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Voting Members Present: Jerry McDaniel, Allen Blay, Peg Griffin, Mickey Moore, Lisa Unger, Mary Jean Yon, David Yon, Emily Webster, Carter Hay & Mark Priddy. Absent: Jeanne O’Kon, Hawthorne Hay, Herb Wills, Tina Bahmer, JoAnne Maltese. Non-Voting Members Present: Dave Rogers, Bobby York, Mike Schmitt, Bill Lott.

1. Opening and Introduction: Jerry McDaniel opened the meeting at 6:31 p.m. A motion was made to approve the minutes of the August 12, 2026 meeting. Motion was seconded
and passed.

2. Announcements from Officers: Jerry noted that the date for the November board meeting falls on Veterans Day this year and asked for approval to move the meeting to Tuesday, November 10, 2026, instead. A motion to make that change was made, seconded, and passed.

At the June 10, 2026, board meeting a motion was approved to pay the travel expenses for Robert and Kory Skrob and Bill and Kelli Dillon to attend a RunSignUp University in Minnesota. The Skrobs and the Dillons opted not to be paid for this trip and attended at their own expense. Upon their return, they have been sharing what they learned with race directors and other interested people.
The new track at Holy Comforter has been hosting Tuesday morning intervals for the past two weeks. A ceremony to officially open the track is scheduled for Thursday, September 10, 2026. Jerry and Jackie McDaniel will attend and represent the club.

Mark Priddy reviewed the ballot for the upcoming GWTC Election. There are currently eight people running for six positions in the Director-at-large category and he hopes to increase that number after advertising on social media. The final ballot will be brought to the board for approval at the October board meeting.

3. Old Business/Race Closeouts:

a) Breakfast on the Track Closeout: Peg Griffin reported for Lauren and Chris Stanley. Total revenue for the race was $3,110.20 and expenses were $1,816.98, resulting in a net revenue of $1,293.22. Race proceeds will be shared evenly between the club and Maclay Track and Field. A motion to approve this closeout was made, seconded and approved.

b) Summer Trail Series Closeout: Bobby York reported that the series (four races) had a combined revenue of $14,636.47 and expenses were $11,779.53 resulting in a net revenue of $2,856.94. The proposed split of the race proceeds is as follows: GWTC $1,606.94, Tallahassee Friends of Our Parks $750, and Maclay Gardens State Park Trail Maintenance $500. A motion to approve this closeout was made, seconded, and approved. Bobby also noted that of the 152 runners that participated in the series, 52 ran all four races, 61 ran three races, 25 ran two races, and 14 ran one race.

c) Miller Landing Madness Closeout: Bill Lott reported that total revenue for the races was $8,923.48 and expenses were $10,938.94, resulting in a net loss of $2,015.46. A large part of the reason for this loss was the unexpected increase in the number of race participants, specifically the 3K race. This triggered a need to have additional shirts printed. While the net loss will be absorbed by GWTC, Bill also noted that Second Harvest received donations of $1,249.23 and 1,550 pounds of canned goods and the Chenoweth Fund received $725. A motion to approve this closeout was made, seconded, and approved.

4. New Business:

a) History of GWTC Races on Film: Dave Rogers shared with the group that he has a collection of films for five races (Salute to Prefontaine, Springtime Tallahassee, Palace Saloon, FSU Dairy Farm Cross Country and Run for the Pies) dating from 1976 to 1983. He offered to share these films with the club in hopes that they can be compiled in such a way that can then be shared with club members. Mike Schmitt offered to look into this saying his father might have the necessary equipment needed to do the job. With that, the board members agreed to take the films from Dave.

b) Swamp Forest Trail Races Proposed Budget: Bobby York presented the budget proposal which will be directed by Bobby in 2027. A motion to approve the budget was made, seconded, and approved.

c) GWTC 30K/15K Proposed Budget: Peg Griffin presented the 2027 budget proposal for Zach DeVeau. A motion to approve the budget was made, seconded, and approved.

d) HB 797 – 2026 Non-profit Corporations: Jerry McDaniel briefed the group on HB 797 which was passed in the 2026 Legislative session and updates existing law and also addresses the governance and fiduciary responsibilities of non-profit organizations and boards. Jerry and others are reviewing the bill and anticipate needing a few minor changes to the club’s bylaws in order to comply with provisions in the bill. He will bring this back to the board at a future meeting once the review is complete.

e) Fleet Foot Mailing Cost: Allen Blay discussed the high cost of printing and mailing paper copies of the Fleet Foot newsletter to club members. He stated he is not advocating removal of this option of communication for members but wanted to raise the cost issue for future discussion. Currently there are 297 people opting to receive a paper copy of the newsletter at a cost of approximately $80 per person yearly. Discussion ensued as to the various forms of member communication utilized by the club and the board agreed to take up this topic at the October or November board meeting. Jerry added that the GWTC Podcast should also be added to this discussion. Mark Priddy added that he has an extensive collection of Fleet Foot issues dating back to the 1970’s if anyone would like to have them.

