Traveling Supreme General Business Meeting
September 27, 2017
Onalaska, Texas
President Gail Smith called the meeting to order and a quorum was established by Secretary Susan Kercher. There were 24 in attendance.
Secretary Susan Kercher read the Minutes of the Business Meeting of September 24, 2016 which was held in Montgomery, Texas. Dave Phillips made a motion that the Minutes be accepted as read and Marie Moreau seconded. Motion carried.
Deanne Phillips was asked to give the Wagon Masters report. Deanne reported that it was very important for members to check the T/S website for upcoming rallies. Deanne reported on the many activities planned for the New Years’ rally in Victoria, Texas and encouraged all to attend. She also mentioned the Quartsite, Arizona rally in January, the Llano Texas Earth rally which is still in the planning stage. There are several summer rallies planned which members can attend some or all!
Gail Smith asked Vice President Jerry Smith to report on membership. Jerry said he is up to date on providing name tags and that we had between six and eight new members this past year.
Polk Brian gave the treasurer’s report provided by Treasurer Bud Odom who was absent. Polk reported that we had $5,837.81 unencumbered in the treasury. Linda Brian made a motion, seconded by Hessie Smith to accept the report as read. Motion carried.
President Gail Smith reported on the recent passing of Bobbie Skinner and Mary Lang and reported on the health of several other past and present members. Summarizing that we have to travel while we can.
Secretary Susan Kercher reported on the election of officers. We had 22 responses all voting for the complete slate of officers nominated. There were no write-in ballots received and the 2017-2018 officers are: Gail Smith as President, Deanne Phillips as Vice President/wagon-master, Jerry Smith as Second Vice President, Bud Odom as Treasurer and Susan Kercher as Secretary.
When the ballots were sent out to the members, members were advised that they would be voting on two by-law changes to Article V as follows (the change is in bold):
Section 2 – The officers shall be elected at the annual Business Meeting for terms of two years but shall hold office until the successors are duly elected and installed. No elected officer may serve more than two consecutive terms in any one office, except for the secretary and treasurer.
Section 5 – In the event that an officer resign or is unable to serve, the Executive Committee shall appoint a replacement to serve until the next officer election.
Dave Phillips explained the reasons for the changes and after discussion, Dave Phillips made a motion, Ida Cook seconded and the motion carried.
Gail Smith told the members about some exciting changes in the Traveling Supreme website and newsletter.
Linda Brian is our news editor and will be emailing the E-news letter to all members. Gail reminded everyone who would like to receive the E-news that doesn’t have an email address on the roster to be sure and give their email address to Linda.
Gail asked the members to follow our Traveling Supreme blog by entering in your email address and you will receive all updates to the blog directly to your email. For example, you will receive information on new and past rallies direct to your email.
Gail noted the webmaster John Laninga is working on formatting past rallies so they will be easier to find.
John Laninga made a Facebook site for the Traveling Supremes. This was not approved by the Board, so is on a trial basis. When you search Traveling Supremes on Facebook our page will appear. John as webmaster will post things on the main page so as to attract new members. To follow the FB page you just need to “like” our site. There is a “community” page where we can all post pictures of our travels, rallies, gatherings and tag alongs. These will not show up anywhere except on the Traveling Supreme page. This means even if you “like” something, it will not show up anywhere on your FB page. You will see John’s posts on your FB but not the community posts. The Board would like us all to give it a try and see if we like it. If anyone posts anything inappropriate on our page, John will be notified and remove it immediately! John will be at the New Years Rally to answer any questions about the website or Facebook and offer assistance to help people navigate both. You can also ask any board member for help and we will do our best to help you.
Les Cook had a good idea and that was to add our website address to our yard signs so people who see our signs can look us up on our website, again promoting new membership. Dave Phillips will check with his printer. He thinks he can add stickers to our signs with the website info. Dave will report back to the board.
Gail said that attending members need to vote to approve $1,000 over past years’ dues in case it is needed for the upcoming year to keep us from having to go into a business meeting to get members approval at a later date. Jerry Smith made a motion to approve $1,000 for next year if needed. Polk Brian seconded and the motion carried.
James Smith made a motion that the membership dues remain the same for 2018, $20, and new members would remain $25. Linda Brian seconded and motion carried. Gail Smith presented a new policy to the attending members regarding hosting a rally, gathering or tag along.
That $5 per rig be available to any host of a gathering or even a rally where Rally fees will be collected, as a reimbursement for only food purchases used by the gathering/rally. If the grocery receipt’s total is more than the amount of $5 times the number of rigs, the host will receive only the allotted amount.
Jim Hoover announced that he still has two T/S hats if anyone would like to purchase them.
Several members asked about paying their dues since Bud was absent. Polk said that he’d be happy to pass them along to Bud. Gail reminded those who pay to not pay again. Several people have a credit for paying dues more than once.
Polk Brian made a motion to adjourn and James Smith seconded and the meeting adjourned.
Susan Kercher
Secretary
Traveling Supremes 