NMMBA Board of Directors Meeting
Date and location: Wednesday, July 12th, 2023 Acme Twp Hall
Board present: Tim Reicha II, Heath Day, Kim White, Mike Walters, Brian Pugh, Chad Schut, Chad Jordan and Steve Mentzer
Board absent: Kate White, Tom White, Tim Jenema, Michele Andrews and Brooke Ruble
Mission statement —> It is our mission to Envision, Build and Protect the mountain bike experience while respecting all forest users and uses.
Tim opened the meeting at 6:35 p.m.
June’s minutes were approved online
There were no public comments
Financials:
Kim led the board through the financials.
She noted that the $2423.06 expense from Image360 was for Glacial Hills.
She also noted the fund balances while all in order were down slightly from 2022.
This was due to 2022’s numbers that reflected TCTF had already taken place and those revenue dollars had been deposited.
Acme Bike Park has been added to the fundraising page.
General fund balance stood at $9628.29
Chapter Reports
TCTN:
Brian brought the board up to speed on current projects as well as scheduled events.
The Fiesta will take place on Thursday, August 24th at the VST Supply Rd trailhead. Starting at 5 p.m.
Currently working on the daily use permit with the MI DNR. Also working with Grand Traverse County on a temporary food permit.
This permit has not only increased with costs but is quite lengthy and involved.
Kate, Kim and Steve will be tasked with gathering food items for the evening.
New archway at the VST will be erected on Saturday, July 15th.
9 am start time.
Restroom and changing room permits from the DNR and East Bay TWP have all been approved.
Installation of the restroom is still on track for the end of July/first part of August. DNR is requesting to install the new unit first before dismantling the old unit.
East Bay twp. permits for the changing room are nearing completion.
Notes from the trail development proposal meeting with the DNR which took place on June 29th indicate that the DNR would also like to see the trails south of Supply road and all trails east of Broomhead be included.
Hoping to complete and submit the proposal by January 1st, 2024.
Lastly, Brian was experimenting with Bard, an artificial intelligence (AI) conversational chatbot to put together letters of support to the DNR in support of our VST projects.
With a simple command from Brian, this Google based program came up with three drafts of letters. End result was a very detailed and informative response. This could aid other organizations in drafting letters of support for NMMBA.
Commons:
Heath informed the board that wayfinding signs and maps have been ordered and installed on the rebuilt trails.
Bike Leelanau:
Chad J. let the board know of the progress involved on the Herman park pump track. Pump track is scheduled to be delivered/installed on Saturday, July 29th. It will be of a composite construction.
Provemont is moving along. Molly Steck has been coordinating all maintenance on this trail system.Signage and a kiosk are still needed.
TCTF:
Date of the event as stated previously is Saturday, September 30th at
Timber Ridge Resort.
54 registrations have been tallied so far.
There will be two aid stations. CCCC have committed to running one of them. They will decide at their July board meeting if they can man both stations.
Complete list of volunteer tasks will be sent out to the entire board.
These duties will include checking in the riders, pre-riding the course among others.
Shop ride:
Chad S. recapped the monthly shop ride.
Einstein Cycles was the shop represented.
15 people took part in the ride. Kate, Tim J. and Chad were the board reps present.
Next up is a ride with City Bike Shop on Saturday, July 22nd.
McLain’s has been approached as hosting the August ride.
Grants:
Kate will be submitting the grant application on Friday, July 14th for Acme Bike Park.
Discussion as to more funding options for grant applications.
New business:
The Civic center is hosting Accessible Recreation Day on Wednesday, July 26th. Tim R provided a link to the event.
Open forum discussion talked about website updates being completed and updates to the calendar. Specifically adding events to the calendar.
Other topics touched on include Kalkaska trail update from Mike.
Heath, as volunteer coordinator, was interested in keeping all the hand tools for work bees kept in a central location for easy access.
Tim R announced that the Primal store will reopen at the end of July.
Lastly, awards for TCTF were discussed. Based on the budget, what can we present that is somewhat unique?
With that the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Submitted by
Steve Mentzer, secretary