5. Reports:

a)  Equipment: Mike Schmitt reported he recently experienced some complications and inconvenience associated with the return of equipment that was hopefully a one-time occurrence. His back-up was not available at the time, and several board members offered their assistance if this happens again in the future.

Bill Lott added that some of the lights on the GWTC trailer would not work when the trailer was used for the Miller Landing Madness races. Testing needs to be performed to determine the exact problem. A new 4-prong adapter was acquired as a precautionary measure.

b)  Chip Timing Report: Bill Lott reported that, in August, two non-Club races (Tallahassee Beer Festival Beer Mile; and Wedding Bell 5K) and three Club races (Breakfast on the Track 1 Mile; Miller Landing Madness 8K/5K/3K; and Summer Trail Series Races #4 – Maclay Gardens) were chip timed. For September, one non-Club race (Bluebird Run for Brookie B 5K) and three Club races (5K for Sickle Cell Anemia/Tim Simpkins 1 Mile; Women’s Distance Festival 5K; and Salute to Steve Prefontaine 5K/1Mile Forest Run) will be chip timed.

c)  Training Groups Coordinator: Emily Webster reported that Bobby York will be taking over the Beginning Running Group which starts September 23, 2026, and runs until November 18, 2026. Training groups will also be announced soon for Turkey Trot and the Tallahassee Half-Marathon. She noted that Fleet Feet is also conducting a training group for the half-marathon with a fee assessed per runner. No fees are charged for the GWTC Half-Marathon training group.

d)  Treasurer: Peg Griffin reported that as of August 31, 2026, the club had net assets of $276,733, liabilities of $1,753, and a net loss to date of $20,311. She had distributed the GWTC’s 2025-26 draft Form 990 in advance of the meeting and asked for approval to file it with the Internal Revenue Service. A motion to approve the 990 was made, seconded, and passed. A reminder was also issued to board members to send Peg their conflict-of-interest disclosure form as soon as possible.

Jerry noted that he would like to explore having the club allocate an annual fee to Holy Comforter for use of their new track. Proceeds from the Springtime race have been used to help build the track and Jerry feels the time is right to shift to a user fee for the school that would cover use of the track for intervals, Breakfast on the Track, etc. He will work on determining a recommended dollar amount to be discussed at a future meeting.

e)  Triathlete Club: No Report

f)  Director of Race Directors: Lisa Unger shared a status report for the Tallahassee Marathon and Half – Marathon that was submitted by the race directors. She continues to work on the issue of securing a license, through RRCA, to play copyrighted music at races. She has enlisted the help of Geoffrey Adams and Bill Dillon to obtain relevant data and determine next steps. She is also working on documenting the process for securing the services of Leon County Emergency Management Services to assist future Directors of Race Directors. And finally, she mentioned she is exploring securing a subscription for Canva to assist race directors in doing graphic design work for their races.

g)  Director of Communications: Mickey Moore presented the membership numbers as follows: 459 Individual memberships, 284 Family memberships, resulting in a total of 743 distinct memberships. He added that he is interested in having the Membership Coordinator position work on recruiting non-members that run club races. Mickey also reported that growth is occurring on all of the club’s social media platforms with no money being spent yet on boosting posts. Emails continue to be sent out to update club members on what is happening in the club. For the podcast, Mickey noted that $1,000 has been generated in sponsorship donations. The next podcast will feature the Tallahassee Turkey Trot. He asked that board members continue to share emails and social media posts about the podcast.

h)  Director of Education and Socials: No Report

i)  RACER Committee: No Report

j)  Chenoweth Fund: Nothing to report.

k)  Merchandise: No report.

l)  Grand Prix Committee: Allen Blay reported that the Grand Prix committee will meet next week to determine the 2027 Grand Prix schedule. The deadline for non-club races to request being on this schedule is Tuesday, September 15, 2026. He added that all new committee members have been trained on the scoring system and he continues to explore ways to automate the scoring.

m)  School Grants Coordinator: Carter Hay reported for Amy O’Kelley that Roberts Elementary school will be receiving a $500 grant for their running program. A motion to approve the grant was made, seconded, and approved. 

Meeting Adjourned: 8:01 p.m.
Mary Jean Yon for Jeanne O’Kon