CRCA Board Meeting Minutes (2016/01/12)

CENTURY ROAD CLUB ASSOCIATIONMEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

January 12, 2016

The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Century Road Club Association (the “CRCA”) held a duly noticed meeting on January 12, 2016 at the Donghia Gallery on the 3rd Floor of 25 East 13th Street, New York, New York.

The meeting was called to order by Alexis Kraft, President of the Board, at approximately 7:00 PM.

The following members of the Board, constituting a quorum of the Board, were present:

• Alexis Kraft – President
• Gabrielle Fisher – Vice President, Racing
• Tara Parsons – Vice President, Rider Development
• Fred David – Secretary
• Ken Edwards – Treasurer
• Russ Bogin – Public Relations Director
• Randy Locklair – Membership Director
• David Wen Riccardi-Zhu – Communications Director
• Ted Teyber – Director of Open Racing
• Robert Rakowitz – Director of Teams

Also present were the following former members of the Board:

• Liz Marcello
• David Carr
• Lucia Deng
• Joe Grgic

1. WELCOME

Alexis Kraft welcomed the Board and thanked the outgoing Board members for their contributions to the CRCA.

2. MEMBERSHIP

Randy Locklair provided an update regarding the logistics for opening membership registration. The Board identified a target launch date of January 26.

The Board discussed continuing the new member referral program and potential changes to the program. Under the program, as in effect for the 2015 season, CRCA members who recruit a new member to the club received a $15 discount on the entry fee for a 2015 open race hosted by the CRCA. The Board discussed the need to better define the program’s requirements and to better publicize the program. The Board did not vote on the matter and will readdress the topic in a future meeting.

The Board also discussed the proposals for distributing race numbers, including a number pick-up social event, distribution to sub-team captains and mailings.

3. CLUB RACING

Gabrielle Fisher provided an update on preparations for 2016 club races, including updates on the status of the process of obtaining requisite permits from the New York City Parks Department and USA Cycling, staffing, and other related logistics.

4. GRANTS TOMB

Joe Grgic provided an update on preparations for the Grants Tomb Criterium, which is tentatively scheduled for March 12, including updates on the status of the process of obtaining requisite permits from the New York City Parks Department, USA Cycling, the New York Police Department and the New York City Fire Department and other related logistics.

5. OPEN RACING

Joe Grgic and Ted Teyber provided a brief update on preparations for the Orchard Beach Criterium and the Bear Mountain Classic.

TREASURY / FINANCIAL

Ken Edwards provided a brief update on the status of the CRCA’s financial position and concluded that there was no need to change the pricing model for membership and club races.

7. SPONSORSHIP OUTLOOK

Russ Bogin provided an update on the outlook for obtaining sponsorships for the CRCA and its races. The Board discussed the importance of locating additional sponsors.

8. SPRING SERIES

Liz Marcello informed the Board that the New York City Spring Series would be returning in 2016 after being cancelled in 2015 and that the CRCA would be lending equipment to the new promoter of the Spring Series.

9. COACHING

Tara Parsons provided an update on the 2016 coaching sessions and discussed adding Karl Rahn to the coaching program.

10. MARSHAL CREDIT FOR OUTGOING MEMBERS

Upon motion duly made and seconded, the Board voted that outgoing 2015 Board members would have a one-year relief of marshaling duty as a recognition of their contributions to the club as past board members.

11. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Fred David, Secretary

CRCA Board Minutes: 2015/29/7

CRCA Board Meeting Minutes

March 31, 2015 at 7:00 PM

300 E. 85^th St.

Present: Liz Marcello (president), Tomi Ketcham, Alexis Kraft, Lisa Vandivort, Lucia Deng, Ann Marie Miller, Randy Locklair, Matthew Vandivort, and Joe Grgic. Absent: David Carr.

Items Discussed and Voted: 

1. Sub-team rules for 2016

Kit Logo: Beginning in 2016, all sub-team kits must have the circular CRCA logo on the sleeve (just below the shoulder). Following the 2015 grace period, the “CENTURY” logo is no longer acceptable. Alexis will send around the updated logo to all sub-team captains.

Sub-team field limits: The board discussed possible changes to sub-team field limits for 2016 (increase for Men’s A? Separate caps on M3 and M12?) but no formal proposal was made. Discussion postponed to later in the year.

2. Coaching Program

Cyclocross: CRCA will offer CX skills sessions this fall.  Sessions will be free to CRCA members and open to non-CRCA members for $10/session (plus the cost of a one-day license if necessary).

