This will be installment 47 of 48 “In The Zone” newsletters that I’ll get to write as your Zone 9 Representative. The zone representative appointment is a 2+2 year commitment. If you don’t mess up the first two years too badly, you get invited to do another two. The “job” requires acting as a liaison between the PCA national organization and the individual regions within the zone. That means that as of January 1, I’m done- at least in this role. I’ll still maintain another “job” as a member of the PCA Audit Committee where I’ll complete my second two-year term on July 31st of 2021.
Frankly, it’s been a fun assignment. In the process, I’ve enjoyed meeting with several hundreds of PCA members. Based on my interactions, I would actually prefer that PCA reversed the club motto by considering a modification to say “It’s not just about the people, it’s about the cars”. Coming into this role, several members of the Executive Council let me know that being a zone rep is the best volunteer job in PCA. During the tenure, I learned more about PCA’s internal operations than you would ever imagine. And inevitably, there are situations in the liaison role that become challenging and intense. But seldom if ever, do they become internally political. The professionality of our national volunteer staff, PCA headquarter employees, and elected Executive Council members is truly impressive. And we try our hardest to keep those challenging situations in the background, so that the general experience of all members is simply about Cars and People. So by and large, describing the zone rep role as the “best job” in PCA, is pretty darned accurate.
While I have no real role in the decision about my successor, I am aware that there are well qualified candidates in the pipeline. The decision process belongs to nationally elected leaders on the Executive Council. Hopefully, by the time that I write next month’s installment number 48 of 48, I’ll be made aware of the decision, and will be allowed the opportunity to introduce your next Zone 9 Representative.
Sadly, I’m closing out 2020 with a whimper. One of my favorite travel patterns at this time of year has been to head to our warmer southern regions to enjoy holiday gatherings, December drives, and Oktoberfiesta. And if there are no conflicting dates down south, I get to close out the year at the winter holiday party right here in Utah. But I fully expect that most, if not all, of those activities are destined for cancellation as the result of gathering restrictions. So as I’m reaching a long elbow-bump out to Carrera, Roadrunner, West Texas and Llano Estacado regions, I have to offer a socially distance COVID Good-Bye.