OK, I was pretty much done speaking my piece however reading some of the comments I feel myself stepping up on my soap box once more.
I had hoped for the 2 previous years to obtain a seat on the Board and try to aid the Solo Program with what I see as an unbalanced Board concerning the interests of some of its members. (I was attending the Board meetings when Oren Goble was on his way out. I understood and even agreed with some of his issues about the Board.) Unfortunately I am not female or an elite or able to keep my opinions to myself, so I decided to help Jonathan as much as I could without being someone. Because I have tried to stay in touch with what was happening with OMR, I have heard & seen several things that make me concerned.
First off is the talk about lowering the number of events to try to raise the attendance numbers. This is an error on the part of the Board because this year was plagued with several issues namely the Saturday schedule. Jonathan lowered the number of events this year from 11 or 12 last year to what was supposed to be 8 or 9 this year. If we have to wait a month & half to two months for an event it will kill any interest in the sport and others will just find something else to do. IMHO - minimum 10 Sunday events for 2008. And there needs to be a contract of the dates with the lot owner to assure full usage. I would even suggest finding an alternate site because the lot will not survive a hard winter with the trucking school shredding the surface.
Secondly, the Board needs to keep their noses out of the operation of the programs with Board elected managers. If the Board does not trust a person they elect to do a particular job for the Region then the Board needs to rethink why they elected them in the first place. It should not be the concern of the Board if the Solo Manager wants to test a format for an event or if he/she needs money to replace broken equipment or simply to update the operational equipment to improve the experience. Dispatching funds earned by a program like Solo II should not be an issue for the Board to discuss unless funds match or exceed the money taken in by the program. For 2 years that I know of, Jonathan has asked for a scanner system to help eliminate timing errors and speed up the paperwork process yet his requests have fell off the radar where as the elected Solo Manager he should have just been able to procure the equipment without Board deliberation. Basically what I am saying is that everyone on the Board has a job and they should stick to that job instead of concerning themselves with everyone else's.
Thirdly, The Board needs to rid themselves of 2 nasty characteristics - hypocrisy & segregation.
Hypocrisy: The Board denied (two weeks before the event) a charity event from becoming a bonus points event earlier this year because they (the Board) felt the forums (i.e. the Internet) is not an adequate form of communication with the OMR members, however the Board never came up with an adequate alternative. To that I say, the forums are frequented by the ACTIVE OMR members who work constantly to help the Region grow. Even non-SCCA members that are regulars to OMR autocrosses know of and use the forums regularly to keep as up-to-date as possible. I also know that the BoD use emails frequently to discuss and vote on issues away from the monthly OMR meetings. (ps: Thanks again for changing the meeting date without notification.) The Board's argument may be that they are elected to run things and should be left to do so - look at my 2nd concern and ponder what I wrote. Then last week, the Board decides to postpone the Road Rally 3 days before it is scheduled to happen and then they decide to post the postponement information on the Forums.
While the change may have be convenient for the Board members, I guess they feel they don't worry about the fact that most of the ACTIVE members are in the 21st century and some have used the WWW to advertise the event weekend on 6 area forums in 3 states but with such short notice have probably been made to look like an ass when people traveled to an event weekend that didn't happen.
Segregation: Here is probably the biggest problem. On one side you have the Road Racers (SCCA's elite) and Autocrossers (SCCA's weekend warriors). While a few members have traversed the bridge between both worlds, most still choose the elite status. From what I have seen, most autocrossers aspire to road race but financial limitations prevent them from obtaining this goal. Knowing this, there have been topics brought up to have a PDX day for the OMR autocrossers with the funds they have raised during the year. Unfortunately this has not happened nor do I ever see it happening. It has also been mentioned at the Board meetings how there are times the Road Racers could use help on race dates. Problem is that I never hear any mentions of that where the autocrossers can hear/read about it like on the OMR Forums. It almost leads one to think that the Road Racers like the separation and work to retain it. While I guess this might work for them I see it as a serious problem when concerning the Board. Noting that the majority of the Board members are Road Racers, I feel that the Autocrossers are not getting the proper representation on the OMR Board especially concerning Solo II issues. There will never be a "Club" until all its members recognize the walls and tear them down so the group can work together to better the Region and set an example that could lead all the way to Topeka where the segregation problem congregates.
NOTE: These are comments and thoughts of ONE member.
