Meeting Minutes for TCBC Board Meeting

3-7-17

Life Link III Board Room

Board Members Present: Fran Rabe, Shelby Miller, Kasey Kramer, Bob Fix, Mike Kubes, George Blank, Diane Ziemer.

Board Members Not Present: Roger Fickbohm, Pete May, Edward Eroe.

Non-Board Members Present: Jim Pederson, Doug Nelson, Patt Seleen, Pete Hawkins, Ann Harris, Mary Derks, Paul Frenz.

The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm

The meeting minutes from February were reviewed. There were no corrections. A motion was made by Bob to accept the meeting minutes. It was seconded by Mike. There was no opposition, the motion passed.

As Roger was not able to attend the board meeting, Fran reviewed the financial documents with the board. Financial data looks good so far. Roger should be back by the end of March.

Volunteer Committee

Mike notified the board that the Hot Chocolate organizers have agreed to allow TCBC to put up a tent at the marathon in exchange for 10 riders to serve as bike marshals. Mike will post on the forum that we need riders to volunteer as marshals. The club also needs one more volunteer for the Iron Man booth.

Ride Stats/Technology Committee

Bob talked to the board on this subject. Recently the technology committee has been trialing the “Ride with GPS” program. This program has been going well so far. The cue sheets are great, the maps could be better. The technology committee would like the board to approve the club buying out the membership that was originally purchased by Bob Floyd, which costs $250 a year. This could then potentially be demoed at the ride leader forum. Bob would be available to train ride leaders who want to use the program. The motion to approve to buy out Bob Floyd’s “Ride with GPS” membership was made by Bob, and seconded by Mike. No opposition, the motion passed.

Bob then featured a “beta version” of the new ride stats program for the board. The idea is that this will be available to show off at the ride leader forum and will be available for use later this year.

Membership

Mary Derks spoke to the board on behalf of membership. Membership and the board are currently working on some things to try and attract new riders. This includes non-members riding for free in the month of April, and the free membership with a new bike purchase in the month of May. Fran will be contacting members who joined under last year’s free membership with bike purchase and didn’t renew to see why they didn’t renew with the club. Overall there is about a 5% decline in membership.

General Business

Approve Taxes

Fran informed the board that the taxes need to be sent in soon. One difference this year is that the club had a profit in the newsletter area, so we will most likely have to pay in about $165. A motion was made by George to accept the taxes, and it was seconded by Bob. No opposition, the motion passed.

TCBC Brochures

Mike brought the new club brochures that have been printed up. Everyone was assigned local bike shops to pass brochures out to.

Bike Calendar Use

Fran addressed this topic. The issue has been raised weather it is appropriate to have postings on our ride calendar that are not bike rides, but rather social outings intended for club members. In the past ride leaders have submitted things like hiking, meal outings, etc., to the ride calendar. Recently it has been questioned if this is appropriate or not. Currently there is no policy saying that ride leaders cannot do this, and typically these outings have been approved in the past.

Pete H suggested that the club adopt a policy that states that the ride calendar is for officially approved rides only and club related meetings such as the board meeting and ride leader forum. Social events need to go on the forum. The possibility of adding a second “social calendar” was raised.

It was decided to table the discussion on the topic for one month until we know more about the new calendar format next month. The social events recently submitted will go on the ride calendar in the meantime.

MN Bike Alliance Handbook

Paul Frenz informed the board the MN Bike Alliance is putting out a handbook about bike safety. They are looking for sponsors for this booklet, and are asking for $1000 from TCBC. This sponsorship would help fulfill our role for both education and safety. This would also advertise the club as well as the clubs logo would be featured inside the brochure and on the back cover. It would be possible to take the funds out of the money that is budgeted for charitable contributions that the club makes every year. A motion was made by Bob to approve $1000 for the bike safety handbook, with the note that if needed, the money could be taken from the budgeted money to be used for charitable contributions. This was seconded by Diane. No opposition, the motion passed.

48 Hour Rule

Fran informed the board that the “48 hour rule” is set to expire at the end of March. Do we want to extend the rule into April? Kate Kovar sent in some data on 48 hour rule rides in the last week. There was lots of debate for both sides, both for and against extending the rule. A motion was made to keep the 48 hour rule in place until April 30, 2017 by Mike, and was seconded by Diane. Something will need to be communicated to ride leaders.

Free Membership Program

The program that offers a free club membership with a purchase of a new bike from either Penn Cycle or Erik’s will start up again and run for the month of May.

Newsletter

Doug spoke to the board about the newsletter. The April/May issue is out now, and it looks good!

MN Bike and Hike Guide

Fran asked the board if we wanted to spend money for an ad in the MN Bike and Hike Guide? The cost of the ad is $595. It is a state-wide publication, but a majority of the people it reaches are outside the metro area and this ad is not likely to lead to new members. The board decided not to purchase an ad this year.

Videographer

Pete H informed the board that he did not get any response to his plea for someone to volunteer to be a videographer for the ride leader forum. So Pete’s grand-daughter has offered to do it for the club.

Pete also brought in some samples of whistles that could be purchased by the club and given out at the forum to ride leaders. These whistles could be used at the start of rides so ride leaders could more easily get the attention of riders and bring them in a group for the ride briefing. The cost is 85 cents per whistle, with a minimum order of 250. So approximately 250 dollars for this order. The money could come out of the ride leader training budget. A motion was made to approve the whistle purchase by Diane, and seconded by George.

Letter from Lawyer

Fran received a letter from a local lawyer looking at the possibility of addressing club members regarding injury and liability when injured while riding on a bike. At this time the club will not be taking part.  

Upcoming Events:

Swap Meet- Saturday March 25, 2017

Ride Leader Forum- Monday April 10, 2017

Minnesota Ironman- Sunday, April 30, 2017

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm

Meeting minutes recorded by Kasey Kramer