Blog

August 16, 2022, 7 p.m.

In person: Frog Hollow Bikes, Middlebury

Board Members:

Bold indicated people in attendance

Others in Attendance:  Jon Bowdish.

A quorum was not reached. 

REGULAR BUSINESS

President’s Report

1. USFS trail counter loan – no new news
2. VMBA membership posters – Posters have been placed in Vergennes and Chipman Hill (Washington Street Ext access, across from Peterson Terrace). Discussion: Carl to ask MALT to put posters at kiosks near Wright Park or Drop In Brewing. Seth took a poster to place in Bristol. 
3. Contact with Battell Trust (Tony and Caleb) – I reached out on July 7, no response. Discussion: George to follow up again. 
4. Comp memberships for Jeremy Parker, Jill Kopel, and Skimmer Heller? Comp memberships are OK with VMBA going forward (ACBC does not get revenue from comped membership). VMBA’s suggestion for this year, since the landowners have already joined and paid, is to offer a gift certificate to a partner restaurant. Discussion: ACBC does partner with any restaurants, but discussed purchasing gift certificates at the Bobcat Cafe. Topic will be added to September’s meeting agenda. 
5. Andrew and I still need to replace the bridge in Battelle/Buttolph Acres with a wider one. Is there a need for the existing  8’ x 2’ bridge anywhere? If not, it can be used at Rikert. Discussion: Put it in Battell Woods in a wash area on the double track. Might make it easier for beginners to cross. 
6. Also, I have a 20’ x 1’ diameter steel culvert (which could be cut shorter) up for grabs. No discussion. 
7. Ashar, Andrew, and George met with Marc Lapin, College Lands Conservationist to discuss better coordination between the College and ACBC. Discussion: College owns half of Chipman Hill. Wants to conserve land and wildlife and has asked ACBC to take all the trails at Rikert off Trailforks. Barney Hodges has left Rikert and a new manager is being hired. Hopefully,  they will be pro-bike. 
8. T-shirt proposal: have bike jerseys or tech t-shirts? Discussion: Shirts could increase ACBC’s visibility. Potential idea: There are enough funds in the bank so that every member gets one. Sue to get pricing from Mitchell’s. Seth to work on a few designs (such as an AC/DC take-off) for a new logo? If the club wanted to offer jerseys, Voler has an on-demand jersey program? 

Treasurer’s Report

June bank statement:

Balance = $13,923.92

Expenses = $220.50 to RK Miles for bridge materials, $222.75 to Maple Run Marketing, $1500.00 to Skimmer Hellier (New Leaf)

Account has been set up at the National Bank of Middlebury.  Carl, George, and Ashar need to sign documents as signers.  A check will be written to put a large portion of the balance into the National Bank of Middlebury account. I feel we should keep the People’s bank account open until we get new checks. We can also keep it open until VMBA has our new info for directly depositing our membership $. Discussion: George will go to NBMVT after his upcoming trip. 

Discussion of what to do with the club’s extra funds: Invest in a wheelbarrow with treads? About $2K investment. Hasn’t been much need to bring materials further into the woods. 

Membership Report (Activity from 6/13/22 to 7/25/22)

• New memberships
  • (3) Individual 
  • (2) U25
  • (0) Family of 2
  • (0) Family of 3
  • (0) Family of 4
• Returning memberships
  • (6) Individual
  • (1) U25
  • (0) Family of 2
  • (0) Family of 3
  • (1) Family of 4
  • (1) Family of 5

From VMBA lapsed membership report: 

• ACBC has 81 Memberships as of 8/16, this is in comparison to 80 Memberships for all of 2021/2022
• ACBC has 28 Memberships that did not renew this year, which is 1.4% of our total Memberships for 2021/2022
• ACBC had 21 Memberships Add Ons for 2021/2022 and has 15 Membership Add Ons as of 8/16/22

Discussion: What follow up should be done to lapsed members? Sue will put a list of lapsed members on the shared Google drive. Board members will indicate who they know.  

