Board Meeting Minutes
Spokane Bicycle Club Board meeting minutes 5/5/08
Present: Cyrus McLean, Don Carlton, Jennifer Calvert, Al Koscal, Frank Ping, Sheila Gates-Ping, Charlie Greenwood, Jimmy Brown, Steve Sauser.
The meeting was called to order by Cyrus at 6:00 pm.
Elissa Sullivan presented an idea she would like to have the club support: her business, The Scoop, would like to sponsor a bicycle rodeo, including booths, displays and other related bicycle activities, advertising in OutThere, the Inlander if possible, Pedals to People, and our newsletter. It would be held on a Saturday, suggested time from 10 am to 2pm.
Minutes from the April board meeting were distributed and then approved as read.
Steve Sauser presented the treasurer's report, which was approved as read. Details are available upon request from the treasurer. Steve also reported receiving a letter from Griffin Publishing, our newsletter publisher. Printing costs will be increasing for the future newsletters. Steve also reported that the purge of the mailing list has occurred, so we are sending out newsletters only to members and other entities such as bike shops within a 50 mile radius, media outlets and cycling organizations.
Jimmy Brown reported that the Wellness Fair at Riverview in April was cancelled due to extensive illness at the facility. It has been rescheduled for May 7. Jimmy was interviewed live on Channel 2 at Mission Park on the subject of bicycle safety issues.
Don Carlton presented an alternative method of classifying rides that is used by the Cascade Bicycle Club to see if the board felt that we might want to alter our present method of A-B-C-D. Frank felt that words might mean more to new members than letters. Steve commented that ride leaders might be a bit more descriptive of their ride, in addition to using the letters. Cyrus suggested that board members mull over the possible change and talk to other club members to get a feel for what might be best for the club.
Frank reported on the current state of the club website, and the board discussed having a list of members on the site, but decided that privacy was a prime consideration, especially for e-mail addresses.
The board discussed the possibility of having rides on more days of the week, as opposed to having several choices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Steve suggested that ride leaders could start a Monday or Wednesday ride and see how it goes in terms of attendance.
Cyrus invited members who want to promote Bike-To-Work week to meet at his house at 6:30 am Monday, May 12, to ride together to Riverfront Park for the festivities from 7 to 9 am.
In case there is interest in reviving the Autumn Century Ride, Cyrus will put a notice in the newsletter for anyone interested in heading up the effort to let us know.
Steve talked to the print shop at his business about printing our brochures. However, there is a need for the latest version of Publisher. If the club would pay for the software, the print shop would make the brochures for just the cost of the paper. The board agreed that it would be a good deal, and Steve will research prices and other aspects.
Don commented that having a brochure is less time-sensitive and more portable than distributing copies of the newsletter.
Cyrus has completed his perusal of the club bylaws and will get a copy of his suggested changes to Charlie for him to scan and convert to editable text.
Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:30 (I forgot to note the time!)
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Calvert, secretary
Spokane Bicycle Club Board Meeting Minutes 3/3/08
The meeting was called to order by Sally Phillips, vice president, at 5:55 pm at Europa. In attendance were: Sally Phillips, Steve Sauser, Jimmy Brown, Jennifer Calvert, Sheila Ping, Frank Ping and Charlie Greenwood.
Sally informed the board of an invitation to have a booth at Earth Day in Riverfront Park on April 19. The board voted not to have a booth, especially in light of our community participation in the Centennial Trail cleanup, which will be April 20 at 1:00 pm, at which time we will ride to our designated mile location, clean it up and bicycle afterwards.
Jimmy reported that he had a conversation with the activities director of Riverview Terrace about involving interested residents in our club activities. Residents will be informed of our meetings. On another issue, Jimmy reported seeing a number of elementary school students riding their bicycles to school recently who were not wearing bicycle helmets. The board asked Jimmy to contact Eileen Hyatt about the possibility of our taking some action to encourage helmet use among students in Spokane School District…. possibly preparing flyers to be sent home to parents.
Sally reminded the board of our yearly commitment to run the Bike Corral at Bloomsday, which is to be held May 4 this year.
Steve reported receiving a newsletter mailing list from Ian Ledlin. There was discussion about the process of newsletter mailings: who receives them, how many we should be printing, costs, etc. We have been printing 600 copies, although we have approximately 250 members, which means that a number of people and organizations have been receiving complementary copies. It was decided to send a postcard to those receiving complementary copies to have them let us know if they wish to continue receiving them. Steve will call bicycle shops within a 50 mile radius, and will make the appropriate judgment call to determine who will receive copies in the future. We have been paying $175 yearly for a bulk mail fee, and it was suggested that we could use the permit belonging to our publisher, Griffin Publishing for those times when we need a bulk permit. The board voted to let our present permit lapse.
Steve gave the treasurer's report, which was approved as read by the board. There was some discussion about whether we might want to raise the yearly membership fee, but the board decided that there was no need at present to consider changing the amount of the membership fee.
Sally received a thank-you note from KSPS for our volunteering during the pledge drive. The amount pledged during our time of duty was $25,133. Sally will check with them to see if we can get a picture of our volunteers. Sally will ask Ian for an up-to-date e-mail membership roster, and board members can inform her if they want one for themselves.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 pm.
Spokane Bicycle Club February 4, 2008 Board of Directors meeting
The meeting was held at Europa and attended by Sally Phillips, Steve Sauser, Frank Ping, Kay Putnam, Cyrus McLean, Tim Arneson, Susan Pike, Jennifer Calvert and Al Koscal. Cyrus called the meeting to order at 6:07 pm, followed by Kay reading the minutes of the January board meeting, which were approved as read.
Steve gave each attendee a copy of the treasurer’s report and stated that the end-of-January balance is $8,643.
The board discussed several ongoing issues, to wit: possible changes to the newsletter, changing the frequency of the regular meeting as well as the board meetings, the problem of diminished ridership, the desirability of attracting new members (especially younger members). The board wants to encourage the general membership to attend board meetings if they so desire, as well as making sure all board members attend if possible, so there was discussion about sending out reminders and including the agenda.
The board voted to give Ian Ledlin permission to send out renewal reminders to members who have yet to pay their 2008 dues and allow Ian to make the decision as to who will be receiving the reminders.
During the discussion about how to increase attendance at the regular club meetings, the board members realized that even among ourselves, we have different reasons for choosing to attend the meetings (or not); level of interest in the program being presented (slide shows of trips taken, information about bicycle maintenance, issues about bicycle safety and the roads, etc.), the opportunity to be social with other club members, supporting the efforts of those who work at putting on the programs, etc.
It was decided to support “Bike to Work” Day. Eileen Hyatt will write a letter of support on our club letterhead, and we will create a link on our web page.
Sally has committed the club to run the Bike Corral for Bloomsday as usual.
Frank and Cyrus will discuss and make a decision regarding making minutes of the board meeting available via web-page and newsletter and also counters for the web page.
Steve delivered a copy of the articles and bylaws of the Club to Cyrus, and Cyrus offered to re-type them and distribute them to the board members so that we could discuss updating them.
Frank wondered if we should post the names of new bicycle club members on the site. Cyrus will provide the names for him. Frank showed the board some ideas for upgrading the looks and the utility of the club website.
Sally proposed that the board have a meeting to discuss the budget, especially since we no longer have the income from the Autumn Century ride. We discussed the possibility of raising the dues. Sally also suggested thinking of ways to increase the attendance at regular meetings: door prizes, cookie contest, prize to the person who brings a map of their favorite ride.
Cyrus declared the meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Calvert, Secretary