Board of Directors meeting minutes for July 2010

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

recorded by Sandy Raphel, ACA secretary

Location: Bike Texas headquarters, 1902 E. Sixth St., Austin, TX.

Present: Gilbert D. Martinez, Monica Leo, Eileen Schaubert, Tommy Eden, Michael Portman, Fred Meredith, Patti Hill, Pete Dahlberg, Sara DeShong-Baker, Stanton Truxillo, Susie Truxillo, Gary Holliday, Tom Wald, Sandy Raphel

ACA President Gilbert D. Martinez began the board meeting at 6:31 p.m.

Voting item 1: Approval of the board meeting minutes from the previous month’s meeting. Gary Holliday made a motion to approve the minutes for June, with a correction regarding the booklet Eileen is working on. Stanton Truxillo seconded the motion. The motion carried, with Monica Leo abstaining.

Voting item 2: A proposal to increase Sara DeShong-Baker’s hours from 10 to 20 hours per week. Stanton Truxillo made a motion to increase Sara’s hours, to 20 hours maximum per week, which would be effective Aug. 1, with the expectation that the board will create and prioritize a task list for Sara’s increased duties; the board would commit to that rate until the end of the year, at which time it would be reviewed again. Eileen Schaubert seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Sara requested that the board members begin tracking their volunteer hours, as that information is needed for any grant requests. Sara is interested in helping Gary with the budget and Susie with membership duties, as well as creating a membership survey. She is also interested in possibly doing grant writing for ACA.

Discussion item 1: The status of the 2011 candidates. Gilbert Martinez has been contacted by several people who are possibly interested in running for the vacant positions. ACA membership will be notified of the vacancies in the August newsletter, and it will be posted on the website. Any candidate running has been requested to send Fred Meredith a brief bio and a head shot for Southwest Cycling News.

Discussion item 2: Finding volunteer coordinators via social cycling. Sara DeShong Baker has several contacts who are possibly interested.

Discussion item 3: A proposal from the Alliance for Climate Change. Stanton Truxillo will be doing further research on the organization, to be discussed at a later board meeting.

Discussion item 4: The ad hoc committee to help make ACA's finances more understandable to board members. The committee members were Gary Holliday and Tommy Eden. Gary told the board members to feel free to go to him with any specific budget requests or questions.

Discussion item 5: The “Ask a Question” feature on the website. Gilbert advised the board that the feature has now been turned off by the web team because the forum was not being maintained. Patti Hill will be following up with the web team in order to gain access to the forum and said questions.

Discussion item 6: The status of ACA’s involvement with the Wurst Ride. Susie, Stanton, Sara and Fred will be representing ACA. ACA will have a rest stop at the ride, Susie will organize all rest stop support, and Fred will organize SAG support.

Discussion item 7: The proposed Art in Public Places David Byrne bicycle racks. Annick Beaudet of the City of Austin wants to schedule a meeting to discuss more details. Gilbert will get more information and get back with the board.

Discussion item 8: The 2011 Easter Hill Country Tour. Stanton Truxillo would like to get the word out early about the ride and volunteer requirements. They will be looking for a publicity chair volunteer. Stanton is also looking for a volunteer with basic html skills to help update the website. Patti Hill will ask her contacts and put the request in the e-newsletter.

Vice president’s report: Monica Leo reports that the August meeting will be held at Whole Foods downtown, with a panel of people whose jobs are on their bikes. The “My Bike is My Office” panel will consist of pedicab drivers, bike messengers, and food deliverers. The September meeting location is still to be determined, and the October meeting will be reserved for TxDOT.

Treasurer: Gary Holliday handed out several financial reports, including a P&L statement, monthly financial tracking, and an A/R aging summary. Gary made a motion for ACA to cover the cost of tax preparation for the filing of the 2008 and 2009 tax returns, not to exceed the amount of $1500. Michael Portman seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

Legislative Liaison Committee: Tommy Eden reported that there was no meeting this month.

Ride director: Greg Ritter did not attend the meeting but sent his report to Gilbert. He reports hosted rides and classic rides are doing fine. He reports that in the near future, he will encourage ride leaders to offer some more casual, social type rides.

Membership: Susie Truxillo could not report current numbers due to the database being updated. She will send the numbers out to the board members as soon as she is able to generate that information.

PR/Communications: Patti Hill reports that the e-newsletter has 3,434 subscribers and the July issue had an open rate of 1,012 (34%), with the highest number of clicks being for the Austin Cycle Camp promotional offer. The ACA Twitter account has 664 followers, is following 496, and has posted 917 tweets.

Southwest Cycling News: Fred Meredith reminded everyone that the deadline for the next SCN issue is Aug. 15.

Yellow Bike Project: Pete Dahlberg reports that there are new coordinators in training, which will make more hours available in the coming months. There have been a few break-ins at the new facility, and collective members have been forced to install alarms. He also reported that the Earn a Bike program is back, with 20 to 25 people now in that process. He also asked for any input from ACA for the YPB newsletter.

Tom Wald announced that LOBV will be having a benefit ride on Aug. 7 and encouraged everyone to get on the LOBV email list, if they have not already done so.

Stanton Truxillo made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Gary Holliday seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m.

Location