March 2025 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes and Activity Reports
MORE – Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
March
10, 2025
Virtually
present at meeting
Casey
Anderson – President
Jali
Fernando – Executive Secretary
Alison
Wells – Administrative Assistant
David
Beugelmans - Secretary
Kathy
Mihm – Ride Programs Director
Dave
Magill - MD Advocacy Director
Rob
Lowe – Membership Director
Neil
Blake – Treasurer
Michael
Ullmann – VA Advocacy Director
Maris
Finley – Activities Director
Not present
· Introduction: Alison Wells (Jali)
o Alison’s first day was Thursday. Did onboarding and it will be continuous as we go through different platforms, tasks.
o Alison has started working on the trail pages and the large task of organizing the Sharepoint and MORE intranet.
o Know some board members have some tasks that they need assistance with. Feel free to set up time.
· Executive Director Report (Jali)
o This has been a busy last two weeks for advocacy alerts. Have a meeting Loudoun County for a master plan. Also doing work in Fairfax County related to budget. Have spent significant time working on this now.
o Now moving on to onboarding Alison, and need to start on the Epic soon, but submitting permit applications.
o Office 365 Security (Jali)
§ This is something that we should have awhile back, but it was prompted by a hack of an email account.
§ There is a lot of cleaning up to do. There are a lot of people with access to Sharepoint , and most of the time they are free, so they don’t need a license. However, the more people we have, the more it’s a security risk.
§ Andrew Levine, Ernie, and I have been going through lists cleaning them up, based off when people last logged in. Deactiving accounts so that it’s not a security account.
§ Three things we want to start doing:
· Requiring people to use MS Authenticator when people log in.
· Setting a maximum session duration so you will be logged off every two weeks
· Blocking access outside the US and Canada
§ Jali
· Some liaisons do have a MORE-MTB email address. This does not mean they have access to the intranet. This is good so that they can use them for club activities.
· There are a lot of people who have them, but never log on.
· Is this something we should continue to offer?
o David B – Send a reminder, but then set a date to remove accounts if there is no use.
o Annual Report (Jali)
§ Jali will collect information
§ General agreement to use graphic designer to redo template
· Financial Update (Neil)
o YTD for January and February:
§ $3.8k Net unrestricted
§ $24.6 general revenues
§ $10.9 Memberships (rough estimate)
§ $9.3k other general (unusually high contributions for this time of year)
§ $3.7k Interest earned (cash balances have grown and interest rates still high)
§ $0.7k other
o $20.8k unrestricted expenses
§ $13.6k ED comp
§ $2.7k prizes and swag (Liaison shirts/trail work day shirts)
§ $1k donations (MICL donation)
§ $1k website/IT costs (normal recurring plus Calendar Wiz annual subscription)
§ $0.7k training (Emergency Response training)
§ $1.8k Other
o $16.5k Net restricted increase
o $17.5k Restricted revenues
§ $7.6k Lake Fairfax
§ $4.6k Frederick Watershed
§ $1.4k Wakefield
§ $3.9 other
o $1k Restricted expenses
§ $0.8 James Long (signs)
§ $0.2 other
· Membership Update (Rob)
o February was a slower month than recent Febs
o We had 13 joins, which is pretty good for a February, although not as huge as last year, where had 20 joiners.
o 42 regular renewals, mixed terms
o Large membership donors were down
o None of the NICA memberships processed through, probably will drop off after next month
o Had slight downturn in members, but that’s in paid members. Our membership numbers are up due to family memberships, to 2077 members. Good and bad.
o Funds are still trickling through. Auto renews are down a little bit for the year, but think they will pick up. Also may be impacted by bad February weather.
o Up to 62 transactions for March, and almost $1900 for the month, so on a pretty good path to meet or potentially exceed March when the weather clears up and people start to ride again.
o Continuing on good upward trend of total memberships.
o Not bad, not terrible month. Watching membership numbers and by June should have a good idea of impact due to government related jobs. We will need to keep an eye on that.
o Jali
§ Need to talk to FPVSP to figure out the best way to handle the dual membership drive.
· Trails
o Virginia (Michael)
§ Not much new to report.
§ Had a couple of liaisons at meeting yesterday and it was good to get them together. Two of them were the newest.
§ Mt. Vernon will likely have some trailwork days in the spring.
§ Will get Neil information on the approval for James Long, where they will have 1.5 to 2 miles of trail added
§ Maris
· Reached to James Long and am reaching out to other parks. Will reach out to discuss.
· Will also work with Locust Shade.
