JTC Running BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, November 4th, 2014
Location: Hurricane Grill and Wings; 1615 Hendricks Avenue; Jacksonville, FL
President Larry Roberts called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. Directors Michael DelCharco, Richard Fannin, Franz Lerch, Dave Moritz, and Stuart Toomey were absent. Errol Daniels and Simon O’Brien attended the meeting as guests. This meeting was held in a different location than usual because the room we normally use at Mediterrania was not available for this date.
Approval of 10/7/14 minutes: Lamar Strother made a motion to accept the October minutes as submitted. The motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Bonnie Brooks distributed copies of the Balance Sheet dated Nov 3, 2014 and the Profit & Loss Detail Report for October. She thoroughly reviewed both reports with the board.
OLD BUSINESS:
Half Marathon & Gate River Run Training Classes – The Half Marathon Training Class concludes with the Subaru Half Marathon on Thanksgiving day. We decided it would be good to have a photo of the class at the Subaru Half, for our website, which Jane Alred said she would try to do.
The kickoff for our next training class, which is for the Gate River Run, will be on Thursday, January 8th, in the 1st Place Sports store in Town Center.
• Jane Alred will try to get a photo of the Half Marathon Training Class at the Subaru Half.
JTCR’s 40th Birthday & the 40th Running of the John TenBroeck Memorial Winter Beach Run – Stan Lambert said that he has not gotten a lot of feedback to his request for ideas of things we can do to enhance our activities for next year in recognition of the club’s 40th year. He still hopes that members will send ideas to him.
Last month, Firehouse Subs was suggested as a possible title sponsor for the JTB Memorial WBR. Doug Alred said that he has sent email messages to them. Bonnie Brooks is also “working” the situation.
• Doug and Bonnie will continue to follow up with Firehouse and secure a possible sponsorship.
B P A C – The next meeting of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council is on Thursday, Nov 6th. President Larry Roberts has been attending the BPAC meetings but he will be away so Douglas Tillett will go to the meeting as his substitute. The December BPAC meeting will be on Dec 4th and Connie Smith will go to that meeting as Larry’s substitute.
• Doug Tillett is to attend the next BPAC meeting Nov. 6 in Larry’s absence.
• Connie Smith is to attend the December BPAC meeting Dec 4 in Larry’s absence.
JTC Running Board of Directors for 2015 – Each year, half of the 20 person board is up for election. This December, the ten seats up for election are the ones currently occupied by Bonnie Brooks, Richard Fannin, Bob Fernee, Franz Lerch, Dave Moritz, Todd O’Donnell, Lamar Strother, Douglas Tillett, Stuart Toomey, and a vacant seat formerly belonging to Nicole Andress, who resigned in April. It happens that an 11th seat is available this year because Erika Bjork has resigned from the board. We requested that the nine board members whose seats are up for election to please advise the president or the secretary by Oct 31, if they plan to volunteer for the next 2-year term. Bob Fernee and David Moritz have chosen not to run but all the others have volunteered for another term on the board. Additionally, JTC Running member Errol Daniels has been vetted as eligible to serve and has agreed to a 2-year term on the board. If no additional qualified candidates come forward to volunteer, it means we will have a 17 member board next year.
Track Meet Series for 2015 – Director Todd O’Donnell has contacted the youth track groups in town to try and determine when they are holding meets so that our prospective meet dates do not conflict with theirs. Todd told us that the other groups have not firmed up their schedules as of yet. Todd will continue his effort by trying to determine ten plausible dates for our meets for 2015.
• Todd O’Donnell to determine 10 plausible dates for our 2015 track meets.
JTC Running Racing Team Leadership – Stephanie Griffith has volunteered to take over leadership of our racing team.
• Doug Tillett to work with Stephanie Griffith in making the transition to team leader.
Newsletter Matrix Planner – Larry Roberts has called on the Newsletter Committee to embrace the concept of maintaining a month-by-month matrix of the types of articles that should be in each edition of The Starting Line
• Doug Tillett, as the Newsletter Committee Chair, will guide the committee through the process of establishing a newsletter maxtrix planner.
JTC Running Holiday Ornament – This item is complete. Our website shows how the ornaments will look. They will be available at the JTC Christmas party.
