NMMBA Board of Directors Meeting
Date and location: Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 Acme Twp Hall
Board present: Tim Reicha, Brian Pugh, Kim White, Tom White, Mike Walters, Chad Jordan, Chad Schut and Steve Mentzer
Board absent: Tim Jenema and Heath Day.
Mission statement —-----> It is our mission to Envision, Build and Protect the mountain bike experience while respecting all forest users and uses.
June meeting minutes were approved online.
There was no public comment.
Financials:
All financials presented by Kim were through the month of June.
General fund balance stood at $19,178.43
Money for the Vasa BIke Park(VBP) through donations has come in.
There was also discussion concerning anticipated expenses for Traverse City Trail Fest (TCTF).
Grants:
Still no word on if our application for the GTB 2% funds had been approved.
We did find out our grant application for the Impact 100 funds did not advance to the next round.
Chapter reports:
TimBarn
The next fundraising meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 17th. John Roe will attend and report back.
There is a fundraising kick-off scheduled for Wednesday, August 13th at Stone Hound. Times are from 4:30 pm until 6:30 pm.
TCTN:
Tom noted that the Sand Lakes re-route has been completed.
Other discussion led by Brian included
VST-Backcountry trail development proposal is progressing through the DNR sign off process. Target to get final approval should be by Fall. Pugh attended MI Trails 2050 Summit-Northwest at Crystal Mountain on July 17th. He asked the board if
there were any questions he could ask on their behalf.
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Shop rides:
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One day event at VST (Permit required?)
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All TC shops invited to setup to be featured (Bike/gear demos, sales, etc)
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One loop featuring mainstays on the VST (Keep loop/ride time short for all abilities)
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Food: can be snacks, bring your own to grill.
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NMMBA Board Members present the latest news/updates regarding the VST/trail system
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Bike shops can present/make known their product lines, location, sales, etc..
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This is only a framework, do we even want to carry this out? Historically, not a lot of interest in shop rides.
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August 30, 2025 selected date
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Chad S also noted that joining an established ride like the McLain/Stone Hound Monday ride or the Wild Card Wednesday ride could also be an option.
Hickory Hills:
Commons:
Commons Trails:Garfield Township Parks and Rec committee to discuss approving an agreement to professionally redesign and machine build ~½ mile of existing downhill trail and send it to the board of Commissioners for final approval. This will be a test for future builds.
VBP:
As mentioned earlier, the Impact 100 grant application did not advance to the next round.
Bike Leelanau:
Chad J updated the board on happenings with the Herman Park pumptrack and Palmer woods.
A Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) has been drafted to not only to continue operations but to look into expanding the pumptrack.
Recent rains have added to the maintenance at Palmer Woods. Chad put out that they could use more hands at their weekly work bees.
Work bees are every Tuesday from 5 pm until 7 pm.
Glacial Hills:
Tim to get with Brooke to explore new merch designs.
Also of note:
It was another wet day for our volunteers yesterday morning. We still had a great crew show up and we did some trailbed work, trimmed back the long growth around the Vandermark trailhead, and Fred managed to damage one of our maintenance tools.
The trails are in great shape. Enjoy….safely!
Cadillac Pathway:
No report was submitted.
LMB/MMBA:
No report was submitted.
Old Business:
Joint staff position with TART.
Agreement from TART should be in by Fall.
Then the position can be posted.
Will also revisit board member roles and overall board health and size over the next few months as we prepare to employ a staff person.
As to board size and health.
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Mike, Brian and Tim R met with Megan Motil of Parallel Solutions consulting to discuss NMMBA board health. Megan’s primary suggestion was for our board to develop a code of conduct to follow and commented that it is okay for a volunteer board to remain in start-up status throughout its lifecycle. This was discussed regarding the fact that most of our volunteer efforts rather than governance alone are conducted by board members.
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Discuss contracting Megan to work with the NMMBA board to develop code of conduct and refocus our broad efforts if needed. Megan’s hourly rate is $150 and Rotary Charities could be tapped to pay for the first 5 hours through their System Change Coaching Grant.
TCTF:
Tim noted he is working with Doug Schultz on design options for both the race backdrop and banners. Costs were discussed.
With that Tim made a motion to approve up to $1050.83 for new banners and backdrop. Mike provided the 2nd and it was followed with a unanimous vote.
Also there was discussion as to manpower needed for the event. Areas discussed were course marking and forerunning on the Friday night before or early day of race.
Also noted was that one of the food trucks had dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. So, another truck is needed.
As of this meeting, 80 registrations had been logged so far.
Tim also made a motion to approve up to $420.09 for race plates for TCTF.
Tom provided a 2nd and it was followed with a unanimous vote.
Lastly, discussion centered around the memorial fund set up in Darek Purgiel’s honor. Fund balance from donations stood at $4,570.00.
Open Forum:
Chad J met with Gary Vernon, a principal in the Walton foundation, to discuss trail connectivity. They met at the DeYoung Natural Area.
NMMBA has established a good history on this issue and would like to explore even further. More to follow.
With that the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Submitted by
Steve Mentzer, secretary