Montgomery County Road Runners Club

Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting

Meeting of March 3, 2007

Called to order: 7:05 pm

Present: Craig Roodenburg (President), David Haaga (Vice-President), Sethiya Renwick (Treasurer), Gary Resnick (Secretary), Jim Farkas (Member at Large), Jean Arthur (Member at Large), Chris Richey (Member at Large), Cathy Blessing (Member at Large), Mary Foster (Club Administrator)

Invited Guests: Eve Mills, Joel Carrier, Marty Horan

Minutes Prepared By: Gary Resnick, Secretary

1. Review Agenda

a) Sethiya wants to add discussion of the wording of the Amendment to the Bylaws

2. Business Involving Invited Guests

a) Eve Mills – Girls on the Run

i. Eve Mills described the program, which is designed to improve self-esteem for girls from 8 to 12 years of age, involved in 7 schools with 80 girls signed up for the local program, which is a non-profit organization franchised to the national organization, and operated locally by Eve Mills and her husband (in Montgomery County)

ii. Their flyers were included in the Darcars Young Run in exchange for some volunteers for that race, and would like to continue this involvement

iii. Eve discussed a number of possible ways for her organization to partner with the club, including putting an article in the Rundown, putting a table at a club race, and including GOTR literature in race packets

iv. The Board encouraged Eve to talk with individual race directors about some of these activities, and perhaps having the girls volunteer for a race, in exchange for a table and literature about the Girls on the Run program

v. One suggestion was to consider a joint kids training program, maybe running in parallel with the beginning women’s running program, Eve will consider how this might work and, if appropriate, will bring a proposal back to the Board

b) Joel Carrier – Possible bid to host future USATF Cross-County Championship event

i. Joel Carrier, a member of MCRRC, presented a proposal in which the club would explore the possibility of developing a bid to host a USATF x-c championship event. The first step would be to start an exploratory committee to look at the possibilities of submitting a bid. The USATF Cross-County Championship consists of 6 x-c races, junior, masters and open, men’s and women’s, and these races serve as qualifiers for the IAAF World Cross-County Championships

ii. The exploratory committee would look at feasibility, scope, bid requirements, benefits and risks of hosting such an event, benefits to the club and then would make a go/no-go recommendation. Joel Carrier would head the committee and would like to advertise for committee members on MCRUN and in the Rundown

iii. The committee would need some minor financial support for its meetings. The Board would be involved throughout the process and the making of a recommendation would occur 60-75 days after the committee is formed. Bids are due by Nov. 28, 2007 at the USATF Annual Meeting, with the winning bid being announced on or around the 2008 USATF Cross-Country Championships

iv. There would be a relatively significant price attached to making a bid; e.g. in Boulder the price was in the range of $40,000 but most funds would be secured by outside sponsorship agreements (the Board indicated this would be important so that the club is not out of pocket for these funds)

v. Previous clubs that have been involved in bids include the New York Road Runners and the Boulder Running Club (in separate x-c championship races)

vi. MOTION: The Board approves the allocation of $300 to support an exploratory committee headed by Joel Carrier to determine the feasibility of the club hosting a USATF Cross-Country Championship Event. The committee chair will give a report with a recommendation to the Board no later than the June Board meeting. Dave moves, Jean seconded. Unanimous.

c) Marty Horan – follow-up on proposed new awards (0702-2b)

i. Marty Horan was asked to provide support for the amount requested in the Outstanding High School Runner scholarships.

ii. Marty reports, based on research on the Internet, that at least 57 running clubs are currently offering over $125,000 in college scholarships, with individual scholarships ranging from $500 to $25,000. The average scholarship budget per running club is $2,917. Marty passed around an Excel spreadsheet listing the awards by club.

iii. Marty reiterated his request for a total of $2,250 for the 5 awards, $2,000 for the two college scholarships, and he will champion these awards

iv. MOTION: The Board approves establishing 5 new awards and commits $2,500 in the 2008 budget to fund these awards, with $2,000 towards two high school scholarships for outstanding high school runner. Cathy moves, Chris seconds. 6 in favor, 2 opposed, motion passes.

v. Sethiya wanted to go on record as opposing the two $1,000 scholarships as $2,000 is more than the club should spend in this fashion.

