NMMBA Board of Directors Meeting
Date and location: Wednesday, November 8th, 2023 Acme Twp Hall
Board present: Tim Reicha, Kim White, Tom White, Heath Day, Mike
Walters, Chad Schut, Chad Jordan, Brian Pugh, Tim Jenema and Steve
Mentzer
Board absent: Kate White, Michele Andrews and Brooke Ruble.
Guest(s): none
Mission Statement —--> It is our mission to Envision, Build and Protect
the mountain bike experience while respecting all forest users and uses.
Tim R opened the meeting at 6:31 p.m.
October meeting minutes were approved via email.
There was no public comment.
Financials:
Kim stated that the statement provided did not reflect donations received for Hagan’s Hangout.
As to Hagan’s Hangout, $12,500 was collected during rider registrations for Iceman! More could be added through QR codes. Discussion turned to Iceman expo traffic, merch sales and how well the expo went.
Grant update:
Youth Endowment Grant Presentations have all been completed and are now awaiting the results.
Grand Traverse Band 2% grant is currently pending. T.J. attended this meeting.
Also a grant application submitted to Rotary Good Works in the amount of $3550.00 would be earmarked for material costs from Elmers for the Vasa Bike Park(VBP).
Chapter Reports:
TCTN:
· Construction of the changing rooms, slated for the Vasa Single Track( VST) have been moved to the Spring of 2024.
· Looking for photos of 2023 NMMBA events, activities, trail work, Fiesta, rides, etc. to display at our annual meeting presentation.
· The VST-Backcountry trail development plan will be submitted to the Michigan DNR on December 4th of this year.
· Lastly the NMMBA Trail Use survey 2023 has been posted.
GT Commons:
Heath brought the board up to speed on recent developments happening
there.
· He indicated the clean up work bee went well. No issues to report and
· temporary signage is now up.
Hickory Hills:
Tabled
Vasa Bike Park:
· Tim J noted the fundraising efforts continue.
· He is also exploring a way to better reach a wider audience.
NMMBA Winter Trails update:
· Mike took the lead on this discussion.
· A trail work day will be held on Saturday, November 11th. Starting at 9 a.m.
Bike Leelanau:
· Chad indicated that there was 2 weeks remaining to put work in on the Palmer Woods trails. Then work stops until Spring.
· A 3 mile loop will be completed by Spring of 2024. Bringing total miles on the trail to 21.
Cadillac Pathway update:
DNR Trust Fund:
Alliance for Economic Success (AES), Missaukee County and Prien & Newhof are currently working with the DNR Trust Fund officer, Alex Galloway, towards submitting all required documentation to be approved. After approval we will be able to go to bid to complete our project. The project is made up of 3 components: paving the remainder of the parking lot, kiosk at trailhead and building an ADA accessible trail from the parking lot down to the Clam River with at least one one overlook including a bench. We are hoping we will go to bid soon for spring/summer 2024 completion.
■ Trail Build:
The DNR has acquired $250,000 of funds to be used towards the remainder of the trail build. We have built 5 of the 11 miles of trail already. This is federal dollars in the DNR's hands and they are working through all the steps to be able to use these funds. The new trail will be open to all users in the summertime (hiking and mountain biking) and will be groomed for fat biking in the winter time.
Glacial Hills update:
Brooke was not in attendance but submitted this report.
Last meeting we did an extended timeframe in order to
perform a prioritization exercise for all upcoming projects at GH. We will discuss action items for the prioritized list at our next meeting.
■ Volunteer appreciation event went great, we had almost all the regular volunteers present. Big thanks to Shorts for the south end space.
■ Organized volunteer days have ended for the season as well as organized invasive pulls.
■ GH will be hosting a fire pit area during the Light up the Night event on December 2nd. We will ask for donations for s'more making kits and have fire pits and chairs available.
■ Patrick is in contact with NMMBA for sled maintenance
■ We do have the tools from UpBike, they are in storage and I can coordinate getting those back to UpBike.
Old Business:
Iceman course/expo updates:
· Race course design, conditions were spoken highly by Iceman participants.
· There was a discussion with Patrick Cotant of the DNR. It revolved around course signage and also any course tampering. Specifically pulling trees, etc. DNR also states that all new trails utilized for the race will be closed after completion of the race. This has already been completed.
· Holiday cards:
Once again we will be sending out Holiday cards to the 295 registered members.
· New Years Day ride:
o Chad S. to organize this year's ride. Working alongside Don Marsh. He will also enlist Cody Sovis and Brooke to promote the ride. It was also suggested to have the ride launch from the VST trailhead on Supply Rd.
Annual Membership Meeting:
The annual membership meeting will be held at Timber Ridge Resort in the
banquet room.
· Date is Sunday, January 14th, 2024.
· Times are from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m.
· A ride may precede the meeting.
· Mac’s Shack will be there to provide food.
· Once again we will be awarding the Volunteer of the year awards and the
· Golden Hatchet award.
E-bike:
Tim R led this discussion.
Class 1 E-bikes are currently allowed at Glacial Hills( GH) and will be
having a trial period at Palmer Woods (PW).
We need to establish a position!
- Ride kind
- Ride with gratitude
Trail etiquette will be important.
What do you do when you witness someone breaking the rules?
Any discussion on this needs to be all inclusive.
More to follow.
Merch sales:
Heath will take the lead on merch sales. Brian will help out as well.
They will come up with an inventory list and drive sales until Christmas.
New Business:
With our annual membership meeting coming up, discussion centered around board term limits, officer terms, committee involvement, etc. These discussions talked of the day some of us would step down. Talk of new blood on the board and also in regards to term limits; should we stagger those so we are not turning over a brand new board. We need folks to be able to step in and immediately assume these roles. Also discussed was to re-visit our bylaws and see if we are in accordance with what that document holds.
G.T. county Parks newsletter:
GT county sent out their parks newsletter(see below).
They are asking for an article describing our organization and what plans we had for the new year. Tim J will pen the article.
Email form GT Parks:
Thank you for helping make our first Grand Traverse County Parks and Recreation newsletter a success. We appreciate your support and the opportunity to highlight your programs and events. The purpose of the newsletter is to connect residents to their local parks and highlight all the amazing things happening in our parks through your efforts. Our intent is to showcase the positive impact made by the programming you provide in the parks and grow your participation.
Each quarter, we are generating 10,000 copies and distributing through a network of more than 60 locations and growing throughout the county. A copy of the current newsletter and distribution locations can be found at https://www.gtcountymi.gov/2607/Newsletters. The newsletter is advertising-supported, so if you are interested in running an ad or if you have leads to other potential advertisers, please let me know.
We are currently preparing for production of the Winter issue. I am writing today to ask for your help with the following no later than October 29:
Open Forum:
An Executive board meeting will be held in December. Date TBD.
Heath let the board know that work will be performed on the Woodland Preserve, located behind Mt. Holiday. Date is scheduled for Thursday, December 7th.
Brian indicated he had some discussions with The Barn Yard, a local
company in regards to the pavilion build. Quote is still the same.
With that the meeting was adjourned at 8:36 p.m.
Submitted by
Steve Mentzer, secretary