BCC Board Meeting Minutes -- June 11th, 2008

Bonneville Cycle Club

Board of Director’s Meeting

June 11, 2008 7:00pm

Anderson Library

Attendees:
Board Members Present:
John McCool, President BCC
Jerry Bergosh, VP BCC
Tim Shea, Roadcaptain BCC
Lyle Phleps, Treasurer BCC
Dana Morgan, Secretary BCC
Beth Williams, Membership BCC
Raleigh Fehr, Webmaster BCC
Travis Fisher, Newletter BCC
Jay Lepreau, Member-at-Large BCC
Brent Jones, Member-at-Large BCC
Ron Paull, Member-at-Large BCC
Board Members Absent: none
Others:
Steve Mason, Captain BCC Racing Team
Matt Killborn

Review Minutes and Approve:
John McCool noted that no one took minutes during the last board meeting (May 2008) and stated that was unfortunate because some key decisions were made, but he stated he will rectify the lack of minutes in the future.

Treasurer’s Report:
Lyle Phelps stated that projected total income from Little Red Riding Hood 2008 would be somewhere around $160,000 and included revenue of $40,000 from clothing sales and $120,000 from approx 2400 rider registrations.

Lyle also reported that approx $72,000 were currently in the BCC “working” account and $30,000 was in the interest bearing account. After more expenses for LR are paid from the working account, more money will be transferred to the interest bearing account.

John also signed a check for $300 to pay for web-development services for the club.

VP Report:
Jerry Bergosh declined a VP report in order to devote more time to Little Red and Ulcer business later in agenda.

Secretary Report:
Dana Morgan will replace Vena Margo as BCC secretary. She stated she plans to post the board meeting minutes on the BCC web-site after the board approves them each month. There was discussion and suggestion that the minutes be distributed to board@bbtc.net for email review and approval within a week after the meeting. The approved minutes would then be posted on the BCC Bulletin Board for Club review and comment.

Membership Report:
Beth Williams reported that BCC membership was down at only 505 members compared to 550 at the same time last year. She reported the number of memberships up for renewal each month but failed to renew as follows:
March 2008 – 47 memberships did not renew: 22 were new 2007 members, 20 returning members
April 2008 - 42 memberships did not renew: 26 were new 2007 members, 21 returning members
Lyle Phelps indicated that he probably had 25 renewals that he had not delivered to Beth.

Newsletter Report:
Travis Fisher reported that he had received no negative comments about the last newsletter that consisted of just the ride schedule. Dana Morgan reported that she did hear some negative comments from BCC club members while on the Little Red ride. There were suggestions to include write-ups of past successful club ride and/or events such as the Moab Spring Retreat, the Touring Outing, Race Results, etc. There was also discussion that it would be good to include such reports prior to big events such as ULCER and agreement that ride news and reports only needs to be included every other month to minimize the time required to produce the newsletter. Jay Lepreau noted that a timely newsletter, perhaps with just the ride calendar, was better to distribute to potential members than none at all.

Webmaster Report:
Raleigh Fehr reported he was going to change the web-site for ULCER. The new BCC store for online registration is up and running.

Members-at-Large Reports:
Ron Paul reported that the over-night bicycle touring event on May 31st had a good turnout with 23 participants.

Jay Lepreau asked John if he was responding effectively to complaints he received from club members and public at large. John responded that he tries to respond to emails but has fallen behind. Jerry reported that Big Bad Wolf had received many “atta-boys”. He suggested that perhaps the club should consider appointing a Communications Director that could perform public relations activities. Dana suggested that the board consider converting current committee/coordinator heads into voting positions on the board of directors so that all interests/committees of the club have a say in decisions. John noted there are currently 14 coordinators/committee heads and that might be too many. Someone suggested that the Race Team and C pace coordinators interests are already represented via the Road Captian board position. The motion was deferred until a written proposal could be formulated and voted on by the board.

Matt Kilborn was introduced as a member-at-large interested in filling Barbara Applebaum’s vacated position. It was noted that Matt had web development skills that he could donate for the benefit of the club. Members noted that Mary Margaret Williams had also expressed interest in filling the vacated position. Raliegh Fehr commented that it was a first for the club – to have more than one member wanting a common position. John McCool noted that perhaps she would be interested in filling the ULTRA position that was still vacant. No action followed the discussion.

Old Business:
Propose change to bylaws to allow minors to become members of Bonneville Cycling Club. Tim Shea reported that the process for changing the bylaws requires approval of the proposed change by the board of directors. Then the proposed change is submitted to the general membership for comments via the newsletter and/or web-site prior to final vote for majority approval by the Board:

Section X. Amendments.
Any club member may propose to the Board a change to the By-Laws. If approved by a majority of the Board, the proposed amendment shall be published on the website and in the next newsletter, and the Board shall consider comments by club members. The proposed amendments are effective if approved as provided in Section IX after the comment period. The amended By-Laws must be posted on the web site in a timely manner. Section IX (Changes to the Articles of Incorporation or By-Laws require a positive vote by 2/3 of the entire membership of the Board of Directors.)

There was discussion about requiring a parent/guardian signature for liability release and/or requiring an adult sponsor. A motion was made to vote to approve the proposed change to the bylaws and present to general membership for comment in next newsletter and to post on the web-site. The motion was seconded, a vote was conducted with all in favor and none opposed. Raleigh commented that he had already changed the “Club Info” page on the web-site to indicate that “Family Members under 18 are free”. However, the By-laws and Rider Signup sheets do not yet provide for under-18 membership.

