The CRCA Board meeting was held on June 1st at Sonny Bindra’s office.

Attendees included: Sonny Bindra, Alex Bremer, Chris Forsyth, Mike Green, David Greenberg, Ken Harris, Wendy Nickerson. Reed Albergotti attended as a guest (and then was elected to fill the position of Communications Director).

The meeting addressed the following:

1. May Minutes – The minutes from the May, 2009 meeting were unanimously approved.

2. July Meeting – The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, July 13th. The meeting will be held at Sonny Bindra’s office at 6:45 p.m. unless notice of a different venue/time is provided to the Board.

3. Finance Report – Wendy Nickerson distributed financials reflecting CRCA’s Q1 financial position. It was noted that expenses were slightly higher than the same time in 2008 due to the timing of a payment to the Central Park Medical Unit. Wendy Nickerson observed that CRCA’s financial position is such that it has approximately one year’s worth of normal operating expenses in our cash reserves.

4. Alpine Hill Climb – Mike Green reported that CRCA held a time trial in Alpine New Jersey on May 16th. The course started at the bottom of the ranger station climb and ended on the flat section of road before the ranger station parking lot. The event was a success both from a logistics/race perspective and financially. Based on net proceeds, CRCA was able to donate $1,000 to the Alzheimer’s Association. The Board discussed possibly running a similar time trial in Alpine in late August.

5. Bear Mountain Time Trial – The Board discussed the logistics of the Bear Mountain Time Trial, including the need to get additional teams/marshals involved. The consensus was that we needed a minimum of 12 marshals on the course, 6 of which should be assigned to the traffic circle at the top of Tiorati. The Board unanimously authorized Sonny Bindra to offer to pay $75-100 for marshals to the extent that we needed to pay fees to get sufficient marshal coverage. This fee was higher than the “standard” going rate of $50 for a for-hire marshal for Central Park and took into account the amount of time required to travel to/from Bear Mountain. Sonny Bindra agreed to coordinate with Doug Von Bushberger to see if we could get teams to provide volunteers. Further, it was agreed that if CRCA did not have sufficient marshals (paid plus volunteers from team duty) by Wednesday, June 3rd, that Sonny would be authorized to offer marshal credit for any club members that volunteered to marshal at Bear Mountain.

6. Harlem Race – The goal is to get 30 member to assist with this race. Sonny Bindra will update Doug Von Bushberger regarding what teams are “available” to assist. The Board discussed adding open races as an option when they designate their dates for marshalling but it was decided that we didn’t want to do this because it can adversely affect the ability to run the core CRCA park races. After discussion, the Board decided to treat each open race on a case-by-case basis.

7. Reimbursement for Volunteer Drivers for Bear Mountain Race – The Board agreed unanimously to reimburse volunteer drivers for gas and tolls — $40 per driver.

8. Appointment of Reed Albergotti – Reed Albergotti was present at the meeting. It was proposed that Reed become the new Communications Director since this Board position was recently vacated. Reed is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and rides for the Jonathan Adler sub-team. The Board voted unanimously to appoint Reed as Communications Director.

It was noted that historically the Communications Director was in charge of the newsletter, which was meant for club members. Now, the website has replaced the newsletter and is as much directed to the club as it is to the general public.

Reed noted that he thought it would be good to take an active role pitching stories to the press and taking an advocacy role via the media.

We also discussed the fact that we have an archive of some old CRCA materials, which are currently in Mike Green’s possession. We discussed describing more of CRCA’s history on the website, in part to share this with members and also to allow the Park Dept. and other stakeholders to see CRCA as a long-time fixture in the Parks.

9. Litigation Update – Mike Green presented a letter from a personal injury attorney representing a marshal that was reportedly hit by a recreational cyclist during a club race earlier this year. Mike Green will forward to USCF.

10. Race Waivers – In order to speed the registration process, all riders are supposed to bring signed waivers on the day of each club race. However, this was not always occurring and there were delays in registration due to riders that need to fill out a waiver at the race. The Board discussed this issue and it was agreed that we would charge for waivers at the races – $5 per waiver, with proceeds to be donated to CRCA Juniors. The waiver will be placed on the CRCA site, so members can download/print the form.

11. Independent Contractor Agreement – There are some independent contractors that assist with race set-up, marshalling, etc. We will have them each sign an independent contractor Agreement. Sonny Bindra will provide a form for this purpose.

12. Race Set-up There was a delay in the last CRCA race in getting the race started. The following will improve our starting on time: (i) race director and marshal coordinator must be on time [this generally has not been an issue], (ii) waivers must be printed and signed in advance [see item 10 above], (iii) registration should close 10 minutes before official race time, and (iv) marshal sign-in should be streamlined (see item 14 below)

13. End of Race In order to avoid confusion about when marshals are to leave their posts, a moto trailing behind the last field will signal to marshals that the race is over.

14. Marshal Assignment/Sign-In The Board discussed the need to first have marshals assigned to “priority” locations and then have the remainder geographically dispersed in accordance with the plan agreed to with the Parks Dept. Sonny Bindra will prioritize the assignment, so that its clear in what order we need to assign marshals. By having a clear order of assignment, we will cut down on the time spent having each marshal sign-in. In addition, the Board agreed that it would helpful 1 person instruct marshals during sign-in and another person actually assign the marshal to a spot. Sonny Bindra will coordinate this with Paulette.

The Board also considered whether we can develop and instructional video, describing what a marshal is supposed to do. No further action was taken on this item.

15. Leaders Jerseys – Alex Bremer reported that Champion Systems/Charlie Issendorf has agreed to provide Leaders Jerseys. Alex will coordinate with Charlie and will try to get 5 jerseys in each jersey per size.

16. Rider Stipends – The Board voted to authorize $5,000 to be allocated towards a rider stipend program. The program will be open to CRCA members. Criteria for selection will be: potential for development and need-based. The grants will be used for elite competition/travel. Ken Harris and Alex Bremer recused themselves from voting on this issue since Ken anticipated submitting a proposal on behalf of juniors and Alex anticipated submitting a proposal of his own to race in Belgium. The remaining Board members unanimously authorized a 5,000 budget for this program.

David Greenberg
CRCA Secretary