues regarding off pace riders is a growing problem. Significant speed differentials in races is an issue. There is currently no policy/guideline to address this issue. Jim recommended that an ad hoc committee be created to come up with guidelines for the pacing. Track safety is of utmost importance.
• Oversight Committee (Albert Newmann).  Albert inquired about the audit status.  Should we have an oversight committee?  That would give us more transparency in any area that needs to be reviewed.  Discussion followed with input from Craig and Brian
• Formation of new OR Committee(Albert Newmann).  Albert stated he wasn’t critical of the current committee, but there should be more members, representation from east, west and central.  There should be more balance.  Discussion follows by Kelly.
• Executive Director Status Reports (Albert Newmann).  Executive Committee reports should be sent out to the board members sooner.  Weekly cadence would be preferred.  Discussion from Luke, Jim and Brian followed.

Final wrap up, follow items review, meeting close

Motion to adjourn at 2pm made by Jim, seconded by Luke and unanimously agreed.