Little Red Download and Recap:
This year Little Red Riding Hood 2008 registration increased 42% over 2007, from 1700 registered riders to 2400 riders. Last year, net income (after expenses) from LR 2007 was reported as $22,600 from all activities (registration, clothing sales, corporate/private donations, and silent auction). $17,000 of the net income was donated to Huntsman Cancer Institute. Jerry noted the donation amount equated to $10 per registered rider. This year, LR 2008 is expected to net somewhere between $45,000 and $50,000 before donation. Total revenue from LR2008 was $160,000 with $110,000 from rider registration, $40,000 from clothing sales and $10,000 from corporate and private donations/sponsorships. Jerry reported that Nate Wade Subaru and Contender Sports were both private sponsors but that that the club should not disclose the amount of sponsorship to the general membership. He noted that it was difficult to obtain corporate sponsors because the club was organized as a 501 C(4) not-for-profit social club rather than a 501 c(3) not-for-profit charity and therefore corporate sponsors donations were not tax deductible. Jerry indicated that if we donated $10 per rider to Hunstman Cancer from this years ride, BCC should donate $24,000. However, he later revised his recommended donation about down to $20,000 – including sponsor donations directly to Huntsman.

ULCER
Jerry reported that the “numbers” for ULCER this year do not look as promising as last years “numbers” for a variety of reasons. Jerry noted that ULCER is a very different ride to host and produce than Little Red. He pointed out that the ThanksGiving Piont venue is much more expensive at $4,000 to rent than the LR venue. Also, because ULCER is a co-ed event it just doesn’t generate the same income from clothing sales as a women’s only ride. ULCER has a harder time attracting volunteers and food costs are up over last year. In light of his analysis, Jerry recommended that ULCER be capped at 2,500 registered riders and that registration be increased from $45 to $55 per rider. Income from rider registration would then be projected to be $137,500. (Although Jerry had produced some printed spreadsheets detailing different scenarios for cost-benefit analysis, he did not share those details with the Board in written form so some of my notes may be incomplete or inaccurate.)

Last year, ULCER net income was $10,757 of which $10,000* was donated to the National Kidney Foundation. Because this year’s numbers don’t look so good, Jerry recommended that BCC do not donate any of the proceeds from ULCER to charity. He also proposed a policy change to the BCC board to help secure 100+ volunteers to help produce the ULCER ride. The policy would be to offer FREE registration to next year’s Little Red Riding Hood ride to anyone who volunteered an 8 hour shift. He also proposed that the club offer a free Jersey in addition to the LR free registration if the person volunteered 2 shifts (one shift on Friday and one on Saturday). This policy change would effectively decrease the net proceeds from next year’s Little Red Riding Hood ride by $5,000 - $10,000 to help produce a ride that intends to not donate any of its future proceeds to charity.

New BCC Logo Sticker and Banners
John McCool displayed a sample sticker with the new BCC logo and asked the Board to approve money for 2500 stickers that could be used to promote the club and to be mailed out to new and renewing members. It was unclear if the sticker would be mailed to a member when the renewal notice was sent or after membership was renewed. John asked the Board to approve money to purchase several large banners with the new logo that could be displayed at BCC events and booths. A motion was made and seconded to vote for $400 for stickers and $1000 for banners. All approved and none disapproved.

Special Report and Request
BCC Racing Team captain Steve Mason presented a request for BCC to help support the BCC Racing Team by subsidizing the Race Entry Fees for Racers. He presented a budget that included 9 road races in 2008 – each race fee ranged from $25 - $90 – at a total cost or $420 per racer if they participated in all 9 races of the season. In the budget, lower cost races would be subsidized $25/race rider and the $90 race would be subsidized $45 – for a total estimated support of $265 for a 9 races. Steve estimated that 15 riders per race would participate in each race but noted that some races are more popular than others. His total request for money from BCC to support race team in 2008 would be $3975.00 to pay part of the race fee for each rider plus and additional $505 for coaching clinics that would be open to all club members.

The discussion that followed Steve’s presentation included comments as how the funds would be handled and what the policy would be for each rider to receive financial support. Steve stated that each rider would be required to register and pay the race fees on their own prior to each race. They would have to be a BCC member and wear the BCC Race Jersey. After the race was completed, each racer would then apply for reimbursement. A question was asked, if more or less than the estimated 15 riders participated, how would the money be dispersed? Steve commented that each race was “capped” via the “Total Amount Restricted” column in the spreadsheet that he presented to the board for reviews. Unused funds from each race would carry over to next year. Steve reported the participation for the 4 races Team BCC participated were below the projected 15 riders but hopes that participation will increase.

John McCool played devil’s advocate and asked why such a large amount of money should be used to benefit such a small percentage of the club membership. Steve indicated that he began riding with BBTC to “train” for races such as Lotoja – and then met many riders who also road club rides as part of their training schedule for local and regional races, but once they became seriously interested in racing, they would leave the club and join an official racing team to train and race with. Discussion included a request to post race results in the newsletter and to provide a link to the BCC Racing Google Group from the BCC website. The treasurer noted that any/all sponsorship money for jerseys and such needs to go thru the BCC books. McCool stated that the $4500 would be viewed as “seed” money to help get the racing team going with the expectation that the team will work towards sponsoring their own race and obtaining outside sponsorship. Brent Jones asked a question as to what the club intends to do to support the general membership financially, however no one had any concrete answers. Raliegh Fehr seconded the motion to authorize $4500 from the BCC funds to support the BCC Race Team and called for a vote. All approved the motion, non-opposed.

The meeting adjourned as 9:00pm.

* Although these minutes were approved, later it was clarified -- Last year, ULCER net income was $10,757 after $10,000 was donated to the National Kidney