October 2020 Board Meeting Minutes

• Meeting Attendance
  • Ernie Rodriguez - President
  • Peggy Flaxman - Executive Director
  • Tom Howe - VA Advocacy Director
  • Rob Lowe - Membership Director
  • Sharon Maloid - Activities Director
  • David Beugelmans - Vice President
  • Dave Magill - MD Advocacy Director
  • Neil Blake - Treasurer
  • Mauricio Carvalho - Trail Boss
  • Andrew Melito – Communications Director – Did not attend

• Financial Updates (Neil)
  • General - increase of $14.7k
    • $25.3k revenues including $15.3k from Memberships and $8.1k from the MORE website. Most are probably for the MORE Trails event and I have not yet gone through all the transaction detail.
    • $10.7K of expenses, $4.5K of ED costs, $4.8k for MORE Trails and $1k MORE Store expenses for product fulfillment. 
  • Restricted - decrease of $1.8k
    • $4.9k of revenues which were all for Wakefield
    • $6.7k of expenses including $4.5k for General Working Capital (Final invoice for River's Edge RTP grant), $653 MoCo reinvestment, $812 Wakefield and $639k Laurel Hill.
  • Cash balances
    • $191.7k restricted
    • $214.5k general funds
  • Question from Dave M: What is the timing for the 2021 budget? We want to try to get it approved in December, so new board doesn’t need to address in January
    • Neil: It’s not that difficult. We will discuss on next meeting.
    • Dave M: Draft in November, and approve in December.
  • Dave M: Are big donors down? Has Ernie reached out to them for a reminder, etc.?
    • Ernie: Has been hesitant but will incorporate into end of year giving campaign. Ernie will make calls or ask BOD to help. It’s ½ dozen people.
    • Neil: we are still a little short on large donations, but not too much compared to last year
  • WaiverSign vs. Golden
    • Dave B – will follow up with Eric Crawford to discuss to see how WaiverSign went.
    • Ernie: We get Golden for free.
  • Strategy for MORE Product Contributions from Trail System Initiatives (Ernie)
    • Ernie: Martin, Peggy, and Ernie have wrestled with Shopify, Printiful, etc. and it was difficult to reconcile to the penny. What we thought we can easily get to an estimate of products by trail system. We can easily come up numbers that are close to an estimate, and at year end we can divvy up as a board. Goes into General Funds and then goes into trail systems at end of year.
      • Neil: It’s more work to do what Ernie described. The biggest challenges are the report only shows first thing purchased and there is no way to get around the detail unless that problem is fixed.
      • General agreement is Neil will come up with form for reports, so Peggy can create reports in right formats in 10-20 minutes every few weeks
    • Membership Updates
      • We had a good Q3 (July, Aug, Sept).
      • We did about $18,500 in membership in three months, post fees it was about $15,000
      • October is a huge month for us and we’re having a good month
        • 120 memberships have been processed already
        • We are on track for $10,000-$15,000 in memberships just this month
        • By year end, we will be at $20,000 more in fees, so about $15,000-$16,000 in income post memberships
      • August was a drag month. Down to about 1400 active members, but we’ve had 37 new members join this month
      • Between Facebook posts, signs in parks, IMBA emails, we’ve seen a pretty good spike in membership.
      • Has been very busy month so far with memberships.
    • Position Descriptions for New Board Positions/Review Staff Positions (Peggy)
      • We need to revise communications description. Ernie has indicated to Peggy that Andrew did this job differently. We need to look at what description was. We need to think about what we need from position.
        • Ernie has two descriptions.
        • David M – back in the day, the online forms would blow up with anti-MORE posts. This isn’t an issue anymore.
          • The communications director has been getting the message out and branding.
          • Andrew focused on professional communications instead of being defensive.
        • Other piece is we need to talk about Staff positions and see if there are positions we should fill and also recruit people we think who can fill the role.
        • Dave M: Would it be valuable to have regional membership volunteers?
          • Rob: Generally, yes it would be useful. But now is not really the time.
        • Ernie: Board positions have usually been tailored to the strength of the individual.
        • David B: We need to be careful about communications role to make sure it fills in the blanks of things we can’t do. Thinks this is very important and we need to be careful to find right person/people
          • Ernie: Maybe we need one person who’s more aware of volunteers who can help do work.
          • Peggy: too many people doing the work may be problematic too.
        • Dave M: Peggy needs to figure out what positions are effectively filled, then determine if there are any open positions that we want to eliminate
      • Strategy or Intent for Eco Counters (Ernie)
        • Carlo wants trail counters. Eco counter called Ernie several times. They want to sell us stuff.
        • Dave M: This is our land managers job, not ours.
