The meeting commenced at 7:30pm

1. Proposed 2012 Plan

• The board discussed the proposed mission statement for the club and after minor edits agreed to adopt the mission statement.  The draft goals for the year and for the medium term were discussed and generally agreed up.  It was suggested and agreed that the goal of increased CX involvement and support should be moved to 2012.  After discussion regarding the difficulties for some new members entering the club, it was agreed to add a goal that addressed the removal of the barriers for integration of new members.  Rod agreed to draft wording and present at the next meeting along with action plans for each goal
• The board discussed a proposed schedule of races for Central Park for 2012.  The board agreed to increase the number of open races by adding a June Open race and agreed with the proposed women’s category 3&4 open races included in the draft schedule.  The board agreed that the inclusion of the clinics early in the season was consistent with the desire to improve rider skills and that holding the women’s clinic prior to the 3/4 open series was desirable.  [Subsequent to the meeting, at the urging of certain members, the board agreed to move the Women’s clinic to a June date]
• A full schedule of events was presented to the board which included proposed open races and the addition of quarterly club rides.
• Rod presented a draft budget for the board’s consideration. The key elements of the budget up for discussion were:
  • An increase in the racing membership fee (holding the increase implemented during the year in 2010) ($55 early/$70 late)
  • A decrease in the associate member fee to $40
  • An increase in the club race day fee to $15
  • The pricing of dino/prepaid race fees
• Rod discussed that the general philosophy of the budget was the run races at a neutral level (no profit or loss) and that the average cost per rider based on 2011 races was approximately $17 per rider.  There was discussion whether to increase membership fees further and leave the “day of” race fee at $10, but it was ultimately decided to go with the presented budgeted rates.  It was noted that by leaving the dino fee unchanged it was hoped that more members would take the dino option as this helps reduce registration processing and improves the stability of the club’s revenue, given that the majority of race day fees are fixed.  The board approved the budget as presented.
• Rod presented the draft Rider Stipend program which is aimed to support the continued development of riders by providing partial financial support.  It was agreed that a sub-committee would be formed in the future to administer the applications.  David requested that an additional item be added to the program to require that grants approved be communicated at the end of the year to the board.  It was agreed that this would be done on a regular basis and added to the program rules.

2. Team Application by ChampionSystems p/b Stan's NoTubes

• The board moved down the agenda to discuss a proposal presented by a potential new sub-team, the “Champion Systems p/b Stans NoTubes” Team.  Given the significant sponsorship money, the team felt it was important to highlight the sponsors and they were requesting permission to include CRCA at the end of their name, as opposed to the beginning as required by the current team rules.  It was also requested their Associate members be exempt from the membership fees in exchange for which the team would assist with bringing a Criterium race to New Jersey, which CRCA would co-promote.
• There was significant discussion on the topic and the board generally agreed that having the team as part of the club was desirable
• It was agreed that it was better not to provide exceptions to rules to individuals or individual sub-teams as it makes the enforcement of those same rules for other members ineffective.  The board discussed the possibility of changing the team naming rule. No agreement was reached.
• The board agreed that providing an exception to the associate membership fee for these members would or should require the club to offer the same treatment to other associate members.  It was noted that particularly with the change in structure of the club fees (with club racing proposed to be breakeven) the argument that those members would not race in club races was irrelevant.  The board agreed that it did not want to provide free associate membership for other members and that consistency across members is important.  Therefore the board rejected that request from the team.
• The board supported the idea of working with the team on a NJ Crit as it was generally felt that the club needs to expand its race offering.
• The Board ultimately agreed to authorize Rod to hold further discussions with the team and seek to obtain a revised proposal that would meet both parties’ needs.
• [A revised proposal was subsequently presented to the Board and the Board agreed to a change in the team naming rules for such ‘Elite’ teams provided such a request was received in advance and the board was satisfied that the team was in fact predominantly an Elite team.  The team agreed to pay the Associate member fees which the club would pay to the CRC Development Foundation]

3. B Field Changes

• The board discussed proposed changes to the B field.  After considerable discussion about the positives and negatives of each; it was agreed to:
  • Eliminate the Jim Boyd individual competition in the B field
  • Eliminate the Team Cup competition from the B field  [subsequent to the meeting, the Board agreed to revise this such that the B field team competition would continue, but half of the races would not count as team cup eligible races.  This would allow the board to evaluate the impact on racing, if any, and what changes should be made for next year]
  • Leave the field number limits the same at 12 per team.

The meeting concluded at 10:30pm with remaining agenda items to be addressed by email or held over to the next meeting which was scheduled for February 6 at a venue to be determined.