Bluegrass Cycling Club

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

 

Board Members Present: Keith Batchelor, Terio Sutherland, Christian Erickson, Peggy Littrell, Mike Bagley, Pam Thomas, Phil Pietrowski, Jeff Pearson, Bill Cole

Board Members Absent: Jamie Bagley, Dwayne Edwards

Club Members Present: Shawn Hokanson, Don Leach

 

Approval of October Minutes - Mike made a motion to approve the October minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Phil and approved unanimously.

 

Peggy reported that Bill Gorton, chair of the State KBBC, is discussing the possibility of restarting the Mayor’s Bike Task Force again with Mayor Gray.

 

Review of Proposed System of Conducting Board Meetings – Peggy reviewed the new process for committee reports being filed prior to board meetings to reduce the length of meetings. Reports will be filed at least 3 days prior to the meeting so that board members can review it. Action items will be noted on the reports and will be included on the agenda, which will be sent out at least a day before the meeting. Everyone agreed to use the new procedure. Reports were submitted this month from all committees and will be included as part of the minutes this month.

 

Peggy made a motion to accept committee reports as filed, the motion was seconded by Keith and approved unanimously. The approved committee reports are attached to these minutes as submitted.

 

Membership Committee Discussion – There was a short discussion about the membership committee report – The board agreed that we should leave the dues structure the same for now until we get the new system up and running.

Social Committee Discussion – The board had a discussion about what support should be provided by the club relating to social events for BCC members. After discussion, it was decided that the Social Committee should be asked to develop criteria and guidelines to be presented to the board for consideration and approval.

 

Rides Report – Mike (not submitted in advance) – Mike reported that a total of 200,221miles were recorded for the touring season, and that 366 riders had mileage this year. One rider passed the 25,000 mile mark, one passed 20,000 miles, one reached the 15,000 milestone, and 3 reached the 10,000 milestone.

 

Bourbon Trail Bike Routes Update – Shawn provided an update on the status of the Bourbon Trail bike route project. The web accessible maps are currently in the testing phase.

 

Action Items from Reports:

• Philanthropy Committee – Pam reviewed the funding request received from Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital for a hand powered bicycle. The revised quote for purchase of the bicycle is $1,927.30. Pam made a motion to approve the recommendation presented by the Philanthropy Committee for funding up to an amount of $1,930. The motion was seconded by Mike and approved 7 to 2.

• IT Committee – For Club Express to add the mileage component, a fee of $2,240 must be paid to develop the custom programming for mileage tracking. Once that is completed the BCC can license it’s use for other clubs and may be able to recoup the initial costs if other clubs elect to use it. Phil made a motion to approve the expenditure of $2,240 to develop the mileage component of Club Express with funds to come from excess funds in the Philanthropy Committee budget unit. The motion was seconded by Mike and approved unanimously.

 

Banquet Planning – Mike will take care of awards/gifts for rides/ ride leaders. Bill, Mike and Christian will also work on other gifts. Christian will prepare a video that will run as a loop in the background. Tim Terry will be the MC. It was onted that the board needs guidelines about recognition and gifts

 

Annual Reports – Annual report information from each committee is due in December for compilation and preparation to provide to members in January.

 

Retreat Ideas – Peggy asked that all current board members think about and be ready to provide suggestions for retreat topics for the December meeting.

 

Draft Budget Discussion - Terio reviewed the proposed budget with board members. The budget was developed based on historical information and requests submitted by committee chairs. The proposal was amended to increase the carryforward amount to $17,500, to increase the Ride expenses/Ride support to $4,900 in contemplation of the BCC sponsoring a race during 2012. With the changes from the draft document, the budget is essentially balanced with a continued carryforward of $35,000. Terio will post the draft budget with amendments made during the meeting for further consideration. In December, the final changes will be made and approved so the approved budget can be presented to the members in January.

 

ITEMS IMPACTING THE BUDGET:

• The board approved the grant application from Cardinal Hill in an amount not to exceed $1,930. Funding will come from the Philanthropy budget

• The board approved the expenditure of $2,240 for the mileage module for use in conjunction with club express. The amount will be deducted from the Philanthropy budget.

 

Adjourn-Next Board Meeting December 14 at Peggy’s House

 

Committee Reports

Committee: Education

Date: 11/8/11

Prepared by: Keith Batchelor

 

Report: We had our first Traffic Skills (TS-101) workshop this past weekend at the North ‘Y’, (November 4 & 5^th) led by our own League of American Bicyclists (LCI accredited) instructors Peggy Littrell, Pam Thomas and Dave Overton. Eleven people participated in the (near capacity) workshop and all passed. A very well run course and well worth anyone interested in their skill-sets or safety to attend a class in the future.

