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packman73

packman73

SILVER Star
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Threads
306
Messages
1,862
Location
Iowa
Website
www.kumandgo.com
Sent November 4th to Jeff Zepp, TLCA President.

TLCA Member of the Year Award and other items.

I also would like to decline my TLCA Member of the Year award and make sure that Casey Campbell is the one that receives it. He has done far more for this organization since I've been involved than anyone that I know. He's the glue that keeps the ship afloat and is constantly working to keep us in the black. Unfortunately, circumstances out of his control have the organization in the red this year, which are no fault of his.

I've never wanted to be awarded for the work I do, I did it because I enjoyed the organization. As Todd can attest to, I've specifically asked to never have my picture or a picture of my truck in Toyota Trails. It's not about the BOD, it's about the members...

On another note, I've asked for submissions of articles for GATOR on several occasions now from the GATOR Committee or anyone that has attended the event, I'm not aware of anyone that has submitted one at this time. I have had several people upload their pics to the gatorevent.com website in secured FTP directories should an article be submitted. If an article is submitted, I would appreciate if I would be given the opportunity to review it prior to it being printed.

As to the raffle truck, as I stated to you on Sunday night and we agreed upon, I will be the head of the raffle truck project team provided that we have a page on TLCA.org to blog about the contributors, truck build, work parties, etc. by this Friday COB. I still don't have a good answer as to how we are going to sell the tickets as we can't do it under a Cali license. We could do it under a different business name in another state that has less restrictive raffle laws. I'm intending to talk to the folks from GA Cruisers about theirs provided the blog is available by Friday COB.

As to the TLCA Conference calling through Lightedge. You may have seen my e-mails regarding this, I've contacted them and given them your and Jon's contact information. I spoke with Casey this morning and everything to do with my name has been take off the agreement, I'm not sure who Casey had them put on their.

Finally. Jeff, I'm extremely disappointed in the direction you have chosen to take the TLCA. I don't think I'm alone in saying that the lack of communication from YOU to the Board at large has been lacking. Do I understand that you are busy with your personal and professional life, yes. And you and I have talked about that at great lengths. I'm also extremely disappointed with your perception of me that I'm some egocentric person that want's attention, if you truly know me, you would know that's the furthest thing from the truth. Quit honestly, I'd rather be a hermit living in the woods, but for some reason I have a passion for life and things that I enjoy and when I get involved in something, I do it as best as I can. That's me. Do I still consider you a friend, absolutely, and I always will. It's kinda your fault I'm here to start with...you helped Tall Corn Cruisers become a chapter...and you talked me off the tippy cliff at Moab. I wish more people would attend TLCA events and find the true VALUE in TLCA membership. For now, I'm taking a break from it all. If you take offense to any of this, I apologize.

If you want to share this with the BOD, feel free. I have nothing to gain or lose from any of this.

Happy Cruisin and Kind Regards,
Art


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
And yes, I expect to have a lifetime banishment from the TLCA now...here's to you and here's to me, if perhaps, we disagree...well chit...I guess that's just the way it goes...

Flame away. I guess I'll be the arsehat...
 
megolfer said:
Art out club is right behind you. We are voting the first of december to pull out of TLCA
Click to expand...

Megolfer...nice avatar!

Anyway, pulling out of the TLCA is NOT what chapters need to do. What chapters that are concerned NEED to do is to get on the conference calls and raise your concerns. Have your voices heard!!! That's the ONLY way things are going to change.

My reasons for pulling out of the TLCA are personal, and I'll leave it at that. The TLCA is a great organization, and someday either sooner or later I'll be a member again, only time will tell.

I don't think too many people REALLY know how much the TLCA means to me. I'll make this real simple...I've suffered from severe depression at a point in my life, I sought counseling several years ago and got some medication to help, which it did. I took myself off my medication at Cruise Moab 07 because I really didn't need it anymore and was enjoying life like everyone should. If it wasn't for my purchasing of my FJC and attending Tall Corn (back before it was a TLCA event, thanks Kurt R.) I'm not sure I'd be the person I am today. I've met so many wonderful people at events and on the boards, it's a great organization and I can't say that enough.

My leaving the TLCA is by no means a call for others to quit, or chapters to quit. It was something that I had to do for myself and it was a very tough decision for me. But, I'm going to stand by my decision.

What really needs to happen in my opinion, and this is only MY opinion, is that the TLCA needs to stick some bondo in the frame rust...you all have a great organization, just like our trucks, they need work from time to time. So do we need a complete frame-off restoration? No. Do we need to fix what needs fixin so she run's a lil better? Yep. I'm guessing that if the engine get's tuned up a little (processes are more automated and run smoothly without much human interaction) and that we add some good fuel (positive members that are willing to step up and get a lil dirty), this lil here club will prosper for many years to come.

