Present: Zack Scharlepp, Paul Guyas, David Yon, Kory Skrob, Mike Savage, Mark Priddy, Tom Perkins, Mary Jean Yon, Katie Sherron, Herb Wills, Others; Tony Guillen, Bill Lott, Karen Jeter, Lisa Unger, Jeanne O’Kon, Chika Okoro.

The President called the meeting to order at 7:31 p.m. and a quorum was established.

The Board reviewed the September 2017 minutes. A motion to approve was made, seconded and passed without opposition.

New Business

 Thomas Biance as New Training Group Coordinator – Zack asked the Board to approve Thomas Biance as new training group coordinator as Tracy Godin is stepping down.  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously.

Race Directors Workshop – Jeanne O’Kon promoted the annual Race Director’s workshop that herself, David Yon and Lisa Unger put on to advise and assist non-club race directors. A panel of race directors speak at the event.  The event will be on November 12, 2017, 2-3 p.m. at Premier Health and Fitness Center. Spread the word.

Women’s Distance Festival wrap up – Lisa Unger presented the final budget wrap up for the Women’s Distance Festival. Final revenues were $3,938.92, expenditures $2,373.91, with a net revenue of $1,565.01 which included a direct donation to TMH of $195.32 to be split between GWTC ($782.51) and TMH ($977.83).  Lisa asked the Board if they would approve rounding up the TMH donation to $1000.  A motion was made to approve this request, seconded and passed unanimously.

GWTC Financing Presentation – David Yon stated that Lee Scarborough was not in attendance to present on the GWTC financial review.  David instead provided a quick update to the Board stating that Lee had some suggestions for improvement and turned it over to Katie Sherron to explain one of the suggestions.  Katie said that her being the keep of the checks, writing them and keeping the books was a source of contention, and it was suggested that she divide up these responsibilities by having her removed as a signer of the checks.  Katie would be removed from having any direct dealing with touching the money, such as check signing and depositing, but would keep the books.  It was suggested that Bill Lott be the check signer from now on, a motion was made, seconded and approved unanimously.

Tommy Award – Bill Lott presented the Tommy award that GWTC received from Visit Tallahassee.  The award recognizes those who contribute to excellence in tourism marketing, community initiative, innovation, developing creative partnerships and/or green/sustainability efforts.  Herb, Judy, David and Bill attended the ceremony. Tom Perkins then presented an award certificate from the Bicycle Pedestrian Partnership Council that GWTC also received.

Chip Timing Maintenance – Bill Lott brought up a couple of issues that he and Peg are having with the timing readers. They contacted the company who makes them, who recommended that the filters and coin batteries be changed every 2-3 years and that the main battery be changed every 5 years.  They have one reader that has a battery that is 6 years old and doesn’t hold a charge, one reader was bought in 2014 so that will need a battery soon, and the other one was bought in April 2015 so it is OK for now.  He made the request to change the two older reader batteries for $350 plus shipping each.  Bill was informed that if his request was under $500 he had that in his equipment budget, which includes maintenance of timing equipment, he would not need to ask for Board approval.  A motion was made to approve Bill obtaining two new reader batteries, seconded and approved unanimously.

Rex Cleveland Magic Mile 2017 budget – David Yon presented the budget for the 2017 Magic Mile.  Estimated revenues are $5,000, expenditures $4,150, with a net revenue of $850 to be split equally between Alzheimer’s Project and GWTC. A motion was made to approve this budget, seconded and passed without opposition. A social event will be held after the race at Proof.

Turkey Trot 2017 budget – David Yon presented the budget for the 2017 Turkey Trot.  Estimated revenues are $167,500, expenditures $92,673. A motion was made to approve this budget, seconded and passed without opposition.

GWTC Youth Striders – David Yon provided an update on the Youth Striders, a page has been made on the GWTC website dedicated to the program.  The program involves a school competition for the greatest number of participants and the fastest teams, winning money or gift cars to support their running. Parents and teachers can be included in the number of participants and count as one point.  See the website for the four races included in this challenge.  David also mentioned that he may like to present a budget for this initiative in the future.

