NMMBA Board of Directors Meeting
Date and location: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 Acme Twp Hall
Board present: Mike Walters, Tim Reicha, Kim White, Tim Jenema, Chad Schut, Chad Jordan, Tom White and Steve Mentzer
Board absent: Heath Day
Guest(s): Megan Motil and Margarete Wanley
Mission statement —------> It is our mission to Envision, Build and Protect the mountain bike experience while respecting all forest users and uses.
October meeting minutes were approved online.
Mike opened the meeting at 6:03 p.m.
Public comment:
Megan Motil from Parallel Solutions was in attendance to discuss and share some observations from interviews with board members Kim White, Tim Jenema, Tom White and Chad Jordan.
These interviews were to understand current dynamics, clarify challenges and identify shared goals. She also solicited thoughts from the other board members.
She provided the board with a couple of handouts. One titled Governance & Operating Model Assessment Snapshot and another titled Organizational Life Stage Self - Assessment.
The first handout dealt with Culture and Structure. Under Culture it was discussed what was working and what needed to be changed. Some of the topics that are working are our desire to get more people engaged in our mission, running successful events(TCTF), having good relationships with area landowners and activities that build community, like memorial rides.
Areas that could be improved are our personal capacities, work thrust upon current board members, meeting lengths and partnerships with other bike centric organizations.
Under Structure what she felt was working was volunteer roles, good word of mouth recruitment, our board size, a strong financial management, our fundraising procedures, membership program and knowledge sharing by our key leaders.
Areas to work on included a lack of an updated strategic plan, board roles not clearly identified and no role descriptions for volunteer leaders.
The second handout outlined where we were as an organization. The categories included Start-Up, Maturity, Growth and Decline.
This was a self-assessment that each board member commented on.
It was discovered that we as an organization did still have some start - up aspects to it. This included marketing efforts. A result of new projects being addressed. Solidifying our volunteer base as well.
For Growth we are establishing our model in the community/marketplace, we are more focused on financial stability and sustainability and communications and marketing are more clearly focused.
For Maturity, a desired future stage, our reputation and organizational culture needs to be more well-defined, funding sources need to be in place and we need to have management delegate duties more clearly.
This last point will be geared towards our plan to add a paid staff member. Does this staff person answer to 5 board members or be autonomous?
A new updated Strategic Plan will address these points and other areas.
Much more to follow.
Financials:
Kim led this discussion. She had distributed various reports that covered all financials through the month of October 2025.
There is now a link on the website for the Commons Bike Park. There will be a new line item for this on the November report.
Iceman Expo sales were $1,800.00. New memberships, grooming badge sales, donations and some merch sales.
The general fund stood at $18,024.15.
Grants:
No report submitted.
Iceman Expo suggestions by volunteers:
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More swag at the Expo! Our 4-sided display rack was behind us because of foot traffic and held dozens of items. Sizes were limited. Folks bought quite a few socks,
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Alex Primeau runs the Iceman Podcast and approached me about the benefit of NMMBA starting a podcast. I think this is brilliant and should be a goal for Spring 2026 if not earlier. We have so many initiatives and topics to discuss, one episode a month would be a piece of cake! Alex said he'd be willing to help us out and said the studio space he uses is very affordable. Let me know if I can help develop this concept further.
TimBarn:
Trailblazing Tomorrow. Waiting for a recent report from TART.
TCTN:
DNR has approved the VST-Backcountry Trail Dev. Proposal !!!!!!
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Doug Schultz at Corbin Design has provided an updated quote for the development and design for wayfinding the entire trail system.
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Need to develop timing to complete the wayfinding activity.
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Rough estimate of $40-$50K for purchasing all signage
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Funding strategy required.
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NMMBA/volunteers to install all signage - is this feasible?
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Need to figure out how to identify all underground utilities prior to installation of signage - DNR requirement. (Miss Dig does not work)
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Short Term: How do we want to roll out the communication of this project?
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Long Term: should we consider the development of a marketing strategy? (TC Tourism, TART, Norte, DNR, LMB, etc.)
TCTN Committee to start working on a “Trail Maintenance Guide” initially focused on VST and VST-B. Initial email sent out which included a draft document and supporting “Trail Development Guides” from other mountain biking organizations.
The first GT County Greilick Park workshop/workgroup meeting was held where a mixed group of neighbors, advocacy groups, NMMBA rep and county officials explored what park uses to allow, how to administer those uses and how varying uses might be priced.
Another Iceman course build & marking project is in the books. Far fewer accidents than last year in water bottle valley due to the tree root removal efforts. Thanks again for Tim J’s assistance.
