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AWCI Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 2007
Radisson Cincinnati Riverfront
Friday, August 3, 2007, 1:30 p.m.
Present:
Dennis Warner, President
Jack Kurdzionak, Treasurer (IAB Director)
Matt Henning, Secretary
Mark Butterworth, Vice President
Paul Wadsworth, Parliamentarian
Glenn Gardner, Director
Mark Baker, Director
Ron Iverson, Director
Elbert Lewis, REC Director
Wes Cutter, Affil. Chap. Director
Jim Zimmerman, Director
Jim Sadilek, Director
Paul Wadsworth, Parliamentarian
Staff:
James E. Lubic, Executive Director
Lucy Fuleki, Assistant Executive Director
Tom Pack, Finance Director
Guests:
Scott Gilligan, Legal Counsel
Absent:
Jim Door, Immediate Past Present
President Warner opened the meeting and asked for the invocation.
Invocation:
Lead by Director Elbert Lewis
Salute to the
Flag: Lead by Jack Kurdzionak
President Warner gave opening remarks. He asked all who speak to speak into a
microphone because the meeting is to be recorded. He recapped the past year,
highlighted a few things coming up in the meeting and introduced two people from the
NAWCC who are in attendance, Chairman, Phil Gregory; Past President, Doug Cowan.
Warner then asked for approval of the following appointments:
· Paul Wadsworth appointed Parliamentarian
Voice vote passed unanimously
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· Mark Butterworth, Mark Baker and Gene Bertram appointed
to the Nominating
Committee
Voice vote passed unanimously
State of the
Association: Jim Lubic spoke briefly on the following points. He asked that
the staff stand up and be recognized both for their hard work, and their enduring of the
changes that have been going on at HQ. He believes that the worst is behind us, noting
the Rolex letter requiring every spare parts account holder to be an AWCI member, the
booth at the JCK Show in Las Vegas was a success and both contributed to 280 new
members by end of June. This happened in fiscal 0607
and is the first time since 1991
when membership dues exceeded the budget figure. People are calling HQ interested in
learning about Certification. The CC21 is nearing completion, and we are working on the
WT, and WS. He believes that the last two as well as the planned Clock Assistant
certification will prove to be a big boost to our membership numbers.
Finance Committee
Report: Jack Kurdzionak stated that 2006/2007 year financially
speaking was not a success. He thanked the following people for their valuable help on
the Finance Committee: Jack McCarty, Tom Jeswald, Glenn Gardner, Mark Butterworth
and Dennis Warner. Last year the deficit was $210,000. We had a downturn in
Perpetuation Fund income, and there we’re some unexpected increases in various
expenses. The Finance Committee met in June on Father’s Day weekend in Harrison,
and together with the staff worked out a budget that has a deficit of only $27,000. They
did their best to make sure the numbers made sense. This was one of the concerns he
received informally from members of the Board and the committee did their best to
integrate them into the new budget. He listed some of the changes made both at midyear
and in the new budget:
· Directors voted to take no travel money.
· Affiliate Chapter reimbursement was reduced by
$100.
· Dues were increased from $98 to $125.
· Finance Director reports every 2 months rather
than 3 months
· Salary budget was reduced
· HT advertising rates being increased by 10%
Every step taken was done after careful thought. These decisions were not made lightly.
The goal of the Finance Committee is to make every part of AWCI work with a balanced
budget. In a change from last year the Committee asked the Board to approve the budget
in June instead of waiting until the August meeting. The fiscal year starts on July 1 st .
The Committee feels that it is important to complete the budget before then in order to
have a true full year budget that HQ can implement at the beginning of the fiscal year
rather than one to two months later.
Constitution
Committee: Paul Wadsworth said his report is on file and reported that a
proposed ByLaws
change would be brought up later.
Nominating
Committee: Doug Thompson stated that the report has been submitted to
the Board, is in the binder and he hasn’t anything to add.
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Perpetuation
Fund: Jack Kurdzionak reported on the current status of the Perpetuation
Fund. He outlined how the fund was started from the sale of a collection of watches, for
a total of approximately $7.1 million. This was set up as a sort of endowment, the
income from which would be used to fund operations and extra projects. It was invested
in bonds etc. and we had tons of money. As years went on, interest rates dropped, and so
did our income. At the same time, AWCI relied more and more on that income, and
never put money back into the principal. So the fund was not allowed to keep up with
inflation. As a result, though the principal has a face value of around $7.7 million “on
paper”. The actual market value of the fund if it were liquidated today is $6.4 Million.
Our income from the fund last year was about $350,000, and given the current operating
expenses we have to spend all of that income. This is what forced us to reevaluate the
strategy behind the fund.
The Fund Committee met earlier in the year and proposed the Constitutional change
which the AWCI membership approved during the last election. The language will allow
the fund to be invested in investment grade securities rather than being limited to
government
back bonds. Yesterday [Aug. 2 nd , 07], the committee met with
a total of six
independent fund advisors who each gave a one hour presentation. All were good, but
they needed to narrow it down. So they have reduced that list to three and will continue
to talk to them in order to come to a final choice. The manager will help us write a set of
guidelines that reflect our expectations and needs, as well as the amount of risk we can
accept. They will not begin managing the fund until that process is complete. Because
we can’t just sell our current holdings at a loss, we will gradually phase out of the Ginnie
Mae Bonds etc. into the new investment strategy. It will be slow process. There will also
be a way for each member to monitor the status of the fund via the internet. All
individual members of the Committee are interested in protecting the fund. This is not
our money; it belongs to the members. He opened up for questions from the floor.
Jim Sadilek commented that all of these fund managers are responsible for investing
hundreds of millions of dollars, and are not small time operations. Jack added that they
made a conscious effort to find companies that had no previous relationship with
members of the committee, or AWCI (with the exception of the current manager which
also made presentation)
Tom Payne asked for further information on bond swapping, and how did that cause the
value of the fund principal to go down. Jack explained that the fund is made up of
several individual bonds. Due to the complexity of the market, a given bond’s value may
actually exceed its face value. That bond could be sold at a profit, then a new bond of the
same face value would be purchased, and we would still have some left over profit.
Therefore the face value of the fund was unchanged, and the profit was being spent on
the operation of AWCI. At the same time, the new bond, though it has the same face
value, usually yields less income. This reduces your ability to draw income in the future.
Doug Stuart asked if these activities were acceptable under the terms of the Constitution.
Kurdzionak explained that the Perpetuation Fund has not done anything wrong, and that
everything was done ‘according to the book.’ That is why they must be very careful how
they write the new investment policy so that it is more difficult to screw up while still
remaining within those guidelines. Stuart asked if a bond is dangerous if you intend to
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hold it until maturity. Kurdzionak replied that they certainly can be, and gave an
example to illustrate the risk of inflation and how that affects longterm
bonds.
Education Committee:
Jerry Faier said the report is complete as submitted, but added
that a recent change in the point system for the CC21 will cause some changes to be
needed in the Standards and Practices, and those changes will be brought to the Board
later on in the year. He then offered the following motions.
Motion #57:
Made by Education Committee
Move to change the names of the new watch certification currently in development from
WT1 and WT2 to AWCI Watch Specialist and AWCI Watch Technician respectively.
Rationale:
It is the feeling of the BOE, associated interest groups and industry leaders
that these designations better reflect the knowledgebase and character of these new
certifications.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
Motion 58:
Made by Education Committee
Move that the Board approve the appointment of Tom Schomaker, and Wes Grau to the
Board of Examiners.
Rationale:
Since the S&P is only barely descriptive in its requirements for the BOE
nominations, it seems the best candidates would possess the following as a minimum.
1. Have taken and passed the CW21 (or CC21) assessment.
2. Be current and active bench practitioners whose income is derived from this
practice full time.
3. Possess a strong aptitude towards education both for themselves, and their
constituents.
Both of these men exceed these requirements.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
Jerry then spoke for the Board of Examiners. He said that Vince Schrader set the bar
pretty high and the BOE is ready to take on that challenge and proceed. Glenn Gardner
asked about the selection of the Chairman of the BOE. He feels that the 5 examiners
need to be allowed to pick their chairman, and he wonders if a Motion will be needed.
Jerry explained that the way it was set up is that the Board of Directors selects the
Examiners, and should choose them with the consideration that they all be qualified act
as the Chief Examiner, and then allow the BOE to choose for themselves.
Jim Sadilek asked about the requirements for becoming a CMW21, if they had been
changed, and if so, why was the Board not notified. Jerry said that no changes have been
officially made because of the changing of the leadership within the BOE, and because
the changes are not simple. Sadilek pointed out that there are people using the title
“CMW21” and wondered where they got the authority to do that. Jim Lubic explained
that from the beginning it was decided that people who passed the upgrade exam would
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have their previous certification upgraded whether they were CW or CMW. They would
be upgraded to CW21 and CMW 21 respectively, and that this is also printed in the S&P
for watchmakers.
Horological
Times Committee – Director Iverson said they are basically down to two
participating members but that the report covered most of the years activities. He asked
Jim Lubic to explain the changes made to the physical publishing of the magazine. Lubic
explained that they were able to upgrade the paper used in the magazine with little to no
increase cost. Iverson went on to explain the difficulty of finding quality content for the
magazine.