Beginning Running Group Race Incentive – Chika Okoro gave the Board an update on the beginning running group. She said that the group is half way through their session and they have 10 core participants, when the group ordinally started they had at least 30 which included volunteers.  She proposed to the Board about having a race incentive such as a free race or a discount to offer the beginner runners.  The group already receives a free GWTC membership upon sign up, but she feels that an added incentive may encourage participants to stay in the program the whole time if they have a free/discounted race to work towards.  Mary Jean said that she had already mentioned this to some race directors and the feedback was generally positive. Mary Jean said she would work with the race directors to get a list of races who would honor the certificate. A motion was made to approve the use of a certificate with an expiration date to get a $10 discount for a GWTC race on the list, seconded and approved.  Chika also said that she had been approached by the FSU Be the Match Foundation to see if GWTC would put on a race for them.  The Board said that her contact should go to the Race Directors Workshop for more information about putting on a race.

Old Business

2018 GWTC Board Nominations – Tony Guillen presented the Board with a preliminary ballot for the GWTC Board nomination, he and Mike Savage are working on it and will post on the website about the election.  The preliminary list includes;

President – Zack Sharlepp

Vice President – Paul Guyas

Secretary – Emma Spencer

Treasurer – Katie Sherron

Directors at Large – Judy Alexander, Maria Matheu, Chika Okoro, Tom Perkins, Herb Wills, David Yon, Christopher O’Kelley, Chris Stanley, Mark Tombrink, Kristin Halley.

Race Director Coordinator – Mary Jean Yon

Education and Lecture Coordinator – Kory Skrob

Social Coordinator – Vicky Droze

A motion was made to approve this list, seconded and passed unanimously. Tony will send out an updated or final list for approval soon.

 Committee Reports:

Treasurer’s Report –Katie Sherron

Katie Sherron provided the Board with account information showing that as of September 30, 2017, the balance in each account is, $90,114.59 in the Operations account, $2,770.84 for the Events 1 accounts, $10,126.70 for the Events 2 account, $10,756.94 for the Triathlon account, $85,500.00 in the Invest and Reserve account and $14,417.89 in the Chenoweth Fund.  Katie mentioned that the Club was approximately $13,000 more in the black compared to this time last year, likely due to marathon deposits and the Sickle Cell 5K race.

Membership Report –Mark Priddy

There are 1411 members in the club as of October 11, 2017, an increase of 27 from last month’s meeting. We also have 724 household memberships, 17 more than last month. The Tri Club has 247 members. Mark mentioned that this a very busy season for membership, and 2018 membership renewal for all 1411 members and 247 Triathletes must be entered into the membership database before the first Grand Prix race in January.  Mark said that he would use email and social media to generate an early response for 2018 online membership, additionally the November Fleet Foot will remind those members who get the hard copy (paper) monthly newsletter to check their “EXPDATE” on the envelope. If date is 12/31/2017, then they need to renew for 2018. He will send a mass mailing after Thanksgiving to all members who have not renewed, to remind them that they need to either mail, or renew online by the first Grand Prix race in January to be eligible to score points, and to receive the January Fleet Foot newsletter.

Tri Club Athletes also need to be aware of their renewal dates and sign up for 2018 as soon as possible.

Race Director Coordinator Report – Mary Jean Yon

Mary Jean informed the Board that the next Race Directors (RD) meeting will be held on Sunday October 29, 2017.   Katie Sherron has been invited to attend to discuss budget items with the Race Directors.  Mary Jean is also working on updating the RD’s handbook, and she will work with Chika Okoro on obtaining buy-in from RD’s for the beginner running group race discount certificates.

Newsletter Report –Fred Deckert

No report.

Clothing Coordinator Report –Zack Scharlepp for Rachael Scharlepp

Zack said that the car seat cover Rachael had ordered are in stock, and she will be selling those at the next event.

Equipment Report – Katie Sack & Bill Lott

Bill reported that everything was good.

Website Committee Report –David Yon

David Yon said there was nothing new to report regarding the website.

Chenoweth Fund Report –David Yon

The Chenoweth Committee approved a request for $250 from Angie Milford to put on an elementary school cross country meet on the Phipps property and to buy awards. A motion was made to approve this request, seconded and passed unanimously.

