Houston MINI Motoring Society
May 1st, 2010 at 10:30 am
Brazos Bend State Park
Following a rendezvous in the parking lot at Kroger’s, 4825 Sweetwater Blvd, in Sugar Land, Club Members in six MINIs motored to Brazos Bend State Park to join up with a seventh for a picnic lunch followed by our May monthly meeting. As for the delightful lunch, what happened in the park stays in the park, but here are the monthly meeting minutes, which can be reported:
Club Stuff
Call to Order and Club Stuff
There were no new Members or guests present for President Deb (daffodildeb) to welcome. (There were some observant crows who, like most of us, were fascinated watching Juha erect his new mini shelter!)
Treasurer Juha (sikamini) reported on the Club’s finances, with current checking account balance of $944.71.
Deb and Juha mentioned membership cards, spotter cards, stickers, polo shirt orders and deliveries, and club hats. Juha made a note that new Member Karen has not yet received her mailed membership card, and Deb noted that Karen also is entitled to her complementary hat.
Juha noted there are three polo shirts that were ordered but have not been picked up and reminded Members that if these have not been claimed after being available for pickup for two months, they may be purchased by anyone interested. Contact Juha for colors and sizes available if interested.
Show and Tell, Troubleshooting
Deb mentioned that her loose nut (actually Zippeee’s) turned out to be something else in one of the sun roof tracks and has been removed. Bob (RJSMini) reported on Crickette’s recent steering difficulties and new steering pump installed by Gas Head Motorworks (and newly installed U Kentucky license plate frames: Go Wildcats!)
Election Results
Some people apparently tried, but were not able, to vote online, however the limited online voter turnout was typical for elections in the USA and the candidates were unopposed in the results. The following officers have been re-elected for June 2010 through May 2011:
President: Deb
Vice President (and webmaster): Jeff
Treasurer: Juha
Secretary: TBA
Please extend your best wishes and support to our re-elected board.
Annual Business Meeting
The Club’s by-laws call for an Annual Business Meeting to be held in May. Members present agreed that the Annual Business Meeting should be held at The Black Labrador (Pub), 4100 Montrose Blvd, on Wednesday evening, May 12th or 19th, beginning at 7:00 PM. Presume the meeting can also be considered a Happy Hour!
HAPPENINGS
HMMS Report
Very brief reports were given by Members who had attended: the Bluebonnet Drive, Mod Day and BBQ at Jeff’s (Thanks were again offered to Gretchen and Jeff), the ABF MINI Road Tour and Autocross at Sam Houston Race Park, Adopt-A-Beach spring cleanup (Thanks to those who showed up and dealt with Ironman traffic, and thanks to MINI of The Woodlands for their bottled water!), and April BMWCCA Autocross. Deb noted that the Aggieland MINI Club drive to Austin had been cancelled, and that no-one had attended Transportation Day at Becker School. No-one knew of any Members attending this year’s MINIs on the Dragon.
MINFunDrives
No-one present knew whether Ronald’s (MiniPlay) cruise to Galveston was a success. Hopefully, it was.
MCOW Report
A couple of HMMS Members had attended the MCOW April dinner meeting at The Pizza Shack in Willis. No MCOW events are scheduled for the coming month.
Upcoming Events
Mention was made of the Wheels and Keels auto and boat show at Clear Lake Yacht Club, May 1-2, and a $10 discount to PBS members; the Houston Chapter BMWCCA Car Control School, May 21-22. Several Members usually volunteer to help with this fun and worthwhile event and one Member signed up but has had to cancel; BMWCCA May Autocross, May 23; a BMWCCA Concours in Old Town Spring, June 6; MINIs in the Mountains, August 12-15; MINIs Take The States, August 13-15; BMWCCA Oktoberfest at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 23-29th, and Merry MINIs on the Mountain in Arkansas in October.
We also discussed the possible MINI weekend being considered for the fall at Harris Hill Road in San Marco, and we agreed that the Club should contact the HHR to let them know we support the idea. They apparently are open to hosting all types of events, including DE, AX, gymkhana.
Other Business
Ron (RonsMinnie) presented some ideas for promoting an increase in membership and in Member attendance at meetings. These include having small (2 man) committees to meet occasionally with MINI Sales and Service managers to discuss ways we can work with each other. Ron volunteered to be one of the committee members; whether we could place our promotional club materials (flyers, spotter cards, etc.) in the dealerships; propose and schedule tech sessions at the dealerships; hold a club meeting at one of the dealers once each quarter. Promote opportunities to meet up with MINIFunDrives for joint events; also with other clubs in Texas, and even adjacent states, such as from Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Lake Charles, etc.
Also suggested letters be sent to after market vendors to increase our list of sponsors and obtain member discounts. We could use vendors lists from, for example, the Tar Heel and St Louis clubs as a guide and starting point.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:30 PM with Members going to look for alligators. Search successful!
JCScooper
Secretary Emeritus
Wish we could have made it, the house is currently going through remodeling. Hopefully we have it all wrapped up in May so we can attend the June meeting.
How are the brakes holding up, Avelino? Hope to see you at the next meeting. You have to “show and tell” your brakes!
I think one of the non-claimed polo shirts is the one I ordered. If so and if it hasn’t been sold to someone else, I’ll make sure I’m at the June meeting to pay and pick it up.
Scott- We’d love to have you and your family as “regulars” at the club meetings and events again!
Scott…you can get your shirt at the next meeting or you can arrange to meet me near the med center.