3. Review MCRRC Calendar

a) Saturday 3/3, 8 am, Damascus, Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon and 50K

b) Sunday 3/11, 8:30 am, Bethesda, Run Aware 5K, at this writing the race is still without a home as its original location had to be canceled.

c) Saturday 3/17, 9:00 am, Gaithersburg, Piece of Cake 10K.

4. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

a) There was discussion to amend the item regarding Marty Horan’s Award proposal. Also, there was a typo in 6(b)

b) Jean moved to accept the amended minutes, Chris seconded. Passed unanimously.

5. Treasurer’s Report

a) Sethiya did not receive a bank statement yet so she noted that these numbers have not been completely reconciled

i. The total cash in MCRRC accounts, as of February 28 (not including Parks Half Marathon, Pike’s Peek, and DYR accounts) was the following:

ii. Checking (9223) $41,239.54

iii. Savings (6828) $10,162.92

iv. Savings – Clubhouse (7652) $ 5,850.24

v. Legg Mason $6,735.41

vi. Total Bank Accounts $63,988.11

vii. Other Assets (CDs) $56,000.00

b) Parks Half Marathon Bank Accounts  (as of December 2006)
i.  Checking $5,967.99
ii.  Savings $2,354.93
iii.Total Bank Accounts $ 8,322.92

c) Pikes Peek Bank Account

i. Checking $5,626.95

ii. Total Bank Accounts $ 5,626.95

d) DYR Bank Account (as of September 2006)

i.  Checking $9,217.33
ii. Total Bank Accounts    $ 9,217.13

e) February Financial Information

i. Significant income was received from:

• Membership $1,624.00

• Club Race Program $1,513.13

ii. Significant expenses included:

• Speed Development $1,373.25

• MCM Room $3,000.00

• Team Program $1,400.76

• Rundown $3,433.97

• Recognition Program $4,245.43

• Champ & XC Series $2,365.50

• Awards Banquet $3,349.49

f) Motion to accept Treasurer’s Report: Jim moved, Jean seconded, passed unanimously

6. Unfinished Business (action items from previous meeting)

a) Financial (0702-5f): Sethiya suggested moving $10,000 from checking to the Legg Mason account and to purchase a CD, additionally she suggested we close the Clubhouse account and put the money into a higher interest paying “Clubhouse” CD – Sethiya was told that the bank had a signing card only for 2005 and thus she could not access these accounts. This item will be tabled for the new Treasurer to complete

b) Gaithersburg HS track lights (0610-7b): Cathy will try to find someone who would like to take on the role of Tuesday night track coordinator after Speed Development is over for the season and before it begins the following year, that is, for approximately for 8-9 months of the year since other training programs will be using the track at this time.

i. In progress: Cathy received more guidance from the Board on the role of a track coordinator

c) Equipment and RMS (0611-7c): Susan will meet with Phil Quinn to determine a procedure for requesting use of club equipment – in progress. This will be tabled until the new Board begins its work and will be taken over by the new Board coordinator for club equipment

d) RRCA Eastern Region Championships Bid (0612-7b): Jean will talk with Mike Acuna about bringing the possibility of a bid to Parks Half Marathon – in process

e) Strategic Plan – Increasing participation and volunteerism (0612-8c): Jim sent an email to Christina Caravoulias asking about progress on compiling a list of volunteer assignments based on the volunteer database and will follow-up with a telephone call – in process

f) Rundown publication schedule (0701-7c) Jim reported his discussion with Christina, in which some of the obstacles to getting the Rundown out on time were identified, such as writers not meeting deadlines. The Board stressed the importance of having the Rundown delivered on time - completed

g) Strategic Plan – Compiling/updating governance policies (0612-8b): John Sissala sent the compilation of old club policies by Don Carter when he was club Secretary, from 1987 to 1991, to Gary.

i. ACTION ITEM: Gary will scan the compilation (index) onto a CD-ROM

h) DrinkMoreWater inquiry (0702-7a): Jean will post to MCRUN asking DrinkMore customers to respond directly to the company, and Jim will ask Christina to put an ad in the Rundown to the same effect, asking club members who are customers to respond to the company - completed.

i) Stonyfield Farm inquiry (0702-7b): Craig sent an email response to Stonyfield indicating that their program is appropriate for the larger club races, such as Pike’s Peak and that they should contact the individual race directors - completed

j) Girls On The Run inquiry (0702-7c): Craig will invite Eve to the next Board meeting - completed

k) Amendment to the By-Laws (0701-7d): At the March annual meeting, the board will propose an amendment to the bylaws to raise the two-signature requirement to $200.

