JTC Running BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Location: Mediterrania Restaurant; 3877 Baymeadows Road; Jacksonville, FL
President Larry Roberts called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. Directors present for the meeting were Doug Alred, Bonnie Brooks, Colleen Clarson, Errol Daniels, Susan Haag, Stan Lambert, Franz Lerch, Todd O’Donnell, Ty Payne, Larry Roberts, Larry Sassa, Lamar Strother, Douglas Tillett, Stuart Toomey and Jim Van Cleave. Directors Jane Alred, Michael DelCharco, Richard Fannin, Angela Harris, and Connie Smith were absent.
Approval of 5/2/16 minutes: On a motion by Lamar Strother and seconded by Susan Haag, the May minutes were approved as submitted.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Bonnie Brooks distributed copies of the Balance Sheet and the Profit & Loss Detail Report. She then reviewed the reports with the board.
OLD BUSINESS:
JTC Running Track Series – Larry Roberts reported that we held our third meet of the year last weekend at The Bolles School track. We had some competition for runners as an AAU Qualifier was being held on the same day but we were satisfied with the turnout nevertheless. Our next meet will be Saturday, July 2, at Bolles at 10 AM.
Larry Roberts had a lengthy conversation today with our meet director, Eric Frank, regarding the company that professionally timed the meet.
Tomahawk Park Trail Project – Doug Alred reported that he had received an email from the city (an update from them) as our trail project planning continues to work its way through the approval system.
JTC Running Awards Banquet – Larry Roberts reported that we have 53 signups so far. We are confident that the list will continue to grow. Larry needs the list of names from the committee, indicating who will be comped for the ceremony.
National Running Day for Marathon High – Larry Roberts thanked all of the volunteers who worked so hard, resulting in a very successful event. Attendance was outstanding – we even had 113 signup on the day of the event. Larry figures our donation to Marathon High will be $4,520, which we will present to them at the Awards Banquet.
Summer Running Camp Scholarships – Doug Alred reported that 45 applications for Running Camp Grants have been received. Our JTCR budget for this is $13,200. Additionally, Rita’s Italian Ice has donated to send an additional camper, and in addition to that, the Terry Sikes fund has $2,082. Doug’s proposal was that we provide $400 grants to each camper we select to get a grant. During discussion, we decided to concentrate on rising seniors and juniors, yet still award sophomores if we feel they deserve the opportunity. Rising freshmen will not qualify for grants this year.
It was noted that the Brevard Distance Runners Camp, which ordinarily charges $575 per individual camper, works with us every year by providing a generous discount for our grant winners. The students we send will only have to pay $455 to go to the BDRC.
Todd O’Donnell made a motion, seconded by Franz Lerch, that we award 35 grants of $400 each, with the grant recipients having to cover the difference between the $400 and whatever their camp charges. In addition to the 35 at $400, the motion proposed full scholarships up to $500 for one winner of the Rita Italian Ice Scholarship and four winners of the Terry Sikes Memorial Running Camp Grants. The motion passed unanimously, meaning that JTC Running will provide running camp grants to 40 student athletes who otherwise would not be able to go to running camp.
5K Fun Run/Walk for Association of Asthma Educators (AAE) – Our club will direct this race on August 6 at 6:30 am for AAE members who are in town for their convention. Please volunteer to Larry Roberts to help us stage this event.
Racing Team Steering Committee Meeting – Douglas Tillett scheduled a meeting of the committee for Tuesday, June 14, at 6:30 pm at V Pizza in San Marco. Larry Roberts will reserve one of their private rooms for us to use for our meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
JTC Running Board Meeting for July 5, 2016 – Stuart Toomey made a motion, seconded by Todd O’Donnell, that the board of directors not meet in July, typical of how we have not met in July for years. The motion passed.
Fiscal Year – Change of Dates – Larry Roberts, Bonnie Brooks and Doug Alred had a meeting with our accountants at Smoak, Davis & Nixon LLP. We learned that our yearly fiscal results swing widely from year to year due to the timing of our income and expenses. They suggested the fix would be to change the dates of our fiscal year.
