December Board Meeting Minutes

CRCA Board Meeting

December 7, 2010, 6:30 pm “Penang” – 127 West 72^nd Street

Attendees

Agenda Items

1.     Welcome

2.     Pended status of club

3.     CPC donation

4.     Minutes of prior meetings

a.     May, 202010

b.     June 7, 2010

c.     August 2, 2010

5.     Party

6.     New Year’s ride

7.     2011 items

a.     Board role and 2011 goal

b.     Board member responsibilities

c.     Board resources

d.     2011 race schedule

8.     Marshaling

9.     Other matters

10.  Next meeting

Minutes

1.     The newly elected 2011 members of the Board and Ted Neu were welcomed to the meeting and encouraged to participate in discussion and it was confirmed that they are ineligible to vote at this meeting.  It was noted that insufficient members of the 2010 Board were present to establish a quorum, and therefore no votes could be taken at the meeting.  Any matters requiring a Board vote would be conducted electronically subsequent to the meeting.

2.     Club’s Status. The current status of the club with USA Cycling (“USAC”) was discussed.  It was noted that USAC had suspended the club as a result of failure to submit the required paperwork and associated fees related to the club’s coaching sessions held throughout the year.  Tony Slokar was not present to comment on the status but it was noted that numerous members of the Board had reached out to Tony regarding the status in an effort to encourage him to complete the required duties.  Although USAC appears to have temporarily removed the “pending” status of CRCA, now allowing for members to renew their USAC license and select CRCA as their club, there was discussion about the seriousness of this situation in terms of the financial cost to the club (late fees), relationship with USAC and the frustration of some members having difficulty initially renewing their licenses with USAC.

David Jordan agreed to make further contact with Tony.  There was also discussion of the actions that should be taken against Tony and/or the Adler team as a result of the consistent failure to perform the required duties on a timely basis.  A decision on the actions to be taken was deferred for the 2011 Board to determine.

3.      Donation to Central Park Conservancy.  The history of contributions to CPC was discussed and it was noted that $11,000 was donated in the prior year.  Continued support of the CPC was considered important to the club.  It was agreed that the 2010 Board should determine the amount of the contribution for 2010, however since there was not a quorum, no proposal was made.

4.     Minutes of Prior Meetings.  Since a quorum was not established, not vote was taken on the minutes of prior meetings.  A vote by the 2010 Board will be held subsequent to the meeting electronically prior to December 31, 2010.

5.     Year End Party.  The Blue Ribbon team is organizing the 2010 party but due to difficulties with securing a venue, it was not going to be possible to hold the event in December and a January date would be identified, a venue determined and communicated to the Members.

There was discussion regarding what those present felt was an appropriate venue for such an event and it was agreed that the venue should be of higher quality than in prior years given that this is the only social event for the club each year and a desire to give the club awards presentation a greater level of status among members.  A larger venue that allows for more interaction between members was also preferred as the prior venue was considered to be too small.  It was agreed that the venue should allow for at least 100 attendees.

Given the event will now be held in 2011, David Jordan agreed to contact Tom Pennell to discuss the arrangements and to ensure a date and suitable location are identified with sufficient time to communicate to

6.     New Year’s Ride. The need for a permit was discussed and it was agreed that as a service to members this non-competitive ride should subject to a permit from USAC.  Mike Green agreed to seek a permit and communicate the upcoming ride to Members.

7.     2011 Board Matters. The 2011 Board Members were provided with information on the tools available to them to manage the clubs affairs including the website, membership database and Yahoo Groups.  Mike Green indicated that all new members now had access to the Yahoo Groups and the membership database.  There was discussion regarding who should have the ability to update the website and it was agreed that providing more of the Board members access was preferred.  Mike Green agreed to enable access.

The 2011 race schedule had been submitted to the Park Department and final confirmation of race dates is expected shortly.

The 2011 Board was also briefed on:

• CRCA’s relationship with the Park Department, CSC and the New York Road Runners
• Outstanding litigation matters
• Proposal to establish a CRCA Development Fund which would be a 501(c)(3) organization

8.     Marshaling. There was considerable discussion regarding the continued difficulties with marshaling, in particular efforts by the club to continue to improve the standard of marshaling.  The increase in membership in 2010 provided the club with the benefit of having a large pool of resources to draw from, but a higher proportion of members with less experience.  The following suggestions were made to the 2011 Board:

• Continue with the new members orientation sessions
• Consider whether the current requirement for new members to marshal 3 times in their first year is still necessary
• Consider preparing an instructional video for members to watch to demonstrate high quality marshaling practices
• Consider providing more specific directions to marshals e.g. whether marshals should direct recreational cyclists into the jogger lane or not when the race is not immediately approaching.

There was discussion that there appeared to be some confusion regarding missed marshaling dates, suspension (including team suspension) and make up requirements and how these were being enforced.  The Board suggested that the 2011 Board consider clarifying the policy, clearly communicating the policy to all members and enforcing the policy on a consistent basis.

9.     Other Matters.  There was discussion related to the getting the sub-teams more involved in club activities and it was suggested that a list of potential activities for each club to perform be prepared early in the year by the 2011 Board for communication to team leaders.

The club’s financial position was briefly discussed.  Wendy Nickerson indicated that current available cash was approximately $75,000 and that she estimated that the club had made a small surplus for the year.  The 2011 Board members requested the 2010 Board member’s views on membership dues and whether any changes should be made in 2011.  The view of the 2010 Board members present was that there was no need for an increase at this time.

David Jordan thanked all existing 2010 Board members for their service to the club in 2010.

10.  Next Meeting.  The proposed next meeting is for January 11^th at 6:30pm, same location.