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Members attending the meeting - Mary Cash, Kim Waggoner, Arletta Webster, Mike Morehead, Kevin Mussett, Betsy Morehead, Susan & Mark Lash, Talesa & Mike Flenniken, Keith Reed, Bill Chavez, Fred Richard, Carmen Greenwood, Jim Hardin, Scott Nutt, Mike Kelly, Steven Bourke.
Non members attending - Kel Pickens & Carolyn Meyer
Pres Kevin Mussett brought the meeting to order at 2pm, Kevin welcomed all members and thanked them for attending the annual meeting.
Kevin is optimistic that the OBC is promoting bicycle access, safety and education at a time when the message resonates with bicyclists.
Last year we polled OBC membership and the top concerns were work with Oklahoma Dept of Transportation to improve roads for cycling, work with Law Enforcement for better understanding of cycling laws, promote law enforcement bicycle education classes and support Safe Routes to School and more bicycle safety education. The OBC accomplished something in every category and even a bit more.
Kevin Mussett had several meetings with ODOT concerning rumble strips. On October 27, OBC received a letter from ODOT stating their new rumble strip policy, which is more bicycle friendly than their old policy. This is a huge accomplishment.
In 2010, Shawn Gibson wrote a letter to all law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma (about 500), promoting the 3 ft passing law, bicycle awareness and inviting all law enforcement to attend bicycle police training at OSU.
Don Norvelle continues to coordinate with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation on the Safe Routes to School Program in Oklahoma . Oklahoma is awarding SRTS grants every spring.
The Oklahoma Safe Cyclist program is ready to debut in Oklahoma Schools this spring, for 4th and 5th grade students whose PE teachers receive the training. Oklahoma has 18 trainers available to teach the teachers.
Another success is the OBC Live Earth booth on April 18, manned by the OBC board and volunteer LCIs. For this booth we also partnered with the OK Tourism department.
The OBC applied for a grant to make Route 66 a bicycle corridor across the state of Oklahoma . We did not receive the grant, but in applying for the grant we learned a lot. The OBC has the support of the Oklahoma department of Tourism and we also received letters of support from all the towns along the route. This is a project that the OBC will continue working on.
Election of officers
President elect Mike Flenniken and Treasurer Arletta Webster
Acceptance of resignation President James Whited.
Mike Flenniken moved to Current President which creates an opening on the board for President Elect. The OBC needs to recruit a President Elect to fill the open position. We will post an OBC Board application on the OBC website.
The best timing for another election would be when we mail the January member renewals
President Mike Flenniken said the OBC suffers from a lack of recognition, both among cyclists and non-cyclists. The OBC has accomplished a lot without many members and so few volunteers. We need to grow the OBC. What we lack in Oklahoma is a single voice to present our cause. Mike said he wants to see the OBC become the organization that everyone goes to so the OBC can accomplish even more. That will require more members and more volunteer activists. Mike says, the best way to improve conditions for cycling would be for every Oklahoman to become a cyclist and experience what it’s like.
Mike presented an idea for new OBC logo, OBC - 1 voice.
And a request for a new OBC website address - obc1voice.org (keep the old www.okbike.org and add the new www.obc1voice.org, so that both access the same website). This re-branding will remind everyone that the OBC is the voice of bicyclists and consolidate the efforts of all cyclists in Oklahoma .Mike Flenniken suggested looking at the bicycling coalition in Maine , www.bikemaine.org for ideas.This is a great coalition with more than 5000 members and a full time 5 person staff. Imagine what the OBC could accomplish if we had that kind of membership in Oklahoma . There are too many bicyclists in Oklahoma who do not belong to any organization. We need to recruit them.
Treasurer Report
Arletta Webster presented a summary of expenditures for OBC and OBEF Jan - Oct in 2010. The current balances for OBC is $4,662 and OBEF is $366.
Arletta also presented a balanced budget for 2011, with separate budgets for OBC & OBEF. Arletta pointed out the all grants in the future need to include a 5% overhead charge, it is not possible to collect funds with out incurring fees from Pay Pay, expenses for mailing the 501C3 thank you letters in addition to the regular administrative expenses for filing tax returns etc.
There was no action taken on the budget, it was tabled until the next meeting
NEW BUSINESS
Several new committees were discussed and voted on. The following list shows the new or existing committee with volunteers.
All committees report to OBC board.
Governance Committee - Chair Talesa Flenniken, Arletta Webster, Mike & Betsy Morehead, Mark Lash
Outreach Committee, Chair Susan Lash, Fred Richard
Events - Susan Lash
Membership - Chair Mike Flenniken, Scott Nutt
Webmaster - Jim Beach
LCI & Bicycle safety training - Steve Bourke
Cycling Friendly - Chair Leslie Schlegel
Legislative Committee - Chair Mark Lash
Route 66 Corridor Committee - Chair Kevin Mussett
Law Enforcement Committee - Chair Shawn Gibson
Education Committtee - Chair Don Norvelle
Legislative Day Committee - Chair Mary Cash
Bike Summit Committee - Kevin Mussett
Mike Flenniken and Kevin Mussett recognized the outstanding job that Pete Kramer has done and hope that he will continue to be a tremendous resource to the OBC.
Scott Nutt presented an update on the progress OSU is making on the OSU campus. Ann Hargis wants to improve cycling on the OSU campus and stop the bad behavior of some cyclists. A rights and responsibility, bicycle safety & riding test is being planed for the spring semester.
Member asked what the OBC offers to off road cyclists. Mary Cash stated that at the Bike Summit in Washington DC the LAB & IMBA work together to promote cycling both on and off road. The OBC does not currently have the off road riders membership to create an off road committee. Mike Flenniken reiterated that with more off road members, the OBC would find someone to head that committee.
Legislation idea, Idaho stop as yield legislation. Greater penalty for the death of bicyclists & Pedestrians
Keith Reed noted that things are changing in government at all levels, there is no money. Keith suggested that cyclists tax become self taxing and the OBC create a grant program where communities could ask for money to pay for signage or other bicycle improvements
Kel Pickens suggested that the OBC have a place to post court dates for cyclists interested in attending the trials of people accused of hitting cyclists.
Also discussed was the idea of adding a forum to the website.
The board voted to approve joining Adventure Cycling and creating link from/to OBC website.
No date was set for the next meeting.
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