7. New Business

a) There was discussion around the new Half-Marathon Training Program, such as scheduling at the track and the fee structure, which then lead to a more extensive discussion about the role of the Board liaison to the training programs.

i. The Board agreed that, as part of our governance and strategic initiative, we establish a practice for each club program (training as well as races and social activities) whereby the program heads submit a pre-program and a post-program report to the Board.

ii. ACTION ITEM: Cathy, as training program coordinator, will put together the requirements for these reports and will provide this information to the program heads

iii. In special cases, such as the Stride Clinic, there should be at least one report annually

b) Annual Meeting: Suggestion was to present at the club’s Annual Meeting a report regarding the status of the clubhouse, and that this is an important component of the club’s strategic plan.

i. ACTION ITEM: Chris will put together a brief report about the clubhouse costs and where we are at this point for the Annual Meeting

c) Proxy Voting at Annual Meetings: There was discussion to extend the voting franchise by allowing club members to vote by proxy on bylaw motions at Annual Meetings. Currently the by-laws do not allow for proxy voting and many club members had asked about this for the upcoming Annual Meeting. The Board agreed to table this discussion until the next meeting.

8. Standing Items

a) Strategic Plan – Clubhouse research/fundraising.

b) Strategic Plan – Compiling/updating governance policies

c) Strategic Plan – Increasing participation and volunteerism

9. Business Between Meetings - None

10. Announcements - None

11. Closure

a) Action Items

i. Financial: Sethiya will move $10,000 from checking to the Legg Mason account and to purchase a CD, additionally she will close the Clubhouse account and put the money into a higher interest paying “Clubhouse” CD

ii. Gaithersburg HS track lights (0610-7b): Cathy will try to find someone who would like to take on the role of Tuesday night track coordinator.

iii. Equipment and RMS (0611-7c): The incoming Board coordinator for club equipment will meet with Phil Quinn to determine a procedure for requesting use of club equipment

iv. RRCA Eastern Region Championships Bid (0612-7b) Jean will talk with Mike Acuna about bringing the possibility of a bid to Parks Half Marathon

v. Strategic Plan – Increasing participation and volunteerism (0612-8c): Jim will talk with Christina Caravoulias about the status of the volunteer task list

vi. Strategic Plan - Compiling/updating governance policies (0612-8b): Gary will scan the compilation of old club policies by Don Carter when he was club Secretary, from 1987 to 1991, received from John Sissala, to a CD-ROM

vii. Amendment to the By-Laws (0701-7d): At the March annual meeting, the board will propose an amendment to the bylaws to raise the two-signature requirement to $200.

viii. Strategic Plan – Club Program Reports (0703-7a): The Board agreed that, as part of our governance and strategic initiative, we establish a practice for each club program (training as well as races and social activities) whereby the program heads submit a pre-program and a post-program report to the Board (except in the case of the Stride Clinic and other yearly events which may require only an annual report). Cathy, as training program coordinator, will put together the requirements for these reports and will provide this information to the program heads.

ix. Annual Meeting (0703-7b): Chris will put together a brief report about the clubhouse costs and where we are at this point for the Annual Meeting

x. Proxy Voting at Annual Meetings (0703-7c): Discussion to extend the voting franchise by allowing club members to vote by proxy on bylaw motions at Annual Meetings was tabled until the next meeting

b) Motions Passed:

i. Bid to Host USATF Cross-Country Championships (0703-2b): The Board approves the allocation of $300 to support an exploratory committee headed by Joel Carrier to determine the feasibility of the club hosting a USATF Cross-Country Championship Event. The committee chair will give a report with a recommendation to the Board no later than the June Board meeting.

ii. New Awards (0702-2b): The Board approves establishing five new awards and commits $2,500 in the 2008 budget to fund these awards, with $2,000 towards two high school scholarships for outstanding high school runner.

c) Review Plans for Next Meeting

i. Next meeting is April 5, 2007 at 6:30 pm at the Stella Werner Council Office Bldg, 5^th Floor Conference Room, 100 Maryland Ave. This will be the first meeting of the newly elected Board. Jim offered to bring food.

Meeting adjourned: 9:35 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Resnick