SMD Draft Meeting Minutes – August 28, 2020

Minutes submitted by Clerk Harvey Heyser

This meeting was scheduled as a test zoom call, but during the test, participants realized that some South Mountain Division business had to be conducted in order to make Division membership meetings possible in the fall of 2020. The following minutes record actions taken in regard to the business discussed.

Participants: Alex Polimeni – Superintendent, Ray Price – Paymaster, Harvey Heyser – Clerk, Jerry Skeim – Assistant Superintendent, and Bob Morningstar, Mid East Region Director and technical advisor for the test zoom call.

Prior to the discussion of business, Bob Morningstar shared his extensive experience with zoom technology and participation in many zoom meetings with varying levels of security required. He shared his knowledge of zoom’s capabilities and features.

Items Discussed: (in rough order discussed)

1. Zoom License: Discussion of the need for a remote/distanced meeting format during the pandemic indicated there is a need for the SMD to obtain it own zoom license. The anticipated cost will be in the area of $150. Paymaster Price indicated that the Division’s bank balance is roughly $3900. Harvey Heyser made the following motion (second by Jerry Skeim):

Motion: That the Division obtain a zoom license for a cost in the neighborhood of $150.  The motion passed by a unanimous vote of the Division officers present.

Discussion following the motion led to a decision that the Superintendent in office will host and run zoom meetings.

2. Future Meetings: It was decided to try to maintain the customary meeting schedule (second Sunday of the month – September to May – 2 pm.) with the usual adjustments for the Mini-Con and Mother’s day.

3. Election (postponed because of the pandemic): Every effort will be made to hold the election for 2020-21 officers at the September remote meeting.All current candidates were present and participated; none made an objection. Members will be notified by immediate (8-29-20 date – two weeks before the date of the regular meeting) e-mail for those, whose electronic address the SMD has, or by USPS for those SMD does not have an electronic address. Superintendent Polimeni will handle the notification. The Wheel Report will also have a notice, but Editor Tom Fedor is currently busy enough with work that he may not be able to get the newsletter out immediately.

Proxy votes will be sent to the Nomination Chair Ron Polimeni and forwarded to the Clerk for casting.

4. Election process (at meeting): Superintendent Polimeni will preside over this portion of the meeting. 

First, a Division member needs to make a motion to waive the requirement for an in-person meeting because of the pandemic.

Second, Superintendent Polimeni will ask if there are any nominations from the floor.

Third, (if there are no nominations from the floor) a Division member needs to make a motion to elect the slate of nominees by acclimation. Otherwise, Superintendent Polimeni will call a vote.  The Clerk will vote all proxies and tally the votes.

Fourth, the newly elected Superintendent will preside over the remainder of the meeting (although turning over the zoom hosting capability may have to wait until the October meeting).

That concluded the Division business conducted during the test zoom call.

During subsequent discussion of the logistics of remote zoom meetings, Director Morningstar recommended holding at least one pre-meeting zoom test call for the members. He volunteered to run the test call(s). That will give technically challenged members an opportunity to get familiar with the technology. Director Morningstar also recommended starting regular meetings 1/2 hour before scheduled to allow everyone to get connected before business starts (especially for the first remote meeting). Once admitted to the zoom session, members can step away for a few minutes until the actual meeting start time.

Zoom Test Call Concluded: The participants hung up/disconnected.

NMRA Leadership Roundtable

By Christina Zambri, NMRA Marketing Consultant

The NMRAx Team is proud to bring you the first ever NMRA Leadership Roundtable Q & A on August 22nd at 3pm EDT! (Please adjust the time according to your own time zone.) That’s right –  NMRA National Leadership will be answering your questions! We’ll be joined live by:

Pete Magoun MMR – NMRA President

Gerry Leone MMR – NMRA VP Special Projects

Jack Hamilton MMR – At Large Worldwide Director

Frank Koch – Chief Financial Officer/AP Dept Manager

John Bate – Canada Director

Robert Amsler – NMRA Legal Counsel/Meetings & Events Manager

Join us during the event to ask your questions live in the comments, or submit your questions prior to the live event by posting them in the event (link below) or by clicking here to submit your questions via a form.

This event will be streamed live on the NMRA Facebook page and to the NMRA Youtube Channel. 

Don’t worry though if you can’t tune in live – this session will remain available on the Facebook page and will be uploaded to the YouTube channel once editing has been completed.

Full event details: https://bit.ly/LeadershipDiscussion

NMRA Facebook Page: https://bit.ly/NMRAFacebook

NMRA YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/NMRAYouTube

MER 2020 Election Notice

The Mid-Eastern Region of the NMRA is about to hold the Board of Directors Election for 2020. Voting will begin on 1 August and end on 8 September 2020. This election will select the MER President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary as well as decide the adoption of two changes to the MER Bylaws.
     

Those who are within the MER region will receive an electronic ballot on 1 August. Please participate. Our voter participation has averaged 29% over the last three years. Let’s break the record!
  You will find the candidate statements and the changes suggested for the bylaws in the July-August eLocal.

CANCELED – MER “Look South in 2020” Convention

Mid-Eastern Region

By Kurt Thompson, MMR

President, Mid-Eastern Region

There’s no way to sugarcoat the truth. Due to the continuing issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, I have decided, with the consent of the Board of Directors and in concert with the Carolina Southern Division Local Convention Committee (LCC) to postpone the convention. Yes, I used the word “postpone.”
After consultation with the Carolina Southern and James River Divisions, the respective LCCs have agreed for James River to relinquish the 2022 convention and the Carolina Southern team will push back their convention until 2022.
It’s with a heavy heart that this decision was made. With our membership falling mostly in the age range above 60 years of age, a significant number of us would be ill-served by having a convention. Also at this time, there is no assurance that the North Carolina Governor will have removed the various pandemic associated directives on social distancing and sheltering at home.
Now for the “positive spin”: for the 2021 Convention in Hunt Valley, MD. I hope that you each will work on one or two models to place in the model contest or in the Model Showcase for the Mt. Clare Junction Convention. As I mentioned in my email to the Region a couple of weeks ago, the stay at home order allows us to spend some dedicated time on our hobby.
As for myself, I’m working on my layout so that it will be operational for the convention, actually sooner. The structures may be mainly mock ups but the switching can still be done.
Chins up, folks. We’ll get through this and have some fun with our hobby while we do.

<https://mailchi.mp/9e8d2310d590/cancellation-of-the-look-south-in-2020-convention?e=8d5e4e9309>

Next NMRA-X: Saturday, May 30th

Don’t forget to catch the next addition of NMRA-X this Saturday, May 30th for 12 hours of live content! Below is the schedule in EDT. Please adjust the times according to your own time zone.

Tune in to either the NMRA Facebook page or the NMRA Facebook group to view the convention. Please note that you DO NOT need a Facebook account in order to view the event! Simply click on the below link to the Facebook page and you’re all set! While you cannot comment, you can still watch and learn. (Ignore all prompts to create an account or sign in.)

Schedule: https://www.facebook.com/events/654740391925573/?active_tab=discussion

Page: https://www.facebook.com/NMRA.org/

Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nmragroup/

If you missed out on any of our previous events, all of the videos are saved on the NMRA YouTube channel: 

http://www.youtube.com/c/NMRAORGModelRailroading

Saturday’s presentations will also be available on our YouTube channel during the week following the event.

Keep an eye out for information on the next conventions, scheduled for June 13th and 27th.

Christina Zambri, NMRA Marketing Consultant