February 2019 Board Meeting Minutes

February 4, 2019 MORE Board Meeting

In attendance:

• Ernest (Ernie) Rodriguez – President
• Neil Blake – Treasurer
• Dave Magill – Interim Maryland Advocacy Director
• Tom Howe – Virginia Advocacy Director
• Sharon Maloid – Activities Director
• Rob Lowe – Membership Director
• Steve DonTigny – Executive Director

Not present:

• Bob Caverly – Vice President

Special Guest

• Pat and Julie Childers – Trails for Youth

Board action and vote:  Motion made by Ernie and seconded by Tom to appoint Dave Magill as Interim Maryland Advocacy Director with full voting rights until a replacement is appointed or elected.  Motion passed unanimously

1. Guest address to BoD’s by Pat & Julie Childers from Trails for Youth
   • Overview of their program and involvement
   • Emphasis on partnership with MORE
   • Focus on at-risk kids; no access to trails to want to help
   • Get kids on Bikes
   • Create opportunities to ride and race
   • 300 kids in programs; 73% at-risk, 90 events
   • Pyramid of programs: skills, leaders, internships and jobs
   • Brookfield park pump track build by TYO, needs expansion
   • Pat Childers volunteered to be trail liaison for Brookfield pump track
   • Immediate goals: connect pump track to CCT with community support
   • Discussion about trail building grants up to $500 for liaisons
   • Their ask from MORE is a financial donation to TYO
2. Financials
   • Neil provided overview of January’s results
   • 2018 books are complete, just waiting for 2017 review to be completed
   • Action item: Send restricted funds summary to trail liaisons
3. Fundraising
   • Discussion of PWC $24k Outdoor Foundation grant requires dollar for dollar match
   • Purpose of grant is for scenic trails. E.g. Locust shade; anywhere in PWC on PHTC corridor
   • Steve applied for a Rails to Trails grant for Locust Shade
   • Missed submission deadline for People for Bikes; encourage liaisons to partner with bike shops to secure local People for Bikes funds
   • Ask for available board members to attend REI grant pitch meeting Wed 2/13; Participants will present grant opportunities for funding in 2019.
4. Membership updates
   • Membership reminders for expiring and lapsed members will continue on a monthly basis along with “thank you” for joining/renewing emails
   • As of today we have 1078 current. 83 lapsed members
   • Discussion about reopening Pactimo’s MORE store for jerseys, vest, etc.
5. Activities Update
   • Winter membership meeting – location secured at Silver Branch Brewing Company from 6 to 9 March 2
     1. Members will be given a drink coupon at check-in with current membership
     2. Sharon and Ernie working on awards
     3. Discussion, we may not have time to secure swag for party
     4. Ernie is working with Dave and Sharon to secure a keynote speaker
     5. Ernie highlight 3 objectives of meeting: 1) required to have annual meeting per MORE’s by-laws 2) recognize volunteers 3) advocacy and outreach
     6. MORE is prepaying 125 drink tickets; food plan is potluck to maintain grassroots vibe; Steve will talk to Jeff Brooks with Cafe Java for additional food options
   • Liaison meeting will be at Silver Branch Brewing Company Sunday March 10th noon to 3pm
     1. Dave and Tom are working on the meeting agenda
        1. Liaison basics; outreach, trail building, social media, etc
        2. Food will be provided
     2. Ernie committed to purchasing a minimum 40 drink tickets
   • NoVa Spring Fling festivities – Will be at Lake Fairfax Park Pump Track May 3-5
     1. May 3^rd, Friday happy hour at Bike Lane with food trucks
        1. Todd’s and Ernie will brew special MORE beer
        2. Tom to bartend on Friday with tips going to MORE
     2. May 4^th, Spring Fling at LFP Pump Track
        1. Rides in the morning and afternoon
        2. Picnic lunch at the pump track
        3. Skills clinics, bike maintenance and more rides in the afternoon
        4. Pub crawl on the W&OD to local brewies
        5. Focus on spotlighting the pump track
        6. Camping available at Lake Fairfax (contact Tom Howe or Tony Watkins for camping reservations)
     3. May 5^th, optional rides
        1. Maybe coffee/beer at Bike Lane after camping clean-up
   • Board Vote: Current budget for NoVa Spring Fling is is $300 which is not sufficient.  Discussion resulted in a motion by Sharon and seconded by Tom to increase budget to $1,000.
     1. Board voted to approve increase to $1,000

Action Item: Rob will look into buying MORE cups

1. • Summer Festival is normally held between June and August depending ton volunteers available to plan and organize
     1. Sharon will work with Ernie to begin planning
     2. Please volunteer by contacting Sharon or Ernie
     3. Seneca Creek State Park worked well in the past and may be the location for 2019
   • June 2 is National Trails Day
     1. We need to plan activities with Dave and Tom
     2. Eric already has activities planned for Patapsco
   • Fall Camping Trip
     1. Committee will decide on location and date
2. Communication needs
   • Need Track-it-Forward volunteer ride/trail work hours to produce Hall of fame for Winter Membership Meeting
   • Dave and Tom following up with liaison to assure hours are in TiF
   • Ernie has been talking with Andrew Melito about possible communications director position
   • Background is in graphic design
   • Andrew has already volunteered to work on Annual Report, Who is MORE, Trailhead New and is asking board members to provide required materials, data and information
   • BoD proposes Andrew attend board meeting prior to appointment
3. IT Committee
   • Gathering requirements for website
   • GAP analysis will be performed
   • Retiring forums is an option if it will speed up the site
   • Goal is to improving efficiency
   • Basic functionality required includes, documents (club formation, status and filings), calendar (rides, work days, meetings, etc), trail inventory, links
   • Some requirements are outward facing for stakeholders and grantors while some are inward facing for members/guest
4. Volunteer Recruitment – Communications Director
   • Ernie discussed during communications above
   • Need to recruit MD Advocacy apprentice, Trail Boss
5. Trails Update
   • MORE is working on 2019 Trail Liaison brochure for fundraising and communications
   • Trail maintenance has begun for 2019
   • 4 new liaisons in one week – look for announcement early February
     1. 3 at Mount Vernon
     2. 1 for Brookfield Pump Track
   • Working through BROT grant work to build trail
   • Mt Vernon – new liaisons working to mitigate erosion from wet 2018
   • National Park Service – MORE has been asked to participate in public meetings for Turkey Run Park
   • Re-enactment lessor did not return
   • MORE is part of Outdoor Alliance – MVD and has provided input to a joint letter to NPS for Greenspace and possible uses for Turkey Run and Claude Moore Parks
   • FCPA presented Mike Applegate the 2018 Elly Doyle Park Service Award https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYERCK3Ou9g Way to go Mike!
6. BoD Transition process feedback – New board members asked to provide feedback
   
   • There is a lot to learn
   • We would benefit from a roes and responsibilities document
   • Do we have an inventory of all of our trails and liaisons
   • What all MORE is involved in
   • What is the relationship between board members, liaisons, staff, volunteers, etc
   • Where is the history of MORE
   • We need access to prior mission, vision, strategy and goals
   • Is there a mentoring plan
   • Is there a position description for our Executive Director

Action Items:

All current board members to submit what each things his/her roles and responsibilities are

Ernie to share Executive Director position description

Ernie to share current organizational chart including committee chairs

Ernie to share prior roles and responsibilities documents

Ernie to work with Neil, Dave, Tom, Brad and Andrew to produce our annual report and “Who is MORE”