August 2021 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes and Activity Reports
August 2021 MORE Board of Director Meeting Minutes
· Financial Updates
o General
§ Revenues - $12.7k
· Memberships $5k
· MoCo Epic $19.8k ($20.4k in total)
· MORE store $1k
· Other $2k
§ Expenses - $6.7k
· Summer festival $1.4k
· ED $4.5k (charged to MoCo)
· Other $0.8k
o Restricted
§ Revenues - $27.9k Grants working capital ($4.8k MoCo wayfinding project, $23.1k Patuxent)
§ Expenses - $36.4k
· $10k Patapsco GTF grant
· $2.4k Carsonite posts (Grants Working Capital)
· $22.2k Dirt Artisans for Patuxent (Grants Working Capital)
· Discussion from all regarding recruitment or interest in 2022 - 2023 open board positions - President, Vice-President, VA Advocacy Director
o Ernie: this is an open discusion.
o Tom: I need to step back because I’m over committed. Looking for someone to come in behind him.
§ Dave M.: Do you have any idea for people who bring in?
· Tom: Has a couple people in mind. Needs to see what their interests are.
o Dave B: Wants to rerun as VP
o Ernie: Wanted to hear what our thoughts are.
§ Thought he would be rotating off
§ Dave M: We should table this and see if anybody reaches out to Ernie about the job.
o Neil:
§ Can do it again. This time around, but it would be nice to have some help.
§ It may be possible to find someone who can dedicate time to get reports done. Payments themselves are relatively straightforward.
§ Deal with the accounting and financing statements is more accounting focused.
§ Agreement to try to create an assistant treasurer role.
§ Anything dealing with Shopify is overly complicated.
§ Ernie:
· Neil has done an excellent job and has been able to be innovative
· Revisit Insurance Issues
o Kathy: Doesn’t have anything to contribute. Only has questions about what the situation is. What is the liability for board members, rider leaders, etc.
§ Ernie:
· Liability insurance is more of a representation and checking the boxes.
· Personal liability is a different box, and includes negligence, personal accountability. If you go and cause an accident, then it’s a different story.
· On MORE liability side, we cover trailwork and rides.
· We have decided to not to have officers and directors because it only covers negligence. We know each other and we don’t feel we’re running that risk.
· Trailwork is for volunteers and is for the leaders.
§ Kathy: Who is covered
· The insurance covers legal defense expenses for suits against the organization.
§ Ernie: We should be very clear that people need to sign waivers or else they are NOT on the MORE ride.
§ Peggy: It would be awesome to know if you need to sign or if you could do a general waiver
· Dave B: We could change waiver to apply for a fixed period of time into the future after they signed.
· Dave M: I like that idea. People would sign every time, but waiver would be for a longer time.
· Rob: As someone who has regularly led rides, when they are many riders it is hard to collect all the waivers. You need to show up 30 minutes before.
o I think this needs more discussion later.
§ Dave M: suppose we had a system where people are singing annual waivers and then we make it easy to see who has signed
§ Action Item: Will discuss offline and set up a call with Dave Skull to discuss possibilities for waivers
· Membership updates
o Membership Processing (175)
o Reminders Sent - July, June, May
o Queries, etc
o Corrections with IMBA
o Wakefield Rides and AD-Hoc Trailwork
o Monthly Report – PFA
o Good Month for Membership we were up by near $1.3K before fees at $6256, post fee's we should be near $4990.
o Dave M – Is there anything else you want to do that requires money or resources you don’t have?
§ Rob: Not really. Sometimes we struggle with members due to financial changes, etc. It really varies. I see people who renew after 2, 5, or so years.
o Dave B – How effective are auto-renewing memberships in keeping members?
§ Rob: It is a growing number of members.
· We get 50-60% auto renewing in a month, and pick up another 10-15% over the next few months, and them continue to slowly pick people back up.
§ Dave: When was the last time when there a blurb on renewing and have we mentioned that you can be a member for $5/month.
· Kathy: We can add a few works about this in trailhead news.
· Events
o MoCo Epic Update
§ We are well ahead of where we’ve been in the past with respect to registrations at this point.
§ Put all numbers in update.
§ 360+ registrations right now, which is a couple hundred above where we typically are. We are moving in the right direction.
§ Looking at somewhere between 1000-1200 participants.
§ Had 49 renewals or new memberships through process
§ All but one aid station is covered.
§ Portable toilets are taken care of.
§ Dave M: What is the food and drink plan?
· We have met with Jeff and he is going to take on organizing. He has three food trucks lined up. Going to do combo of food trucks and another catering groups that will do Tex-mex. Also getting in touch with breweries.
· Goal is to make stuff accessible so there aren’t lines we’ve had in the past.
§ One of the challenges is whether any of the sponsors of aid stations are going to have restrictions.
o Fall Camping Update
§ Broadly they have reserved the time and place and have a plan for how to deal with food. Registrations seem a little lower than past years.
o 30th B-day - Event(s) and new Jersey/Logo Design
§ Table for next time Clay attends.
o MORE gives back? (Rides and Food Drive for Thanksgiving / sMORE's and a kids charity)
§ Peggy: We talked about doing a food drive for Thanksgiving. It was a scavenger hunt and did it by weight who was the winner. Could we do donations at trails.
o Support for/Attendance at Sheduro and DH Race
§ Dave B: We should support and attend
§ Dave M: Can we put up a MORE popup?
· Ernie: Yes, and a lot of them are members.
§ Peggy: I will be there on Saturday doing registration.
· Trails
o Virginia
§ Night ride at Fountainhead was apparently awesome and there are signups for the next one
§ BLM is doing some work at Meadowood
o Maryland
§ We have 33 or so people who have signed up for the liaison meeting
§ We have over a dozen brand new liaisons.
