JTC Running BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Location: Zoom Video Conference
President Larry Roberts called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. Directors present for the meeting were Doug Alred, Jane Alred, Christy Astorga, Bonnie Brooks, James Bryant, Errol Daniels, Susan Haag, Dennis Harrison, Franz Lerch, Todd O’Donnell, Ty Payne, Larry Roberts, Larry Sassa, Paul Smith, Douglas Tillett, and Jim Van Cleave. Directors Nicole Andress, Angela Harris, and Stuart Toomey were absent. Trish Kapustka was a guest speaker in attendance.
Approval of 1/5/21 (January meeting) minutes: On a motion by Doug Tillett and seconded by Paul Smith, the December board meeting minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Bonnie Brooks stated that all the 1099s had been mailed, however not many in would be receiving one. She reported the financials and discussed in detail the Balance Sheet through February 1, 2021, and the Profit and Loss Detail Statements for January. She mentioned that there were still some outstanding checks as well as our internet bank account was down a little as our bills had been paid. She stated that both of our accounts had lost a little this month. Line items discussed in detail included income and expenses for Guana and Last Gasp, GRR training class, memberships, JTC racing team (half marathon, face masks), expo merchandise, Bolles training, newsletter, club promotions, and other miscellaneous fees.
OLD BUSINESS:
Timucuan Parks Event/Run Jump Throw – Larry Roberts reported the event has been postponed due to weather. James Bryant reported that he would be sending the Timucuan Park/7 Creeks Park System survey through Wild Apricot soon. He mentioned that the survey talks about the area and the possible events that could be held. The survey has 5 questions and will be sent to the entire JTC group. The run options are either a 5K or a 4-mile run. The goal is to gauge the interest to see if we should move forward with planning an event there.
Marathon High to run the virtual Breast Cancer Half Marathon – Larry Roberts reported that the event is on Sunday, February 14th at 8am starting in the parking lot of Duval County School Board near the south bank.
GRR Training Class – Larry Roberts reported the training class has 81 runners signed up for the training class, which increased with the recent promo of a free entry into the GRR.
NEW BUSINESS:
Proposal from TLK Communications (Trish Kapustka) – Larry Sassa presented information regarding a proposal received for advertising, promotions, and communications from Trish Kapustka of TLK Communications. He spoke about the need and importance of developing a marketing plan for JTC. The proposal detailed that it would be a set up as monthly retainer and gave an overview of where her time would be spent in terms of focuses and projects, different types of needs and promotions, in addition to updating brochures and videos. Larry Roberts spoke about concerns regarding membership erosion and social media usage and that this proposal presents broad benefits. Larry Sassa spoke about smaller runner groups and their benefits; however, they do not have the same impact on the community that we do. James Bryant spoke about the proposal and had questions regarding the fee proposal in terms of hours worked and hours allotted to areas like client management (18 hours) and social media (26 hours) and how would it be tracked on an ongoing basis. Trish Kapustka was in attendance and answered questions as they arose. She addressed the questions and concerns regarding increasing the club’s social presence with examples of tagging people in posts to get in front of more people, establishing goals for engagement, focusing on like, shares, and comments. She asked how and how much people engage with our page in terms of do they like and share our posts. She stated that the hours listed are a forward-looking proposal where she sees we need more help and assistance with but can be adjusted. Trish left the call as there were no other questions and to allow the board to further discuss the proposal. Susan Haag spoke up and had questions for the board. She asked how did we decide on her firm, did we take proposals from other firms, and how would we be billed? Larry Roberts answered questions stating we would be billed monthly and we went with her based on her previous work with the club. Another question arose asking what the bidding process was like as we don’t know what the going rate for this type of work is. It was stated that like the promo video when we had to shop around for people to do the work as we did not know who was good at this type of work. Doug Alred mentioned that it would only be right to mention and/or offer this type of work to Colleen Clarson as she has done a lot of our advertising in the past. It was also voiced that the timing of this type of agreement and current economic status may not be in our best interest as we do not readily know the status of races, events, and health conditions of covid-19. A motion presented by Doug Tillett to accept the TLK Communications proposal, seconded by Ty Panye, was not passed by the board.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Bolles Wednesday Workouts – Paul Smith reported that we’ll be back at Bolles track tomorrow unless they do not pass inspection for their resurfacing. The track will be opened once inspection is passed. Paul also mentioned that we will have new JTC masks for sale at the Gate expo for $5.
Go Green Winter Beach Run – Doug Alred reported it was a great event as we had 649 runners, which was more than we had last year. Beaches Go Green said it was a good event and they has little trash to pick up and deal with. Bonnie Brooks mentioned a kid was running in front of her that picked up trash. This shows that this event is good for the runners, the beach, and the environment. Doug said he also saw people picking up trash in the dunes, which he thought was pretty good.
Gate River Run/Elites/Expo/USATF-FL – Doug Alred reported that we have 8,700+ runners signed up for the 15K. The race numbers have been purchased. Currently there are about 500 signed up for the 5K and they will be pushing for more people to run the 5K since registration is still open. He stated that most of the charity groups are back and ready to go. Right now, the water stations are hit or miss as there are 3 groups that are not coming back from last year. He said sponsorships are good and they held steady from the fall. We are just waiting on everything to come in as we are ready to go and have another great event.
Jane Alred said the expo will be different this year as shoe reps have not been as present in the past. Overall, the expo will not be like the past years due to covid restrictions. To accommodate some of the restrictions packet pickup has been changed to include pickup time slots. The expo will be 3 days and we are in the heavy planning stages right now and we are hoping covid doesn’t get worse as we are the city’s mercy because they could cancel and not allow the event.
Jim Van Cleave reported that we currently have about 117 elite runners scheduled to race with more females than men. With the agreement to hold the national 15K championship, we need to get the documents signed from the local and state USATF chapter. Hopefully we will have elite tab on their website where elite athletes can go to read up on the event and details. As of today, 66 have signed up and 117 is technically over the budget but that number should reduce as we get closer to the race. Some of the names being mentioned included Siedel, Hall, Sisson, Bruce, Hasay, True, Chelimo, and Furlick.
Doug Tillett stated that we have been given the USATF-FL 15K Championship designation. He mentioned we have in the past given donations and contributions to USATF-FL as a good-faith gesture and believes we should continue this. Doug presented a motion to make a $400 contribution to USATF-FL, was seconded by Bonnie Brooks and passed by the board.
Finance – Bonnie Brooks reported the race report profit and loss statements for Last Gasp and Guana. Doug Alred said the event location for Last Gasp was a great course of which Bonnie said that she heard a lot of good feedback. It was also stated that Guana was one of our best races in previous years per the financials.
Community & Public Relations – No Report.
Classes & Clinics – No Report.
Membership – Larry Roberts reported current membership was 1,215.
Communications: Social Media – Doug Tillett reported that the newsletter is in its final stages to be printed and sent out.
Vision & Planning – No Report.
NEXT MEETING – The next board meeting will be Tuesday, March 2, at 6:30 pm via Zoom Video Conference.
The February meeting was adjourned at 7:36 pm.