Membership
Committee – Terry Kurdzionak said the report is in the binder. She
outlined some statistics: We had 4539 members in 2001, and as of May 2007 it had
dropped to 2917, however by June it had increased to 3203. She reported on the followup
calls made to the members who dropped. It was found that many had died, and some
had forgotten to send the payment. Previously they had sent postcards to Lifetime
members but received less than 10 responses. The committee strongly suggests a review
of AWCI’s use of the IMIS computer system used by HQ, because it really isn’t
providing adequate data. Terry said she would like to see more cooperation between
REC, IAB, and the Affiliate Chapters. They also have a problem with student members
because often they complete school and move. We lose track of them, but the schools
won’t provide forwarding information due to privacy concerns. So we need to make
arrangements with the students before they leave.
Convention
Committee Report: Wes Cutter wanted the thank Lucy Fuleki, and the
staff at HQ for all their help. He took note of all the great people who jumped in to help,
including Terry Kurdzionak, who had worked to get the vendors involved. The next
meeting will be in St. Louis, and Gene Bertram will be helping with the organization of
it. The committee suggested that a budget figure be set. Lubic explained that it is
already in the budget, but he said that things like travel expenses or speaker fees are hard
to predict. Cutter explained that they just felt that the budget numbers and instructions
have just been a little vague, and feels that the more information the committee receives
the better they can serve. Jack Kurdzionak suggested that the chairman should try to give
the Finance Committee an estimated cost so that the Finance Committee can be advised
of this during budget development. Tom Payne also expressed his feeling that
communication between the Convention Committee and HQ could really use some
improvement.
Publicity Committee:
Lubic reported that AWCI had a booth at the JCK show in Las
Vegas. He said they’ve had a good response from advertisers, and that the booth really
helped raise general industry awareness of AWCI. He expressed thanks to all involved,
and believes that we should look into making an appearance at other shows.
Lloyd Lehn asked, “What was the purpose of AWCI being there?” President Warner said
one of the main goals was to get our name out to jewelers and even watch manufacturers.
Lubic said it is a marketing tool and AWCI really needs to work much harder at
marketing itself and its services. He noted that it would help to make certification a
success. Sadilek asked about the costs. Lubic explained that the majority of the costs
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were covered by Rolex, and by Henry Kessler from Renata, as well as many others. He
noted that there were easily $20,000 of in kind donations.
Mark Butterworth commented that publicity is extremely important and this was a golden
opportunity because we had an opportunity to receive significant support from several
important people.
President Warner
called for a 20 minute break.
Meeting reconvened at 3:20 PM
Honor Awards
Committee: Glenn Gardner said the final report will be Sunday
morning.
Member Forum
Committee: Matt Henning read the report for the meeting because it
was not distributed in the meetings binders. The report outlined that the committee was
started to investigate the creation of forums on AWCI.com. They found that this is not
currently practical. They then turned to examining AWImatters and also to examine
whether a market actually exists for this program. They studied this by conducting a poll
using the HT mailing envelope. They found that many members do have internet access,
but many who responded either hadn’t heard of AWImatters, or were not interested in
joining it. They also studied the message traffic of AWImatters itself and found that the
vast majority of the messages were sent by a very small group of people, which amounted
to less than 1% of AWCI’s total membership. They concluded that the members
themselves do not see AWImatters as a valuable benefit, and that is it not an effective
method of communication between AWCI leadership and the members. They believe
that there is potential for such a forum, but at this time they recommend that the Forum
Committee be disbanded and that AWCI end its support of AWImatters and pass control
to the forum members themselves.
Motion 59:
Made by Member Forum Committee
Move that the Member Forum Committee be disbanded, and that AWCI end its support
of the AWImatters forum, and pass control of the forum to the members themselves.
Rationale:
The committee has found that developing new forums is not a practical
undertaking at this time.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
Case Mark Committee:
Jon Horton reported that AWCI has a good Case Mark
program and that it could be built into an international program. He also noted that the
program has been in a coma since 1987. The committee’s goal is to revive it, and bring it
into the 21 st
century. There are 6000 case mark numbers on file now and it
is still
available, but even though it has been around 40 years, there were too many people who
had never heard of it. He said that those he spoke with in the jewelry industry and in law
enforcement all thought it was a great idea. He noted that only law enforcement or
medical examiners should have access to this information. He said that there should be a
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standardized format for the mark, but we should leave the owner to decide how that mark
is applied to the watch. He said the Publicity Committee and Case Mark Committee
should work together to promote AWCI’s case mark program. He offered the following
four point Motion.
Motion 60:
Made by Case Mark Committee
Move that AWCI:
a) Confirm support of the program as is except limit it to AWCI members only.
b) Design a page on the website for Law Enforcement to log into
c) Educate case mark holders in how to promote AWCI and themselves by using
their registered AWCI case mark.
d) Authorize the Publicity Committee to work with the Case Mark Committee to
disseminate information.