Bonnie Brooks made a motion, seconded by Susan Haag, that JTC Running change the dates of our fiscal year so that it starts on September 1 and ends on August 31. The motion passed unanimously.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Gate River Run (3/12/16) – Race Director Doug Alred said that the final accounting for the race should be presented to the board at the next meeting. We are waiting on some of the sponsors to pay. He gave JTCR a $15K check as the first payment from this year’s race. He said our final result will be very similar to last year’s results.
Discussion moved to next year’s GRR which will be on March 11, 2017, and will be the 40th running of the race. Colleen Clarson told us that Gate Petroleum wants to be a part of any special committee or planning that we do related to the 40th running. Doug Alred mentioned that we are planning to hold another Retro River Run as we did five years ago, which was very popular and well attended.
Tijuana Flats Summer Beach Run – (Sat, 8/20/16) – Race Director Doug Alred said that we are “rolling” and that things look good so far. We discussed having a Tijuana Flats Kickoff Party a week or two before the race like we have for the past couple of years. Doug said he would contact Tijuana Flats to see if they are interested in having a Kickoff Party again this year.
Race Committee and Track Meet Committee – No report.
JTC Running RACE TEAM – Larry Roberts reported that 26 team members ran in the Memorial Day Race. There is a Steering Committee meeting next week on 6/14/16 at V Pizza San Marco at 6:30.
CLASSES & CLINICS – No report.
COMMUNITY & PUBLIC RELATIONS – Director Larry Sassa reported that representatives from the City of Jacksonville Beach still have not met with us about our proposed project of adding water fountains along a popular beach running route but he is hoping for a breakthrough.
FINANCE – Treasurer Bonnie Brooks scheduled a Finance Committee meeting on September 6, a Tuesday, before the board of directors meeting. The Finance Committee will meet to look over and formulate the budget for 2017, since September 1 begins our new fiscal year, per board action taken earlier this evening.
MEMBERSHIP – Reported membership is at 1,209 active members.
MERCHANDISE – Larry Roberts reported that he sold six hats to members recently. We also discussed the JTC Running running shorts we have available for members to buy.
NEWSLETTER – Several of our board members received their printed issue of The Starting Line today.
SOCIAL MEDIA – Stan Lambert asked when the Guana Trail Races will be. Guana is scheduled for Sunday, Dec 4, 2016. Then he asked when The Last Gasp will be. We have not yet scheduled The Gasp. Doug Alred told us that the TaxSlayer Bowl itself has been moved to Dec 31 so perhaps we could have The Last Gasp on the last day of the year since the VyStar Run will probably move to the day before. We will encourage our race director to determine the race date as soon as they can.
Lastly, Stan said he has opened a new Instagram page for posting photos of the Gate River Run in celebration of the 40th running. The new page is @gateriverrun40. Stan said we could also post photos from our National Running Day event.
SOCIAL & BANQUET – The banquet will be on Thursday, June 23, at Maggiano’s Little Italy.
VISION & PLANNING – Doug Alred reported that he had a long telephone call today with the people who are buying the Sunbeam Landfill. They want us to be involved in the creation of a running park for the landfill. We will, most likely, create a “not for profit” to manage the running park and the fiscal aspects where we are involved. The buyers might want to deed the property to our not-for-profit the very day they buy it. Regardless, it appears that our vision of a running park on the Sunbeam Landfill continues to be a possibility.
Not related to the Sunbeam Landfill, Doug Alred told the board that participation in races has been dropping for the past several years. We have noticed the decline in the GRR and other races of ours. He has done research and has found that other big races are also having a decline in finishers. He noted that the Cooper River Bridge Run has fallen from 36,000 runners to 24,000 the past few years and that seems typical for many large races.
NEXT MEETING – The board meeting for July 5 has been cancelled by board action this evening. The next board meeting will be Tuesday, August 2, 2016. It will be at our usual location inside the Mediterrania Restaurant at 6:30.
The June meeting was adjourned at 7:52 pm.
Douglas Tillett, JTC Running Secretary, has respectfully written and submitted these minutes.
