September 2019 Board Minutes
San Diego Mountain Biking Association Board Meeting
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 PM,
MTRP Visitors Center
For information contact:
Kevin Loomis President
Minutes taken by Josh Bonnici
Introductions/Roll Call
Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items (2 mins. limit per individual; must fill out comment card prior to call to order) Opportunity for members of the public to speak to the Board on any subject matter not on tonight’s agenda
Call to Order
Introductions
Call with Randy Roberts regarding Ebikes and possible name change/rebrand @ 7:13pm.
sdmba.org is available
Consent Agenda
Approval of August Board Minutes
Kyle made a motion to approve the minutes. Matt seconded. Unanimously approved.
Approval of July Financials
Kevin moves to approve, Matt seconds. Unanimously approved.
Old Business
Item 1.
Requests for Continuance on any current Agenda items
Closed Session
Discussion Agenda
Item 1. Ebikes - communications, and updates current County Status
The county is on a one-year trial on Ebikes on some trails, barring specific issues. Complaints are usually coming from other bikers, so we’ll see how it goes.
Item 2. Mt Laguna Trail Work from Mark C Equipment Request $550 (Ben)
Current tools aren’t cutting it, makes it very difficult. This tool they could “walk” and make the work easier and more efficient. Some new protection gear was already purchased for around $400.00. Mark and Brian are trained to run the machine. The requested amount would come from Mt Laguna earmarked money. Need to check if battery powered tools are allowed – gas powered may only be allowed on USFS
Board – hedge trimmers are a bad idea, and pitched equipment looks too expensive. Maybe use something more heavy duty rather than something that just cuts back? Liability also a concern. Sounds like we’ve bought other motorized tools being used in Laguna. Also worried that the money could buy other tools that we don’t already have for other uses. Would be the most expensive tool we have (other than the excavator).
Do we have enough money left after this spend for other things we’re planning on doing with our budget? Not sure until we can see all our numbers.
Ben will talk to liaisons. We need to review the budget which won’t be ready until next month.
Item 3. Trailer Grant/Purchase $5,900 (+$450 spare/tongue box options) (Ben)
Cash discount. Tongue weight limit? Discussing weight and brakes so that the trailer can be towed with different trucks. Controller or actuator for the tongue. Found an actuator online for $250 (will need to be installed) but would make the trailer a lot more towable.
Tongue box makes sense to store locks and other things necessary for use so when trailer is switching hands it’s a lot easier.
We have grant money of $5,500.00 for the trailer. Will discuss brakes issue offline.
Kevin makes a motion to approve $6,350.00 for trailer and spare tongue storage. Josh seconds. Unanimously approved.
Item 4. USFS Projects Update (Ben)
Meeting pending with Amy, Bob and new supervisor in October.
Item 5. Water Trailer Options for season 2020 (Ben)
Request to buy water trailer stuff. Buy under the grant money. Can use it anywhere in the county, bike park grant money as long as it’s primarily used at the bike park. We’ll need it soon. Can also use budget for tools by end of the year. Concern – Ben’s truck can only safely tow it dry, maybe on flat land full.
Kevin makes motion for proposed budget for water trailer and accessories. Matt seconds. Unanimously approved.
Item 6. Membership Marketing Update (Ben)
Asking for overall current members. We’re currently at 1,198. Numbers come from sales out of the database. We’re pulling some bad months in the average when looking at why our numbers went down November 2018 with promotions you can see a spike in new members from when there weren’t any. Renewals were low because we weren’t doing any membership promotion at all. Once we started numbers started going up and are more consistent. Progressive new members from beginning of the year – that’s what we should be looking at. Looking at month by month doesn’t really tell the story. Growth rate is getting better with the promotions.
Item 7. Advocacy meeting schedule: per quarter one-month meeting, one month meet/greet, one month off (Ben) Postpone
Item 8. Trailfest update (Ben)
Numbers are in line with last year, and we want to get that higher. Suggested to run MLTF adds for a supplemented one month spend with Top Rope? How much should we approve? Discussed ROI on ads.
Kyle makes a motion for $1,000 total to Top Rope spend for MLTF starting ASAP. Kevin seconds. Passes unanimously.
Item 9. NS Presentation October 16th
Reminder!
Item 10. Approve Soiltac purchase (Ben) Postpone
Item 11. Discuss CAMTB and review potential funding options, review survey (Kevin)
Reviewed the info sent by Kevin before the meeting, linked above. We need to revisit statewide help that we lost with IMBA. Having a statewide voice is important to members (not just SDBMA members) Make a unified voice in CA so when legislation or environmental issues arise, there’s no counter voice, but one large voice across the state. The 5 “Whys” outline the mission.
Question – how does this translate to more legal trails in SD? The legislation component can be strong, and most advocacy groups have something similar to be successful. Kevin wants input on how to fund CAMTB. Reviewed several different levels per member for clubs, as well as potential pitfalls with each level and ratios. $3.00 per member seems to be a good fit. Maybe get some wins first and ask for donations per bill or legislation piece to get additional funding.
Updates - (Non Discussion Items)
Item 1.
Items for next meeting Agenda
Board member communications
Upcoming events - volunteers needed
September 19 - North County Trails meeting at ZOIC
September 29 - Women Ride IB
October 5 - Take A Kid MTB Day Balboa Park
October 18-20 Mount Laguna Trail Fest
October 27 - Ciclasdias Adams Ave.
November 4 - advocacy meeting
Adjournment
Next Meeting: October 16, 2019 (MTRP)