Rationale:
There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. We should work to increase
awareness of the program within the law enforcement community.
Doug Stuart asked how the communication between law enforcement and AWCI would
actually work. John Horton summarized that however it works, he would limit the
availability to law enforcement only, and not make it available to anyone else.
Voice Vote:
Motion Passed unanimously
Strategic Action
Committee: Dennis Warner noted that the report is in the binder. He
added that he has been approached by Ernest Tope who is interested in becoming the
chairman of the committee, and Warner feels that this would be an excellent idea.
Ethics Committee:
Gene Bertram noted that there is no report in the binder. He said the
committee is thinking about developing standards for the conduct of board members,
office staff, and membership. They would be provided to offer people guidance in how
they are to conduct themselves as they move into each position.
NAWCC Board
Chairman: Phil Gregory, Chairman of NAWCC. He explained that
he came with four purposes: To learn more about AWCI; to help AWCI know more
about NAWCC; to explore ways that the two organizations can work together for mutual
benefit, and to talk about the direction their education programs are taking and how that
will relate with our programs. He outlined changes that the NAWCC has gone through
recently. They have restructured their Board. They now have 7 elected members and 5
appointed members. He said that a fine watch or clockmaker would not automatically be
a fine Director of a nonprofit
organization. The 5 appointed seats give them a method to
appoint people with that expertise that otherwise might not get elected. They have
worked hard to convince board members that it is not an honor but an obligation. They
have dramatically overhauled their staff. They now have 24 fulltime
employees, 10 parttime
employees, and 4050
volunteers. NAWCC got rid of their Executive Director,
Finance Director, Development Director, and School Director. They then hired a new
Executive Director, Museum Director and an accountant. In the process they combined
their organization and no longer have a separate museum. They feel that they have failed
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to hold the interest of the younger generation in the field of horology and plan to work
much harder to rectify that. They also have an excellent children’s education specialist.
They recognize that this is going to be a permanent concerted effort. They have about
23,000 members, and are losing about 3% per year. NAWCC has just over $2 million in
endowment. They would like to have a member of our board or educational committee
serve on their school advisory council. They really want to overhaul their education
programs so that they can meet AWCI standards. They are working to balance their
budget. He noted that employees no longer get cost of living increases but can earn merit
increases. He made it clear that these organizations have to be run as a business. If
NAWCC had been, they would not be in the financial situation they are in now.
Affiliate Chapter
Report: Wes Cutter noted his frustration with the scheduling
problems during this meeting. There was a Board luncheon scheduled which overlapped
with the Chapter meeting. This effectively forced them to cut their meeting short, and
they were unable to complete their work. He went on to report that for many chapters
membership is dropping. People seem less active and less enthusiastic. The
Chronometer Club, and the Chapter in Texas are really having a lot of success. They
suggested that it’s important for a chapter to take advantage of their retired members
because they can help to keep the other members involved in the organization. He noted
that there were other chapters that have been reaching out to other groups in an attempt to
expand and develop better programs. He thinks they had a productive meeting and they
will continue to finalize their recommendations to the Board this evening.
ELM Trust:
Jack Kurdzionak offered a brief overview of the Education, Library, and
Museum Charitable Trust. The trust owns the library materials, museum contents, and
also owns many of the items to be auctioned off tonight. Those items have been donated
over the years.
He explained that Jim Door has recently resigned. They also noticed in the
Bylaws that Trustees don’t necessarily need to be members of AWCI. So they are
suggesting to HQ that they try to find a volunteer from the local museum community to
join the Trust and offer their expertise. The museum has some very good pieces and we
should try to take better advantage of that. There were some appointments to the Trust to
be approved.
Motion 61:
Made By Dennis Warner
Move to appoint Mark Butterworth, and Jack Kurdzionak to the ELM Trust.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously.
Mark Butterworth encouraged the attendees to participate and be generous at tonight’s
auction because it is for a good cause. Jim Lubic offered recognition of those whose
donations made this meeting possible: Swatch Group for tonight’s transportation, Jaeger
LeCoultre for tonight’s dinner, Rolex for tomorrow night’s dinner, and LMVH for
sponsoring the educational symposium.
Jack Kurdzionak interjected that the Officers for the Trust are: Chairman, Mark
Butterworth; Treasurer, Jack Kurdzionak; and Secretary, Charles Cleves. Mark Baker is
also a Trustee.
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REC report:
Elbert Lewis reported that they had a very cordial meeting yesterday. He
too noted some scheduling conflicts, but they were able to meet later in the afternoon.
Four schools were represented in person, and a report was supplied from a fifth one. The
schools are concerned about enrollment, and some couldn’t come due to budget concerns.
He thanked the ELM Trust for the scholarship that they provided to three schools this
year. He also thanked them especially on behalf of Latoya Alexander who is a student of
his. He also noted that we lost a school this year.