Updated Membership Brochure – Larry Roberts reported that we have determined that Carly has the file for the brochure. The updated brochure might be ready in enough time for our Christmas social. It updated is focused on the fun aspects of our club and includes our River Runner statues.
NEW BUSINESS:
There was no new business presented at this board meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Gate River Run (3/14/15) – Race Director Doug Alred said that around 2,000 runners have already signed up and he expects a big increase in those numbers in December. We have everything set up with the city. He reported that our sponsorship looks good for this year.
Back-To-Nature Trail Races (12/7/14) – Race Director Bob Fernee reported that planning is proceeding well and that we have around 90 people registered so far.
Last Gasp (Sun, Dec 21) – Bob Fernee told us that Jacksonville University is all set for our race and we have already paid the fee they require for use of their campus. Doug Alred said that there is a new River House on campus that he thinks would work great for our post-race celebration.
John TenBroeck Memorial Winter Beach Run – The 40th running of the Winter Beach Run will be on Saturday, January 31st. Race Director Doug Alred acknowledged the great logo that Carly designed for our race. Everything is arranged with the City of Jacksonville Beach. The post-race party will include our most popular beverages this year.
RACE COMMITTEE and TRACK MEET COMMITTEE – Other than Todd O’Donnell’s efforts to determine possible track meet dates, there was no other news to report.
JTC Running RACE TEAM – No report, other than Doug Tillett is working with Stephanie Griffith in the transition to new coordination of the team.
CLASSES & CLINICS – Director Jane Alred would like to see an increase in the Classes & Clinics budget so that we can get some “big name” speakers for our clinics.
• Jane to tell Bonnie the proposed budget for Classes & Clinics in 2015.
FINANCE – Committee Chair Bonnie Brooks called for a Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, Dec 2nd, at 6 PM, before the board meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to create the 2015 budget.
MEMBERSHIP – Larry reported that we have 949 memberships. He noted that whenever we start a new “training class,” we have a good increase in memberships.
Larry and Stuart have not yet met to transition the Membership Coordinator job.
• Stuart is to schedule a session with Larry to review the Wild Apricot system.
MERCHANDISE – Director Connie Smith, who heads our merchandise effort, asked aloud if we might like to come up with a 40th anniversary “special” shirt.
NEWSLETTER – The deadline for the next issue of The Starting Line is Nov 10th.
SOCIAL MEDIA – Director Stan Lambert had no new news to report. Connie now handles email blasts for our club.
SOCIAL & BANQUET – Our next social opportunity will be the annual JTC Running Christmas Social in the 1st Place Sports San Marco store on December 13th.
COMMUNITY & PUBLIC RELATIONS – Director Larry Sassa said that the committee had met before the board meeting, discussing our seat on the BPAC and who should be our representative – but most of the committee discussion was a about the 40th anniversary of our club. The committee thinks that “branding” is very important and that a new logo for our anniversary would be a good thing. Other ideas include having a “kickoff” with a proclamation by the city, which Colleen will investigate. A nice new shirt (per Connie’s earlier suggestion) is called for. Stan Lambert suggested a special dinner, separate from our annual Awards Banquet, where we should invite civic and political leaders of the city, or perhaps a luncheon during Gate River Run week. Lamar Strother recommended inviting Jay Birmingham as one of our speakers, as he does a good job of getting everyone enthused whenever he speaks. Aside from all these ideas, Larry Sassa thinks we, as a club, should commit to the celebration of our 40th anniversary in a big way and right away.
• Stan Lambert will have a 40th anniversary logo by the next board meeting.
• Colleen Clarson to determine if we can get a city proclamation for our 40th.
• Larry Sassa, Jane Alred, Colleen Clarson, and Doug Alred will plan our high-profile luncheon.
• Connie Smith will have a shirt design.
VISION & PLANNING – Doug Alred said we need to start looking in a new direction. The Sunbeam Landfill takeover will be delayed through most of 2015 because of a forced tax sale. Ideas should be submitted to Doug Alred, as to which project the committee should pursue.
NEXT MEETING – The next board meeting will be Tuesday, Dec 2nd at 6:30 inside Mediterrania Restaurant.
The November meeting was adjourned at 7:58 pm.
Douglas Tillett, JTC Running Secretary, has respectfully written and submitted these minutes.
