JANUARY 2002 BOARD MINUTES

Richmond: Monday, January 14, 2002

Attending: George Plumb, Bunky Bernstein, Dave Jacobowitz, Kathy Davidow, Kasie Wallace, Jon Kaplan, Chapin Spencer, Bud Haas

Meeting called to order by President, Bunky at 6:05 pm.

Minutes for December 10, 2001 Board Meeting: Approved.

President’s Report: Bunky reported (1) he is considering attending the National Bike Summit in March. (2) a Rutland group is interested in Bike Week (month?).

Executive Director’s Report: George reported that he has been working on the Spring Summit, and on the Safety Training Grant.

Treasurer’s Report: Dave reported a balance of $2744, which includes a grant of $1500 from the GovernorÎs Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (GCPFS) for FY 2002. George agreed to apply for the FY03 rant upon receiving notice to do so.

Committee Reports:

Publicity Committee: Dave reported that he moved all the necessary Logos on to the web site, and that he still needs help with the website. Anybody out there?

Legislative Action: Short discussion about Mass Transit and Commuter Choice. Bunky will send a note to Bruce.
Special Events: No Report.

Education: Kathy offered to send out existing Share The Road flyers and Bumper stickers to Vermont bike shops. Board agreed.

Membership: Dave will make a presentation to the Green Mountain Athletic Association, a runners group, and will suggest to them that they might want to contribute to VBPC, perhaps in the manner of the GMBC.

Fundraising: Bunky now has Fundraising Packets ready to Fund Raise, and has been sending out letters to potential donors offering to make a presentation. He again has asked for interested folks to call or e-mail him with suggestions on potential donors.

Bike Safety Training Grant aka Children's Bicycle Safety Training Program: Kasie reported 1) that Phil has regrettably resigned as co-chair of the Training Grant, and that George and Jon have now joined her as the Grant Committee. She reported that she has tentatively scheduled the LAB Cycling Instructor Training at the Sleepy Hollow Inn Bike and Ski Center in Huntington, April 6-7, 2002. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine (BCM) Bike Safety Instructor Training would be held later in the year. She is still looking for ten interested persons (preferably teacher types) who would be willing to each commit to offer to offer safety training at a Vermont school after the April training, before the end of the school year.

Winooski River Bridge: After a very short presentation by Chapin, the GMBC voted: MOTION: to endorse the Winooski River Bridge Project (connecting Burlington and Colchester). Approved.

Spring Summit: Kathy reported that another planning meeting has been held and that plans were firming up. Discussion about fees/memberships for attendance at the Summit. There was a consensus that some sort of membership benefit should be built into the attendance fee. The board also agreed that the fee for the summit should be at least $10, and perhaps higher. The Summit is scheduled for Saturday April 20, 2002 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph.

VTRANS: Jon Kaplan:

that Burlington, Vermont has been selected as the meeting site for the 2003 State Bicycle Coordinators Annual Meeting,
that he has obtained a copy of national traffic law CD ROM, which info is available to interested parties,
that VTRANS BikePed Grants for FY 2003 will consist of only Technical Assistance Grants of $20k each. Because VTRANS has 33 Bike/Ped facilities in process of construction, they feel that they would not be able to effectively manage additional facility grants this coming year, and
that the publication of the Bike Facilities Design Manual was imminent, and would be, contrary to previous reports, coming up for public comment sometime this spring.

New Business:

Election of Officers: George offered the following slate of Officers for the ensuing year.
President: Bunky Bernstein
Vice President: Kathy Davidow
Treasurer: Dave Jacobowitz
Secretary: Bud Haas
MOTION: To elect the slate. Motion Approved
Memberships in Other Organizations: 1) MOTION to appropriate $100 as membership fee in the Thunderhead Alliance. Approved. 2) Discussion of policy regarding membership in other organizations. MOTION: The Executive Director be authorized to negotiate reciprocal nonpaying memberships with other state, regional, or local organizations with missions similar to the VBPC. Approved.
VTRANS Bicycle Pedestrian Design Manual: Discussion about if and how VBPC would review the new Manual. Jon offered that VTRANS would provide copies of the Draft Manual for interested VBPC members to review, and there was consensus that time at a future meeting would be reserved for discussion and review of the Manual. Jon noted that once the draft Manual is published, a 3 month review period would begin.
National Bike Month (May): Jon requested help, and advice on how to publicize and promote Bike Month. The Board agreed to put info on the Website, and Bunky agreed to draft an article about Bike Month to be released through the GCPFS Publicity facility, and posted on the VBPC website.
ChapinÎs Proposed Next Steps for the VBPC: Chapin asked that this item be dropped from the Agenda.
25 Million Dollar Federal Grant Proposal: Short discussion. Bud reported that as of today, there was no notice on the Senate EPW website of any meetings regarding the reauthorization of TEA-21, or Bike/Ped funding. MOTION: That after checking with Liz Campbell, to authorize Bud to present the proposed $25 Million Grant to Senator JeffordsÎ Staff, asking for a Special Allocation of Bike/Ped funds for Vermont.
Agenda Items for Next Meeting:
1. No new ones noted.

Workplan Development List (cumulative):

National Walk to School Day, September-October 2003.
Annual VBPC Bike Ride, Summer or Fall 2003.
National Bike Month: 2003.
Spring Summit 2003.

NEXT MEETING:
Board of Directors: 6 PM, Monday February 11, 2002, at Checquers Restaurant, Richmond (located at the RT 2-I89 intersection, west of Richmond Village).

ADJOURNED: 8:10 pm

Respectfully Submitted
Bud Haas, Secretary