MINUTES OF A MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
RANDONNEURS USA, INC.
Held September 9, 2020
A meeting of the RUSA Board of Directors was convened by Zoom/ telephone conference and called to order by the President at 17:00 PDT.
The Directors in attendance were:
• Debra Banks
• Pete Dusel
• John Lee Ellis
• John Ende
• Lois Springsteen
• Tim Sullivan
• Dave Thompson
A motion was made and passed to approve the meeting minutes for August 12, 2020.
The following e-votes was approved – denial of sanctioning of Taste of Long Island 1200.
There was a discussion on Board elections. A nominee for the Board will be advised on who else has been nominated for the Board and will have a 48 hour period to withdraw as a nominee for the Board after being notified of the other nominees. For the upcoming election members will have until October 15, 2020 to nominate someone for the Board and the voting will take place between November 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020.
Lois presented a treasurer’s report including a Statement of Financial Position Comparison, a Statement of Activity, and a cash flow analysis for 2020
A discussion was held regarding the 2021 fees for the permanent program. Included in the discussion was the membership fee for 2021 and perhaps bundling the membership fee with the permanent program fee. Dave and Lois will discuss the options discussed and provide a report to the Board.
Tim reported on the ongoing litigation. A global mediation of the Romo case and the Starr action is calendared for October 29, 2020. Trial has been continued in the Starr action to January 2021 and discovery in the Romo case has been postponed to after the mediation. Starr has agreed to provide a defense in the Romo case and RUSA is requesting reimbursement of the attorney’s fees incurred by RUSA in the Romo case.
Dave reported on the permanents program. The route library is increasing and Crista Borras is ready to start approving new routes.
John Lee reported that the Web Team has instituted PayPal as a method of collecting ride fees from RBAs when the event results are submitted. The Committee is working on the P-12 and the R-12 award programs and the pause for both programs. Chris Nadovich has joined the committee.
John Lee then discussed that the computation of the Ultra R-12 will require 10 R-12 applications vs repeating the R-12 computation. This change is so that the makeup and pause calculations do not have to be repeated in the Ultra logic.
Cap’n opened the discussion of sanctioning 326-600 km events and team events. With the pandemic seemingly receding Pete will contact who held events already this month to see how they went with safety procedures and will report back to the board. Pending Pete’s report back to the Board, distance limitation for both events and permanents will be increased to 600k. Team events will stay on hold.
Pete discussed whether RBAs could hold ACP events between October 16th and 31st. Normally RUSA does not approve ACP events after October 15th. Pete will contact Roland Bevan and Rob Hawks, members of the brevet committee, to determine their thoughts on scheduling events during this period.
Next on the agenda was 2021 scheduling. Even though the ACP will allow piecemeal scheduling of events for 2021it was agreed that RUSA will RBAs will submit a calendar as normal but RUSA may provide the ACP events on a rolling basis to allow for flexibility.
Dave reported on the use of SmartWaiver for events by RBAs. Mike Sturgill has prepared a sample waiver using the RUSA waiver and it will be used as a sample for other RBAs. RUSA will include the cost of the SmartWaiver as part of the ride fee.
Dave discussed allowing minors to ride events and permanents. The issue has been whether a waiver signed on behalf of a minor is a valid waiver. Dave has checked with McKay insurance and if the waiver is not a valid waiver then RUSA would have to pay a $500 deductible but would be covered. A motion was made and approved allowing minors to ride events or permanents but only if a parent signs the waiver and delivers the actually signed waiver and not an electronic signature to the RBA/ride organizer, except for electronically signed waivers using SmartWaiver.
The homologation of events 50 km to 99 km in distance was discussed. The Board decided that it would not sanction a ride that short in distance since randonneuring means a long distance unsupported endurance ride.
As a means of reducing expenses the size of American Randonneur was discussed. The printing costs have increased with the present printer. Dave and Lois will explore ways to save some costs while maintaining the quality of the magazine.
The meeting was adjourned at 19:14 PDT.