§ Lake Fairfax has a project for about 1.5 miles of trail to be added.
§ Additionally, we had a meeting with Fairfax Parks on Friday, which went well. Casey ran the show.
· Casey: According to the Parks Department, they have a ton of trail that nobody uses and is overgrown. We may have an opportunity to open up some of those trails. Need to meet with them.
§ On the Prince William side, it looks like they are going to break ground at a new park. The county ok’d the pump track, but didn’t put up any funding. Fundraising wing of Prince William County responsible. Had to raise $ 300,000 for the paved pump track. Just hit goal and hope to break ground in the spring or summer time.
o Maryland (Dave)
§ One of the biggest things, had a call with head of SHA about the indemnity clause issue in RTP grants. Very interesting meeting. Negotiated in a very serious way, and the result was that we tentatively agreed that he would pursue limiting in all of these agreements in Maryland, MORE’s obligations to indemnity to extent of our insurance. May need to increase insurance a bit more, and the indemnity would end two years after the construction has finished. He did say that probably won’t be able to get to it until end of legislative session in mid-April, so still a few months. So it was a good meeting, and it was thanks to pressure from the top.
· What this means is our three RTP projects are all on hold until we get the new language. Will not sign the grant agreements until this is sorted out. Hopeful we will get to something that makes us a lot more comfortable that it’s not going to bankrupt MORE.
§ Trail liaison meeting was attended by 25 people, generally positive feedback.
§ Northwest Branch, at the north end, have a project to put boardwalks in. Went out for bid, and we did get one bid, but it wasn’t conforming, so SHA is requiring us to go back out.
§ Chem is running the annual tool survey, and there is a lot of demand for hand tools. Must have seen 200 tools on list. Going to spend out budget on tools.
§ Hill Street Pumptrack $10k donation is approved.
§ At Greenbrier, added money to refurb some badly eroded sections in upper end of trail systems.
§ Send out $20,000 request to add 6/10 mile of new trail at Emmitsburg. City had put up $95k to redo the red trail.
§ Have a request from the equestrian community to support a bill to amend Maryland wildlands law. MORE wants to amend the law to allow a single through trail through the area. Equestrians use trails between those two sections, but don’t have anyone like more capable of doing maintenance and want to be able to use power tools and ATVs to work on trails.
· Asked if we support, and asked if they would add approval of a corridor for one through trail.
· They decided not to do it, and didn’t fight them on it.
· But if this gets through, we can start to build a group to support a through trail through there. The idea would be to make Patuxent at least as big as Seneca Creek State Park.
§ There is another 4-mile section at Patuxent, where we will be submitting for an RTP grant in April. Will get MDE to go out and look over a big wetland that will need to be crossed with a boardwalk. With that, we can do a proper cost estimate. I see it as about $300,000.
· Shed at SGBP (Kathy)
o Want to pick this up again.
o Contacting MoCo Parks and mentioned a shipping container, which they didn’t like.
o Got a company from Todd Bauer, and the prices for a 10x10 nice wooden shed is around $4k, and there might be some additional cost for gravel and grading. Between $4.5 to $5k, we could probably get a new shed for SGBP.
o I envision this only be used for event materials, so tools and gasoline, etc , can be in the other, existing shed.
o Jali:
§ Is it reasonable to touch West MoCo Budget?
· Dave: We have a lot to pay for, but we will figure it out.
o Kathy will get estimate.
· Ride Program Update (Kathy)
o Finally got around to send an email to all ride leaders to get their plans for 2025 on the calendar, get golden volunteer organized, and get them thinking.
o Been contacting by a few people that they want to add to the MORE program.
· Events Update (Maris)
o Now have a MORE credit card
o Thank to Jali doing a bit more of a formal orientation and learn where all the resources are. Appreciate all the guidance.
o Been reviewing the winter meeting post event likes and dislikes for next year’s planning. This is useful so you don’t forget.
o This was my first winter meeting. The location seems to work, and we are going to reschedule for next year at the same location.
o The Summer Picnic Ride Series planning is ongoing. There is a learning curve because there are many trail systems.
o I know Kathy has been working on Women’s Mountain Bike Day. Will connect to get something going for that.
· Development Position (Jali)
o Sent out an email about this.
o Ernie interviewed for the admin job. The panel agreed that he would be a better fit for another role.
o Ernie wants to help in a larger capacity. An admin role would box him in.
o Ernie enjoys building partnerships and building the organization.
o Would like to come up with a position that would allow him to do that.
o Originally floated the idea of compensation, but then he backed off of the idea.
o Michael mentioned in his email that we can at least compensate him if he shows up in events for expenses.
o Some role as a board emeritus, or another name. To justify him having access to internal systems.
o Casey
§ I spoke to Ernie and tried to persuade him not to turn the idea down.
