GULF WINDS TRACK CLUB Minutes

Board/GWTC Members present: Fred and Margarete Deckert, Beth Alexander, Peg Griffin, David Yon, Charlie Yates, Gene Opheim, Judy Alexander, Nadine Dexter, Bill Lott, Lisa Unger, Keith Rowe, Tom Perkins, and Jay Silvanima.

Bill Lott called the meeting to order at 7:42 PM and quorum was established. The June minutes were reviewed. A motion was made, seconded and passed by unanimous vote to accept the minutes as corrected.

NEW BUSINESS: Gene Opheim pointed out that no budget was received yet for Miccosukee Madness. Tom Perkins said he would not ask the Club for any money. He mentioned that canned food would be collected for Second Harvest Food Bank. Each runner should bring 2 cans. Those over 18 will also be charged $6.00. Gene reminded Tom of the $2 discount for preregistered Club runners.

REPORTS:

Race Director Coordinator – Charlie Yates reported that Jeff Nielsen received his permit for the Prefontaine 5K on September 29. Bill Lott announced that the FSU Cross Country Invitational meet for high school and middle schools is scheduled for September 22.

Race Director – Jay Silvanima presented a revised budget for the Tallahassee Marathon. He has increased prize money, and changed several deadlines. He has formed a relationship with the Greenways and Trails Foundation as a charity, and asked that the proceeds of the marathon be split between the Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Currently, there are no sponsors, but Jay will send out proposal letters to potential donors. Gene asked if Jay were amenable to discussion about charities and the split of the money. Jay was fine with less money being contributed to LLS. Gene reminded Jay about the discount for preregistered Club race participants. The motion was made to accept Jay’s budget, seconded, and past unanimously. Jay opened registration on Active.com on July 8th. Peg Griffin received a thank you note from the LLS regarding contribution from the 2007 marathon. Lisa Unger submitted her budget for the Women’s Distance Festival (WDF). She has no sponsorship this year. She is encouraging middle school teams to enter and run. She received $35.00 from a Mexican restaurant she will use as a door prize. She proposes proceeds go to the Club. However if the WDF raises more than $400, Lisa would like 50% donated to the Chenoweth Fund designated for female runners sponsored by the WDF and the remaining half to the Club. A motion was made to accept her budget as presented, seconded and passed by unanimous vote.

Treasurer’s Report – Gene Opheim reported that the Club has $59,445, which is $3867 less than last month; the Chenoweth Fund has $16,110. Gene presented the budget for the Club through June. He believes next year Bonnie should ask for a budget for The Kids Triathlon. Gene does not see any problem with meeting our income goals for the year. And, we are on target with our expenses half way through the year. We are over budget in equipment due to the expenses approved last month for the FinishLynx. He recommends a bigger membership budget next year since more money was spent this year on bumper stickers and new flyers. The June drawing was completed by Peg. The winner is Sarah Dugas. She can be notified, but since the gift certificate was for Kool Beanz, he is still waiting to see if they will open after the fire before presenting it. A new restaurant will be chosen if their opening is delayed.

Training Committee – Nadine Dexter reported she is still attempting to make contact to get permission to use the FSU track for the Beginning Running class. Until then she cannot make flyers or advertise. Julie is gearing up for a 15K training class for Turkey Trot. It will meet at the YMCA in Southwood on Wednesdays beginning in September. The Monday night group will continue to meet informally at Winthrop Park. The FSUCares 5k is scheduled for October 21 at 5 pm.

Equipment – Judy Alexander for Brian Corbin discussed options for updating the FinishLynx timing system. She reviewed the expenditures for the system’s repair from the previous 3 months for the timing system. Judy pointed out we also may want to purchase our own copy of Hy-Tek software for use with the system to provide results in large, pre-seeded meets. The only copy of the software available to us now is licensed to Lincoln High School, which makes it imperative that Lincoln be at the event being timed with that software. GWTC would purchase the software ($698) from Hy-Tek and be licensed ($1000/year) as an ITC, Independent Timing Company, by Hy-Tek. Judy discussed adding the licensing fee as a line item in the budget. This brought up discussion about how much money the Club should invest in this timing system, and how we could recoup some of these expenses. The software is used for specific track and cross-country meets but is not imperative for all events. There was a discussion about charging a fee to use this equipment, as we do for use of our other equipment for road races. It was also noted that long hours are spent at meets timing events and perhaps some of the fee collected should go to the operators of the equipment. A motion was made and seconded to buy the software and pay the $1000 license fee for one year but not add as a line item. It was also decided to begin charging $300 to use the equipment and a policy will be developed for this. Judy was asked to investigate how the club can recoup the license fee and repair costs over time and report those findings to the board at the August meeting. The motion was passed with one nay vote.

Membership – Peg Griffin reported there are currently 816 members represented by 454 households.

Racing Team Report – Lisa for Tim Unger no report.

Awards/Grand Prix Committee – Lisa Unger sent out the initial letters to Hall of Fame members announcing their Club membership fee is waived. The 2008 Grand Prix application process closes July 31. The Committee meets on August 5 to discuss a preliminary schedule for next year.

Website Committee Report – David Yon thanked Judy Alexander for writing the Volunteer Spotlight section.

Lecture Series – Fred Deckert reminded us the next lecture would feature Eric Draper on July 27 at Myers Park.

Triathlete Report – Tom Perkins for Sara Cleveland reported the next Tri Club meeting is July 16 at Po Boys in Killearn.

Chenoweth Fund – David Yon no report.

Clothing Coordinator –Margarete Deckert has sold 3 more hats for a total of 15.

Newsletter – Fred Deckert Fred discussed the possibility of an August newsletter. But after a number of factors were considered, there will not be one.

OLD BUSINESS: Nadine Dexter passed around a Northeast Chronicle that had the article about Gulf Winds in it.

There was a motion to adjourn at 9:16 PM, which was seconded and passed by unanimous vote. The next board meeting will be held on August 8, 2007 hosted by Joe and Nadine Dexter. These minutes have been reviewed and accepted by the Board. Beth Alexander, Secretary.