Jack Kurdzionak explained that the ELM Trust had a $5000 grant from a New Hampshire
foundation which has enough money to generate $5000 a year. They asked the Trust to
distribute the money equally to any school that applies for it. We had three schools
apply, and each was given one third of the money.
Dennis commented in regard to the scheduling problems that it was suggested that we
shorten the meeting schedule next year to reduce costs. He does not believe that this
would be a good idea at all.
IAB Report:
Jack Kurdzionak reported that the IAB is made up of groups from all
facets of the industry. They developed much support for the trade fair booth, and are
considering offering assistance to students from nonWOSTEP
schools to take the
certification exam. They are also working with the material supply houses to develop a
training program targeted to the WS certification. He highlighted the excellent support
AWCI is receiving from the manufacturers of the IAB. He reported that they elected new
officers today: Tamara Houk is the Chairman, and Henry Kessler is the Vice Chairman,
and Jack offered his congratulations.
JIDA Comments:
Dennis asked if we had a JIDA representative in attendance, and Jim
Lubic spoke on their behalf. He reported that they felt that they have not had enough
input in AWCI policy, and had asked for a seat on the Board. The Board instead voted to
officially place them on the meeting agenda. He reported that they are impatient for
AWCI to get the WS and WT certifications up and running, and for more education to be
committed to that type of worker. There is a very large segment of the ‘watchmaker
population’ that concentrates on just changing batteries and straps etc., and we aren’t
serving them.
President Warner asked if there was any other old business. There was none.
Installation
of new Directors: Warner handed the meeting over to Glenn Gardner who
presided over the installation of Jack Kurdzionak, Lloyd Lehn, Doug Stuart, Dan Spath
(Affiliate Chapter Chair), Tamara Houk (IAB Chair), and Elbert Lewis (REC Chair)
New Business
Motion 1: Made
by President Warner
Move to accept Tamara Houk, Dan Spath, and Elbert Lewis onto the Board of Directors.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
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Election of
Officers: Mark Butterworth presided over the nomination and election of the
following officers for 20072008,
who were then sworn in:
President, Dennis Warner
1 st Vice President, Jim Sadilek
2 nd Vice President, Tamara Houk
Treasurer, Jack Kurdzionak
Secretary, Matt Henning
Motion 2: Made
by Jim Zimmerman
Move to change Bylaw Article XII Sec 2(d) as follows:
Remove all text after the first sentence.
The new text will read: Affiliate Chapters shall be responsible to arrange for the
expenses of their delegates and alternates.
Rationale:
This action must be taken to make the Bylaws match the changes made to the
Policy Manual during the mid year meeting.
Roll call vote:
Motion passed unanimously
President Warner called on AWCI’s legal counsel, Scott Gilligan who had some
information to offer regarding AWImatters and the idea of allowing the forum to keep its
name without our support. Gilligan explained that allowing them to keep the name
creates a problem where we would no longer have control of the forum, but because our
name is on it, we would still be liable for any comments made on the forum.
There was much discussion concerning the handling of Motion 59 with regard to the
technical, legal and political considerations. It became clear that more study was needed.
Lloyd Lehn offered a Motion:
Motion 3: Made
by Lloyd Lehn (Not seconded)
Move to suspend the implementation of motion 59 until the technical issues related to the
name have been answered, and to take it up again at the Mid Year meeting.
Rationale:
The passage of Motion 59 was taken with too little consideration, and it
deserves to be examined in more detail.
Further discussion revealed that Motion 3 as worded may not be the most effective way
to address this issue. President Warner stepped in and noted the time. The issue would
have to be taken up again on Sunday when the meeting resumes.
Meeting Recessed…5:15
p.m. Friday, August 3, 2007
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Sunday, August 5, 2007 – AWCI Board Meeting Reconvened
Present:
Dennis Warner, President,
Jim Sadilek, First VP
Tamara Houk, Second VP (IAB Director)
Jack Kurdzionak, Treasurer
Matt Henning, Secretary
Glenn Gardner, Director
Doug Stuart, Director
Ron Iverson, Director
Elbert Lewis, REC Director
Dan Spath, Affil. Chap. Director
Jim Zimmerman, Director
Lloyd Lehn, Director
Paul Wadsworth, Parliamentarian
Staff:
James E. Lubic, Executive Director
Lucy Fuleki, Assistant Executive Director
Tom Pack, Finance Director
Guests: Scott
Gilligan, Legal Counsel
Absent: Jim
Door, Immediate Past Present
President Warner reopened the meeting and the discussion of Motion 3 which is still on
the floor.
Lloyd Lehn withdrew his Motion 3 which he made on Friday but had not been seconded.