Still on course with our Fall workshop for the afternoon of Sunday November 20^th @ 1:30 pm also at the North ‘Y’. A maximum of 30 can be accommodated and we are roughly half-full with a week & a half to go.

Action Required: No further action needed.

 

Committee: Merchandise

Date: 11/8/11

Prepared by: Bill Cole

Report: Committee has met and discussed both the mission of the committee and the store inventory situation. Members were reminded that the mission is to produce items which can be imprinted with the club name and/or logo and to sell them to members on a “cost plus” basis to insure that we don’t lose money but which will not allow a major profit. The exception to this policy are jerseys which are produced as a for profit item. We decided to restock both 20 and 24 ounce water bottles, socks and headsweats. Orders will be smaller than the previous ones for these products and the attempt will be made to create and track for a 2 year merchandising period—i.e. we will only order what we think will be a two year supply.

New items to be developed include a club t-shirt. It will be produced in both a long and short sleeve version and will be designed with a “vintage” look. These shirts are expected at this point to be a “one and done” order. We will also produce a small number of bike bags (both under seat and stem bags) with the club logo embroidered on the sides. A second order of these will be evaluated based upon the response to the first order.

We anticipate having all items available for the Kick Off Ride to begin the season.

Action Required: Budget approval only.

 

 

Committee: Philanthropy

Date: 11/6/11

Prepared by: Pam Thomas

Report: The Philanthropy Committee met on November 1^st at Rowena Ruff’s house. The committee reviewed the one funding application received from Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital for funds to purchase a hand cycle (a bicycle that is pedaled using the arms/hands rather than legs/feet). The actual application was forwarded to board members to review as a separate communication. The committee voted to recommend funding the application as requested, and to require a full report from Cardinal Hill about how the cycle was used both with their patients and in the community. Cardinal Hill is also working on determining if they can get a better price on the cycle than was requested in the funding request. That information may be available prior to the board meeting.

 

The committee also discussed the proposed budget for 2012, which was approved and submitted to Terio. Finally, the committee identified issues and topics to be discussed at the next meeting after the budget is approved.

Action Required: Board vote on whether to grant the Cardinal Hill Funding request.

 

Committee: Membership

Date: 11/8/11

Prepared by: Jamie Bagley

 

For the first time ever, we have reached the 700 member mark!   We finished up the year with 700 members.  We ended last year with 626 members.  I am also pleased to report that we already have several families who have tried to renew online for 2012, and at least 4 families are waiting to sign up for free first year membership.  Club Express cannot get here soon enough!

It is my recommendation that we continue free membership for first year members, and continue with our current dues structure until we have successfully made the transition to Club Express.  With that said, I would like to share feedback from a survey that I sent out to members of the membership committee, and several club members.  Listed below are the survey questions along with a brief summary of responses I have received to date:

1. Should we continue free first year membership? The consensus is yes - everyone that has responded believes that we should continue free first year membership.

2.       Should we charge a nominal fee, $5.00 for example, to cover administrative expenses for new members? The consensus is no.  Instead of charging a nominal fee, it was suggested that perhaps we could limit access or benefits for the “free” members.

3.       Should we allow members to pay for multiple year membership – for example 2 year, 3 year, 5 year? Opinions are split on this one.  Several members think this is a great idea.

4.       Should there be a discount for paying in advance for a multiple year membership?  For example, a $5.00 discount per year? The majority of responses are against this idea.   One member who disagrees believes that at $20 for single and $30 for family – the club is a great deal considering that we print maps, manage the website, have snacks and water at rides, have parties and social events….

5.       Should we offer lifetime membership? Opinions are split on this one.  Most agree that it would be a great idea to offer lifetime membership.  One member suggested that there should be minimum qualifications for lifetime membership ( for example,   5 years as a member, or 10,000 miles)

6. If we implement the lifetime membership option, what would you consider to be a reasonable fee? Opinions vary – One member suggested a fee of $400 (with lifetime dues to increase along with any future increase in annual dues).  Another response was to offer lifetime dues for $200 or $300 with a jersey included.

Committee: Social Committee

Date: 11/8/11

Prepared by: Peggy Littrell

 

The social committee ended the 2011 cycling season with a Halloween ride of varying lengths and get-together on October 30 at Berries on Bryan Station. It was attended by about 50 of our members donning a variety of unique costumes. This year, we even had a bike that came dressed up as a horse...now, that's creative. Maybe we should consider prizes next year! The nutritious spread at the end of the ride replaced all the calories previously burned. Keep riding so we can keep eating everything!!!

