To:   LBLB Running Club members

Reminder:  The Chilly Chili contest is this Sunday, February 27, at 3PM at

the Gorton Center in Lake Forest.   Bring your best chili!   Win dinner at

Lovell's!

Also, there will be a New Member Meet 'n Greet breakfast at the station

after the run on March 6.   Bring a friend!

                                    __________________


LFLB RUNNING CLUB
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 29, 2005
LARRY SMITH, PRESIDENT


The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am at the Lake Forest Bank and
Trust. Most of the new Board members were present as well as a number of
other interested members.

Larry Smith stated that in his opinion the LFLB club has been a class act
and the most important of his goals as president is to carry on the class
act.  He is reliant on members for new ideas.  Julian Gordon suggested one
goal might be to keep the club user friendly.


REPORTS:

Membership

Keith Stewart gave a written report on membership.  There are 237
members/families in the 'system'; 37 are paid thru 2006, 66 are paid thru
2005, 83 are outstanding from 2004 and 51 have been carried over from 2003.
Keith said the membership is "relatively static".  The turnover is about 20
per year (10%).

There was discussion about reminders for renewing membership. We need to
contact those who are in arrears on their dues.. some members just don't
think of it and need to be reminded. Possibly we will send postcards.

The membership list has been and will be posted at the train station during
and after the run, so everyone should check their entry for correctness,
and also to find out whether they are current on dues. This should be
announced at the run on Saturdays.

The directory is produced for those who keep their dues current. In order
to get listed in the club directory, the cut off date for registration
forms and renewals has been late March/early April. Get the renewals in to
Bill Bracken asap.

Thanks for all your work on this and many other things, Keith.


Merchandise

Steve Weinstock reported that we have about $6,100 worth of inventory. He
hopes to reduce this by offering clearance deals which he will announce on
the website and at the Saturday morning runs.

Steve has met with Jay at Kiddles and hopes to be in contact with a couple
of reps from Hind and Sugoi. The hope is that we might get to see some new
things at the upcoming fashion show.

Steve suggested that we look for a different place for the fashion show.
Somebody suggested Harrison House. Tony said he would look into it. It
might not be so expensive on a Tuesday night. The idea was well received.
(Update:  The fashion show is now scheduled to be held at Mickey Finn's in
Libertyville.)

We agreed that merchandising is not meant to be a profit-generating
activity, but is a service to club members.  The intent is for the club to
break even, but it was pointed out that if you sell at cost you will lose
money.

Finance:

Ron Thomas, club treasurer, submitted a written financial report including
expenses from last year and proposed budget for this year. (A copy is
included at the end of this note.)  Ron briefly commented on each item.
There was some discussion on what to do with the surplus. Larry asked if
there were expenses not listed that members were absorbing themselves.
Keith stated that the past printing of the newsletter was one and Julian
mentioned that he had some photographic paper expense. Both declined to
submit anything. It was not clear to this writer whether there were other
expenses. All who have club expenses are encouraged to submit them to Ron.

Some ideas on using the surplus:  purchase new software for membership;
look into a better web posting service; hire speaker(s); support
philanthropic projects; keep it for future use, as some upcoming expenses
may be larger than anticipated, e.g. replacement of office supplies and
new-member t-shirts.

Chuck Gudbrandsen stated that he was very glad a written report had been
made. He would like to see it done on a regular basis.. he had been
withholding his dues until a report was given.

It was mentioned that Lake Forest Bank is the main backer of the Plum Run
and that they should be given more recognition, and maybe our banking
business.  We have invited some of their executives to come to the run in
the past.  Our bank account is at Northern Trust.  There was no consensus
on this.

Social:

Tony Vukovics submitted a list of upcoming social events; some of them are
traditional club events and some are his innovations.  He will make the
list available at the train station on Saturdays. He commented briefly on
each.

One of his new ideas is to have a new member meet-and-greet breakfast every
quarter. Members are encouraged to bring a friend.

Coming up soon are the Chilly Chili on February 27 from 3-6 pm at the
Gorton Center, a Saturday Meet 'n Greet breakfast on March 5, and the
Fashion Show on April 12.

Tony is planning a bike ride (6am Saturday before the run) and maintenance
event for spring, which he hopes will include Robbie Ventura.  In Tony's
thorough fashion he submitted a budget. Tony also stated he plans to
prepare a questionnaire to get members' input.


Web site:

The web site is valuable in attracting and bringing in new members, and
letting visitors or newcomers to the area know about our club. Its upkeep
is very time-consuming. The web developers want to make it more
interactive, so members or board members can update it themselves.

Some of the new officers need to provide their email addresses for the
site.   We also need to put a new membership form up, as well as the
merchandise information.

Miki suggested that we might want to look into a website service that will
give us more options.  He will talk to Ken and take suggestions from others
and give a recommendation on this in the future.

Newsletter:

There are quite a few members who are unhappy with email-only newsletters.
Carol Beck expressed a great deal of dissatisfaction with the newsletter
because it is no longer being mailed.  We can print a limited number of
hard copies and have them at the station, although Tony's social event
calendar might satisfy that need.  We can also mail the newsletter to those
who are unable to receive email. Ed Packel expressed a willingness to do
this. Joan would like to have more articles submitted by members.

Board members are requested to submit news by the first of each month for
the monthly email.

We need to find out from Ken Wasetis the status of the problem some members
are having with receiving our emails.

USATF (USA Track and Field)

Larry gave the floor to Jenny Spangler who had first surfaced the idea of
joining USATF.  Jenny stated right up front that it would be of personal
benefit for her if the club decided to affiliate. She would like to be
covered by the USATF insurance for a track/training group that she runs.
She expressed a willingness to pay the majority of the dues ($75) but said
that the club had to have at least two participants.  This organization
offers many services, such as promoting youth and masters' athletics, race
walking, etc. (there is a website for more information). Jenny would act as
'coach' for our club, and would make herself available for general
questions.  If individuals wanted more, depending on how much time was
involved, she might have to charge.

She said that joining the organization would enable us to have liability
insurance in case anyone is injured on our runs. The coverage would be
limited to club members over 18. It was not clear what the limits of
coverage would be. There was discussion about the insurance part. Steve
Weinstock said that the club has such few assets that a plaintiff would not
get much from the club (whatever was in the club checkbook and the
merchandise).  The exposure would probably be for the officers, from their
personal assets, i.e. the president and vice president.

Keith suggested that the club pay the full membership.  Larry Smith asked
for a motion that the club pay the full amount and that we create a board
position of 'Coach' and put Jenny in that position. It was so moved and
seconded. The motion carried although there were three dissenting votes.
This writer
wishes to go on record to say that he supports this strongly, not so much
for the insurance (which appears extremely limited although I would be the
most likely beneficiary) but because USATF is a national organization which
supports running (which is what we are about), and because we would get
Jenny as our coach.  Both add to the club's prestige, and it seems like a
pretty small price to pay.

MISC.

It was suggested that we plan to have at least one major meeting/event with
a speaker, even if we have to pay. We should plan to solicit suggestions
for speakers.

The meeting adjourned at !!:00AM.

                            ________________________________

Below is the financial report: