December 10, 2024 Board Meeting

Randonneurs USA Board of Director Minutes

December 10, 2024

 

  1. Call to order: The meeting on December 10, 2024 was called to order at 8:01 p.m. Eastern time, over Zoom. The following members were present.
    1. Bill Bryant
    2. Dawn Piech 
    3. Charlie Martin
    4. Rob Hawks
    5. Gardner Duvall
    6. Dave Thompson
    7. Vinny Muoneke

      Also in attendance were incoming Board members RBA-L Chris Argo and John Lee Ellis.
       
  2. The minutes of the November Board meeting were approved.
     
  3. A prior email vote was confirmed: a motion to add 10-year ultra awards for Award Distances of 1000k – 5000k did not pass.
     
  4. The Treasurer submitted a written report for November. Dave confirmed the correctness of revenue and expense entries.
     
  5. Gardner reported that the Financial Audit Committee reviewed the November Treasurer Report, without taking action on it.
     
  6. The 2025 RUSA budget was presented. A motion passed to approve the 2025 budget as submitted.
     
  7. Rob made a brief RBA-L report.
     
  8. Rob made a Brevet Coordinator report. The ACP made a mistake when uploading RUSA’s 2025 ACP calendar, and Rob was pursuing the correction. The UAF has not processed the 2024 results submitted by RUSA, which is beyond our control.
     
  9. The Web Team submitted a written report. It was agreed that the monthly Web Team reports would be published at RUSA.org, with an announcement of this enhancement to the members. Charlie stated that RUSA was prepared to provide gravel credit for team events beginning January 1, 2025.
     
  10. Dawn reported that the Board had received the November report concerning member engagement with Between Controls, with an open rate of 79% and 9% click rate. The open rate has stayed consistent yet the click rate for this edition is less than what we typically see. A draft of the December Between Controls was submitted for Board preview. Typically, each edition of Between Controls has 3 main/new topics. In the December issue, based on the amount of activity of the BOD and committees, there will be 6 new topics in this edition to give members insight to all of the projects and work going on behind the scenes. Additionally, Dawn also gave a brief update on the progress of showcasing RUSA at the 14th Philadelphia Bike Expo on March 8-9th, 2025. RUSA will have both a booth and panel seminar. Pennsylvania Randonneurs will also host a 100k populaire.
     
  11. The Board agreed to review its 2024 goals and add new goals for 2025, for discussion at the January meeting.
     
  12. The process for the 2025 American Randonneur Award was discussed. A plan to remind members of the upcoming nominations deadline was discussed.
     
  13. There was a preliminary discussion of the RUSA Gender Survey. Dawn began by providing a historical backdrop for this discussion and survey going back to 2020. Charlie reviewed some feedback and reactions to the release of the Gender Survey on several randonneuring list serves. The board discussed high-level trends in the survey responses. It was agreed that the Board would discuss the survey at its January meeting, with a follow-up meeting a week later with invited members asked to share their views.
     
  14. There was a follow-up discussion regarding a crime on a RUSA ride. The Board took no further action on the matter. Dave and Gardner will follow up documenting the process to respond to future events of this nature, for board review and approval.
     
  15. The next meeting was set for January 8, 2024.
     
  16. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 Eastern time, without objection.