He then offered a new Motion:
Motion 3: Made
by Lloyd Lehn, seconded by Gardner
Move to reconsider Motion 59.
Rationale:
The issue deserves further thought.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
Motion 4: Made
By Lloyd Lehn, seconded by Sadilek
Move that Motion 59 be tabled until the Mid Year meeting.
Rationale:
The issue was acted upon rather quickly and as a result we need a little time
to reexamine
what we are doing with it. The additional six months will give us enough
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time to collect data and generate a new plan instead of the one which was approved
earlier.
Discussion:
Questions were asked about how this will affect the forum if passed, about
whether an additional six or so months will be adequate to the task.
Many on the Board, and from the floor spoke in support of the forum. Noting that
“lurkers” may not comment on the forum, but they do participate. It was also pointed out
that discussions on AWImatters often get brought to and discussed at Chapter meetings.
Mark Butterworth commented on the floor that this Motion is a good idea. He wanted to
be honest and say that at the time Motion 59 was taken up, it was a bit of a surprise to
him. That he and Matt Henning didn’t communicate well on the issue, and he feels that
AWImatters has enormous potential and could be made into a valuable part of AWCI.
Henning agreed and stated he supported this motion.
Warner asked if there were any negative comments. Seeing none, he called for the vote
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously.
President Warner invited Dan Spath to introduce the Motions from the Affiliate Chapters.
Motion 5: Made
by Dan Spath
Move that a survey be done of all current active members to find out what percentage are
clockmakers, watchmakers, professionals, hobbyist, or specialists in high end
wristwatches
Rationale:
We feel that AWCI does not have a clear picture of its membership and is
placing too much emphasis on the CW21
Discussion:
Glenn Gardner asked what the office currently has on file. Jim Lubic stated
that from the pricing survey they did, they learned that 20% are hobbyists, 80% are
professional, 60% are watchmakers, and 40% are clockmakers. He doesn’t have
information specific to high grade watches, but believes that they might be able to derive
that from the current data, and he would be glad to work on it. Gene Bertram offered that
this was a combination of two motions, one was to find the percentage of those who work
on highend
watches, and the second was more general. They don’t believe the polling
methods like using Horological Times’ mailing envelope get enough of a response to be
valid. They would prefer a professional survey be done. Doug Stuart said the idea is to
have a current survey on the books and to carefully choose a method that doesn’t favor
any particular group of members. Mack Shuping said that as a life member he did not
receive all the surveys. Jim Lubic said life members do receive all surveys now. Jim
Sadilek said the 225 new members are obviously watchmakers, and Tamara Houk feels it
is important that they be recognized.
Jim Lubic said the Business and Pricing Surveys contain this information and he could
report it in the magazine.
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Roll Call Vote:
Motion failed 65
Voting Yes:
Spath
Sadilek
Stuart
Lehn
Zimmerman
Voting No:
Kurdzionak
Henning
Iverson
Gardner
Houk
Lewis
Motion 6: Made
by Dan Spath Seconded by Matt Henning,
Move that the Motion Summary of Board Meetings be prepared and posted to
AWCI.com and by blanket email to all current members who have provided their email
address, within 10 days of the close of the meeting.
Rationale:
AWCI needs to make more of an effort to communicate with the
membership.
Discussion:
The Motion Survey consists of the list of Motions in the form of brief
sentences and the result of the vote. They are not the official text of the Motions which
are contained in the Minutes. Many said the intent was to create more timely and better
communication with the membership. Henning commented that he spoke with the people
introducing the motion and feels that this is reasonable. He said he would be preparing it
anyway and will be doing this whether it passes or not, but he feels that it is worth
making part of official policy. Some were concerned that making this official policy as
well as setting the short deadline might be too difficult for Secretaries to meet, and then
they would be in violation of AWCI policy. Ben Connor, TX, said the chapters would
like to have it codified and doesn’t think anyone will be upset if it’s a few days late.
Voice vote:
Motion passed unanimously
Motion 7: Made
by Dan Spath Seconded by Matt Henning,
Move that AWCI put technical manuals of new caliber watches on line/accessible to
members. This should also include the lubrication specifications.
Rationale:
This would be a valuable service for the members.
Jim Lubic commented that this really is a budget issue and difficult to implement without
advanced notice. Dennis asked if there are links on the website to companies like ETA
and some of the other manufactures who post these manuals. Manual Yazijian said all the
links to the technical guides are on the AWCI website, including ETA, Seiko, Citizen etc.
Discussion centered on the scanning of our library of technical manuals, and how it is a
very labor intensive undertaking. Stuart suggested doing it as an ongoing process, by
scanning the manuals as they are requested and saving them to the website. This was
generally viewed as an acceptable option. Since the wording didn’t match this
compromise, Lubic suggested we vote it down and see if we can do it in the office.
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Voice vote:
Motion Failed.
