Tuesday, May 5, 2009                     Location:  Pizza Palace, Baymeadows Road

President David Hall called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.  Directors Richard Fannin, Trib LaPrade, Sean McCormack, Larry Roberts, and Larry Sassa were absent.  Rex Reed, Membership Coordinator, also attended the meeting.

Approval of 4/7/09 minutes: A motion by Mark Ryan to approve the minutes, seconded by Owen Shott, passed.

Treasurer’s Report:  Treasurer Bonnie Brooks supplied copies of our P & L Detail and our Balance Sheet for review by the Board.  She was asked if a report to compare expenses to budget was available.  It is, and she will bring copies to the upcoming Finance Committee meeting. 

OLD BUSINESS:

1. 1^st Coast Kids Triathlon – Bobby Green and Owen Shott attended the tri.  Reports were that Saturday’s packet pickup was well organized.  The tri reached its cap of 500 athletes.  The event itself went well.  For our sponsorship, the JTCR logo was prominent on signs on the course and other places.  Organizers did an impressive job for a 1^st time event.
2. Girls On The Run – coming up on May 9 – Carol Fitzsimmons will be there as will Bobby Green, who will bring our tent and brochures.
3. 1^st Place Sports Contract for Race Management – Update – David Hall reported that our Executive Committee had met with an attorney representing JTCR, that a contract was being refined, and that our race director is waiting for us to finish our rewrite of the contract
4. Board Nomination Process – The ad hoc committee for improvements to the board nomination process had met but not reached an agreement.  Committee Chair Larry Roberts would reconvene the ad hoc committee in the future.  During further discussion, it was generally agreed by the board that nominees should know what we expect of them before they agree to run.
5. Tax Exempt Form – Lamar Strother continues to work with a representative from the State of Florida to get us reestablished.  He promises persistence in this regard.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Board Member Shirts – Jane Alred is willing to do the job of procuring “board member” shirts so that our members will recognize board members at our events.  Bobby Green made a motion, seconded by Mark Ryan, that we get new shirts for board members.  The motion passed.
2. Annual Awards Banquet – Douglas Tillett asked for a general board opinion on whether we should have our annual awards banquet this year, or whether we thought the event should be discontinued.  The feeling seemed to be that it should continue, so Doug Alred made a motion, seconded by Bobby Green, that we scheduled the Awards Banquet for a date after June 13.  The motion passed.  The Banquet Committee agreed to arrange the date via email with the board so that it can be publicized in the next edition of The Starting Line.
3. New Board Meeting Location – Even though we love the Pizza Palace, the Baymeadows location has become so popular that there is always a crowd and it is difficult for us to hear one another.  Jane Alred agreed to investigate a new spot for us to try.      
4. RRCA Membership – we got a message from RRCA letting us know that our membership lapsed as of January 1.  We are working to get renewed immediately and will take steps to ensure that future messages from RRCA get to a board member regardless of the circumstances.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

RACE COMMITTEE – No report, but Committee Chair Doug Alred plans to hold a meeting in June.

Gate River Run – Race Director Doug Alred said the 2009 race is getting close to being wrapped up and the club’s profit will be close to $50K.  Feedback that he has received indicates the sponsors are happy.  The 2010 race will be on March 13 with an enlarged “seeded” area of 5,000 runners sequestered in 5 corrals.  We anticipate the same start & finish area as 2009.  Doug anticipates a final accounting of the race to be available at the next board meeting.

Track Series – Meet on May 1 – Lamar Strother said the May 1 meet had 28 officials and that 145 runner numbers were given out.  We had a bottleneck at the relay but the track series officials are working on a fix.  The next meet will be on May 29.

RITA CASH – This is a JTCR race, but Chuck of RITA handles most of the details.  The race is on May 16.  We plan to bring the JTCRunning tent to the event for club exposure.

Summer Beach Run – This year’s race will be on Saturday, August 22.  Race Director Doug Alred is working on obtaining sponsorship for the race. 

CLASSES & CLINICS – Jane Alred reported that the clinics that have been held at 1^st Place Sports will break for the summer but she anticipates starting back up in September.  The JTCR “Coach Metzgar” training classes are also on break but a new class is being planned.  In the meantime, both 1^st Place Sports and Jacksonville Running Company have training groups operating that we should publicize to our members. 

COMMUNITY & PUBLIC RELATIONS – Margaret Barton has been working on arranging JTCRunning night at the Sulzbacher Center to feed the homeless.  She had the event set up for Friday, August 7, but Doug Alred pointed out that is the start of the Tour de Pain.  Margaret will replan for a different evening and pass the word with an eye toward getting notification in The Starting Line. 

FINANCE COMMITTEE – Bonnie Brooks, Treasurer, reported that she would be away on vacation from Memorial Day for one week, so we should plan our financial needs accordingly.  She will hold a Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 12, at the Panera Bread on Hendricks.  Our Financial Advisor, Carolyn, will be invited.  So will representatives from the American Heart Association to present their partnering proposal to the committee for consideration. 

MERCHANDISE – Carol Fitzsimmons reported one order to mail, but pointed out that the $4 we charge no longer covers the price of the mailing envelope & postage and needs to go up to $6.  We should notify the newsletter and the webpage to please update the shipping charges to $6. 

NEWSLETTER – Committee chairman David Frank reminded us that the deadline is May 15.  We want to make sure to include the banquet.  There was general discussion on the recurring problem of the printed edition dropping the first letter of some words in some articles – David said he’d try to get to the cause of that situation. 

WEBSITE – Trib La Prade was absent – no questions from the board for Trib.

SOCIAL & BANQUET – Now we’re working on the banquet.  Y’all come.

VISION & PLANNING – Doug Alred, Committee Chair, said the bridge is built and the bollards are in.  Some holes in the ground need to be filled in. 

NEXT MEETING – will be Tuesday, June 2, 2009 at 7 p.m at a location to be determined.   

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Douglas Tillett, JTCRunning Secretary, has respectfully written and submitted these minutes.