GEARS BOARD MEETING, OCTOBER 12, 2009
Keystone Café, 6:30-9:10pm
PRESENT: Paul Adkins, Michal Young, Gary Cook, Sue Wolling, Eric Selker, Price Armstrong, Tree Bressen, Zak Scotton, Shane DeMars, Bob Ransom
MINUTES: Michal moved, Paul seconded approval of minutes. Accepted
TREASURER: No report in Richard’s absence.
MEMBERSHIP: Michal reported
paying members businesses 3
Household 57
Individual 144
Contributing 20
Others: sponsored 15
complementary 12
Michal has the new Paypal running, is still behind on membership cards.
NOMINATIONS: Positions available are secretary, vice-president, membership chair, At-large, and Newsletter Editor. Slate is to be ready for November election.
LEAVES: Paul has continued talks with City people Eric Jones, Jeff Langston and Kurt Corey. New machinery, increased man hours, and priority street cleaning of leaves will be done this autumn. A PSA has been filmed, including Paul’s wife and children asking that leaves not be placed in bike lanes. Gary said we need an army of volunteers to monitor, take photos of offending piles and note clearing schedules. Eric noted leaf pickup was recently addressed at BPAC meeting, suggestions made including providing extra waste containers.
PICNIC/SWAP: Sunday the 11th at Whiteaker Community Center. Eric suggested an entry of $2 for nonmembers, free with membership, which was approved.
CHARITABLE DONATIONS: Eric proposed we develop a new policy to announce once a year, perhaps November 1st, availability of grants. Since we did not have a treasurer’s report, it was agreed to put this item on the agenda for next month.
RIBBON TRAIL: Sue reported there is conflict between mountain bikers who wish to ride this trail, and hikers who desire their exclusion. Eugene Parks Dept understands there are limited mountain bike trails available. Sue noted EWEB plans a new line parallel that could provide additional opportunities. BPAC has delayed an opinion as all committee members have not yet walked the trail. Eric and Sue say they are opposed to restricting bikes on the Ribbon Trail. Sue will write a letter to BPAC.
LOW GEAR RIDES: Sue noted there is no agreement on the format of Low Gear rides. Paul stated folks want rides oriented to fun, casual, able to talk, stop, at a decent pace, leaving no one behind. He noted in a recent about town ride, he had 8 people, rode about 15 miles. Sue stated low gear rides are not about speed, and not necessarily short or slow. The recent Apple Ride she felt was well received, about 40miles, at a pace that was social, friendly and permitted riding at own speed, with regrouping. Shane noted 2 issues – length and pace. Shane asked if half of the faster riders are not members, then are we listening to complaints from the right group. Eric suggested handing out a survey at the Swap Sunday.
BIKE ART FESTIVAL: Tree reported she is working on this event, to promote biking, end of February/early March and is seeking volunteers.
This will be a fundraiser for Cointelligence Institute, which was questioned by Eric and Sue. She also seeks venues and sponsors and invites Gears to be a donor. Paul asked Tree to write a proposal to bring to the board.
Meeting adjourned 9:10pm
Respectfully submitted Lynda Christiansen, Secretary