Roster: No immediate changes to the coaching roster, although the Board agrees we should expand coaching staff. This will be up to the 2016 VP of Rider Development and the 2016 BOD.

3. Closing out Open Racing

Transitioning to 2016: Joe has created a number of documents to help with the tasks involved with Open Racing.

Trailer: Trailer is near full capacity and is difficult to navigate.  Alexis will take the lead on cleaning out the trailer with the help of race staff and/or a sub-team. Excess waivers will be moved to the Club’s storage unit on Riverside Drive (where the archives are stored).

4. Digital presence and web

Randy will not be returning as Membership Director for 2016 (congrats on the new babe!), but would like to work with the 2016 BOD to streamline some of the Club’s few key activities using the internets – including managing members, generating/posting rosters, etc.

5. Financials

Update circulated from Ken prior to the meeting. Someone please append to minutes!

6. Year End Party

Alexis will work with Rapha to host the party at Rapha. The date is set for Thursday, October 8^th.

Trophy order will be placed by Kathryn Murtagh in exchange for marshal credit and Liz will work with her to facilitate order.

7. Town Hall-style meeting:

Though we had discussed doing this in late 2014, it seems that there would likely be little interest. We should instead focus on appropriate questions for the Fall 2015 member poll.

8. 8. Fall Member Poll (DC is open to doing this again or can train his replacement)

David will take the lead on this in collecting key items/topics from the current board to include in the poll.

9. Future of the Board of Directors

2016: Several members will not be returning to the 2016 BOD but agreed to recruit replacements to run for their positions.

Restructuring of Board: Although we are not in a position to restructure the board because it would require significant revisions to the bylaws (which is a legal matter), the board agreed that we should take on more volunteers, particularly for directing our many open races. These can be volunteers that are compensated with the same perks of being on the board (free membership, no marshal duty, etc.), but with less responsibility than being on the Board. Liz/Matt/Ken will look into what this structure might look like and begin looking for volunteers to fill key roles.

Open racing: Ken has also agreed to look into the cost of outsourcing key components open racing to a company to ease the burden on the volunteer Board. We will re-group on this in a month’s time.

Advertising open positions: Lucia (with Liz’s help) will write an article for CRCA.net on volunteering for the club and being on the board.  We can use this opportunity to describe the responsibilities of each board position and also the responsibilities of volunteer race directors. This will hopefully pique some interest in running for the Board.

Elections: To be held in late October/early November, following the end of season party. We will need to recruit an independent elections committee to handle this.

CRCA Board Minutes: 2015/27/5

CRCA Board Meeting Minutes May 27, 2015 at 7:15 PM 300 E. 85th St.

Present: Liz Marcello (president), Tomi Ketcham, Lisa Vandivort, Lucia Deng (by phone for first part), Ann Marie Miller, Randy Locklair, Matthew Vandivort, Ken, Edwards, Joe Grgic, and David Carr (secretary). Absent (because of sickness) Alexis Kraft.

Items discussed and voted

1) Brief OB/Bear recap, lessons learned: Joe/Matt/Liz

Overall, great feedback and successful! Things to think about for future-

Social media very successful (thanks to Randy and Lisa!), but might want to assign next year to a non-board member volunteer Work on more signage and other directions to make course clear If possible, more sweeps in advance of fields (police or cars) Possibly more water bottles for feed zone, depending on registration (ran out at end of race)

2) Membership check-in: Randy/Ken/Matt

Overall numbers are looking steady to good, with significant increase in new members, and slight increase over year-to-date overall membership numbers last year.

Randy is working on several options for more social events, and Liz is working with a club member on staging some CRCA happy hours

3) Open racing updates a) DJ CPC update: Joe/Matt/Liz – things are on track b) Remaining open races: Joe/Matt/Liz – board was updated on plans for late summer races

4) Quick Clinic Check-in: Lucia/Alexis/Ann Marie Lucia updated the board on preparations for the 2nd Intro. to Racing Info Clinic, scheduled for 7-9 PM on Monday, June 16 at the Rapha Cycle Club. Registration is good so far, and board members are encouraged to join.

5) Clarification of rule about non-affiliated riders wearing old sub-team kit?

Several complaints have been made about racers on former CRCA teams racing together in old subteam kit. In this way they form a functional team, while not having to follow CRCA subteam rules or do team duty for the club. For now, if the board receives complaints about specific riders racing together in old subteam kit, Alexis (with David’s help as needed) will communicate with these racers about the need to formalize their team relationship with the club.