        • Rob: This is a tool to go to land managers to show trail usage. Rob thinks that if liaisons want to spend their money on it, then we should let them.
        • Mauricio: Not all trail systems are interested in this.
        • Dave B: Looking at Strava, other apps, is a good alternative
      • Events
        • Winter Membership Event Discussion
          • Ernie has been discussing with Peggy
            • Don’t know if we are ready
          • Sharon agrees that we aren’t ready and not everyone wants to be together in one place.
          • Dave M: There are more predictions about vaccines being available in spring and summer, so maybe we let people know we are deferring meeting until at least summer, at which point it may be outside and combined with ride and picnic
          • Ernie: According to bylaws, we need to have membership meeting as long as we have it in 2021
          • Board generally agreement to postpone until summer 2021.
            • Sharon says we should let people know what we are thinking, that a defer is a good idea.
          • Liaison Meeting Discussion
            • Mauricio: don’t see how we can have it, but we could do a similar approach as Tom in VA.
            • Tom: Also should do a MD and VA liaison meeting on zoom. Believe we can get away with doing Zoom. The size will probably work.
            • Dave M: Mauricio and I will take park list for MD and start some one on one calls and then develop a plan for a broader meeting
            • Peggy thinks monthly meetings for VA are useful and build on each other.
            • Dave M: Virginia trails are much closer together.
          • Strategy for Stop, Swap-n-Save
            • Ernie: concerned about renting booth at a public event
            • General agreement that participating would be inconsistent with our other activity limits
            • Mauricio: we shouldn’t be encouraging this event to happen in current environment.
          • Trails
            • Maryland (Dave M)
              • Greenbrier trail is done. Probably late to add to MORE Trails, but we should reach out to Julie and see if they want to add something.
              • In MoCo, Cabin John South trail is done and open. It has a lot of elevation change and makes 13 miles of trail.
              • MoCo now has $200,000 for Fairland Skills Park.
                • Todd Bauer asked for user input and County is hiring a company called American Ramp, a partner of Velo Solutions and they are well known for this kind of work.
              • In HoCo, Patuxent is going full speed, construction underway, bridges being built.
                • Getting out to put out for another $50,000 contract for more work.
              • No updates for Baltimore.
              • There was a stakeholder call for Bacon Ridge on Wednesday. There is conceptual approval for Bacon Ridge south.
              • Cedarville and Rosaryville – Southern Maryland got a lot of rain in September and it’s very wet. It is drying out and there is a group of volunteers that is excited about working on it. Interacting with park management team.
                • Both trail systems are suffering from maintenance point of view.
              • Virginia (Tom)
                • Did a walk through with liaisons with Mt. Vernon District Park. Trail has been well received by park management and have authority to do whatever they want to do in there. Lots of teenagers and families involved.
                  • Looking for ideas for fundraisers.
                • Lake Fairfax has a workday coming up
                • Wakefield had another trailwork day and more people showed up than knew what to do with.
                • Not much to report for Fountainhead
                • Meadowood has been very heavily ridden and has good relationship with BLM
                • Ernie and Peggy had a really good meeting with someone from Board of Supervisors from Arlington. Talked about all of issues with social trails and how they don’t drain well. The supervisor was very receptive and took him to Mount Vernon to see first-hand what good partnerships and management can create.
              • Trademarks (Ernie)
                • Peggy put her in contact with her husband, Howard. Who is an attorney who does patents and trademarks.
                • We do not have a trademark on MORE or sMOREs and they are available.
                • Should we trademark? It comes with a cost.
                • It would be $225 for each application and up to $700 for professional fees.
                • We already have a trademark for MoCo Epic and NoVa Epic.
                • Board agrees that we should apply for trademarks.
              • MORE Trails Update (Peggy)
                • 426 registrants for MORE trails and 320 are new customers
                • If we look between registration, raffle tickets, and sponsors brought it slightly more than $14,000.
                • So total profit is $7,400
                • Had 1192 rides so far, with top Schaffer Farms and mostly other MoCo Trails
                • Emmitsburg has 24, Rivers Edge 30
                • Northwest Branch has had 44 rides
                • Dave B: We need to contact participants near end of event and push membership
                • Peggy: Raised idea of doing this again in Spring
                • Ernie: suggested idea of contacting group this week to sell additional raffle tickets

