Hiawatha Bicycling Club Annual Meeting
November 5, 2017
Minutes:
A quorum was confirmed and President Jim Luoma called the
meeting to order at 4:40pm. 49
members were in attendance.
Bruce Allyn motioned to approve the minutes from the 2016
annual meeting and Larry Narveson seconded the motion. Minutes were approved.
Alan Wichman, representing the nominating committee
identified the four candidates who make up the slate to serve a 2 year term:
Marty Rosenstein, Theresa Ditter, John Johnston, III and
Mark Kleczewski. John was not
present.
Jim outlined how one becomes eligible to become a board
member.
Barry Cole, Jack Soltis and Dan Robinson will continue their
terms until November 2018.
Jim Luoma, Bruce Allyn, Danette Vasilopoulis and Bev
Sorensen completed their terms and were thanked for their service.
There were no nominations from the floor. Bev Sorensen motioned to accept the
slate of nominees to the Board. ________________seconded the
motion. Most voted in favor but
for 1 dissenting vote. The motion
carried.
Haggith Nadav reviewed the membership report
statistics. Member counted
increased by 2 for the year. 55
joined over the year and 53 dropped their membership. 31% of new members sited word of mouth and 16% sited Meet
Up. There are 1, 183 people on
Meet Up and 263 on Google Groups.
Smart Cycling was a success again this past Winter with a
program about Major Taylor.
Another program featured Linn Bruce and Pillsbury school kids and at
another program John Mertens from Dakota County presented. Ideas for future programs should be
directed to Robin Katz at rous56@aol.com. Robin was thanked for her diligence in
finding and pulling together great programs.
Bruce Allyn reviewed the financials of the club. Financial
gain for the year ended 10/31/17 was $2,300. Can Financial Highlights be
attached?
TDA was down 50 riders. Weather is a factor and most costs are fixed in
advance. Operating costs still
exceed membership dues revenue by $2,200.
Fiscal year end Net Operating Margin was $2,525.
There were no known outstanding bills at year end. John Zeiss noted the missing Ride
Leader Vests, which have not yet arrived.
Nor has HBC been billed for them.
The Board reviewed past charitable gifts as they related to
current revenue stream and assets and decided to reduce charitable
contributions from $3,000 in 2016 to $1,500 in 2017.
Jack researched the charities to whom donations have been
made in past years and the one with highest overhead was eliminated.
Three Rivers Park Trails System, Free Bikes for Kids (pay
mechanics to fix donated bikes) and Bike Alliance of MN were the charities
chosen to receive donations.
Bruce reported $1,280 of extraordinary income due to a
change in investments. Bonds,
inversely related to changes in interest rates had resulted in flat to negative
returns on the bond fund held.
After researching, Bruce exchanged to Vanguard Balanced Fund.
Greg Swanson asked why we reduced charitable contributions
from $2,000 to $1,500 when we had gains.
Bruce responded we weren’t aware of extraordinary gains at
the time the board decided to reduce charitable donations. The Board spent 2 meetings discussing
donations. Haggith said we should
accept the Board’s decision to reduce contributions.
Wilbur: since 1999 inception of TDA they have had concerns
of what happens to HBC if we lose TDA.
Leon: If we wanted to run lean due to loss of TDA what
expenses would we need to cover?
Insurance, IT, are fixed costs.
Volunteer Banquet could be forgone. How much is enough discussion ensued with comments by Leon,
Wilbur, Bob, Jim, Haggith and Alan.
Dan said they didn’t know gain or loss of Vanguard and he
would like to see the audit.
Wilbur referenced the Audit that he and Collette prepared and Leon
affirmed it is audit committee’s responsibility to audit and report, not to
decide.
Leon or Wilber reported 2.5x annual fixed operating expenses
is sufficient for reserves.
Russ reported on marketing and requested team members. Marty volunteered for the Marketing
Team and asked for the optimal number of HBC members. Goal is about 300.
Last 2 years we have gained about 50 members and lost a
comparable amount. Net gain for FYE 2017 was +2. Haggith said we could absorb 100 more members.
Dan reported on Insurance LAB 2017.
Overall cost was $952.20 which should cover medical and
liability after personal deductible of $500.
Non-members are covered for their first ride only. Our club cost is $4.50 per person for
TDA non- members. Average size of
bike clubs are 200-400 members.
Process for an accident is to call Dan first and report
immediately. He then goes on line
and reports to Insurance LAB. Then seek to collect from your medical insurance
or homeowners liability policy before LAB claim.
If you don’t have medical insurance, you would pay the $500
deductible and submit to LAB to pay the balance of the claim. For a liability claim, submit to your
homeowners or umbrella if you have coverage there, then to club’s LAB.
Winter walks and walkers are NOT covered.
Alan asked if broken wrist from 2017 accident resulted in a
claim against LAB and club. Dan
does not get claim info. Alan
suggested a Sunshine Committee to provide a plant or goodwill gesture to
injured rider.
Leon reported Rides States
King: Barry Cole Queen:
Rohanda Victorsen
Prince: John Escritt Princess:
Marcy Kelash
HBC had most number of miles ridden since 2001.
Leon suggested those that can’t access their ride stats on
the website, unblock their pop up blocker.
Michelle Brower seeks to enhance info you can get off
website.
2017 TDA Report from Greg Swanson:
247 riders.
Costs and revenues fluctuate.
$40 price is a good value.
Fees are flat. We reduced
price of jersey to sell more. Now
offered for $30 and about 30 of them are left. See Diane Z for jerseys or
SOCKS.
Russ suggested Imathletes to list our excess merchandise for
sale directly.
Jim reviewed budget:
Expenses were $8,725 of which food was only $1,986.
TDA non-member cost $4.54 for insurance up from $3.53
Greg thanked those on planning committee/team and said he
would do TDA 2018 if a deputy director would work with him and take over for
2019. Bob D, Russ, John E ran TDA
for 2 or more years as did Carmen (3 years), Paul B and others. We acknowledged their work in making
TDA the success it is. D’Amico is
a great partner.
Feedback Greg has received is that the routes could be
better marked. Ride with GPS had
available in 2017 TDA and will be again.
The volunteer banquet will be March or April 2018.
Final: Life Member recognition was made to Bruce Beck as a
founding member of the club.
Wilbur and Bob D, also founding members accepted the award in his
absence.
Jim acknowledged in his closing remarks, what he learned
this year……………………
He extended thanks to all volunteers and contributors.
p.s. John Z does not know what the status is of the Ride Leader
vests. John will pursue with
Norbert again.
