I. MEETING ATTENDANCE AND OPENING

Voting Members: Paul Guyas, Mark Priddy, Robert Skrob, David Yon, Chika Okoro, Zack Scharlepp, Sarah Thompson, Judy Alexander, Heather York, Tristan LaNasa, Herb Wills and Mary Jean Yon

Non-Voting Members: Bill Lott, Mark Tombrink, Doug Bell, Lisa Unger, Thomas Biance, Chris Turner, Laura McDermott and Kaari Guyas

The meeting was called to order by Paul Guyas at 7:31 p.m. A quorum was established. The November meeting agenda was approved with no objection.

A motion to approve the meeting minutes for the October meeting was made, seconded and passed without objection.

II. OFFICER ANNOUNCEMENTS

2921 GWTC Holiday Party – Paul Guyas
The GWTC Holiday Party for this year has been canceled and all plans have rolled over for a 2021 party to be held December 18, 2021.

GWTC Annual Meeting – Paul Guyas
The 2020 GWTC Annual Meeting will be held, via Zoom, on December 16, 2020. Start time is 7:00 p.m.

III. New BUSINESS

Sickle Cell 5K Run/Walk Wrap-Up
Paul Guyas reported that the 2020 virtual version of the Sickle Cell 5K had 109 participants with net proceeds of $1528.56. GWTC & the Sickle Cell Foundation will each receive $764.28 plus the Sickle Cell Foundation received direct donations bringing their total to $2396.28. A motion to approve the Sickle Cell Wrap-Up including the payment to the Sickle Cell Foundation was made, seconded and passed.

Women’s Distance Festival Wrap-Up
Lisa Unger reported that the 2020 virtual version for the Women’s Distance Festival had 29 participants with net proceeds of $203.04. GWTC and Brehon Family Services will each receive $101.52 plus Brehon received direct donations ($102.72) bringing their total to $204.24. A motion to approve this payment and Race Wrap-Up was made, seconded and passed.

Steve Prefontaine 5K Forest Run Wrap-Up
Doug Bell reported that the 2020 virtual version for the Steve Prefontaine 5K Forest Run had 32
participants. After adding in direct donations, Doug requested permission to give St. Francis Wildlife Association $158.20 and the GWTC Chenoweth Fund $76.60. A motion to approve this request and Race Wrap-Up was made, seconded and passed.

Tallahassee Turkey Trot – 2020 Plans and Budget
David Yon presented an overview of plans for the virtual running of the Turkey Trot. Participants are encouraged to do their own runs wherever they choose on Thanksgiving morning but they can also run and report their times up until midnight on November 29. The race directors are working with Mega Ace Media to create a production which will air on Thanksgiving morning from 8:30 am -10:00 am and include runners through Zoom plus some live interviews via FaceTime. A tentative budget was presented which included costs for t-shirts. The cost for creating the production will be covered by ads that are placed plus other donations and will not be a club expense. Finisher medals will be available for purchase by race participants through Awards4U and are not included as a race expense. Proceeds will be shared with the Boys & Girls Club of the Big Bend, the Kearney Center and the Refuge House as in years past. People will still be able to make direct donations to these charities through the Turkey Trot Heroes program. A motion to approve the budget was made, seconded and passed.

A Community Thrives (ACT) Update
Paul Guyas reported that $7,665 was raised as part of the ACT Challenge that the club is participating in. As previously stated, we should hear something before December 15 regarding the grants that will be awarded as part of this program. Regardless of the amount of the grant received, the club can keep the money raised as part of the grant competition. Tentative plans call for the money to be used by the Diversity Committee and a question was asked regarding a spending plan. Chris Turner (Chair) responded that the committee is still working through specifics on how best to allocate the funds and pledged to work with the Board in full transparency once the final amount of funds is known.

GWTC 365 Update
Paul Guyas led a discussion on next steps with the GWTC 365 program which was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of nine club members signed up for the 2020 program which would have included 20 races. Paul proposed giving each of these participants the equivalent number of races they missed, up to 18 races, which was the number of the most impacted person. A motion to approve this request was made, seconded and passed. Another motion to simply pause the program and resume when races began again and are held consecutively failed. Finally, when the program was initially approved, there was a condition to revisit it and evaluate it so a motion to revisit the program in nine months after it resumes was made, seconded and passed.

Survey Question
Paul Guyas inquired whether another round of the GWTC Member Survey should be conducted to see if attitudes have shifted any regarding racing during these times of public health concerns. No decision was made.

IV. COMMITTEE REPORTS

GWTC Election – Zack Scharlepp
Zack announced that election ballots for the 2021 Board of Directors will be mailed out in mid-November. Club members have until November 30 to return their ballots and a self-addressed stamped envelope will be provided. Bios for each of the candidates have been completed and will be available on the GWTC website.

Treasurer – David Yon
David provided the treasury report as of November 11, 2020. Assets were reported at $262,932.45 and Net Revenue Year To Date was $14,724.

Triathlete Club – John Sivyer
No report.

Race Director Coordinator – Mary Jean Yon
Nothing new to report.

Newsletter – Robert Skrob
Robert reported he was not able to publish a November issue of the Fleet Foot and predicted sporadic coverage of future issues until races resume and content is more readily available. This led to a discussion about the need to update the membership on racing plans for the future and what it will take to get back to having organized races again. A variety of opinions were expressed during this conversation and a decision was made to convene a separate meeting to have a full and complete discussion with all interested parties outside of the board meeting. That meeting will take place, via Zoom, on Wednesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m.`

Membership –Mark Priddy
Memberships and households for the year were reported at 1,299 and 678, respectively, as of November 11, 2020. These figures are compared to those at this time last year, which included 1,256 memberships and 695 households. There are also 281 Tri-Club members.

Diversity Committee – Chris Turner
Covered under the ACT Update.

Education and Lecture – Kat Sack
No report.

Trail Work Committee – Dominic Milner
No report.

Website – David Yon
Nothing new to report.

Chenoweth Fund – David Yon
Nims Middle School submitted a request for $250 to buy shoes for their cross country team. A motion to approve this request was made, seconded and passed.

Merchandise –Laura McDermott and Sherri Wise
Laura reported that sales are minimal since opportunities to show merchandise are limited due to no races taking place. The GWTC mask, however, is being sold at the online store on the GWTC website.

Equipment – Bill Lott for Tec Thomas
Bill reported he has not been successful in fixing the clock that malfunctioned at the St. Marks Duathlon. The clock will likely be sent to the manufacturer for repair. He added that equipment was rented for a race held in September. Equipment is also being rented for a race in October.

Chip Timing– Bill Lott
In October, a middle school cross country meet and the NJCAA Region 8 Cross Country Championships were chip timed by GWTC. A 5K trail run (Hops & Half Shells) is scheduled to be chip timed on November 14. To date, no races have requested chip timing in the month of December.

Trail Running/Racing Coordinator
No report.

Grand Prix Committee – Mark Tombrink
Mark reminded everyone that nominations are open for six award categories and are due November 30. In terms of the 2021 Grand Prix Race Series, the committee is waiting to see what happens and is considering all options including an abbreviated schedule.

Volunteer – Lyssa Oberkreser
No report.

Training Groups – Thomas Biance (Interim)
Thomas reminded everyone that he is still hoping a replacement will be found for this role. Chika Okoro added that she is looking into options for how best to conduct a Beginning Runners Class.

Youth Council – Kaari Guyas
No report.

Social – Vicky Droze
Covered above under Officer Announcements.

A motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and passed. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 P.M.

Mary Jean Yon, Interim Secretary