Board Meeting Minutes

MINUTES – SPOKANE BICYCLE CLUB BOARD OF DIRECTORS, April 5, 2010

Barb Kehr, Vice-President, called the meeting to order at 6:08 pm.

Attendance: Barb Kehr, Jennifer Calvert, Barbara Hinzman (Officers); Sheila Gates-Ping, Mary Ann Bosky, Joe Schretenthaler, (Board Members); Frank Ping (WebMaster) and Ian and Betty Ledlin, club members/ride leaders/membership chairman.

Minutes of the March Board Meeting were approved as e-mailed.

Treasurer Barbara Hinzman delivered the treasurer’s report. Any member may request a detailed financial report from Barbara.

Barb Kehr led a discussion about the proposed Saturday rides organized by Jan Absher; specifically, how to get ride leaders and what might be appropriate places to start the rides. Suggestions included contacting Jan Whaley to get ideas about starting points on the South Hill, and starting North rides from Audubon Park and East-West rides from places on the Centennial Trail. Ride leaders will be found as rides progress and riders become regular participants.

Mary Ann Bosky brought the license plate frames that were ordered to the meeting. Board members oh-ed and ah-ed appropriately. The first order was for 8 frames, with a total expense of $109 and the amount collected to purchase them being $120.

Joe Schretenthaler reported delivering brochures to several locations of Gold’s Gym and Oz Fitness, as well as a number of area bicycle shops. Betty Ledlin suggested that ride leaders could provide brochures to new riders.

Ian Ledlin led the board in discussing how to handle changing the normal method of distribution of newsletters to electronic, as opposed to mailing paper copies to all members, with the ultimate goal to reduce the cost of printing and mailing. The process involves changing the mind set and expectations from a paper tradition to an electronic one. So, in absentia, Don Carlton moved that the May/June newsletter be emailed to all those members listing an email address. Barb Kehr seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously in favor of the motion. The board then discussed changing the default method of receiving the newsletter to using e-mail (at present the default method is US Postal Service). Barb Kehr so moved and Mary Ann Bosky seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously by the board. Ian led a discussion about whether we should continue to mail newsletters by bulk mail, providing the board with figures showing the comparative costs of bulk mail vs. regular mail. Barbara Hinzman moved that the newsletters be processed through regular mail as long as it results in a lower cost, and the board approved the motion. Discussion ensued about what printer we might use for the newsletters and whether we should get the printer to fold, tab and address them for us. Jennifer moved and Barbara seconded the motion to use Orange Printers (or another printer if one can be found who would be more economical) who would print, fold, tab and address the newsletters. The board voted to approve the motion, and directed Ian to order enough newsletters to cover the next mailing with sufficient extras as necessary.

Ian led a discussion about sending membership renewal notices to members who have yet to pay their 2010 dues. The major decision involved how far back in time to include names from previous years’ membership lists. Barb Kehr moved and Mary Ann Bosky seconded the motion to send notices to members back through 2007, and the board approved the motion.

The board considered how much of a role the club should play in supporting the Ride of Silence, and after discussion, directed Jennifer Calvert to contact Paul Warner (who is listed as the contact for Spokane on the event website) to let him know we will put a notice in our newsletter for informational purposes, but we will not make it a club-sanctioned event.

The board was reminded to be very careful in using the roster of members’ e-mail addresses, specifically not sending out members’ addresses as part of bulk e-mail. We should be using BCC whenever we can.

Barb Kehr agreed to look into a venue for our August club picnic.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:37 PM. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Calvert, secretary