The shared section with the equestrian group was well received by racers and no conflicts with horses were observed. That trail corridor has been completely raked over and returned to the same or better condition than we started with.
Plans to improve the course for 2026 have already started! The official post Iceman recap session is 11/19.
VST Supply Road Trailhead:
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Concrete flat work completed for both the sidewalk between the parking lot/pavilion and fire pit seating area.
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GLS fabricated well pump drainage grate and working on a swivel water bottle support
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All materials for the 7 fire pit benches are available, if weather permits, it would be great to get them installed yet this year
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2026 projects:
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Curved stone pathway between parking lot directly to fire pit seating area.
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Level ground area around pavilion/fire pit seating area
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Large rocks to be installed to protect/define activity centers
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Proposal: Community bulletin board and lost and found. Need to consult with the DNR on this.
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Informational signage: drinking water, trailhead, repair station, etc.
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Proposal: Solar system on pavilion roof to power LED lighting in pavilion and around the fire pit seating area.
Cadillac Pathway:
CP has acquired a new trailer. Steve to add to the equipment insurance policy.
Glacial Hills:
From an October 23rd report.
There were four volunteers working this morning.
We cleaned up the trailer and relocated it to its winter home. Summer tools were tucked away into the shed.
The snowmobiles were started so as to get them ready for grooming.
Winter is coming….(eventually).
Bike Leelanau:
An email from Tom Mayhew regarding Braman Hill.
1) Youth Work (YW) which is a program of Child and Family Services that teaches "green collar" skills to youth completed their portion of the work on the trail on 10/24/25. YW followed the trail benching with hand tools the majority of the trail, left undone were sections needing work with larger machines such as sections where features are planned.
2) Our next phase will be to reach out for help designing the features and arranging for that work to happen. We have thanks to Chad, gotten the name of someone to contact but for the most part the project is on hold until Spring. We started a month late due getting the contract with YW approved.
Efforts that our committee will work on in the down time will be to attempt to raise money for the completion and rounding up materials to complete the features and to identify out for others to partner with.
The trail itself is looking very cool and I would be happy to meet any NMMBA members at Braman Hill in Northport to show it and get ideas on what we could do better.
YW with a small crew of young men and women did a good job for the initial benching and clearing.
And of course a thank you and shout out to Chad Jordan for his help in designing the trail and his encouragement in making it happen.
TCTF:
Discussion of additional feedback from this year's event.
Topics included wave assignments, parking issues, rider classifications and a need for additional volunteers.
We have committed to be a part of the MORC race schedule for 2026. The date will be Saturday, September 26th.
Winter Trails:
John Roe has located a great deal on a used 2024 snowmobile. It is located in Vermont. We need to find a way to get it.
Shop rides:
John and Steve were at the VST on Sunday, November 1st. For an Ambassador Day. Met with and engaged with about 75 riders. Some discussion as to whether we should combine another Ambassador Day with the upcoming Winter Trail Days at Timber Ridge in January of 2026.
LMB/MMBA:
The meeting was postponed until December 4th due to Iceman.
Commons Bike Park:
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Very successful ‘Bootleg’ even on Sunday. 77 riders, first run on dirt, last run on snow.
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The poster was displayed at the NMMBA tent at Iceman Expo and Bootleg. Multiple donations should have been made to the website page.
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Met with Evolve Trail Co owners to walk the proposed Phase I trail rebuild, they will be providing a proposal (to compare to TrailSense).
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Commons Bike Park page under the ‘Projects’ tab on NMMBA website needs to be updated. The information there currently is not accurate. Bullet points from the poster should be fine, otherwise Andrew can provide a couple paragraphs. The map is OK as is.
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Parks/Rec Subcommittee meeting on 11/17 or 11/18 at 5pm. We will be submitting the Phase I existing trail rebuild proposal and NMMBA MOU to the Township Board for their 11/25 meeting and hopefully final approval!
Vasa Bike Park:
In addition to donations made by TCTF racers, VBP received a $5,000.00 grant from the Cherry Capital Cycling Club.
Old Business:
Staff position. NMMBA will fully fund this position. Exploring job description and funding sources.
New Business:
Merchandise; currently a work in progress.
A new manufacturer may be needed. Establishing a good relationship will be important going forward.
Open Forum:
The annual meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, January 11th. 2026. Site to be determined.
Also, we are in for Timber Ridge’s Winter Trail days.
With that the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M.
Submitted by
Steve Mentzer, secretary