Informal, Unofficial BBC Board Minutes

Lately board meetings have been about every other month at a downtown eatery.Meetings are announced via the club calendar.  Crazy Horse has worked out well, and we gathered in the back room at 6 PM on Monday, June 30. Some folks ordered beer or soda or water and several ordered supper. 

Present were the elected officers Jim Schroeder (pres), Warren Smith (VP), Kathy Cummins  (sec), Jerry Arveson (treasurer), and Stan Ellis (at large), Committee chairs present included Tammy Berger (membership), John Bassett (ride coordinator), John Connell (RAIN), Allan Edmonds (media), and Yusuf (marketing). Absent were chairs Dan Hickey (mountain biking), Brett Nelson (grants), and Andrew Dingman (safety and education). Andrew is the newest board member.

Several minor corrections to the April minutes were made.

Advocacy Chair Ron Brown made a report in an area that has become more and more significant to the club. He briefly discussed ongoing issues of a bike bridge over the new I-69. Ron also reported on his dangerous drain covers project. Major progress has been made over the last few years, thanks to support from the city. He has updated his map of dangerous grates on the BBC web site. Issues of mixed use trails continue to be prominent. He got quick action on an upside down grate that caused a flat (fortunately nothing more) to a club member.

Our new marketing chair Yusuf reported on two new items. First the idea to have a BBC slogan. He has tabulated the top votes. Some good ideas were never entered: Bike and Community; Breakaway with the BBC. The board didn’t choose one. But we did award prizes to the two leaders “Because Biking’s Cool” (Jerry Arveson) and “”Today is a good day to ride” (Mark Naper). The winners will receive their choice of existing merchandise inventory. Maybe we’ll have 2 or 3 slogans available for different uses. Second is the question of sponsoring a men’s and women’s Little 5 team. Base amount is $3000 for a dual sponsorship. There was some discussion of pros and cons of such a sponsorship. The idea would be for increased exposure, with our name in the program. There would not be much interaction with the sponsored teams. We wondered whether any other non-profits do this? None that we know. Maybe we could purchase an ad for much less. E.g. $400 for a full page ad. But would we get more exposure with a sponsorship? We can wait to make a decision until late winter.

John Bassett reported that club rides have all had leaders. We have successful family rides, relax rides (a few participants), and beginner rides. We had a Saturday  ride this spring with 50. They’ve run from 8 to 50. Waivers have been working okay, using it to encourage people to join up.

John Connell reported on RAIN. Things are going well, with committee naturally a little nervous as the event approaches. They are planning a slightly different finish line at what is a car exit. This is in part due to Earlham installing geothermal in the bigger field east of the old entrance path. Still hoping to have a masseuse. Definitely will have a couple of bike mechanics, which was a popular option last year. So far we have 1050 registered. Might hit 1200, a bit less than last year. There are increasing options for competing rides, e.g. iron man, indy crit, etc. Tammy has been doing a great job with merchandise. Still need just a few more volunteers. They still expect some extra volunteers at the finish line, by people who are just there. PRAIN going this coming Saturday for volunteers who want to ride the route. We will go with Ron’s electronic finish line program, without the manual  backup operation.

Membership is more or less normal now that the renewal deadline has passed. Has cleared out all but a couple of women’s jerseys. Tammy has Rain merchandise in her house.

We awarded a $1500 grant to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission that will help fund bicycle instructor training.

In general chairs are welcome to run with their ideas, with broad oversight by the board.

Jerry Arveson made his regular treasurer’s report. We continue to be in good shape financially. We’re somewhat behind on RAIN registrations 9-10% compared to last year. Jersey orders are down proportionally. Dues are up 4% (at same annual charge).

Other announcements:

Summer picnic is set for August 24 in Upper Cascades.

 We will contribute $500 to co-sponsor a special speaker for a city program this fall on the topic of reducing traffic. 

RAAM was a great local success this year, with one complaint about inappropriate rider behavior near Bloomfield.

There being no further new business, the meeting adjourned about 7:30.