6) Question of clarification about the CRCA club doping ban

Previously, the club did not allow members convicted of doping to rejoin the club until twice the time of their USADA doping suspension. At this meeting the board voted, starting in the 2016 racing season, to ban all racers who had been convicted of doping permanently from CRCA club membership.

7) Other CRCA to-dos: - The board discussed the possibility of an early Fall open board/town hall-style meeting, just before nominations and election of new board members. For further discussion. - The board supported Liz Marcello’s collaboration with NYCC on bike access to the George Washington Bridge but requested more information before the Club moves to make any public or official statements on the topic

-Liz is exploring ideas to set up a restricted fund in collaboration with the NYC Parks Department to be managed by the Club for the purpose of patching roads/potholes in NYC Parks that the Club uses for events. This will directly serve the Club’s mission but also has an added public service component. More updates will be provided following a few meetings that Liz has scheduled over the next few months.

-Joe suggested working with Liz Campbell (regional moto coordinator) to hold advanced moto training courses for NYC area moto pacers. Joe will explore this possibility in more detail and report back at the next meeting.

Minutes of the June 3, 2014 CRCA Board Meeting

CRCA Board Meeting-Minutes

Date:June 3, 2014, 7:15 pm

Location:99 Claremont Ave, NY, NY (home of David Carr)

In attendance: Jayson Jacobs (president), Ken Edwards, Roger Parmelee, Josh Sakofsky, Ann Marie Miller, Robert Duncker, Barb Blakley, Ashley Doane, and David Carr . By phone: Joe Grgic and Liz Marcello.

1) Club financials – Ken Edwards, treasurer, gave a report on club finances through the year. Profits from Grants Tomb and Bear are donated to the juniors in order to maintain tax-fee status for those events (and police support free of charge). A combination of not having the Floyd-Bennett Race or the Masters Throwdown and not having the level of sponsorship that we had last year means that we appear to be set to close the year about $6300 below where we started.

For future discussion: We will have greater clarity on the financial position for 2014 at our next meeting, before which Ken will have a proposed 2014 budget and 2015 blueprint for us to discuss and (for 2014) vote.

2) The question of composite teams: 

For 2014 Jayson will move forward on seeing what can be organized for CRCA composite teams without direct use of club funds.

Ken Edwards will see what is possible for CRCA to do to support the efforts of CRCA members to do fund composite teams without compromising our tax status.

For 2015 we will develop a preliminary proposal for composite teams and include in the member survey a question about the level of member support for the use of member fees to support men’s and women’s composite teams.

3) Jersey and other CRCA-ID Issues: 

Ashley will contact the Bold Racing team to work on modifying their bikereg profiles to include CRCA\ in the team identification for their riders. Bold also needs to modify their jersey design by 2015 to be in compliance with the team rules about placement of the CRCA logo.

Roger agreed to develop some graphics to illustrate even more explicitly what constitutes compliance and non-compliance.

Ashley will work with team managers into the close of 2014 on a process for securing team director approval for kit designs.

The president will notify membership via email that wearing a CRCA jersey is required for racing. Robert Duncker will walk the registration line at the next race and enforce the rule.

4) Marshaling – 

Check-in is going better, but there is still an issue with having identifiable marshals on the course a full 15 minutes before the race. Ken Edwards will check with CPC to see if the time window can be reduced. Josh Sakowsky will work on strategies to insure that marshals are wearing their vests so that they are identifiable. Liz Marcello will work on a process for more securely indicating to the marshals that they are done.

The board discussed the increased use of paid marshals in CRCA club racing and the increased risk to teams that produces when such marshals fail to follow through on their commitments. Teams competing for team cup points should take such risks into account in relying on paid marshals. The board voted down a motion from David Carr to loosen the team consequences for an isolated instance where a paid marshal fails.

5) Responsibilities around races -- promotion, etc. 

Jayson has drafted and will re-circulate to the board a media plan for comment.

A number of things have been done to delegate tasks once done by the director of open racing, e.g. number and waiver stapling, registration organization, reporting of results to USAC. There was talk last year of a non-board associate director position, but that has not been actualized so far. Some of the open races coming up are in the park, and so they involve far less logistical work than Grants, Bear, or Orchard. Nevertheless, Joe will see if there are other parts of his job that can be done well by a team or individual as part of team duty or marshal credit. One possibility, mentioned by Barb, was to have different board members take primary responsibility for the remaining open events.

6) associate member rules and fees: 

The board discussed the ongoing purpose of this category. On the one hand, given our club financials this seems a bad time to contemplate eliminating or reducing a category of dues-paying members. On the other hand, there is concern about losing teams because the category is less functional than it once was because of USAC rule changes.