Dan Spath introduced another motion:
Move that AWCI provide a sign to member shops that states an AWCI member works
here.
Rationale: A motion was made and passed in 2005, which mandated the same thing.
A sample was presented with the assertion that it could be provided for less than $10.
Lubic asked if that is supposed to include all the processing and shipping etc. Spath said
he didn’t think it really did include that. Lubic thought it was a great idea, and that the
sign concept is very good, but he doesn’t think it can be done for $10. Warner stopped
discussion and asked for a second. None was provided, so he ended discussion with the
assurance that he would pass it to the Publicity Committee and follow up on it.
Warner asked if there were any proposals from the REC, and Elbert Lewis said no, they
would just like AWCI to continue its support of all the colleges and representatives that
come to the meeting.
Warner asked for any further business. Henning brought a Motion forward
Motion 8: Made
by Glenn Gardner seconded by Henning
Move that the following financial institutions be approved for use in conducting AWCI’s
financial transactions:
Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati, OH
Ross Sinclair & Assoc., Cincinnati, OH
Pershing Bank, New York, NY
Westbanco, Harrison OH
Rationale:
These institutions are needed to conduct AWCI’s business. This list may be
expanded pending the outcome of the Perpetuation Fund financial management process.
Voice Vote: Motion passed unanimously
Motion 9: Made
by Gardner, second by Kurdzionak
Move to set the following Meeting Dates
Feb 8 th will be IAB. Feb 9 th
and 10 th
for the Mid Year Meeting. The Annual Meeting
will be on July 31 st
thru August 3 rd in St. Louis, MO.
Voice Vote:
Motion passed unanimously
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Warner opened a discussion for the location of the Annual Meeting in 2009. Gardner
mentioned that Lancaster PA has been suggested, as well as Austin, TX. Warner said he
would send it to the Convention Committee to work on.
Motion 10:
Made by Lloyd Lehn, seconded by Stuart
Move that in all future AWCI budget activities, the expense, “Salaries,” will be allocated
to and shown as a separate sub element of each of the various line items to which they are
applicable. The current category representing the total of "salaries" will also be provided
but only for use as an overall reference number.
This will be implemented immediately and will be entered into the Policy Manual
Rationale:
The current budget numbers are only rough guidelines because they do not
include the 33 to 40+ percent of the budget for salaries. One cannot make rationale
judgments about the budget under the current system.
Discussion:
Extensive discussion centered around two points of view. On one hand it is
currently very difficult for the Directors to accurately ascertain what any given activity is
costing. The Board can’t track how it is changing from year to year, and it is difficult to
project what an expense might be in the future. It is also difficult to extrapolate what it
might cost to implement new programs that are similar to ones that already exist. The
only way to do this is for the Board to see accurate cost accounting and that includes
labor costs.
The other point of view is that the added detail will make the budget more complicated. It
will cost additional money to do this. The knowledge probably won’t really change the
decisions we make. It was also pointed out that this organization operates on a
committee structure. For that to succeed we must trust each other to do the right thing for
AWCI. Otherwise decision making within AWCI will become very convoluted. There is
no intent to hide anything, but we need to keep this simple and streamlined.
Call to Question:
Made by Kurdzionak, seconded by Henning
This requires a 2/3 vote to end debate and then vote on the Motion which is on the floor.
Roll Call Vote:
Call passed unanimously
Motion 10: Roll Call Vote. Motion failed 3 to 8
Voting Yes:
Sadilek
Stuart
Lehn
Voting No:
Spath
Kurdzionak
Henning
Iverson
Gardner
Houk
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Lewis Zimmerman
Motion 11:
Made by Lloyd Lehn, seconded by Stuart
AWCI budgets will be prepared in a fourstep
process:
a) A draft set of goals and objectives for the new budget will be defined by the Finance
Committee and submitted to the Board
b) The Board will approve the overall budget goals and objectives or modify them as
they see fit. The approved list will be send back to the Finance Committee
c) The Finance Committee will prepare the budget based on the Board's agreed upon
goals an objectives.
d) The Board will review the budget for compliance with its guidance and approve the
budget after further review and potential modification
When passed, this motion will be recorded in the AWCI Policy Manual.
Rationale:
Only a very small number of people have been participating in AWCI's
budget formulation process. They have been doing so without any formal guidance from
the Board. The Board should set the goals and objectives at the onset of this process.
From what I have seen the Board has simply been provided the results and forced to
rubber stamped it. Has there ever been a change by the Board? This is my fifth Annual
Meeting and I don't remember any. The notes accompanying this last budget were
provided only after a "done deal" budget had been prepared. This is not a healthy way to
run an organization. The Board must be in on and agree to the entire budget formulation
process.
