March 2022
Rhode Island Chapter
New England Mountain Bike Association
March 2022 Meeting Minutes
RINEMBA February Meeting: 7:00 p.m. March 1, 2022 by Zoom.
1. Welcome to any newcomers.
2. Meeting etiquette.
a) Keep on topic
b) No sidebar conversations
c) Give everyone a chance to voice their comments
d) Finish meetings in a reasonable time
3. Administration
a) Thank you Shannon and Linda for cat herding.
b) Member #’s, account $, etc.
- $2000 currently in account
c) 2021 Financial summary
- coming next month from Shannon
d) New NEMBA COI (Certificate of Liability Insurance) for state ASAP -We have not yet received an updated COI from NEMBA. Wayne to reach out to Travis for it tomorrow.
e) Document store?
- Dennis and Paul to work on it for April
f) April meeting: virtual, hybrid, in person, TBD?
- In person seems to be preferred by all parties. New location? Black Oak? Adam to look at the possibility of using Black Oak. Possible Alan’s place? Alan offered up his property.
g) Board attendance:
Pete Gengler
Shannon Marie
Mark Savage
Linda Brocato
Adam Brule
Keith Tremblay
Dennis Wilson
Chris Nichols
Cyndi Schwarz
Wayne
Paul Kintz
Chris Perez
h) ZOOM meeting platform – Should RINEMBA purchase an account?
-Do we still need it if we will be transitioning to in-person meetings again?
-Shannon is willing to keep hosting with her account. Alan feels she should not have to pay.
-Should we talk to NEMBA about a corporate account? Wayne to check on it.
-Hold till next meeting for info from Wayne
i) Posting of minutes. Where are they being posted?
- already being posted to https://www.rinemba.org/blog. Are we supposed to email minutes to corporate? Have not been doing so. -Dennis to look into it.
4. Browning Mill bridges. Event completed Feb-5
a) Feedback?
-Very nice section of bridge. Great turnout.
Lessons learned: don't do it February lol.
Can we get a permit for rain date? -Alan will request a rain date permit next time.
b) Volunteer hours?
-Alan has list of volunteers - Great turnout
c) Next steps with DEM
– waiting to hear from Jeff at DEM
-Beavers may be flooding nearby older bridge projects in Arcadia?
5. Big River bridges
a) Identified wet spots
-first bridge off burnt Sawmill is sketchy and often underwater. Now a beaver dam. High traffic use and a priority for replacement.
b) Informing DEM
- Jeff from DEM has visited. Jeff has asked if any additional bridges are needed. Alan identified the crossing on Pinto, one on NLT, and the crossing near the end of Barbie. Jeff has submitted these all to DEM for consideration. No response yet.
Alan also discussed with Jeff the possible move of Greasy Joes parking as well.
Pete called about Greasy Joes parking as well. Water Resource was not aware that the GJ property was being sold and developed. Pete sent suggested new parking areas and Water Resource is discussing it among the department.
6. Diamond Hill trail cleanup. Event completed Feb-5
a) Feedback?
b) Volunteer hours?
-Did not happen due to weather. Request to reschedule sent for April 6th.
7. Chainsaw safety training. Event completed Feb 12/19
a) Feedback?
-Class was awesome, very informative. -Adam
- Great class! -Cyndi
-Everyone really enjoyed it and found it useful. Shame it did not fill all 8 spots.
-Pictures to linda for posting on FB and Insta
b) Payments received?
-all payment have been processed
8. Ryan Park. Nothing new. - nothing new Alan
9. Roger Williams Park.
-Scope narrowed. Will flag route for RWP review.
-Park to look into possible current use conflict.
10. DEM:
a) MOU request. In negotiations. (Special license request)
- Alan making slow and steady progress
b) Trail re-route POC discussion... AMC.
-Nothing new.
c) Special license for >75. In negotiations. Positive movement.
-Seems very probable at this point.
-Alan has been given approval by corporate NEMBA to sign agreements on behalf of NEMBA.
11. Elections.
a) Formalize rules for future elections
1. At-large board member
2. Ride area representatives
3. President
4. Vice President
5. Treasurer
6. Secretary
7. NEMBA BOD Representative
8. NEMBA BOD Alternate
9. Members
10. Elections
-reviewed suggested rules sent out by Alan last month? No objections. Outlined rules will stand going forward.
b) Secretary (open position)
1. Nominations solicited
- Dennis has offered his service for the position. Congrats Dennis.
2. Out of schedule election to be held at April meeting.
12. Beginner skills clinic : CO-ED
a) Confirm location, date and event info
-Trying to avoid state land. Chris might have corporate sponsors for some gear. - will money be changing hands? No money to change hands on site.
Day one 3/27 9am-noon: Bike set up, bike maintenance - Grills Preserve -Possible optional group ride after.