§ Want to keep Ernie hooked in. Every once in awhile he talks about moving back to Texas. Paying him a little bit is fair, he would more than earn what we pay him.
o General agreement for Jali to work on parameters for role and to speak with him.
§ Neil: We need to define parameters of what this will look like before the conversation.
o Casey:
§ Recommend that we offer $1000/month. Duties will include fundraising and other appropriate tasks as Jali delegates.
§ Jali can write all of this up.
· Neil: Relationships with REI and Athletic Brewing are things he has done very well in the past. If he can cultivate these relationships, it makes sense. I suggest he focus on this, and this is easily worth $1000/month.
· Kathy: Also support working and coordinating with bike shops.
· Neil: Corporate and large dollar donors.
Activity Reports
·
President
–
Casey
Anderson
o
[*]
·
Jali Fernando – Executive Director
o
Created
advocacy alert for Program Open Space
o
Communicated
advocacy calls to action—Loudoun County, Fairfax County budget
o
Attended
meeting with Fairfax County Parks Authority
o
Helped
increase security for MORE's Office 365
o
Assisted
with MORE Winter Meeting
o
Screened
applications and interviewed applicants, onboarded new Administrative
Coordinator
o
Ran
fundraiser in partnership with Third Hill Brewing
o
Assisted
Activities Director with transition
o
Working
on budget advocacy for Fairfax County Parks Authority
o
Applying
for a Frederick community grant for annual cleanup
o
Planning
Rosaryville MTB Day in partnership with MICL and Minority Mountain Bikers
o
Assisting
Adaptive Liaisons with adaptive programming in Patapsco, Montgomery County, and
Prince George's County
o
Regular
logging of donations and acknowledgement to donors
o
Regular
email communications and social media posts
·
Secretary – David Beugelmans
o
Coordinated board meeting and
finalized minutes
o
Advocate for and advance
Annapolis Flow Trail and Bacon Ridge/Waterworks Connector projects
·
MD Advocacy Director – Dave Magill
-
Helped organize Sunday’s trail liaison meeting
-
Bought and delivered (some) new MORE logo work gloves
-
Reissued RFP for lumber at Northwest Branch after no conforming
bids were received the first time
-
Helped organize annual tool survey, trail boss Kem Chavez took the
lead with Jali
-
Managed two project requests through The Trails Committee, for
Hill Street Pump Track and Greenbrier refurb work
-
Working on another project request for the TC of $20k to build .6
miles of new trail at Emmitsburg
-
Evaluated whether MORE should support a bill in MD to amend the
Wildlands law to allow power equipment to be used for maintenance in the
Patuxent wildlands, concluded we would stay silent (since we don’t have
access to the wildlands for bikes)
-
Participated in interviews for the admin coordinator position
·
VA Advocacy
Director – Michael Ullman
-
Met with Fairfax County Parks Authority
-
Various correspondence with Erik Scudder and
Stephen Martinez regarding activities in
LoCo
specifically the Sweet Run master plan meeting. Plan put in place to push
attendance in person on 3/11 and online on 3/26
o
Attended the Trail Liaison meeting at REI
o
Attended the MORE Winter Meeting
·
Membership
Director – Rob Lowe
o
[*]
·
Ride Program Director – Kathy Mihm
o
Coordinated and participated
in First Aid Training for Ride Leaders on 2/15
o
Arranged with Hillary M. for 4
ride skills clinics at SGBP in May-June
o
Participated in interviews and
hiring process for Admin Coordinator
o
Distributed several Muddy
Trail Signs
o
Managed bike box loans and
schedules/emails
o
Scoped out Shed for SGBP and
cost estimates
o
Arranged for
additional ride leader award for 2024
o
Data management and
assessments of 2024 volunteer data
·
Communications Director – N/A
·
Treasurer
– Neil Blake
o
Finalizing the annual
financial statements and tax return.
o
Drafts received this week
so need to review and will send out for the Board's review the week of Mar 10.
·
Activities
Director – Maris Finley
o
Reviewed Winter meeting post
event likes/dislikes for next year planning
o
Met Jali and Ernie to acquire
MORE credit card for activity expenses
o
Formal orientation meeting
with Jali to review position & resources
o
“Summer” Picnic ride planning
with liaisons (ongoing)