So...

1) Who's gonna make sure their delegate is on the next call?
2) Who's chapter is going to volunteer to assist the TLCA with a "project" they need assistance with? (Raffle Truck, Merchandise, Marketing, etc.)

I'm just sayin...I'll be back...just not sure when yet.

...and for those of you who have met or talked to me...I'm dead sober right now...

Kind Regards,
Art :steer:

A wise man once said: "It's not about the TRUCKS, it's about the PEOPLE"
 
Like I have posted up on bod reps, there are to many issues to list that have been going on for a veryu long time, here are just a few

Lack of communication,
Lack of organization
Lack of respect
Losing peoples memberships
Not reconizing multi-year members as actual members
Making decisions to cut trails without BOD approval
The lack of TLCA of supporting keeping the trails open
Members calling and not receiving calls back
Taking almost a year to be reconized as a official chapter
Not even being listed as a official chapter on the web page-(requested since Begining 2008)
Our club actually found someone that could produce smaller quantities of trails and was basically ran off the phone call in a very rude manner Contact d'animal about this
Our club asked for just a few extra copies of trails so we could give them to our local toyota dealership to promote but was told could not get any(I do hear some people are getting boxes of extra copies)
It took 6 months to get on the bod reps mailing list.
I had to turn in 4 different copies of the club in good standing when the others were lost

There are others also

We have been a official club since the beginning of 2008. Our club has grown from around 6 core members to 25 is less than 2 years. I did not bring many of these issues up to the club, they did. Our members are frustrated at the problems. They dont understand why it is so hard just to pay there membership and get what they have coming. One member sent in a check and it was never cashed, he called and never go a call back. He basically said screw it, I dont have the time to mess with it. Another member payed for 5 years and when our delegate got the lsit of members in out area and our club he was not on it.

The members are fed up with what is going on in the BOD. The fighting, and attacking each other and all the drama. It is very un-perfessional. I have had many talks with other TLCA members that have been there since the begining and they are tired of it.

I believe that TLCA is a good organization, but until the fighting and drama ends it is not worth the time it takes to be a chapter. I get hundreds of emails and there is all this talk about change, but I have not seen anything really change. This is not the 1980's, we need change. We need to accept more vehicles other than just Landcruisers. We need to go after the mini truck guys, fj cruisers. There are a lot more of those people around these days than landcruisers (and I own a fj40 and mini) Trails needs to be split between cruisers and mini trucks and other vehicles. TLCA needs to accept the more Hard core toyota guys and get articles in the trails about them. Just look at the success of toyota owner magazine. That is a awesome magazine and it has all toyotas in it. The mini truck and fj cruisers are the future of toyota 4wds, not landcruisers. If you are going to the landcruisers only then that is what TLCA needs to be. If you are going to allow fj cruisers and mini trucks in, then you need to give them a reason to stay.

The Raffle truck is a good idea, but I believe that it is not a good time for something like that. It is a lot of work and it is going to take some money from TLCA to finish which they dont have. Smog is a huge issue. It will need to be california smog legal along with the rest of the states. I would not buy a ticket for something that I could not register in CA. You are going to need more than a year, if you have ever been involved in a raffle project believe me you are going to need lots of time and volunteer hours to get it done. Also before you even start on it, you need to source most of the parts. You dont want to get 3/4 of the way through it and run out of parts and TLCA needing to pick up the bill. Just dont rush into it.

I am not against TLCA in any way, but I have been bringing up these issues for 2 years now and I have not seen anything change. The problem is, now the members are seeing it and dont want to be involved with the organization anymore. I did not bring up the idea of pulling out of TLCA with my club, the members brought it up. The ask me and the TLCA rep, What does TLCA do for me and the club?? They are just tired of the same old problems that are promised to be fixed.
 
10 Things the TLCA can do without much effort

1. Ask for help...outline what's been done to this point to reduce overhead and costs and ask for a donation. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donate-intro-outside Make it simple, send em' a shirt if they donate over $30. Put the button on the TLCA.org home page.

2. Change the bylaws to include incentives for Elected Officers and Chapter delegates. After an elected officer serves their full 2 year term, they will be put on a list for 2 years and be given FREE BASE registration to all TLCA events for 2 years (they can only attend each event once in the two year span). Same deal for the chapter delegates, except for 1 year following their term. I think that would encourage PAR-TIC-I-PATION...at the BOD level to numbers that we prolly have never seen.

