HTC Executive
Board Meeting – 22 January 2008
Board Members Present:
David Purinton (President), Ashley Cain
(VP-Programs), Harold Tinsley (VP-Communications), Kathy Youngren
(Treasurer), Dink
Also present was Jim Oaks, former Cotton Row Run Director.
The executive board meeting was held at Southwood
Presbyterian Church and was called to order at 6:35 PM. The first item discussed were proposed
changes to the fee structure of the Cotton Row Run. After examining past financial history of the
race and discussing plans for the future of the race the following price structure
was approved:
10K & 5K Registration Fees
Registration received/postmarked by
3/15
$12
Registration received/postmarked by
4/15
$16
Registration received/postmarked by
5/15
$20
Sunday Night
Registration
$30
1 mile Registration Fees
Registration received/postmarked by
4/15
$8
Registration received/postmarked by
5/15
$10
Sunday
Registration
$15
In addition the board discussed and approved the addition of
a 1 mile Huntsville Police Fallen Officers' Memorial Walk which will start
immediately following the start of the Kid’s Fun Run. The Memorial Walk will follow the same course
as the kid’s run.
We will provide a spot on the entry form for participants to
make a donation to the Memorial. Also,
with the increase in entry fees and the solicited donations the HTC has
committed to donating $7500 to the Huntsville Police Fallen Officers' Memorial.
The next item discussed was the Rocket City Marathon. We had a few issues with items
disappearing. We will keep a closer eye on the storage room next year and
perhaps have a totally separate room. We discussed the issue of headphones.
For the time being the consensus was to get the word out about why headphones
are not safe. We will do more research to see how other races are
handling headphones. We also discussed police fees and perhaps making the
cut-off 5:30 hours. This was tabled on the thought that this may not go
over well with several of our local participants. And the fact that we
want to keep the community involved. We also discussed having the entry
fee complete by Cotton Row with the thoughts of getting the race information
out quicker. Also discussed increasing the number of
participants. It was decided that for now 1500 is all we can
handle.
There were several general race items discussed. One was a new sign variance that effects the
signage the club places before an upcoming event to notify the public about
possible traffic encroachment. David will get with Lou Hovatter to get the specifics on how we need to get signs
approved in the future. Also discussed
was the need for race directors to provide timely financial information about
their events to the treasurer. David
took an action item to draft a policy to require race directors to submit a
financial report of their event with 30 days of said event. This will help Kathy track expenses more
closely throughout the year as well as provide valuable records in the event of
an audit.
Harold mentioned some of the issues facing the RRCA. There appears to again be a power struggle
going on in the organization.
HTC membership was discussed next. We discussed the possibility
of giving a member discount to races. We also discussed bringing more
awareness about HTC to the general public. Some ideas suggested were
meetings at races, HTC meeting similar to the Jeff Galloway meeting at Fleet
Feet Sports. We also discussed the possibility of having a tent at races
like Autumn Chase and the Liz Hurley Run.
We discussed a few other membership infractions which will
be addressed individually and personally at this time. Also discussed was the prolific use of
headphones in races despite the fact that all race entry forms prohibit
it. It was discussed that possibly the
best way to work this issue is to educate runners on why headphones are
dangerous.
We discussed Mt Mist and the fact that participants where
trying to transfer race entries. This is not allowed and we will be
checking IDs. David said he would also
take an action item to change the HTC race waiver to add verbage
stating that race entries are non-transferable.
One reason for this is safety in that we must know the identity of the
person wearing a race number in the event of an emergency.
Dink mentioned the condition of the shed and proposed to buy
some shelving. He would like to get together with Eric to totally clean
out the shed.
Steve and Jennifer Carter were approved as the new race
directors for the Summer Cross Country Runs. It was commented that it
would be nice to see increased participation in this event again.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at
8:35 PM.