§ We keep getting new parks in Maryland. A group in Cumberland reached out for help and they are going to do trails in Cumberland and then connect to Rocky Gap and other areas.
§ John Arnold in Mt. Airy got a grant from city to develop 5 miles of trails in Mt. Airy.
§ Got a new at Hashawa as well. It is coming to life with people stepping up to make it better.
§ We may also have some traction at Loch Raven with an enthusiastic advocate who is working the politics very well.
§ There is a Baltimore City Committee to improve bike access. One of the greatest rumors is the head of DPW wants mountain bikers allowed on the trail if they commit to do trail maintenance. So we are working our way through that.
§ We’ve finished all trail building at Patuxent Phase 1.
July 2021 Activity Reports
-
President – Ernest (Ernie) Rodriguez
- Conference call with REI's Angela McArdel outlining partnership model including MoCo aid station and gear donations
- Applied for and received gear donations from REI Co-op in support of MoCo Epic and Fall Camping Trip
- Conference call with Trails for Youth Julie Childers to outline partnership opportunities and MoCo aid station
- Work with Peggy on securing sponsors and aid station host for MoCo Epic
- Work with Peggy to obtain insurance quote for MoCo Epic
- Conference call with Darrin Flusche from Montgomery Parks and IMBA representatives to revisit IMBA Ride Center status
- Work MORE's Summer Festival most awesome FUN event
- Deliver Technical Trail Features for use during Arlington Trails advocacy expo at Bon Aire park in Arlington County - we need natural surface trails in Arlington
- Apply for round 2 Payroll Protection Program loan forgiveness
- Participate in Prince William County's Warrior Challenge course dedication
- Participate at trail workday at Wakefield Park
- Help Dave, Tom and Peggy plan Liaison meeting for August 15
- Grant validation for State Farm Insurance (Daris Mark) for Frederick Watershed
- Support sMORE's waiversign updates
- Update Trailforks to include additional trails
- Update LuvTrails payment processor information for timely payments from rider donations
- Send donor emails for trail donations
- Help with social media post for MORE
- Work with Melanie and Dave on continued transition of maintenance and upkeep for Rockburn Skills Park from MORE to Howard County
- Support Loch Raven Team connect with user groups and participate on conference calls with City and County officials
- Work with potential new volunteer with vision for Middletown Valley trail plan - requires land acquisition
- Participate on IMBA Local monthly networking meeting and follow-up support of other chapters needing help with Strategic Planning
- Celebrate Trademark registration of both MORE and sMORE's
-
Executive Director – Peggy Flaxman
- Bike Box
- Arranged Pickups/Dropoffs
- Swag/Thank You Notes
- Packed/Written/Mailed
- sMOREs
- Edited waiver to include cell phones
- Assisted with LFP rides
- MoCo Epic Planning
- Permitting
- Approved: MCDOT, MDOT, DNR
- In Progress: M-NCPPC, NPS
- Portable Toilets
- Site Visits for placements with Dave
- Sent document to Key, waiting for okay
- Courses/Course Marking details in progess
- First Aid
- Ordered items to complete kits for Aid Stations
- Ordered new sweeper first aid kits
- Registration
- 358 Registrations (56 Volunteers, 302 Riders)
- Registration Income $20,545
- Merchandise $3,174
- 49 Memberships
- Sponsorships secured $7250 (+$500 credit for shirts)
- Permitting
- Aid Stations
- Need Coverage for 1 aid station
- - Sent agreements + expectations for others
- Webinars/Meetings
- American Trails (Trailbuilding)
- ORLP Grant Opportunities
- Maximizing Federal Funding Opportunities
- REI Updates
- MORE VA Liaisons Monthly
- Locust Shade Ribbon Cutting
- Summer Picnic
- Assisted with planning/execution
- Bike Box
-
Vice President – David Beugelmans
- Leave due to injury
-
MD Advocacy Director – Dave Magill
- Planning and organization for Aug 15 liaison meeting
- Onboarding new liaisons at Patuxent and Hashawha
- Managing additional tool purchases by liaisons, with a focus on trimming tools
- Patuxent – final inspections on contractor work, workdays to address punchlist
- Patuxent – organizing and preparing a response to SHA’s review of Patuxent bridge designs and plans
- Working to fill in missing MoCo trail sections on Trailforks
- Working on course marking and routes for the MoCo Epic
- Help develop liaison tool survey
-
VA Advocacy Director – Tom Howe
- Participated in a Wakefield Trail Trimming Work Day
- Participating in Trail Liaison Meeting planning
- Voted to approve a Trails Committee Request
-
Membership Director – Rob Lowe
- Membership Processing (175)
- Reminders Sent - July, June, May
- Queries, etc
- Corrections with IMBA
- Wakefield Rides and AD-Hoc Trailwork
- Monthly Report – PFA
- Good Month for Membership we were up by near $1.3K before fees at $6256, post fee's we should be near $4990.
-
Communications Director – Kathy Mihm
- Prepared and printed business cards for MoCo Epic event - these are available if anyone wants any for distribution to bike shops, bike events, etc.
- Prepared and published the Summer 2021 Trailhead Newsletter.
- Attended and helped organize and clean up/set up the MORE Summer Picnic event. Took leftover food to a local food pantry.
- Edited and transferred gpx tracks for Trailforks upload/correction.
- Organized and lead/sweep Womens Cabin John Rides on Thursday evenings.
- Held Basic Skills clinic at the Summer Picnic and lead beginner ride.
- Lead MoCo Epic Training ride for 30-miler
-
Treasurer – Neil Blake
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Activities Director – Clay Deming
- Summer Picnic planning
- Led a couple sMORE's rides
- Communicate with Sharon and Phillip in regards to Fall Camping
- A couple SM posts and Meetup posts