HMRRC Club Minutes (March 9, 2016)

Attendance: Abby Atkins, Doug Bowden, Ray Newkirk, Cathy Sliwinski, Brian Northan, Maureen Cox, Jim Tierney, John Parisella, Ken Skinner, Lara Stelmaszyk

Call to Order (John Parisella):

1. Approval of February 10, 2016, minutes. Motion to approve minutes made by Ray Newkirk, seconded by Ken Skinner. Motion passed.

2. Reports of Officers

2.1 President (J. Parisella): (1) HMRRC had a booth at the ADK Sports Summer Expo in Saratoga on March 5 and 6. Gave away some leftover race T-shirts and had a lot of interest from potential new members and vendors. Displayed T-shirts from various races, which was very eye-catching. Lots of information was given out, including to people who had never heard of HMRRC; Brian Northan added that people seemed to be asking about the big races (e.g., the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon) rather than the smaller races.

2.2 Executive Vice President (F. Broderick): (Not present) No Shrader Scholarship applications received just yet. Applications are due by April 1.

2.3 Executive Vice President – Finance (R. Newkirk):

(1) Prepared a profit-and-loss statement for 2015 (awaiting final review by the club’s accountant). Total balance $449,056.00. 2015: $23,393 profit, but this number doesn’t include depreciation and amortization, so this number may go down, though not by much. This was a more than $80,000 difference over what was expected (since a $67,000 deficit had been anticipated). $54,000 more than anticipated was made on the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon and Hannaford Half-Marathon. There was $9,000 more ad revenue than expected. $16,000 less than planned was spent on grants. No one attended a race directors’ convention that had been attended in the past; the Volunteer Committee did not use all its budget.

(2) Bank acct. consolidation is well under way. Also, credit cards have been applied for from SEFCU so that club purchases can be made by credit rather than debit card.

(3) Sales tax return filed (apparel sales; a little under $2,000 in sales).

(4) Need e-commerce capabilities (online credit-card capability) on HMRRC website. Ray Newkirk and Cathy Sliwinski have explored online bill payment; their current choice is bill.com; it is pricey, possibly $750 a year, depending on the number of transactions needed); the advantages: time savings in not having to write out checks and mail them, not incurring postage, and can be linked with QuickBooks (QuickBooks itself doesn’t offer this service for online QuickBooks, just for its desktop software). Bill.com can possibly also sell HMRRC the hardware (credit card swipers) so the club could accept credit cards at races or at trade shows like the ADK Sports Summer Expo.

Ray Newkirk made a motion to spend the estimated $750 for bill.com; Ken Skinner seconded. Motion approved.

2.4 Secretary (L. Stelmaszyk): No report

2.5 Treasurer (J. Golden): See attached report. Total of accounts: $384,573.03.

3. Reports of Committees

3.1 Membership (D. Fisher-Golden): See attached report.

Total membership: 3,081

Change in membership: 0

New memberships: 98

Facebook followers: 2,578

Twitter followers: 229

3.2 Volunteers (M. Adams): (Not present)

3.3 Public Relations (R. Moore): (Not present)

3.4 Race Committee (J. Rocco): (Not present)

One race since last meeting:

The 43rd Winter Marathon. It was rescheduled from February 14 to February 21 due to frigid temperatures on Feb 14. 41 finishers, up from 37 in 2015. Prior years drew 63, 76, and, in 2012, 129 (a record year). Winner: Richard Messineo, at 2:43:20. Female winner: a return champion, Jennifer Flaherty from Massachusetts, at 3:37:04. The relay had 23 teams, with a total of 69 participants. This is up from last year’s 45 participants but down from prior years of 105, 162, and 171.

Winter Series and Winter Marathon. HMRRC received a thank-you letter from the Food Pantries. At our Winter Series and Winter Marathon, total donations were 848 lbs. of food and $209.85 in the voluntary collection jar. This was a tremendous help to their 54 member food pantries.

Coming up:

Runnin’ of the Green. As of March 9, 279 confirmed online entrants, 8 pending, and a handful of mail-ins. We have sent out several e-mail blasts, as has USATF ADK. There is day-of registration, and online registration has been extended to 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Last year, there were 286 finishers. Weather looks good for race day.

Delmar Dash. Set for Sunday, April 3. 168 registrants (online) so far.

Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon and Hannaford Half. Registration opened Monday, March 7, for club members. On March 10, it opens for all. Ad on website seeking race director for 2017 (and to shadow for 2016) has had no responses and no leads. Plan to discuss with Long-Range Planning Committee.

Masters 10K. Registration open.

Mother’s Day 5K. Registration open.

CDPHP Workforce Challenge. Follow-up meeting in two weeks. Things are moving along. Meeting with OGS March 10 for update on Plaza construction. Still seeking coordinators: a Team Captain Coordinator (Registration Coordinator), a Course Entertainment Coordinator (all bands are lined up from last year, including an additional band on the course), and an Event Set-Up Coordinator.

3.5 Race Committee Treasurer (C. Sliwinski): Please see attached report.

3.6 Pace Setter and website (E. Neiles): Since the last HMRRC meeting, Cyndy Allen, Ray Newkirk, and Ed Neiles met with the Web Instinct team in their Saratoga office to discuss website problems that needed to be addressed. Since that meeting, we have noticed significant progress in the implementation of these required fixes. More changes are still needed, including importing the member database and initializing the Members Only login, as well as launching the searchable race database. The site is about 65 percent complete. Learning the nuances of the new program (Concrete5) in addition to dealing with the significant complexities present in the HMRRC website is time consuming. Members have provided us with input but also have afforded us patience while we work through the webpage configuration. In addition to working on the nuts and bolts of the actual page, we continue working on the new content aspect. Display advertising, e-commerce, news contributors, and content managers are all items in the pipeline.

3.7 Conflicts Committee (R. Newkirk): No report

3.8 Safety Committee (VACANT):

3.9 Grants Committee (R. Newkirk): A request for a special-purpose grant for $3,000 from the Junior Olympic Track and Field and Cross-Country series; there are four events, in June, July, and November. Abby Atkins, from USATF, provided some additional information.

Ray Newkirk made a motion to approve the grant; Ken Skinner seconded the motion. (Ray and Ken stated for the record that they are former USATF board members). The vote will occur at the April HMRRC meeting.

3.10 Long Range Planning Committee (E. Neiles): No meeting in the last thirty days. The intent is to get the committee together in April or May to discuss unfinished business.

3.11 Just Run Program (K. Skinner): Will have close to thirty schools this spring.

4. Unfinished Business: None

5. New Business:

(1) Brian and John Parisella met with Best Fitness regarding sponsorship.

(2) Cathy Sliwinski noted that registration issues with the marathon and half-marathon brought to light some issues with HMRRC family memberships, where more than two adults in different households were signing up as a family. Proposes putting parameters on what can constitute a family membership.

6. Announcements:

Adjourn:

Motion to adjourn, made by Ray Newkirk. Seconded by Cathy Sliwinski, at 9:14 p.m.


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