On Wednesday, August
10,2011, I attended the long all-day FMCA Governing Board Meeting at
the Madison, Wisconsin, Family Affair (Convention). Here are
some of the highlights of the meeting.
Needless to say, FMCA is faced with a number of obstacles to hurdle
- especially financial. The Budget Report revealed that the
Perry, Georgia, convention made some profit while the current
Madison, Wisconsin, convention had failed to be profitable. In
addition the conventions in Albuquerque & Redmond each lost $200
000. In light of the parent body FMCA's difficulties with
breaking even for their conventions and although we would prefer it
to be otherwise, it should come as no surprise that our local
Thousand island Voyageurs' chapter has encountered similar problems.
A motion to cancel the 2012 Pomona, California, Convention passed.
The motion to hold a 2013 Pomona, California, Convention was
defeated. This means that the $100 000 non-refundable deposit
will be forfeited but eliminates the probability of losing further
funds owing to the $300 000 to $400 000 costs that would have been
incurred on top of the $100 000 deposit. In the budget that
was approved $275 000 will be removed from the interest earned by
investments to cover the present operating loss & balance the
budget.
The FMCA employees have not had a raise in pay for several years so
a wage review is warranted and compensation will be required.
This compensation will be provided through the attrition &
retirement of current staff. They will be replaced by
part-time workers which will eliminate the necessity to pay
benefits. The AD&D insurance has skyrocketed from 36 cents
to 82 cents a person. The Executive Director is actively
searching for a replacement insurance company that would provide the
same coverage at a lower amount.
Part of the reduction in funds is due to the dwindling membership.
FMCA gains 600-800 members a month, however, loses 1100 members per
month. Hence the total FMCA membership has declined from 120
000 to 100 000 to 89 000 over the last three years. Of 1.2
million motor home owners in America only 89 000 have been attracted
to join FMCA. Programs to endeavour to recruit new members
will be continued & are imperative especially to appeal to
younger potential members.
One effort to reduce expenditures & balance the budget consisted
of passing motions to eliminate or reduce most of the stipends and
travel allowances for all volunteers at this convention and any
future conventions. An annual savings of $175 000 will be
implemented by changing over from the $16 lexan member plates to
vinyl ones that cost two for $1.79.
One new expense that was approved will be to modernize & update
the information technology equipment in the main office as it has
been added onto piecemeal over the years. Thus programs are
incompatible & the staff spend one-third of every day
troubleshooting. With the new equipment the utilization of the
information technology department will be far more efficient.
A motion to investigate having towables become part of the FMCA
organization in the future was defeated.
The Governing Board Executive elections results were as follows:-
President - Charlie Schrenkel; Vice President - Allen Rein;
Secretary - Vicky Ferrari & Treasurer - Wil Young.
To end on a positive note the theme chosen for the FMCA 50th
Anniversary is Mile Marker 50. The proposed location for the
50th anniversary convention in 2013 is Hutchinson. Kansas.
FMCA is encouraging the chapters to create a mascot for the 50th
birthday. Preferably it would be some sort of a stuffed mascot
able to go around to all the areas. Perhaps the innovative
& creative members of our chapter could rise to the fore in this
regard and meet this challenge!
These are the main points that I gleaned from the Governing Board
Meeting.
Respectfully submitted
You may email comment
to: director@fmca.ca