The committee met on Oct. 31 after the last scheduled ride of the season to start planning for the off-season. A detailed report will follow in the Annual Report, but in summary, this season was very active socially with great turnouts at all events, both bike related and no-bike gatherings. We have had several offers for new events to be added to the calendar next year. We anticipate 14 events for 2012. We also discussed regular no bike socials for the off season and possibly a velo-swap, chili supper, and even an informal barn dance to keep us connected in the off season. No dates have been set for those events.

We also discussed developing guidelines for financial support for our socials. The committee is in favor of financial funding for bike and bike related events with supply/product support, as available, for no bike socials. We would like to know your thoughts on this subject before we make it a directive. Thoughts??

 

FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

Date: 7 NOVEMBER 2011

Prepared by: Jeff Pearson

REPORT: Committee met on 11/2/2011 to review the second quarter financial information.

• The financial records and bank statements for July, August, and September were reviewed. All information appeared to be in order.
• It was noted that there are some checks that were not deposited and therefore not cleared at this time since some people do not deposit reimbursement checks right away.
• It was noted that in some cases the request for mileage reimbursement was done via request for gasoline payment. The committee was OK with this approach as long as it is small amounts. However, the practice should be by mileage reimbursement to better track the actual amounts spent.
• Retail / Inventory was discussed – While there was a request from the committee for Terio and Bill Cole to recommend a possible software package to help track retail sales and inventory, Terio noted that the Club had determined that they will go to “Club Express” software for the club activities and that this software had the capability to provide actual sales as well as tracking of sales and inventory. It was agreed by the committee that this information could be very useful in determining how this area of the club is going, since there is little actual tracking that can currently be done. This seemed like a good step to all.
• Additional discussion about retail inventory and sales. It seemed that the larger ticket items are tracked (like jerseys), but that it is hard to keep up with the small items like map clips etc. These have not been specifically counted. It will likely be tracked a little better with the new club software anticipated.
• It was noted that Terio S. will be stepping down from the Board at the end of 2011 – implications of a new Treasurer and reporting information was reviewed.
• It was discussed that Jeff P will be stepping down from the Board and the Committee at the end of 2011, and that a Board Representative will have to be identified.
• We discussed the operation of the Treasurer and how that may change with the next person since Terio will off the Board.
• The issue of electronic payments for vendors and reimbursements could be beneficial.
• The potential of multiple users for the QuickBooks software was discussed. While this might be helpful to split work load and responsibility, this could be difficult to maintain responsibility and oversight.
• Additionally – co-signers or additional check signers were discussed. There are benefits and concerns over this as well.
• Ultimately – with the expansion of the club, rise in donations through philanthropy and more workload for the Treasurer, it seems that a discussion of the Treasurer’s role and responsibility at some point before the next individual takes over seems in order. Could even be discussion of more than one Treasurer or at least an assistant.
• Meeting closed with discussion of next meeting and delaying that until February to allow the new Treasurer to get involved and Terio to show them the processes of how things work.

ATTENDEES: Jeff Pearson (Board Representative), Sandy Duff & Billieanne Withers (Co-Chairs), Ed Jennings, George Pierce, Rick Fern, Terio Sutherland (Treasurer BCC)

 

President's report

From:Peggy Littrell

Date:Tue, 8 Nov 2011 at 12:43pm

The recent (Oct. 28-29) KBBC Annual meeting was held at the Marriot Courtyard with 5 BCC members in attendance. We were thanked for sponsoring the breakfast before the meeting began. The overall feeling of the Commission is that KY is moving forward with bike advocacy despite the difficult economy, largely due to the organized efforts of cycling enthuiasts on both the state and national levels. Several state legislators and LAB's head of advocacy spoke to the group outlining plans to continue influencing and improving our cycling culture. Watch for upcoming legislation in the 2012 session regarding cycling. We may want to consider an ad-hoc advocacy committee for next year.

The Annual LAB conference is planned for March 2012. Would we want to send 2 representatives?

 

Horsey Hundred Committee Report

From:Don Leach

Date:Mon, 7 Nov 2011 at 2:01pm

• The HH Committee held the first official meeting on Tuesday, November 1.

• Each subcommittee is progressing toward completion of assigned tasks.

• Sponsors and vendors are being actively recruited.

• Volunteers will be welcomed enthusiastically.

• The Active.com website should be operational by the beginning of December.

• Ride jersey and T-shirt design has yet to be finalized.  We are using a professional artist for design.

• Social committee is working on possible activities for Friday and Saturday evening.

• Pricing is $55 PLUS the Active.com fee.

• The ride is capped at 2000.

• There will be an increased law enforcement and emergency response presence at the next HH.  Dwayne Edwards is tasked with coordinating these entities along with routes (Dave Elbon).

• The HH budget needs to be finalized so we can proceed.

 

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