Social Media Report – Alan Hebert – no report

Trails Report Middlebury – Andrew Hirsch 

Discussion: 

• Marc Lupin from Middlebury College sent a GPS map. There are two small segments on Chipman Hill where trails are crossing corners of private land. No action needed as no one is raising any concerns.
• Carl’s being helping MALT’s trail committee to mow/brush hog some of its trails. Carl is asking for help. John Derrick brought some gravel in. Needs help spreading? 
• Seth: did we ever get tools? George to check with Krysy.
• Carl: Jeremy Parker may be interested in building trails on his land. How can ACBC help? Is there a VMBA agreement with him?  Already have permission from Duttons. Should get something more formal. George to look into land owner agreement – forms on VMBA’s website. 

Trails Report Moosalamoo – Ashar Nelson 

• Moosalamoo Connector – Sue reported that Ashar is seeking permission from one landowner (Bagnulo). 
• Trail maintenance: The campground trail was cleaned up on July 16th.  

Trails Report Bristol – Seth Beck

• There are 38 kids in the 5 Town Rider group. Mostly 5th to 12th graders. Could ACBC sponsor jerseys for 5 Town riders? In exchange for adding the ACBC logo. Seth to follow up. 
• The New Leaf trails have been cleaned up. Work will start on the northeast corner of the property to build a more technical trail. Will add .75 – 1 mile to the network. Working on trail signs and kiosks for which Silver Maple Construction has donated mahogany decking to build with. Trail names are being finalized with input from the kids. We’ll do a social media shoutout once we receive the donation from Silver Maple.
• Seth asked Meridith re: board participation. Busy. He’ll press her again. Do we need to add board members? Sue to check bylaws. NOTE: SEE BELOW
• There will be some sort of fall event on the New Leaf trails. 

Bylaw excerpt re: Number and Qualifications

Section 1.  Number and Qualification.  The Board of Directors shall consist of not less than five (5) nor more than twelve (12) members, as may be determined from time to time by a majority of the then current members of the Board of Directors. All Board members shall be members of the Addison County Bike Club’s’ chapter of VMBA. For purposes of this requirement, members of family memberships and duly authorized agents of business memberships shall be considered members of the Corporation. The Executive Director shall be an ex officio non-voting member of the Board of Directors and shall not be included within the determined number of Directors.

Trails Report Vergennes – Scott Hardy

A work day is scheduled for August 20th and John Stroup is leading the work.  He has done a fair amount of work on the trails and has a vision of building features. 

Events 

• George is proposing a vintage MTB ride and post-ride food/drink. Locate it in Middlebury (easiest riding terrain).  Sue to look at local event calendars to see competing or complementary dates and make a recommendation. 
• Frog Hollow is planning a group ride at New Leaf trails on 8/25 at 6 p.m. Carl would like to partner with ACBC to offset some of the costs. Bryan Grundon has been making food. $100 to feed people. Alan can post something (or share a post from FH) to social media. 

Special Projects 

• Do we anticipate applying for any grants from VMBA this fall? Discussion: Purchase a snowdog for winter trail grooming. Could create a lot of goodwill. The snowdog could be transported between Addison County trail networks. Approximate cost is $5K which includes the groomer, trailer, hitch, and custom modifications. 
• Discussion of how ACBC can support the proposed pump track in Middlebury. Sue to request update from Erik Remsen and will resend the design to the board. 

NEW/OTHER BUSINESS

• Discussed access on A. Johnson lands. Sue to facilitate introduction between Bill Sayre, George and Seth.
• Eric brought up the topic of a town forest management plan for Middlebury which is needed if ACBC wants to potentially develop trails on town property and work cooperatively with the Means and Battell Trusts. A management plan is often a requirement for grant applications. Deeds need to be reviewed, plan developed, brought to town meeting for approval. Eric estimates this project would need 50-60 hours of work. George will make another attempt to reach the Trust boards to better understand their future visions. Eric will provide the board with a copy of the 2018(?) recreation survey. 

NEXT MEETING

September 20, 2022, 7 pm