Arlington Heights Bicycle Association

Board & General Meeting Minutes

September 27, 2007

 

 

Due to scheduling conflicts, a separate Board Meeting was not held in September.  Instead, the Board meeting was conducted in advance of the General Meeting.  It began at 7:00 p.m. and was attended by Dave Martin, Mitch Polonsky, Gary Gilbert, Kris Sudrovech Ami, Don Ami, Paula Matzek, Al Gibbs and Chris and Dave VanDornick.  Wayne Woodworth, Jim MacClure, Jim Shoemaker and another person from the Wheeling Club joined at various times for the General Meeting and Board Meeting discussions.

 

We followed the agenda sent out in the Yahoo Groups e-mail by Dave Martin to those members in advance of the meeting.  The first item on the agenda was the AHBA Annual Banquet.  The Banquet will be held on November 11 and is being chaired by Paula Matzek.  It was decided that the fee will be $20 per person per member household and $35 per person if not a member as of 9/1/2007.  Checks need to be sent to Mitch by November 1.  Paula will send out a message with date, time and additional details.  It was also decided that AHBA will pay $50 additional to have a bartender downstairs.  We will make sure there is a tip jar available for the bartender’s tips. 

 

Wayne Woodworth had recently been on a bike trip in Illinois and received a safety triangle as a giveaway.  We discussed having this as a giveaway for our members with our name imprinted on it.  We’ll look into getting it completed in time for the banquet, but also determine whether it would be possible as a giveaway at the Arlington 500 in 2008.  We decided to have www.cyclearlington.com as the imprint.  Someone (Mitch or Wayne) will contact the company to get quotes for an order of 500 and/or 100.  We’re looking for a price of between $2-$3 if we purchase 500 and $5 if we purchase 100.

 

A side discussion took place where it was decided we will NOT increase the charge for the Arlington 500, it will remain $15 for pre-registration and $20 for day of the ride.

 

Dave asked if there are other prizes given out at the Banquet and Chris confirmed the top 10 riders get prizes, normally gift certificates which can be purchased at the last minute.  Additional prizes to be given away at the Banquet would be for the annual Road Treasures and coin guess contests.

 

Toys for Tots will be sponsored by Amlings on December 14.  Dave will call Joe to determine if he will be at the Banquet to discuss this event.  We discussed the possibility of sponsoring a Burley.  It was decided that to remain consistent we will not sponsor non-biking events.  However, we will collect toys and/or money at the banquet for those who may want to participate.  In this way, individuals can decide if they want to participate, but it won’t be sponsored by AHBA.

 

Next on the agenda was a discussion about next year’s officers.  The by-laws determine there must be nominations for all four officers.  Open this year is the secretary position as well as co-Vice President positions.  Already in agreement to be nominated this year are Dave Martin for President, Al Gibbs as one co-Vice President and Mitch Polonsky for Treasurer. 

 

Don Ami has agreed to take over as head chairman of the Arlington 500.  We still need someone to schedule programs for meetings and it was suggested that as Cynthia Simmons does this for Lake County, perhaps we could tie into that for ours.  Gary will call Cynthia to discuss this.  Another person who resigned as of the end of this year is Safety Chick.  Dave will contact Marilyn Wilkerson to see if she will take on this role.

 

The Ride Chair is also responsible for maintaining the mileage so Al will need someone to assist as co-VP.  Chris & Dave VanDornick have decided not to run for VP this year, as they don’t know the status of their move.  They will, however, stay involved and help with transitioning to the new VPs who are elected.

 

The General Meeting came to order at 7:32 p.m.  Nominations for officers were announced.  Kris nominated Dave Martin for President, Mitch seconded that nomination.  Mitch nominated Al Gibbs for Vice President, Gary seconded the nomination.  Gary nominated Mitch Polonsky for Treasurer, Wayne seconded this nomination. 