September 2020 Activity Reports

• President – Ernest (Ernie) Rodriguez
  • Help Peggy mail MORE Trails t-shirts
  • "Thank you" emails to trail donors and major donors
  • Various trail workday planning and building for Wakefield
  • Attend VA liaison zoom call
  • Updates to MORE webpage and posting to social media
  • Update Cabin John and Little Bennett Trailforks submissions
  • Help coordinate socially distanced Fall Camping Trip waivers
  • Update liaison email distribution list
  • Attend advocacy meeting with Supervisor Takis with ArlingtonMTB

• Executive Director – Peggy Flaxman
  • MORE Trails
    • Continued Registration for participants
    • Sent 416 shirts
    • Updated Leaderboard Weekly
  • Continued updating “Where to Ride” info on website including addition to donation language and SEO information
  • Updated donation language on General Donation webpage to include new donation language
  • Attended IMBA Local Meeting
  • Attended FABB meeting
  • Arlington Trails
    • Attended prep meeting to plan for visit to Glen Carlin & Mt Vernon w/ Takis Karantonis
    • Attended Arlington Urban Forestry Commission Meeting
    • Visited Glen Carlin and Mt Vernon Parks with Arlington Trails representatives and Takis Karantonis
  • Consolidated Trail System Extraction Plans on MORE Intranet
  • Contacted SVBC about VA RTP and LWCF grant processes
  • Contact FFX Co to attempt to setup coordination with Park Volunteer Coordinators for work days
  • Planned meeting with DCMTB re: Fort Dupont
  • Met with Neil re: MORE Store transactions and trail fund allocations
  • Ongoing Social Media
  • Began Mastenbrook Application for Wakefield Park Wayfinding

• Vice President – David Beugelmans
  • Continued to support MORE Trails event
  • Website
    • Facilitated front fender fundraising activity (~$1300 net profit)
    • Created new products for online store (moisture wicking jerseys, higher quality t-shirts, hip packs, etc.)
    • Drafted and sent first online store marketing email
    • Emails with liaisons regarding trail system specific merchandise
    • Fixed website logo
  • Waterworks
    • Completed signage and boardwalk projects

• MD Advocacy Director – Dave Magill
  • Patuxent – mobilized Greenstone, helped build first bridge, drafted Invitation for Bids for final build section
  • Discover Montgomery Virtual Challenge– worked with liaisons to identify missing signs for replacement
  • West MoCo wayfinding project – worked with Kathy Mihm to create near final maps
  • West MoCo vegetation management – continued to organize trail clearing efforts, the team completed all mowing and trimming for 2020
  • Hedge trimmer MOU – executed agreement with MoCo Parks allowing “Trail Rangers” to use powered hedge trimmers on county trails, will roll out program in 2021
  • Cedarville – surveyed trails with new liaison and other local volunteers
  • New Liaisons – meetings with new Seneca Greenway liaisons, working to set up a new co-liaison for Seneca Bluffs

• VA Advocacy Director – Tom Howe
  • Monthly VA/DC Trail Liaisons Zoom Call
  • Ad Hoc Trail Work at Wakefield
  • Trail Work Day at Wakefield
  • Mt Vernon District Park Walkthrough with Trail Liaisons

• Trail Boss – Mauricio Carvalho
  • [_]

• Membership Director – Rob Lowe
  • Membership Processing and Monthly Report for September
  • Ad Hoc Trailwork at WF, Accotink and Lake Fairfax

• Treasurer – Neil Blake

• Activities Director – Sharon Maloid
  • Fall Camping Trip was 25-27 SEP 2020 at Big Bear Camplands
  • Trip was successful, Sharon dropped off bin for waivers, Ernie Rodriguez and Todd Bauer were the POC and ensured all went well
  • Total of 88 Adults and 26 Kids registered on BikeReg
  • Final payment for venue and any reimbursements submitted to Treasurer