October Membership Meeting Minutes

Valley Mountain Bikers Meeting Minutes, Tuesday October 25, 2011

The October meeting was held at Cutters Bike Shop. In attendance were:

Scott Stortz
Don Kelly
Eric Rigler
Kristopher Kies
Andrew Amey
James J. Mihalski
Lucas Rappa
Doug Pinkerton
Lori Pinkerton
John Eberhard
John Ronca
Lisa Ronca

The meeting was called to order at 7:37 PM.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
RB Winter was awesome.

UPDATES:
Board is up and running. It consists of the Officers, plus Rich, Kris, Kenny, and Eric. Main first meeting was upcoming priorities. (New Board nominations will follow election of new officers.)

501c3: they are processing our application now; they’ve had the application for 2 months.

At Board Mtg: priorities, maintenance, and club workload. Scott showed his workload presentation, including current and expected future commitments.

The result: the Board decided to go ahead with Trex Zones 2 and 3, a major commitment for the club going forward.

Any issues? (total mileage when we’re done: 15-20 miles) Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, to resolve stuff and present a master plan. Trail quality is what’s driving enthusiasm. We need a project leader, someone other than an officer.

Time frame? About two years each zone, which might be unrealistic. There will definitely be some back-and-forth w/ land managers, especially after completion of zone 2.

Manpower is a problem, especially local manpower – most of the core work has been the Sals/Nox people. (Maybe we need a sign in the parking lot posting trailwork days.) Trail building should get easier, Zone 1 was the worst area for building trails.

Maybe other groups could help? Memo of Understanding is we are solely responsible for trails there, though we encourage the park to spray herbicide.

The general consensus of the meeting was that all this was OK, there were no objections to the expansion.

TRAIL REPORTS:

Nockamixon: Nox grand opening went very well, and was a big fund raiser. Parking lot expansion has already started, done by the park & PennDOT; we have funds of remainder of the work (possibly, we need to check the budget).

South Mountain Emmaus: No committee members present.

Trex: (See club update.)

Sals: One month ago someone got a parking ticket for night riding. There was some back-and-forth w/ police, and the result is: we will need to put a parking pass on our dashboards (stay tuned for details) to park at Dodson for night riding, and we can only park at the Dodson Street lot for night riding. Don’t forget to fill in and return your waivers! (By the way, that person had their ticket forgiven.)

We completed our last scheduled maintenance day this past weekend. Probably we’ll have one more work day: the big water pit on the Red Trail has been drained but it needs armoring.

Some problems reported: Trees need removal at the top of the hilll. New tree stand on the Red Trail near 3B’s, game commission should be contacted (phone number is at the kiosk).

We should send out something to the land managers of all trail areas we have responsibility for, summarizing hours and work done.

TREASURER’S REPORT
No treasurer. We paid our insurance, which has doubled in the past three years. Bought tools to replace the stolen Trex tools. (BTW: We need a more theft-proof method of storage, maybe something local but not at the park itself.)

Upcoming events
Holiday Party (in January, probably 2nd or 3rd Saturday, we need a place. Stay tuned.

President’s Remarks: We've had some big transitions lately. Sals opened doors (Trex & Nox), and Nox will only open more doors. We also have been getting very positive feedback Along with that has come more demands and responsibilities, and a need for the club to conduct itself in a more organized and structured way. This may be difficult for those who wish to keep things more relaxed, and also for those who wish to push harder to grab upcoming opportunities. Scott sees the club going in two possible ways: stepping back and relaxing a bit, or moving forward, into more responsibilities. Neither is a bad choice, but this is a choice for the club. Officer nominations should be a way to help make this choice. The club needs to decide where it wants to go, and choose officers to get it there.

“With increased exposure will come increased criticism.”

Officer Nominations:

President: Scott Stortz

Vice President: Eric Rigler, Doug Pinkerton, Jason Shivok (not present to accept), Jon Roth (not present to accept)

Treasurer: Greg Horwath (not present to accept, but is said to have agreed if no one else will run)

Secretary: Don Kelly

Open Forum:

Tomorrow (Wed 10/26) the weather should still be good for riding.

Hunting: we should get a meeting with a Game Commissioner: “Hunting Regulations – What Mountain Bikers Should Know” (this may be a little late for this year, but would make a good presentation next year). The local guy at Sals may be good for this.

Lucas: There are maps, but are there trailhead directions?
Also from Lucas: what can we do to get more people to the meeting? We have to try new things.

Meeting adjourned 9:25.

Thanks to John & Lisa for the meeting venue and the good eats!