Attendance: 31 members

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 pm by Co-chairman, Jim Evans. New visitors (and new members) Leigh & Joanne Clark were recognized. They are in the market for a MG T series car and thought the best way to learn about the vehicles was to join the club. Welcome Leigh & Joanne!

Jim explained the meeting format would be different this evening since this is our annual business meeting and awards night.

Upcoming events – A final reminder that the club-sponsored 12th Annual British Car Swap Meet is Sunday, February 24th at the DuPage County fairgrounds. Dave Bralich will be renting a trailer to transport various parts from the club storeroom to the Meet and requested some assistance in loading/unloading.
Driving Events meeting was held and a draft schedule was prepared. Seth presented a quick overview of the main events. Barney indicated that the calendar would be available on the website.
Spring Tune-up will be held this year on Saturday April 26th. See additional details in the Driveline or on the Website.

Annual Business Meeting –
Jim started the meeting with a summary of last year’s goals and accomplishments. Highlights include: completion of Project car, implementation of membership management program, progress in developing a club financial plan and new directions in facilitating driving events.

Staff Reports –
Victor L’Heureux (Membership) noted there has been a 4% per year increase in membership for the past two years after accounting for losses due to relocation and other attrition factors. Membership is now at 282 members in good standing.
Dave Ransom (Regalia) highlighted that we have been successful depleting the current inventory to make way for new items, although we still have more to go. Last year’s sales were $1,296. A new item last year – CMGC car badge - generated a number of sales and 40% of the badge inventory is already sold.
Bill Mennell (Librarian) noted nine books and two workshop manuals were added to the library while staying within the allotted budget. The plan is to update the listings in the club website.
Barney Gaylord (Webmaster) announced that our website is quite popular around the world with 1,200 - 1,800 visitors daily throughout the year. The site, along with Barney’s MGAguru technical site served up over 3 million page-views last year. The timeliness of the site is a must-see for all club members to view the up-to-the-minute information on events and activities.
Seth Jones (Driving Events) announced the Driving Events meeting for 2008 has been held and a preliminary calendar has been prepared. It will be available on the club website. Efforts this year will be to increase the participation in rallies. Barney noted that there are many events not listed on the calendar that would help promote the British cars such as neighborhood cruise nights and car shows.
Reinout Vogt (Treasurer) noted the 2007 Profit/Loss Statement indicates a deficit bottom line of $2,807.88 primarily due to the expenses for the project car. The project car is ready for sale so this is a temporary deficit and should improve with the car sale. The 2008 budget has been balanced at $9,050.00 to cover all anticipated expenses. Challenges for the 2008 calendar year will be to develop a detailed financial plan.

2007 Awards presentation – the following members were recognized for their activity in the following categories:
Safety Fast – Success in competitive driving – Reynaldo Navarro
Maintaining the Breed – Commendable efforts in restoration work – Seth Jones
Ambassador at Large – Promoting goodwill towards the club – Roger & Shirley Goebbert
New Member of the Year – Enthusiastic contribution for a new member – Bill Reece
Cream Crackers – Contribution to the MG community – David Ramsom
President’s Award – Awarded for dependable and valuable contributions - Barney Gaylord
Traveling trophies are awarded for two categories – Rally and Autocross Driving and Navigator based on points accumulated for the past year at various club-sanctioned driving events.
This year the awards were given to David Lieb - Driver and Jim Evans – Navigator. Their names will be engraved on the trophy.

Meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm

Victor L’Heureux