February 2012 General Meeting Minutes

Valley Mountain Bikers Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The General meeting was held at Hello Burrito. In attendance were:

Don Kelly
Jen Stortz
Jon Roth
Gordy raymond
Jon Gabor
Karen Krasley
Bob Kuntz
Andrew Kuntz
Scott Haff
Rick [illegible]
John Eberhard
Hope McAdam
Jason Shivok
Michael Kincaid
Joe Gallagher
Lisa Ronca
Kristofer Kies
Stavros Gougoustamos
Rory McShane
Mark Bowman
Eric Rigler
Patrick Spadt
Donna Spadt
Evan Decker
Andrew Amey
Steve Labrake
Mike Prentice
Jon Kuntz

The meeting was called to order at a little after 7:00.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Changes to By-Laws:

Do we do the bylaw changes, or removal vote, first?

Motion to table bylaw changes: voted down.

Motion to change the bylaws as written in Board minutes: motion carries.

Motion to Remove Scott as President:
Grounds: problems w/ Sals waiver, lack of responsiveness from Scott.
(John E added: Lack of democracy, lack of transparency in forums.)
By-law changes less than transparent, also unresponsive to club member input.

Much heated discussion followed. Some points:
People don’t want to become officers – no one wants to step up when nominations come around.
Forums: are they any good? Meetings are where things are supposed to happen, online is where things go wrong.
Steve: Apology due to Scott at some point.
Motion withdrawn.

Meetings are essential, if there’s someone disgruntled, they should come out to meetings,

TREASURER’S REPORT:
We have no treasurer, we need to get a new one. (Jason nominated for treasurer, but would like to think about it before deciding whether to accept.)
Paypal funds are around 3100, the bank account funds are around 1140.

UPDATES:

TRAIL REPORTS:

Nockamixon:
Hammer trail getting fixed up, 2.5 months. South Park/Killkenny Trail is next, then Gnome home, minor mud fixes. EWR/Hammer is taped off – Park has closed the rest of the trails? (This has to be clarified, and should be soon. Meantime: if the trails are wet stay off, whether they’re closed or not.)

Ken & Scott will be talking w/ Rep Quinn regarding complaints from a constituent.

South Mountain Emmaus:
Walked up with Carl, got approval on one project and tentative approval for another, waiting for more land for others. Non-VMB trailwork? Always looking for volunteers.

What’s the story with the Pump Track? Camp Olympic, off Cedar Crest Blvd. Cyclocross, pump track, grant applied for & received.

Trex:
Tom Gettings (huge asset/advocate for VMB) retired a month ago. Carl Martin, new guy and very knowledgable, had some questions & wanted IMBA to check out the trails (happening tomorrow). Tom will be a great loss, but Carl is a mountain biker, strategic manager of resources. Dozer/HP3 was torn up, maybe should be closed – they should be fixed soon though.

Hand work? Not yet..

Sals:
Trail dates 2012 have been posted. (Volunteer hours should be recorded, they come in handy with negotiations.) Trail days up to July will be for Enduro prep. Two vandalized kiosks have been vandalized, need to get new plexiglass. Waivers, but what to do with them? This should be fixed.

Sals owns the land, they get to make the rules.

Can we revisit the waiver at some point? Yes, but the time might not be right.

Enduro-Rama, first event in June at Allamuchy, 2nd event at Sals in July, we’ll need volunteers. Probably 15, maybe more at Sals because of the road crossings. St Luke’s parking is good, they want to sponsor, plus First Aid & a nurse. EMT?. Reeb hasn’t got back about parking.

Please do not park at Dialysis Center, avoid this trailhead and leave the lot for people who need dialysis.

Power substation info? No reply yet from town.

WEBSITE CHANGES

No access, through full access, all is on the table. Committees Forums open to all as read-only? This might be a problem with moles.

Motion: Bob for treasurer. Turned down.

OPEN DISCUSSION

Motion: for an informal poll of members present in favor of Evan’s removal. Seconded by Evan. Approximate even split.

People have left, people are not happy with the club. We’d love to see the bad things change.

End: Meeting Adjourned at 9:23.