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About me - running for MWC Treasurer

GoSlowGetStuck

NAXJA Member
NAXJA Member
Location
Lafayette, IN
I'm a little late to the game here and I apologize. My name is Brad and I'm running for treasurer of our chapter. We've had 3 very sharp, well-organized treasurers over the 8 or so years I've been involved with the club. I'm hoping I can live up to the standard they've set.

A little about me - I started wheeling in late '08, during that winter Jim (ILLXJ) drove 3 or so hours to bring me some parts and it blew me away even though it was no big deal for him. Figured you all must be good peeps and decided I'd join up and head to Winterfest; several Jeeps later I'm still here. I have a somewhat obnoxious/awesome teal XJ that I've been wheeling for about 3 years, because I rolled the last one cutting donuts. I swear that my financial decisions are better than my wheeling ones! I do reliably make it to Winterfest and the SEC Cherokee Crawl each year, and I've only missed one or two of our semi-annual trail cleanups.

My day job is writing computer software. I do not nerd out too often at events (uhhh it's a vacation!), but I am big on spreadsheets and keeping track of things, which I think will be helpful quirks to have.

I see the job as three areas:

Takin' Care Of Business - I know a lot of the treasurer's job is behind the scenes, and a lot of the overall BOD effort goes into events. Accounting for event registrations, making sure that vendors get paid for events/venues/meals, and making sure that sales of swag, raffle tickets, etc. are all accounted for, are important to have done and done accurately. I'm sure there are some additional "business as usual" responsibilities that I will quickly learn about.

Improvements? - In his thread, Matt mentioned aligning the MWC bank account with the national bank account. That makes sense to me. I'm sure it would reduce the effort associated with any transitions in the future. MWC Store and Event Registration updates/changes - due to my job experience and background building/integrating apps like that, I'm sure I can assist or lead any improvements that the BOD feels need to be made there.

General BOD / Future - It gets brought up once in a while, but what does the future of the XJ/MJ platform look like? With XJs out of production for 15 years and MJs for 25(!), have we hit the valley of "used and abused" and we're on the upward slope towards collectors and restorers? Hard to tell. We've seen a lot of folks in our chapter move on to newer/better things, but recently we've added some new members who are just getting into the sport. I think we'll still have a "wheel the piss out of them" crowd for a while to come, but if we want to keep drawing people to our club vs. others, we'll have to accept that some people just want a nice XJ/MJ to drive around even if it isn't wheeling. As long as we're flexible I think it will sort itself out, the club just mirrors the people who are involved in it.

Of the current BOD members and the ones who are running, I think I've known them all for quite a few years now and I think we will all work well together. Over the years we have been fortunate to have a lot of great BOD members. For me, this club is greater than the sum of its parts and I feel like I've gotten a lot more out of it than I've put in, so I'm happy to have the opportunity to contribute something back.

I welcome any questions. It's all your fault that I'm here.

I mean, without all of you, I wouldn't be here! :D

^ If elected I will hack into the NAXJA mainframe and knock one of the teeth out of the smiley. :greensmok
 
#1: Yes, smiley with a missing tooth is a must

#2: Can you help with making the unicorn trip happen? As mentioned by other members over the years and I know Mac and I have spoke of it on many occasions, the SMORR trip has never materialized. Our chapter continues to be vastly spread out and the planned gatherings and runs continue to be at Redbird or the Badlands. I would like to see the BOD put some effort into making an alternate run outside of the usual spots and migrate outside of Illinois or Indiana. Matt (Outkast) mentioned many places close to him and they are all good options. I know you are no stranger to traveling, you've been to the Casa De Cheese more than once :D

Some other ideas of locations could be KS Rocks, Disney OK, Ouachita (sp?)SMORR, Superlift in Arkansas, Clayton OK, Flat Nasty...and more I am sure I am missing.

I'm glad to see you are stepping up and getting active with the BOD, its you and the other guys that step up that are going to be taking the next step forward with the club :thumbup:

Oh, and its easy for me to make suggestions bc I don't wheel anymore :D

Cheese "Chz 2.0 coming soon to a park near you" Man
 
I was definitely better about that in years past, like when we did the Hannibal Rocks trip. It's easy to get complacent and the last few years I've done my standard 4 trips per year, Winterfest, the Crawl, and Redbird. I do live unfairly close to most of the events.

Winterfest comes with high expectations, you know about it a year in advance and if you are bailing out you better have a good reason :D. That doesn't happen overnight, though, it took some years to build up that reputation to where people are mad if they are going to miss it. Most of the other events (Redbird) get a lower priority, if people have to make a "NAXJA vs. X" decision, X wins.

Like a broken record, every year I say I want to visit one new park... I'll commit to making it happen this year. Personally I've always wanted to make it to SMORR. I think the BOD needs to pick a date that works for the majority of them and as many semi-local people as possible, since it's easier to convince them. Lock it the date months in advance, and hopefully we can guarantee a decent sized group even if some people bail out. I've seen trips lose a person at a time until they're down to 2 or 3 rigs and then the whole thing gets scrapped.
 
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