3. Lifetime Memberships
If someone is 60 years old or older they pay $300
If someone is between 50 and 60 years old, they pay $400
If someone is between 40 and 50 years old, they pay $500
If someone is between 30 and 40 years old, they pay $600
If someone is between 20 and 30 years old, they pay $700

These would be NON-TRANSFERABLE...

4. Raffle Truck...enough said. Get it done. Don't let the opportunity slip through your fingers

5. Make all past TLCA Presidents official lifetime members and TLCA advisors (volunteer role). But keep them in the fold and on the board mailing lists if they choose to be.

6. Make a solid effort to improve relations with the Canadians...they have great beer and whiskey up there...and some pretty sweet chapter logos to boot. TLC-eh!

7. Sell new items in the store. Maybe a tan pocket t-shirt with the TLCA logo in brown on the back. (See Bodean for details, several have already been printed AND sold). Sell TLCA Banners in the store...they rule and would look great in someone's shop/garage/man cave.

8. Improve the back-end processes. There is NO reason that Jen or any other admin/webmaster/etc. for that matter needs to get called or e-mailed by unhappy customers. The customer service level is not the issue, the issue is the processes that are in place...ie. Bulk mailing so when someone moves they HAVE TO DO SOMETHING to get it fixed. Either change TT mailings to first class or something. It can't cost that much more can it?

9. Save money. When the ship finally get's turned around and there is "extra" money...don't rest on your laurels and fall back into the trap. Be frugal, ask questions, make sure you are using the best possible services for the right price. And don't be afraid to check your vendors pricing from time to time...case in point (Conference call costs)

10. Don't throw anyone under the bus. People have busted their tails for years to make this organization what it is and are due their respect even if you may not agree with them all the time.

11. Make people want to go to TLCA.org and read exclusive content...then take all the money that the google ads generate and earmark it for donation to Land Use organizations (BRC, NORA, TL, U4WDA, MW4WDA, AccessArmy.com, etc.)

12. Contact NORA, BRC, and TL and see if they will work some sort of a special deal for TLCA members that would like to join their orgs. Say you join the TLCA and also want to join the BRC...have an option to do that...also have an option for other add-ons (t-shirts, bottle openers, etc.). Kind of an upsell system...some folks will do it, some won't. When people join the TLCA for the first time, they are all excited and giggity...make it easy for them to swag themselves from head to toe with TLCA merchandise if they so choose.

13. I was suppose to stop at 10...oops...got a lil long winded.:meh:
 
Okay...

...so after much jibbing and peer pressure...I have decided to become a TLCA member again. Hopefully the check clears... :flipoff2:
tlcamember_take2.JPG
 
Now you can fire away.
 
I don't think this here section of MUD get's much traffic from the BOD...so if anyone on the BOD want's to post up this junk I've written to Bodreps...well free if yah think it would help.

If not, no worries. I'm just here to stare a truck pron. :hillbilly:
 
14. Offer a spiff for members that want to attend TLCA events and take pictures for TT. Say something along the lines of paid registration + $100...since we can't afford a hired photographer to attend all the events...the TT editor would have final say on who the photographer would be...ask for a "portfolio" prior to agreeing to anything...have a little "contract" drawn up for both parties to sign to make it all official like.
 
Its been on the 4th page of Toyota Trails for the last year or longer, along with all the other TLCA officers.
 
15. What 2ndGenToyotaFan said...Take all personal addresses out of TT. Offer any member, business member, advertiser, etc a @tlca.org email address that people can contact them at.

16. This should really be 14 because two of them haven't been ideas.
 
So are you the Project Chairman of the FJ 40 Raffle Truck?

Is the project moving forward?


If so, I can pick up the rig.


packman73 said:
As to the raffle truck, as I stated to you on Sunday night and we agreed upon, I will be the head of the raffle truck project team provided that we have a page on TLCA.org to blog about the contributors, truck build, work parties, etc. by this Friday COB. I still don't have a good answer as to how we are going to sell the tickets as we can't do it under a Cali license. We could do it under a different business name in another state that has less restrictive raffle laws. I'm intending to talk to the folks from GA Cruisers about theirs provided the blog is available by Friday COB.

Happy Cruisin and Kind Regards,
Art
...
Click to expand...
 
D'Animal said:
So are you the Project Chairman of the FJ 40 Raffle Truck?

Is the project moving forward?


If so, I can pick up the rig.
Click to expand...

Good question, good question and that would be awesome.

Jeff Zepp (PLEASE INSERT RESPONSE HERE)
 
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