For future discussion in relation to 2015 budget.

7) Club Archives (David)  

John Tomlinsen’s work on the CRCA archives - Budget for scanning photos (estimate $540) and storage for 10 bankers boxes (Museum? NY Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and possibly Brooklyn College which holds a collection of material about boxing in New York City)

David will check with a club member about the scanning portion. Ken Edwards may be securing storage space for the boxes.

8) Club involvement in advocacy re. planned GWB closure (David) 

Lucia Deng has taken leadership on this issue.

9) 2015 Board elections process suggestion (Liz) 

The board voted forward the following proposal: Beginning with the 2015 Board of Directors election, all candidates will be required to submit a statement not exceeding 150 words explaining their qualifications for the position, their interest and motivation for running for the position, and why they feel they will be a valuable asset to the Club.

Explanation: Not everyone knows everyone in CRCA. The Club is quite large and during the voting process, some members do not know who they are voting for. Not only will doing this allow members to have a better idea of who they are voting for, it will also require that those thinking of taking a position on the board think deeply about why they would like to be on the board. The statements will be placed on the website and promoted through Facebook and other means so that club members can make more informed decisions about the future board.

10) Sponsor Search Update -- Roger Parmelee reported on the difficulties in nailing down further sponsor support. He and Ken will follow-up with one recent prominent sponsor.

NEXT MEETING: to be decided by doodle poll. In July, preferably not July 11-18 (Ann Marie not available).

Submitted, David Carr, Secretary

Minutes of the April 29, 2014 CRCA Board Meeting

CRCA Board Meeting-MinutesDate: April 29, 2014, 7:15 pm Location: 115 W. 18th Street, NY, NY (office of Josh Sakofsky)

In attendance: Jayson Jacobs (president), Ken Edwards, Joe Grgic, Roger Parmelee, Josh Sakofsky, Ann Marie Miller, Liz Marcello, Ashley Doane, and David Carr

Club race issues

1) Marshaling

Speeding up check-in: It was resolved to try having the first two people to arrive for marshal check-in assigned to help facilitate the marshal check-in process. If after the check-in process there are already enough marshals on the course to run the race, these two people will be given leave to race or return home.

Whistle-blowing policy: It was resolved that marshals are to blow whistles until the front of the field reaches them. They are not to be asked to blow whistles while the field is passing them.

2) Other club racing issues

Report: VP of Racing, Elizabeth Marcello updated the board on a productive meeting that happened between 6 representatives of the parks department officials and herself, Jayson Jacobs, and Ken Edwards representing the CRCA. The atmosphere of the meeting was cordial and productive. The parks dept. representatives expressed openness to increasing the number of motos allowed for CRCA races, but we are still awaiting confirmation of that change. They also reviewed marshal locations and will send an updated document re. their expectations. For now we need to add a marshal on cedar hill and around cat's paw/rambles area after the races to ensure cyclists do not loiter in the recreation lane and/or ride on paths. We will ask one of our paid employees to take on this role.

Improving Results: Liz Marcello will contact Rob Rowan, a former coach for the Columbia University team and former USAC official to aid in producing results. The aim is to have the top ten results done at the park shortly after the race (with a formal protest period), and then a full list of results ready by a time that she will work out with him. The board discussed how to offset the extra cost of having this work done by Rob, including possibly slightly reducing the number of coaching sessions (which have not received the attendance hoped for, partly because of bad spring weather). The board will make a final determination on this after another month of warmer better weather and hopefully better attended sessions.

Club Race Direction: Liz will work with Alex on having a firmer registration closing time so that races start on time. Also, there have been some issues with Alex being able to launch fields on days when he needs to move quickly to another finish location. This may improve with Rob Rowan doing results. We will monitor and identify as a topic for board conversation at the next meeting.

Team and Boyd Points: Ashley will remind teams that they cannot collect team cup points and their riders cannot gain Boyd points when one of their riders is suspended.

Roster publication: Josh agreed to generate the roster on Thursday, and Barb will publish that roster on the website later Thursday or early Friday

Open Racing

The Board discussed how the end of year season party, and an award given there, may be an opportunity to further profile the contributions to the racing community by a sponsor. Josh will create a dropbox account for board documents, and one of the first items for it will be a contract for use with sponsors clarifying and firming up expectations. David will contact Rob about the plan for onside new member sign-up at Orchard and Bear

Broader Policy Issues

Clarification of policy re. team suspensions: the board confirmed the policy that racers on teams with three suspensions may not race, including not racing as unattached riders. The suspension issue must be resolved first. Teams cannot avoid this or other issues with suspended/double-suspended riders by midyear roster changes. Josh and David will update the relevant webpages.