 

It was suggested that Tom Drabant be contacted as a possible co-VP nomination.  There was no nomination for Secretary but a few names were discussed, Dori Merkel, Barb Haeckel, John Thiel, Carol Ranachowski and Barb Kulp.  Dave Martin will contact all of those who were identified as possible nominations for open positions. 

 

A vote will be taken at the next general meeting in October to elect the officers for 2008.

 

The third item on the agenda was evening rides.  The discussion was whether or not these should start earlier later in the season, but this was tried previously and it did not work.  Tuesday night rides are always Show and Go and do not follow a prescribed route.  Lori Larson has found leaders from April through September.  New people should be encouraged to join a Tuesday night ride as these are usually more leisurely.  Or they should be encouraged to join an intermediate or new leisure ride as they will not be dropped from either.  We really need to identify a “Membership” recruitment person who keeps track of people who are riding more regularly but are not members and who can encourage them to join as a member.

 

We need to verify discounts that are available from bike stores and publicize those discounts so people know where we get them and steer people to those shops for purchases.  Perhaps we need to provide a membership number card to members each year so they have something to show the bike shop to receive a discount.  It could be in the shape of a business card.  This is something else the Membership person needs to handle if the Board decides to move forward with this item.

 

AHBA currently gives money to CBF, LIB, Rails to Trails and Adventure Cycling.  AHBA gets newsletters from all of these.  We used to have a printed page in each newsletter that provided information about each of these organizations.  This information needs to be added as a page somewhere on the website.  Dave needs to send a letter to Mitch instructing him to send checks to each of these organizations for this year.  CBF receives $200, the others all receive $100.

 

AHBA’s fiscal year is 1st day of November through October 31.  Christine VanDornick has an updated copy of the By-laws that she needs to send to the current board.  Kris will make sure the latest version is included on the disk she provides to the new Secretary once that person is determined.

 

 

Last winter AHBA participated in the Lion’s Club “Take a Bough” contest where we trimmed a tree.  We won first prize, a $50 gift certificate to be used in Arlington Heights at a business district establishment.  A list was provided that details all of these establishments.  It was decided we want to give this away at the Banquet.  There were a few ideas on how that could be done.  One was that it be auctioned off, i.e., people would bid on it then the winner would pay to get the certificate.  Any money that was made would be used to pay for the other gifts being given away.  Another idea was to provide a raffle ticket (one per household) for those who attend the banquet.  One per household would make sure that everyone attending gets an equal shot of winning.  No other ideas were brought discussed, however a vote was taken on these two suggestions.  The raffle ticket suggestion overwhelmingly passed.  Don and Kris will handle the raffle and give out the numbers for those who enter the banquet.

 

Gary discussed some ideas on more publicity for the club.  He will make sure our main events are included in print media (Chicago Athlete, Windy City Sports, Monthly CBF Chain of Events, Arlington Heights Almanac, Silent Sports Magazine, Pioneer Press and various other newsletters.  We need to make sure the tri-fold brochures are distributed and a supply stays available at all distribution points.  Paula offered to assist with this job.  Kris will send Gary the list of local bike shops used for the 2007 Swap brochure distribution.  Dave Martin has the additional tri-fold brochures and Kris has the template if more need to be printed.  Gary will also spearhead getting business cards printed for ride leaders.

 

Christine VanDornick will contact the Park District to secure the site for the Swap.  She will also find out about Tent rentals.  Dave wants to ensure we get more active involvement of members so plans to make more announcements at the Banquet.

 

Jim Shoemaker is offering a newcomers/leisure ride on Wednesday and Saturdays, usually 15-30 miles with free coffee and bike repairs.  There was some discussion about getting a “bike class” for recreational cycling in District 214 booklet.  Maybe it could be done in the AH Park District brochure and have it be held in April or May.  More discussion needs to be done but this might increase membership in the Spring.

 

There was a reminder of the German dinner on October 6 at 6:00 p.m.

 

The General meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Kris Sudrovech Ami

AHBA Secretary