Triathlete Report –Karen Jeter for Charlie Johnson

Charlie is in Kona getting ready for the Ironman Championship so Karen stepped in to provide the triathlete report. The selection for the 2018 Gulf Winds Triathletes Board of Directors nominees:

Vice President: Wayne Thumm

Treasurer: David Strange

Secretary: Karen Jeter

Director At Large: Tina Bahmer, Tanya Devlieger, Marc Malonzo, Kathy McDaris, Brian Poggie, Robby Turner

They all will be presenting their case for selection at the October monthly meeting. Following nominee stump speeches, Rob McNeely will present “Death and Triathlon”, a talk sharing info from the study by the American College of Physicians on death and cardiac arrest in triathlon.

Moon Over Maclay (Nov. 5, 6 pm – 9 pm):  Volunteers needed to assist as walkway monitors to usher attendees from the Visitors Center to the event.  In addition, monitors are required to dissuade entry into blocked-off paths into the Gardens and help people onto the walk to lakeside shelter.  Monitors also help light candles in luminaries and keep them lit for the evening. When the concert is over, they use flashlights to help light the way as people exit.  You can contact Ann Johnson at nollvr@gmail.com or you can reach Gary Griffin at heb121@comcast.net to volunteer.

Garmin Show and Tell – Nov. 6 at Higher Ground.  Garmin reps will show the latest and greatest technology and offer any assistance on how to use Garmin products anyone may have already.  Discounts may be available for new products.  Rumor is a keg of Oology beer will be there.

2017 Tri Club Grand Prix races were completed with Sprint on the Flint Triathlon.  Additionally, Gulf Winds Triathlon Club was awarded Division two first place tri-club award at the Augusta 70.3.

2018 Grand Prix committee is underway.  Made up of John Sivyer (Chairman), Wayne Thumm, Stephanie Weyant, Jeff Bowman and Tina Bahmer.  In the next newsletter, the triathlete spotlight will be Kory and Robert Skrob.

Lecture Series Report – Kory Skrob

The previous lecture on September 24, 2017 on training for your full or half marathon with Felton Wright and Nancy Stedmon was a success, with over 25 people there, most of which were new to Gulf Winds.  The next lecture will be on October 23, 2017 at Momos, 6-8p, where Justin Marion a doctoral student, will be discussing results from his study on aging, cardiovascular health and cognitive functions in the 65-85-year-old age group. An event for November has not yet been planned but Gary Griffin will be writing and article on the Fleet Foot on racing etiquette, if anyone else would like to write articles please contact Kory.

Training Report –Tracy Godin

No Report from Tracy.  Paul Guyas did report for Thomas Biance who supports Chika’s request for race discount certificates for the beginning running group.  Thomas would also like to make the Optimist Park Thursday run a regular training group run.  He also would like to extend the Monday Turkey Trot training runs with CCR until right up to the race.  He had asked about what he could do as Training Coordinator, the Board said anything he wanted within the confines of the Club, including setting up group trainings on Eventbrite and having participants sign liability waivers when they sign up.

Social Report – Kristin Halley

Kristin Halley via email has made a reservation at Sky Zone on Sunday, October 22nd at 5pm for Gulf Winds.  A total of 25 people minimum is needed for a group event, but Kristen stated that she did not see that being a problem.  Gulf Winds will have 60 minutes of open court, with people going to eat after if they wanted.  She plans on posting the event soon.

Trail Coordinator Report –Jim Halley

Kristin Halley for Jim Halley via email attached a copy of the budget for the Swamp Forest race series.  Estimated revenues to be collected are $5,500, expenditures are estimated at $4,176.50 with estimated total net revenues of $1,323.50. A motion was made to approve the budget, seconded and passed unanimously.  Tom Perkins suggested that they consider obtaining their port-o-johns from Howdy’s as they charge $50 per port-o-john.

They plan on opening Swamp Forest registration up October 13, 2017, and will have preview runs in the future to get people interested.

Other Items:

The youth Grand Prix race schedule was approved by the Board via email.  The Grand Prix Committee are to send the list of race to Bill Lott.

Two Grand Prix races, the Women’s Distance Festival and the Prefontaine 5K will switch their dates with each other for 2018, see race calendar for details.

A motion to adjourn was made, seconded and passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.