M.I.S.C. Board Meeting, February 11, 6:30 PM, Bruce Peterson's home

The meeting began around 6:30 PM. We noted that the Northern Inline Skaters were coming down from Duluth on February 16, and we might meet up with them at the Dome.

Randy showed us some club business cards that he printed up on his inkjet printer. He printed up 250 cards for a cost of about $6. The disadvantage of an inkjet printer is that the colors would run, though. Bruce could print up some cards on his laser printer.

We reviewed the survey results. The number of responses (15) was disappointingly low because we didn't have time to mention the survey in the newsletter. It was only mentioned on this Web site and in an e-mail that went out to members. Some of the findings are:

• There were 10 votes to add the Minnehaha trail, 7 votes to keep the South St. Paul trail, and 4 votes to keep the Southwest LRT trail. Despite the low amount of confidence in the last two trails, we noted that we were getting good turnout at these skates, so we're going to keep them on the schedule for next year.
• On trail systems that branch out (particularly the Cedar Lake/Kenilworth/ Greenway/Southwest LRT system), we need to make it clear at the beginning where the group is going, or at least where it plans to go.
• As far as day trips and camping trips went, support was highest for a camping trip and a day trip along the Cannon Valley Trail. However, last summer when we did a day skate along with the Cannon Valley camping trip, we had a low turnout of skaters there just for the day skate.
• Most people want to continue the Adopt-a-Trail program, but support is mixed between doing it just at the beginning of the season versus doing it several times during the season. We decided to do the Cedar Lake Trail and the Big Rivers Regional Trail once each at the beginning of the season and a midseason cleanup of the Cedar Lake Trail. If the trails got too littered in the meantime, we could schedule additional cleanups on an ad-hoc basis.
• We discussed the comments on club communications. Although it's most effective to send out club updates via e-mail, not everyone has e-mail or pays attention to it once it's sent out. An alternative would be to send out postcards on a weekly or monthly basis to remind people of the schedule. We all agree that the newsletter needs to come out more often. The survey comments tended to say that our current communications are generally okay, but that we should increase our communications level so we can make our club more appealing.
• There are a lot of comments and opinions about the board of directors. Some people feel that not enough board members are showing up to weekly skates and appearing interested in the club. The general feeling among board members is that we try to show up, but not everyone can make it to every skate. A couple board members mentioned that every time they show up to a skate, they're asked questions about when the next election will be held.
• Some club members would like to have a more general discussion of the club's governance and their ideas for promoting the club. We will try to advertise board meetings to the club membership and invite participation, although this may be difficult if we're doing it in someone's home.

We reviewed a member who expressed interest in being a member of the board of directors. This person has interest in working with us and has a lot to offer, as well as the willingness to help out. However, he's had personality conflicts with other board members in the past, which has been disruptive. Randy will talk to this person.

We reviewed the proposed calendar and set the dates for various events. We also rearranged some of the Monday Fun Skate places to come up with a more consistent schedule. (After the meeting, we found out that some of the event dates were wrong, such as the Brainerd Online marathon and the Big Granite marathon, so we've made further adjustments.) In particular, we need to find out when the Minneapolis Earth Day events will be held. (I found out that last year's event ran from 9:30 to 11:00, with refreshments and a celebration afterward at various neighborhood locations. Is an hour and a half really enough to do a full trail cleaning?) Also, for events such as the Cedar Lake Trail, we need to tell people in which direction we'll be skating. For the Sunrise Prairie Trail day trip, we need to specify a start location, as well as where we'll eat, and we need to really promote this among members.

Since we only had one person interested in being on the board, and since this person won't immediately be made a member of the board, we held an election for the club's officers. We discussed the position of vice president, which is a position essentially to help the president with long-range planning. Randy, as acting president, has a number of ideas for improving the club and attracting members. He's starting to show a lot of enthusiasm for the position though he hasn't admitted it. We came out with the following officers:

• President: Randy Simmons
• Vice president and membership coordinator: Bruce Peterson
• Treasurer: Karen Buswell
• Webmaster and trail advocacy: Todd Murray
• Special events coordinator: Gerry Vangen
• Special events coordinator: Gina Hammes

The newsletter had some information that we really wanted to get out earlier, in time for this meeting. Marilyn was working it that night that we were having the board meeting.

The next wheel rotation date is at the Dome on March 16. The next board meeting is on March 11, 6:30 PM at Bruce's house. (Not 6 PM, but 6:30 PM.) We will announce this to the members of the club. After that, we adjourned.