AHBC Board Meeting Minutes from October 26, 2011

The meeting was called to order by Vince Kelley at 6:37pm. 

Board members present were:

- Vince Kelley, President;

- Alan Gibbs, Treasurer;

- Paula Matzek, Membership Chair;

- Ford Sakata, Secretary;

- Dave Martin, Swap Chair;

and several regular members.

Approval of September Meeting Minutes

Vince asked for a motion to approve the minutes.  The minutes were approved with no changes.

Financial Report (Alan Gibbs)

Alan provided a financial report. The Club funds on hand include: $29,538.14 in our money market account and $8,324.37 in checking.  Recent expenditures included:

· Village of Arlington Heights Memorial Park Brick - $150

o Merritt Lewis

o Emil Donkers

As a follow up on old business, Vince and Alan have reviewed expenses from past years and recommended that the Club strive to maintain at least 2-years of operating expenses, or approximately $22-25K in funds, on hand.  This would help ensure the viability of the Club in case our annual fund raising does not meet expectations due to bad weather or other unforeseen reasons.

Membership Report (Paula Matzek)

To date, 144 households have submitted membership fees representing 194 individual members.  This includes 33 new households, up from previous years.

Annual Dinner Banquet (Paula Matzek)

Paula provided an update regarding this year's dinner banquet.  Details as follows:

When - Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 6pm

Where - Double Tree Hotel on Algonquin and Arlington Heights Roads.

What - Dinner will include appetizer, salad, choice of four entrees, and cookie or brownie dessert.  There will be an open cash bar. 

Invitations have been sent to the membership.  Cost will be $20/member and $40/visitor.  Anticipated club expenditures will be approximately $2,000.

Paula also shared member comments for consideration by the Board for the banquet program agenda.  One suggestion was to emphasize club benefits, activities paid for by club dues during the year.  Some examples include:

· Various Club rides and organized parties, e.g. picnic, Halloween Hullabaloo, etc.

· Zero Mile Rides

· Meeting Speakers

· 40th Anniversary Celebration and bicycle license plates

· Holiday Banquet cost subsidy

· Annual Bike Swap

· Arlington 500

· Patton School Bicycle Safety program

· Annual Toy Ride

· School Supply Drive

· Ride of Silence Sponsor/Organizer

· Bicycle Advocacy/Supporter

o Adventure Cycling

o Rails to Trails

o Active Transportation Alliance

o League of Illinois Bicyclists

o League of American Bicyclists 

· Arlington Heights Park District support including Veteran's Park and purchase of a stationary exercise bike for the Arlington Heights Senior Center

· Extended bike trip coordination, e.g. RAGBRAI, SAGBRAW and Fall Ride

· Tracking and recognition of member mileage. 

Other program agenda items will include: member voting of favorite ride restaurants; mileage awards; introduction of new members and Club officer announcements.

Bike Swap (Dave Martin)

Several members have graciously agreed to lead sub-committees to run the 2012 bike swap.  These members will be meeting with Dave in the coming months to work the details.  The 2012 is scheduled for April 28th.  More information to come.

Ride/Member Issues (Paula Matzek)

Paula raised several questions raised by members for discussion by the Board including:

· Is our Club open to new ideas?

· Is our website up-to-date?

· What does no-drop mean?

· Accuracy and availability of cue sheets?

· Can we have some rides where the different groups meet at the same food destination?

· How do new members obtain Club information?

The Board discussed these questions and decided to: develop a new packet for new members to discuss answers to these and other questions; develop a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for our membership; and develop a short member survey to solicit membership feedback.  Ford agreed to work on these in January 2012.  

The board meeting adjourned at 7:28pm and was followed by a Regular Membership Meeting featuring guest speaker, Barb Cornew, Suburban Coordinator from the Active Transportation Alliance (www.activetrans.org).

Respectfully submitted,

Ford Sakata

Secretary