Day Two 4/3 9am - noon: Beginner clinic- Bowling lane area Grills preserve
Day Three 4/10 9am - noon: Beginner clinic- Bowling lane area Grills preserve
Sponsors: Lesign to offer some gear to play with. Possible raffle.
To use NEMBA registration tool
Chris P to send info to Dennis. Dennis to create event with NEMBA and share to social media/website
Alan would like no limit to participants, and to solicit volunteer instructors if registered attendees exceed the comfort level of instructors. Chris P - Grills Preserve is limited on available parking. Chris P is looking into how many parking spaces we have available.
c) Open to all (women only?) - no this event is coed
13. Advanced Skills clinic (Chris N) - WOMENS ONLY
-Original indoor Location fell apart.
-Troublesome to find another indoor location.
-Still looking for a new location.
-Possible to hold it outside in April? May?
-Ballpark participants: Ideally no more than 30 folks.
-Popular idea.
-Possible May 7/8th weekend?
-Chris N to finalize and send details to Linda.
-Possible second event open to all genders later in the year
14. Ride area reps? (Mark S)
-Have not yet found a N. Kingston resident for Ryan park yet.
-Post online that position is needed. - Linda to take care of posting.
15. Westerly Land Trust MOU (Chris P/Paul K)
-MOU has been updated and on the desk of rep from Westerly Land trust. No update yet.
-Paul has gotten onto the Westerly Municipal Land trust board. Congrats Paul!
-One of the oldest trees in RI in Wahaneeta directly on trail. Alan would like to offer NEMBA to reroute the trail away from the tree. -Paul to discuss with WLT
-Poor bridge over water on PBR. Narragansett native lands. Chris P working toward getting Narragansett approval to build a small proper bridge. Slow movement so far.
16. Meeting Street Bike Club. TBD. Will find out soon and post.
-Not going to happen this year. Seems to be definite that the program is not happening.
17. First Aid Training
a) Wilderness First Aid training. Roughly $250 each if 30 sign up. Lack of interest due to cost. Are there any alternatives?
-No progress since last meeting. Alan looked for something more appropriate than Wilderness First Aid with no luck yet. Open to ideas:
-Linda: Should we have an AED at Woody Hill Mailbox? Worth it? Maybe not?
-Group discussion: First aid is likely more useful. Getting rescue workers to accidents is much more valuable.
-Can we develop and share with DEM Official trail maps with exit points noted for rescue workers. Possible signage project. Marc has examples from out west.
b) Stop the bleed first aid training (Paul K.) Interest?
-Paul to follow up with Westerly FD for stop the bleed and basic first aid classes.
18. Volunteer hours.
a) Date, person, hours, event, is it (DEM requested, for general user benefit, for NEMBA) b) Event leader to collect.
-Event leaders need to keep track of volunteer hours.
19. Any news from corporate?
-Wayne: Been relatively quiet. There is a series of drop in Zoom meetings coming up open to all members. Wayne to email info to board members. Get with Wayne if any further question or info is needed on the meetings.
20. New Business from board?
-Pete: Call form Bill Boles, wanted to use Pete’s video for marketing. Pete taled with the new NEMBA marketing guy and was very impressed. Possible a new era for NEMBA.
Thursdays this week is Planning for Big river cleanup. Event date is April 23rd. Mostly roadside trash. Pete will have more info after this thursday.
-Do we want to do our own clean up? Possibly to do another clean up even at another location? Possible Woody Hill?
Keep your eyes open for trash dumps that need attention. None come to mind at the moment. Good year for litter.
-Woody Hill Signage. Marc has a great photo of a style of sign post with QR codes with links to maps. Gelen and Dennis have looked into this style of signage as well last year. Dennis to pick Glen’s brain on it and possibly get a cost quote together. Will add this topic to the April agenda for further discussion regarding feasibility.
-WLT had a mild issue with a ride taking up parking at Wahaneeta. How to direct parking in the future? Ride area reps to decide what is best.
-RINEMBA tent invited to the enduro event at Dimond Hill. Could sell Tshirt, Could have membership forms. Dennis is interested in running tent. Chris N not available that day. Alan to possibly man the tent with Dennis.
21. Comments/requests/concerns/questions/complaints from newcomers?
-We should move this section to the top of the agenda. Many newcomers are not staying until the end of the meeting to speak up.
Meeting Ajourned 9;12 PM
For reference, 2022 event dates:
• Beginner rides 3/27, 4/3, 4/10 (pending final details to be sorted by Chris P)
• Advanced Skills Clinic 5/7 (pending town approval)
• Woody Hill 5/15 (pending approval) -Getting close. Who will lead this event?
• Arcadia 6/12 (pending approval)
• Diamond Hill 8/14 (pending approval)
• Big River 9/11 (pending approval)
• Lincoln Woods 11/13 (pending approval)