Discussion:
Extensive. Most expressed a need for the Board to get more involved in the
budgetary process. The discussion centered on the best way to do that. Some want the
Finance Committee to initiate the process as this Motion outlines. Others feel that the
process could be handled entirely within the Board and should simply be brought forward
by the President. Many also feel that the process should start much sooner. A list of
goals would be prepared and approved by the Board. They would pass that to the
committee who would do their best to implement the goals. The Board would then
examine the proposed budget and evaluate whether or not the goals were reasonably met.
If so, they would pass it. The basic concept was very similar on both sides of the
discussion. One side wanted it to be a codified stepbystep
process that had a second
meeting of the Finance Committee built into it. The other felt that a second meeting
would be too costly, difficult to schedule, and if the Board does its work properly in the
first place, a second meeting should not be needed. All agree that a better budget would
result from such a process. The question boils down to should it be formal policy, or just
worked into the Board’s yearly activities.
Call to Question
made by Stuart, seconded by Kurdzionak
Roll call vote on Call: Passed unanimously
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Roll Call Vote
On Motion 11: Motion failed 2 to 9
Voting Yes
Stuart
Lehn
Voting No
Spath
Kurdzionak
Henning
Iverson
Gardner
Houk
Lewis
Zimmerman
Sadilek
Motion 12:
Made by Lehn Seconded by Stuart
All future AWCI budgets will be prepared/presented/displayed in both spreadsheet and
graphical form.
Budget information displayed will include the proposed budget year, the most
recent actual year, the most recent year periodic actuals and a minimum of two prior
year endofyear
totals.
Rationale:
The current system of only providing spreadsheet information is inadequate
and does not lend itself to a realistic analysis of the budget. A graphical presentation is
needed to permit reviewers to more clearly understand what the numbers may show. In
addition, current budget information includes only one year of data. It is like looking at a
single dot on a graph. One cannot begin to tell anything about the reasonableness of that
dot unless there are other dots around it to provide some context to it. Including a
minimum of two prior years will provide the Board some idea of financial trends.
Discussion:
Kurdzionak asked Tom if this was possible given with his current
technology. Tom said that it was. Kurdzionak asked what type of graphical method
would be used. Lloyd said they should use the reports he prepared as a model. They used
several formats to show the same information. Stuart feels this is important because we
need to start looking at this information in terms of trends and not in terms of a single
point.
Voice Vote: Motion passed unanimously
Motion 13:
Made by Stuart Seconded by Lehn
Move that the AWCI shall not operate with a deficit budget – expenses exceeding
revenues – for any consecutive twoyear
period. For purposes of this motion, the 20072008
fiscal year will be considered the first year of the current deficit budget period.
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When passed this Motion will be recorded in the AWCI Policy Manual.
Rationale:
The AWCI is a business. Like any business, we cannot continue to spend
more than we take in or else we will not stay in business. To ensure the future viability
of the AWCI, our goal should be to balance the budget and keep it balanced. This motion
allows for a deficit budget during times of key investment or other financial emergency,
but requires that we not get “hooked” on deficit spending for an extended period of time.
This motion requires that achieving a balanced budget be a top priority in each budget
cycle.
Discussion:
Sadilek said he doubted that we would find any disagreement with the
concept, but said putting it in the Policy Manual won’t hold up because it can be changed
“in a heartbeat” by the Board.
Roll call vote:
Motion failed 2 to 9
Voting Yes
Stuart
Lehn
Voting No
Spath
Kurdzionak
Henning
Iverson
Gardner
Houk
Lewis
Zimmerman
Sadilek
Motion 14:
Made By Stuart, seconded by Gardner
In order to ensure that the Board of Directors candidate nominating process is objective
and free of personal bias (or even the appearance of personal bias), and to promote the
selection of the best and most qualified candidates, the AWCI Nominating Committee
will develop objective criteria which will subsequently be used in the selection of Board
of Directors candidates. These criteria will be distributed to the Board of Directors who
may agree to change or modify them prior to approval. Upon approval by the Board,
these criteria will then be incorporated in the AWCI Policy Manual. These criteria will
only be used for candidates who are placed on the ballot by the nominating committee,
and will have no bearing on candidates placed on the ballot through the petition process.
To be enacted immediately upon approval.
Rationale:
It is vitally important to remove any appearance of bias from the candidate
selection process.
Discussion:
Warner said that he already has three people in mind for the Nominating
Committee and Doug Stuart is one of them. There were brief comments in support.
Voice vote:
Motion passed unanimously
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President Warner asked if there was any other business to be brought before the Board.
None was offered, so he thanked everyone for attending and working through what at
times was a difficult meeting.
Elbert Lewis delivered a brief benediction.
Meeting adjourned
at 11:15 a.m. Sunday, August 5 th 2007
Respectfully submitted,
Matt Henning, Secretary