Fixes of website r.e. donations and marshaling: the problems with the marshaling webpage must await the broader overhaul of the CRCA club database and website. Jayson will work on resolving the problems with the donation page.

Other items for later discussion: policy and enforcement r.e. club rider behavior outside park

NEXT MEETING: is scheduled for Tues. June 3, 7:15 PM at usual place

Longer Term Issues (postponed for next meeting)

13) (David) Club Archives - John Tomlinsen’s work on the CRCA archives - Budget for scanning photos (estimate $540) and storage for 10 bankers boxes (Museum? NY Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and possibly Brooklyn College which holds a collection of material about boxing in New York City) 14) (David) Club involvement in advocacy re. planned GWB closure 15) (Liz) 2015 Board elections process suggestion

Minutes of the April 8, 2014 CRCA Board Meeting

CRCA Board Meeting-MinutesDate: April 9, 2014, 7:15 pm Location: 115 W. 18th Street, NY, NY (office of Josh Sakofsky)

In attendance: Jayson Jacobs (president), Ken Edwards, Joe Grgic, Roger Parmelee, Josh Sakofsky, Ann Marie Miller, Robert Duncker, Liz Marcello, Ashley Doane, Barb Blakley, David Carr and guest Stephen Chang.

AGENDA

1) Website overall (Joe and Ken) – Joe Grgic circulated mock-ups of preliminary web-design for discussion. Appreciation was expressed to him for his work on this. He needs sketches from board members of what functionality would be helpful to each of their jobs asap.

After the web-design is done, the board will revisit hosting and related issues.

The following motion was made by Josh Sakofsky and passed by the board:

Racing skills sessions from this point forward will not be required of new members of CRCA who are cat. 3 or above. Skills sessions are still recommended for all new members. Starting in the 2015 season, all new members will be required to do the two marshaling sessions per year required of members more generally. [Thus this will revoke skills sessions counting as one of the two marshaling dates for new members for those racers who join CRCA  after 2014.]

2) Paris-Roubaix viewing party (Liz) - BXL Sunday, April 13 BXL(125 West 43rd Street) at 5pm

Discussed technical issues for insuring that we have viewing. Ashley will bring back-up file of race. Liz will follow up on whether BXL has functional internet link and take care of having computer to provide projection. Ken to purchase race via nbcsports.com

3) Instagram (Barb Blakley)– after a slowish start, this is underway and expanding

4) Bear Mountain – It was resolved to add a Masters field. Details will follow.

5) Bear Mountain Promotion –

Roger is working with various options for significant name sponsorship Ann Marie Miller proposed Bear Mountain recon ride to reintroduce racers to the course Joe will update crca.net page on race Barb Blakley will try to work with club members (Ace McDade and Jim Boyd mentioned as some possibilities) on brief webstory about history of Bear Mountain race

6) Composite teams – Barb Blakley will work on advance organizing for 2015

7) Marshaling –

Josh will work to arrange marshals to monitor people riding on paths in Rambles, riding in reverse (DQ for both), and provide extra instruction for marshals. Question discussed of online quiz or the like to help with marshal orientation.

(to be discussed at Thursday meeting of board members with Central Park officials)

8) Laptop for club races – Present laptop is outdated and has bad battery. Jayson will follow up with Ken on purchase of newer laptop.

9) New member recruitment – Moved and passed to offer on the spot membership joining opportunity at Orchard (by hand) as trial to see if it is effective means of recruitment. Initial membership cost to be offered - $55

10) Junior Development – To be discussed further, ideally through having Ariel at next meeting to clarify budget, what they need, etc.

11) Sponsorships update – Roger Parmelee updated the board on discussions with various potential sponsors

General Follow-up

Jayson – club email (post-meeting with CPC officials) r.e. plans on enforcing rules on riding in reverse and in Rambles and on BXL Paris-Roubaix viewing party

Ashley – email to team managers r.e. plans on enforcing rules, BXL Paris-Roubaix party, and updated roster (for directors to view roster and suspended members)

Postponed for email or later meetings:

Grants Tomb recap and future of race (Liz will email David about issues)

Further discussion of policy r.e. club member riding behavior outside park

Club Archives - John Tomlinsen’s work on the CRCA archives - Budget for scanning photos (estimate $540) and storage for 10 bankers boxes (Museum? NY Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and possibly Brooklyn College which holds a collection of material about boxing in New York City)