Election Discussions with Brian Minkin - Candidate for relection as RTR President

[Brian Minkin]

On Grahams  thread the question was asked if he supported investigating hosting a club race. 

I would like to state that I represented RTR at the Zone 2 club race at VIR this year working as their Grid Coordinator.  I was involved in the pre planning of this great event as well so I have first hand information to share with members interested in RTR hosting a club race.

Whether its the economy or fuel prices enrollment at club race events has significantly dropped and where we had budgeted for 110-120 racers for this event we only got 75 and an additional 20 drivers in an advanced DE Group.  Enough to just about break even but certainly not a money maker for the Zone.  Shattenbaum Region has just added an advanced DE group to their race at New Jersey Motor Sports Park in September to pick up the missing enrollment from their race.

So hosting a club race not only takes a great deal of planning and man power but their is also significant financial risk for a region to add a new race to the club race schedule. 

[catchacab]

Brian,

I applaud your accomplishments!  This forum was years overdue, and your Not just for New Member Breakfasts have added value to our club.   With being on the E-Board for the past ten years and being guaranteed to be on the Board for at least one more year as Immediate Past President, why do you feel it is better for the club for you to remain President for at least one more year? 

[Wellardmac]

Nicely done. I think in one way or another the questions seem to have been answered.

Any more questions anyone?

[Brian Minkin]

catchacab wrote:

Brian,

I applaud your accomplishments! This forum was years overdue, and your Not just for New Member Breakfasts have added value to our club. With being on the E-Board for the past ten years and being guaranteed to be on the Board for at least one more year as Immediate Past President, why do you feel it is better for the club for you to remain President for at least one more year?

I believe the club has grown in the diversity of activities it offers and the number of new and inactive members it has reached out to. Participation by new and inactive members is growing. Over the past two years all the members of the exec board can proudly take credit for this. To put it another way we are on a roll in the right direction. I have guided this without dictating by working with individual Exec members and volunteers, asking them to get involved and change some of the old tried and true patterns of how RTR operated. Graham Knight is an important team member in making this happen and I asked him to stay on as VP for another year to continue our progress. However I do not believe we can call this a mission accomplished. We have made progress but there is more I want to achieve before I take a secondary role as Past President. This group of Exec team members and volunteers respect my leadership and we have learned to work well together for the betterment of the club. I believe it is best for the club to continue on this course.

[Brian Minkin]

Since this race has truely become political I would like to address some of the items on Graham Knights platform.

Graham has suggested that one of his goals is to"Reduce the costs for instructors through a lottery system whereby each event 5-10 instructor get to drive for free (they would be selected at one event & be able to use the coupon/discount at the next event)".  As I have previously stated our DE program is one of the key sources of revenue that provides the club with funds to operate. I see the DE budget VS actual figures every month as does the rest of the exec board.  Giving 10 free instructor slots at every event would  jeopardize the clubs financial well being.  Instructors who only instruct and do not drive are not currently charged for participating in DE events.  But those that drive are charged a fee that is smaller then student tuition but they are still helping pay for track rental and expenses that they benefit from by being able to drive their car on the track.  Given the typical amount of revenue the club makes at the average DE event and with enrollments currently dropping this idea would make it difficult to continue activities such as our picnic at the America on Wheels Museum and the wonderful food at membership meetings. To offset the revenue loss the speed council would have to raise DE tuition for the students which is not going to help keep enrollment up at current levels.I believe Graham has made this suggestion as a way of trying to get the support of the instructor corps and get their vote. Clearly I do not support this idea.


Graham has suggested "  Reducing costs, particularly in the area of the Der Gasser"  This is something the Exec reviews every year and some things we do not control such as the cost of postage.  We have had discussion at having an opt out for those who would be happy getting Der Gasser  on line only and once the wrinkles of the online publication are smoothed out this is certainly a possibility.  It would however require a  great deal of effort to maintain our own database for this as the national system from which we get our monthly download of members for the Der Gasser mailing will not support this. One step we have taken to improve the cost of publishing Der Gasser is improved collection of advertising revenue by having this handled by a business manager rather then the editor as it was in the past. We have also investigated things such as  printing it on different paper stock  and reducing the size of the publication but our studies have found that postage which is the item we do not control is the biggest cost factor and that, in fact, these other steps would not significantly reduce the cost of publication. We have also studied advertising rates and given the limited distribution of this publication have found the rates to be appropriate for the size of our distribution to attract advertisers. I am sure this will be studied again next year as it always is in trying to control costs.

Graham has suggested he wants to "Increase the number of rallies and social events".  As stated above in this thread this is one of my primary goals if re elected and I am happy to see we both share this goal.


[size=3]Graham has suggested he would like to " Increase the meeting attendance by another 25 people through speakers and interesting locations".  Again this is a goal we share and under my guidance we have put new ideas in the works this year and have seen their success.  Graham has been responsible for this area of club activity and I applaud the great job he has done.  I also applaud other exec members and club supporters who have helped Graham arrange many of these events.
[/size]

[size=3]Graham has suggested that he would like to have "Another great picnic like the 200+ person one I had at America on Wheels in 2008".  As I addressed above free events such as this that draw many members require the club to have the financial resources to put on these events. Again we share the same goal here but my focus is to insure we have the funds to continue these type of events.[/size]

 
[size=3]Graham has suggested he wants to "Organize and put forth a continuous membership feedback survey"  This has been discussed at exec meetings this year and on June 5th 2008 the Exec approved having Chris Karras create surveys of what members have done, would like to do or why they are not renewing their membership (an exit survey).  This project was put on hold when Chris Karras was tasked with the revision of our bylaws and charter and will be renewed once these tasks are complete. [/size]

[catchacab]

Brian, do you consider your Presidency has been one as:

1. Policy maker

2. A leader by example

3. Visionary

4. Delegator

5. Mediator

6. Micro-manager

7. Task-manager

Please choose as many as you wish, and provide examples and explanations for each chosen.

[catchacab]

I hope the candidates are more responsive to the needs of the membership than they are to the questions asked here!

[Brian Minkin]

catchacab wrote:

I hope the candidates are more responsive to the needs of the membership than they are to the questions asked here!

There are more pressing RTR matters then answering election questions. MAW at Pocono had a couple of set backs and needed attention to get it on track. And in Grahams defense as well he had to make some quick changes for the September meeting as things at Victory Brewing did not work out and we needed a new host to hold the meeting.

Being the leaders of the club has its moments and the past couple of weeks was one of them.

[catchacab]

Brian Minkin wrote:

catchacab wrote:

I hope the candidates are more responsive to the needs of the membership than they are to the questions asked here!

There are more pressing RTR matters then answering election questions. MAW at Pocono had a couple of set backs and needed attention to get it on track. And in Grahams defense as well he had to make some quick changes for the September meeting as things at Victory Brewing did not work out and we needed a new host to hold the meeting.

Being the leaders of the club has its moments and the past couple of weeks was one of them.

A good executive is able to delegate responsibilities. If there are such matters that needed attention, is it better to take care of it ones self or to find competent members that can complete the task. I am not singling you out, this goes for Graham also.

[Brian Minkin]

The solution for MAW was a group effort by Exec members and club members who care that this event will continue to be successful. So clearly delegating and relying on the competent people who care about RTR as much as I do is the path to success.