Minutes from January 13, 2008 Board Meeting

New business

Board members unanimously elected Mike Bur as president.

As this was the first meeting of the current Board, many topics were touched on briefly, with decisions on some deferred until we could collect additional information.

General

• BRR entry opened today. Anstr gave an update on how everything was working. There were a couple of user errors and the system was “down” for about an hour, but generally everything was going well. As of Sunday evening, it was clear that the system was producing a calmer method of entry than occurred in December with MMT.
• Discussed possibly moving some of the dates of administrative things at the end of the year. During the otherwise already busy holidays, we also have the election for the Board (biennial), MMT registration, BRR registration, and awards. Awards had recently been moved calendar year basis to be easier for members. All seemed to think MMT and BRR entry timing was about right for the event dates. That left only the Board election; consensus was that election could be earlier (November).
• Regarding the election mechanics: all agreed on a need to start the process earlier and to provide a mechanism for the members to submit questions for candidates to answer. Thoughts at this time centered around use of VHTRC website for this.
• Awards: after this round of awards (to be announced at party February 9), we will revisit process and see if there are some mechanisms we can set up on the website to get member feedback and ideas on the awards. Also, we agreed that Quatro would explore and submit a draft for an award process for volunteers.
• Need to set up a Board section on the members only web area for meeting summaries (such as this), communication to/from members, etc.

Events

• Women’s Half Marathon: Kerry will draft an announcement that we are looking for applicants for RD position. Carolyn will contact Margie to get the contact information for reserving the shelter at Fountainhead. The desire is to have the race on September 6 (traditional Saturday after Labor Day), with September 13 as second choice. [Note: After the meeting, it was determined that date will have to be September 13.]
• Potomac Overlook Runs: The VHTRC would like to support this event. Maria previously offered to talk to Ed Demoney. The Board fully agrees with Maria’s strong conviction that the VHTRC should support trail running of all distances, not just ultras. Anstr is going to contact Maria to get an update on the status.
• MMT: Noted need to address MMT entry procedures for 2009, but consensus was to wait until BRR process played out, to see what issues might arise that would affect MMT entry planning. Discussions will initially be among the Board members and Race Director. The desire is to have a procedure basically in place prior to race day 2008 so that it can be announced then.
• BRR: Presentation of plan for BRR Teams [based on Mike’s notes from the meeting with Bob Phillips following Board meeting in the Fall].
  • All teams have five members, at least two of whom must be of the opposite sex. People can be members of only one team. Other than this, there are no restrictions on who is on a team (i.e., no geographic or affiliation restrictions such as in past years). There are five total team award categories, and we will go one deep in each of these categories. The categories are: Fastest, Slowest, Finish together (fastest time), Oldest total age, Best dressed/theme. Teams do not declare a category and will be considered for all awards but may only receive one.

Budgetary Matters

• Anstr presented a financial report. Board members will review it and send their comments and questions to Anstr. The report will then be made available to members.
• Awards and awards party: Joe to handle getting the awards; Kerry/Anstr to handle food. While the Board did not set a specific budget figure, Board members agreed that the food and drink at the party would be obtained at Costco rather than from a caterer.
• Reserve: Discussed as topic to be discussed more in future. Some thoughts of need for a higher reserve, but need to explore rationale and what the reserve is to be for. Quatro agreed to look into what other non-profits do, to see if there is some guidance on this subject. Need to look at what the associated costs would be if we couldn’t use Hemlock or the Ranch at the last minute (shelters and generator rental, PortaJohns, etc).