Salem Bicycle Club
Board Meeting Minutes
December 13, 2023
Call to Order - 6:30 PM at Painters Hall.
Present:
Ken Freeman, Dale Burton, Julie Glass, Tim Newman, Norm Johnson, Dan Shryock, David Philbrick, Steve Budde, Rob Gramenz, Debbie Miller, Jillian Trinkaus
Board Transition: Dale Burton and David Philbrick will be leaving the board after this month. New members include Julie Glass and Jillian Trinkaus. Tim Newman will be president, Steve Budde will be vice president, Debbie Miller will continue as secretary, and Rob Gramenz will continue as Treasurer.
All attending were asked to highlight their club priorities and special interests:
David: Bike safety, availability of bike trips, and more riding in general
Rob: Bike safety and education, focus on commuting
Steve: Promote and grow Monster Cookie, more riding including involving other clubs
Debbie: Monster Cookie success, community involvement including supporting other clubs, bike safety
Dale: Feeling positive about new board directions, more riding in general
Julie: Recruiting more members, encouraging group riding on club rides, starting a medical station for Monster Cookie
Tim: Taking over as President, outgoing rides chair, helping to make the club a success in any way he can.
Norm: Supporting the club
Jillian: Bicycle instruction, encouraging group riding on club rides, volunteer coordinator for Monster Cookie
Dan Shryock (non-voting Spokes/website editor): Successful transition of Spokes to digital format, encouraging rider support among bike clubs for event rides.
Minutes for the November board meeting were approved without further changes.
Treasurer’s Report: Monthly expenses were reviewed by the board and deemed to be in order. The balance sheet as of November 30 2023:
ASSETS
9687 Operating Account $8,504.17
9695 Events Account $9,321.77
Trust USPS $26.29
Money Market $10,039.90
$ 27,892.13
EQUITY
Retained Earnings $29,628.66
Net Income ($1,736.53)
$ 27,892.13
Spokes: Print editions of Spokes are costing the club membership more than $800 per year and have been discussed with the board and membership. A motion was made to transition from printed Spokes newsletters to digital format by email. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously by the board.
A discussion occurred around whether the club should continue to annually send a printed copy of the directory, including a copy of a printed version of Spokes. It was decided that, for the moment, the club should continue to mail the directory and that this mailing should include information from the club such as a “Year in Review” and/or “Upcoming Club Highlights” as a cover letter, but that it should not include a printed newsletter. It is expected that the decision to continue mailing a printed directory will be revisited sometime in the future. For those who already paid the extra $5 per year for the printed Spokes, options of crediting that towards membership dues or giving a donation option to them were brought up. No formal decision was made, but an effort will be made to enable this option.
Annual Banquet: The club awards recognizing riders such as Battered Saddle, PEDAL, Road Animal, and 20/1000 awards are generally well established. Special awards to top volunteers were discussed and a motion to award a $50 gift certificate to the top 3 volunteers was brought forward. It was seconded and passed unanimously.
Monster Cookie 2024: Primarily due to increasing safety concerns of the traditional Monster Cookie route to Champoeg Park, the decision was made to change the route this year to a more east-west route rather than north-south.
The planned 2024 full Cookie route would be 63 miles with 1,381 feet elevation gain. The route will likely begin at McNary High school instead of Keizer Rapids due to increasing costs at Keizer Rapids and parking issues there as well. McNary High School parking lot use has an hourly rate available for rental that is $10 per hour with potential extra charge for restroom use. Ken will check on the details and availability of this.
The first rest stop would be at Willamette Pie company at about mile 17. Willamette Pie Company has agreed to allow the use of its outdoor area without restrooms and provide us pies to serve at the stop for a discounted cost. We also offered to look into selling their pies online for pick-up at the end of the ride at McNary High School. The cost for use of the site would be minimal and maybe as low as just the cost of one employee for a few hours.
The next stop is lunch at Benedictine Brewery at about mile 32. Lunch would be brought here from outside and served here. Without the need for five or more parking volunteers that were required at Keizer Rapids, lunch may be able to be staffed entirely by club volunteers. This would be a cost savings for the club. The brewery has a newly renovated picnic area with a pergola cover they will allow us to use without charge. They offered the use of their bathroom facilities as well. We offered that we would advertise their business and also possibly offer some of their merchandise for sale on our website.
An optional climb up the Mount Angel Abbey would be promoted, but not included in the official mile count. Debbie will confirm with the Abbey to be sure it would be OK to detour riders there.
The third rest stop is still under review, but would preferably be Baumann Farms at about mile 43. An alternative would be Labish Fire Station at about mile 52. Debbie will continue to work this out with the venues. The third rest stop could potentially be staffed by some of the same volunteers from the start/end location and first rest stop.
The half Cookie would be an out and back to Willamette Pie company totaling 34.8 miles and 614 feet of elevation gain. A delayed start of one hour for the half cookie may be considered.
Registration fees were discussed. The costs were significantly raised last year, $10 higher per registration category. With the potential $600 savings for reduced lunch staffing, a $300 savings when the route bypasses Zielinski Farms and eliminates a use fee, and potential savings on flaggers and possibly porta potties, Debbie suggested that current fees could remain stable. A motion was made to keep registration fees the same as last year. This was seconded and approved unanimously.
For the next step, Ken will finalize the map with Doug Parrow and will reach out to Marion County for review. There will be a club ride Saturday, Dec. 14, for anyone interested in riding the loop portion of the route.
The goal is to start open registration the first of the year and hopefully have another committee meeting soon.
The Annual Awards Banquet is from 5-9 p.m., Jan. 28, at the Elk’s Lodge on Turner Road.
The meeting was adjourned around 8:30 PM. The next board Meeting is at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 10, via zoom.
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