Salem Bicycle Club
Board Meeting Minutes
November 8, 2023
Call to Order - 6:30 PM via Zoom.
Present: Steve Budde, Debbie Miller, Tim Newman, Dale Burton, Ken Freeman, David Philbrick, Bonnie Beal, Rob Gramenz, Dan Shryock
Treasurer’s Report: Rob Gramenz indicated that given the new website capabilities, the role of the Treasurer has to be refined and he looks forward to working on that.
The finances appear to be in good shape overall with the balance sheet as of 10-31-2023 as indicated below:
ASSETS
9687 Operating Account $8,339.79
9695 Events Account $9,331.73
Square -
Trust USPS $26.29
Money Market $10,000.00
Total $27,697.81
EQUITY
Retained Earnings $29,628.66
Net Income ($1,930.85)
Total $27,697.81
Review of Monthly income and expenses: All board members were provided with the monthly income and expense report and this was reviewed. An error was noted in one entry designated as newsletter income which was actually membership income; this was communicated to Jackie Lefevre, and will be corrected. Otherwise, the monthly transactions appear in order.
Bylaw amendments: David Philbrick reviewed the proposed changes again following feedback from long time member, Doug Parrow. It was decided that monthly expenses and the minutes should be reviewed as part of the board’s meetings to increase transparency and effective oversight. Consequently, no changes will be suggested to these provisions in the existing bylaws.
Review of the minutes should be voted on at a board meeting rather than by email, so after review by the President, draft minutes will be sent to board members. To remain timely and more concise, Spokes will publish highlights of the meeting with a reference to the website where the complete and accurate minutes will be posted once they have been approved by the board..
Proposed bylaw amendments enabling on-line voting and changing references to standing committees will still be brought up at the General Meeting this month for vote.
General Membership meeting: The upcoming November General Membership Meeting and potluck was discussed. So far, 22 people have signed up but more are expected and the quorum is 20. The website event registration will be changed from required to requested so that members will be assured that they are welcome to come without pre-registration.
Topics will include:
Welcome and a period for visiting, Dinner, Board Elections, Discussion and vote on Bylaw changes, Discussion of costs associated with Spokes and changes under consideration, Monster Cookie discussion including route change
Annual Awards Banquet: Tim Newman has done a lot of excellent work on this both on the venue and the awards themselves. He brings proposals from two venues, Roth’s and Elk’s Club.
Elks Club has a long-time connection to member Rod Coakley and was very accommodating. They offered a huge room with all the screens and connections needed for presentations for a discounted price of $100. They have more food options, a full bar, don’t require a deposit, and are overall less expensive. The board reviewed the options and unanimously voted to have the event at the Elks Club in January.
Monster Cookie 2024: David Philbrick will contact Keizer Rapids Park to ask about securing the venue. Ken Freeman and Debbie Miller reviewed discussions with the new Ride Planning Committee meeting held earlier this week. They had a number of volunteers willing to lead committees and the feedback was encouraging. The idea that duties would be shared among committee leads rather than being expected of one event chairperson was well received.
During the Planning Committee Meeting, concern over safety of the route was brought up by JoAnn Dewey and others. Both the increasing traffic over the years on the roads leading to Champoeg, and the hazards of the actual route through Champoeg were discussed. Committee members agreed that if the lunch stop was going to continue to go to Champoeg, alternate routes to and through Champoeg should be found. The route must fulfill the advertised metric century mileage. The thought was that given the increasing volume of traffic in that area, eventually the route and lunch spot would have to be changed. JoAnn Dewey volunteered to try and find alternate options that include lunch in Champoeg.
Debbie Miller and her husband came up with an alternate route that has a lower traffic, west/east route instead of north/south. They sent that to some members to review as a consideration for changes this year or in the future. Doug Parrow reviewed this and made changes for safety and the board reviewed this. It was generally agreed that this was a viable plan, possibly for this year if an alternate Champoeg route of sufficient length and safety could not be found. This will be brought up at the General Meeting for discussion.
Parking - A parking director for the Monster Cookie has yet to be established. John Pink has done a wonderful job with this in the past, but he feels he needs much more help and doesn’t want to take it on by himself again. Steve Budde volunteered to help him with whatever is needed to make the parking work. This will be further discussed with John.
T-shirts - Debbie Miller asked that the design that Tim Newman was developing be considered for souvenir T-shirts as well as the souvenir jersey that he has proposed. The board liked the look of the design but will await its final form from Tim.
Spokes: David Philbrick stressed the need to move slowly on changes to printed versions of Spokes due to potential member disagreement. This happened in the past when a proposal for printed versions to be discontinued was undertaken.
Dan Shryock presented the numbers. The Club pays more than $16 per member per year for each Spokes delivered. This is despite the $5 additional charge for printed copies to members. This amounts to a net cost of $849.16 that the whole club pays this year for the club to provide printed copies to 52 members.
The board feels that with the rising printing and mailing costs, this is not reasonable to ask all members to pay. It is proposed that this be reviewed at the general meeting and that the club needs to either significantly increase fees to cover the associated cost for members receiving a printed copy or move to having Spokes available via email and website. The subscription dues will rise considerably if mailed paper copies are to be continued.
Dan indicated that if Spokes were to be digital only, this would simplify the effort to put it together, open opportunities to include more material, and that a PDF version of the rides calendar could be included making it easy for members to print out the calendar, if wanted.
Advertisement and Promotion: Steve Budde is promoting the club on Instagram and would like to connect the Instagram and Facebook accounts. This seems like a very good idea and he and Debbie Miller will work on that. Dan Shryock will provide a link to his Dropbox account for Steve, Debbie, and Tim for access to club pictures for social media.
Next Meeting: Upcoming meetings are:
- 5 p.m., Nov. 14, for the General Meeting and potluck
- 6:30 p.m., Dec. 13, via Zoom for the monthly board meeting