Status of the organization

I find it interesting that there are 9 pages of whining about the way this Bulletin Board is working or not working since it was updated and not one single word about the status of the club.

The last Board of Directors meeting posted in the members area is from 2/24/2025. No Treasurer's report - but a listing of assets of $361,000 (cash?).

The last magazine, Issue 170, Second Quarter 2025, has no information about the operation of the Club - no President's message, no Treasurer's report.

There is no Vice President or Secretary/ Treasurer listed on the webpage. Who is writing checks?

The current Directors (at least the few from this country) had better be sure that the "Errors and Omissions" insurance is paid up.

Look up the definitions of "malfeasance, misfeasance and non- feasance.

I sure we will get the same answer as usual "we are just volunteers and doing the best we can - if you can do better volunteer".

Hi Will,

All very valid points and thanks for taking the time to post this. The minutes are my responsibility, through a combination of tech ineptitude and the memory of a goldfish I forgot to post them..my bad. I’ve just posted the minutes for March and April. May’s meeting was postponed due to it falling on Memorial Day, it was a week late, so the minutes will be approved at the next meeting and then posted up on the website. The situation with the vacant positions is far from ideal, we are behind because of these. Kurt (President) has been working hard in the background to take over the Treasurer’s role until we can find a volunteer. Both the bookkeeping and treasurer’s job are a priority, if anyone has an interest in volunteering for these we’d love to have a chat..

As far as practical matters, bills are still being paid on time and things are progressing with automating a lot of the processes so the Club can tick along. We’ve some exciting ideas for the scholarships to include trade schools and apprenticeships in grants and Matt is taking the helm of that department. You are right to highlight our failings, of which there are many, but rest assured we’re doing our best. The good news is ACMOC is bucking the trend of decline in traditional tractor clubs, membership is growing!

Regards,

Tony

Feb minutes opened with no problem directly with Word!

Mar and April will not open and I tried Word, Adobe, Note Pad, Firefox and all to no avail.

Thanks for the feedback Jim, I’ll have another go! Seems they saved as an IOS Pages file so I’ve resaved them as Word. Hopefully viewable now.

I should not be talking much because I have no time to help this club. I rarely have time to play with my Caterpillar toys at this point. In my opinion, the treasurer position needs to be a paid position. I do not think that the club is going to find a person to donate their time to keep the club's book and everything that involves. The same can be said for the magazine editor.

Thanks

Ken Naylor

I totally agree. And it should be plenty of money to do that.

Indeed Ken, I think we’ve come to that conclusion too, some roles need paid! Thanks for the input.

I do not know if a flat fee type of payment or hourly would be better. The two small groups I do side work for pay a flat monthly fee. I do not think that the problem in the ACMOC would be the number of checks going out, it is keeping track of all of the membership payments coming in. If the store is reopened, that would add another layer of complexity to the equation, because there would be inventory back on the books that the club has been trying hard to get off of the books.

The answer provided above by "Deebo" (whoever that is) is totally unsatisfactory. The comments from last year are still being repeated: "we are working on it" and "we are just volunteers". When you volunteer you are accepting certain responsibilities.

The minutes, as provided on this bulletin board are totally inappropriate. Minutes of Board meetings are supposed to document the official actions of the Board. The only thing I see doing that is calling the meeting to order and adjournment. I suppose there is still a set of "secret" minutes that the Board does not allow the members to see.

Someone on the Board needs to start the process of:

Filling the vacant positions in the Club leadership;

Hiring an accountant to do a formal audit of the books of the club and present a report to the to both the Board and the membership (yes it will be expensive - the circumstance of the departure of the former treasurer and whoever is handling the current business require a full disclosure of what is has been going on). The only reason I can see why there has never been an audit of the books in the past is no one on the Board wants to open the Club to public scrutiny.

Hire an appropriate person or firm to manage the business of the club under the supervision of the Board.

I am not making any accusations of wrong doing. The membership is entitled know how the organization is being run.

Willwingo you are very correct. You don’t have to look hard to that things are border line in trouble. Maybe men just don’t manage money well. I have said all along volunteering in name only isn’t really volunteering. Money like this brings in could hire some really capable people. It’s really disgusting, and I hope it don’t go by the wayside. And some must be making good on these shows.

Hello. willwingo.

Quote:

"the circumstance of the departure of the former treasurer and whoever is handling the current business require a full disclosure of what is has been going on)."

Unquote.

I have been known to be wrong - I thought I was once but it turned out that I was mistaken - but my understanding is that the last treasurer reached the end of the regulated two terms as a board member and as treasurer. This particular person was LEFT with a HELLUVVA mess to sort out courtesy of the previous sorry excuse for a treasurer who, it seemed to me and others, took delight in "robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul style" accounting, along with maybe what could possibly be called 'mathematical gymnastics'. I DON'T think that any crimes as such were committed but I am SURE that there were some pretty poor merchandising decisions made and then some maybe 'leafy branch dragging' done to obscure some 'tracks'.

Again, as I understand it, both of the immediate past treasurers were CPAs and I think that most people with any serious knowledge of the club's financial history would tell you that the most recent past treasurer left the club with a MUCH better picture of the club's finances than their predecessor did.

Azfer the rest of your comments, are YOU gonna poke YOUR hand up to help out - - - - azza volunteer, of course?

Just my 0.02.