NMMBA Annual Membership Meeting
Date and location: Sunday, January 12th, 2025 Timber Ridge Resort
Board present: Tim Reicha, Heath Day, Mike Walters, Tom White, Tim Jenema, Chad Schut, Brian Pugh, Chad Jordan, Brooke Ruble, Kate White and Steve Mentzer
Board absent: Michele Andrews and Kim White
Mission statement —--------> It is our mission to Envision, Build and Protect the mountain bike experience white respecting all forest users and uses.
Tim R called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
Tim started off the meeting with a brief bio. He has had the pleasure of volunteering on the board since 2016 and has served as President the last 4 years.
He went on to say that NMMBA board members and other volunteers have made some tangible gains over the past year. Hopefully you have noticed a few of these. I’d like our theme for the evening to be how important volunteerism is to our efforts and the board’s absolute appreciation of the various volunteers in our community. Past annual meetings have focused on community and relationships, and trail and infrastructure goals, and those items are still important, but for NMMBA, none of those things would happen without volunteers.
Tim then introduced the current board. Our current board is composed of 13 volunteer directors. To comply with our bylaws, the board must be confirmed by NMMBA membership each year to serve our community. Our directors are Michele Andrews, Heath Day, Tim Jenema, Chad Jordan, Steve Mentzer, Brian Pugh, Tim Reicha, Brooke Ruble, Chad Schut, Mike Walters, Kate White, Kim White and Tom White. If you confirm this board to serve for the next year, please respond by saying yes.
It was followed with a unanimous vote.
Tim then brought up the amendment to our bylaws. We have proposed adding non-voting board roles as part of our required three to fifteen volunteer directors. The intent of this new “ex-officio” director role is to not require chapter reps who do not live in close proximity to the rest of our board to have to drive to monthly meetings all year long. We could also extend this role to past presidents or directors that are transitioning out of their roles. It should prevent us from not reaching a quorum to vote on motions during our regular board meetings. If you agree with our board that this is an acceptable amendment, please say yes now. If you disagree with the change, please say no.
This vote also was unanimous.
Financials:
With Kim absent, Tim R led this discussion.
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NMMBA works to raise some funds to improve the MTB experience in our area. We have done pretty well at that in recent years thanks to you. Membership dollars mainly help pay for insurance, and marketing expenses. Project funding mainly happens through special fundraising and grant writing. You will hear a bit about where some of those funds have been allocated in the past year, but remember, thanks to all of your generosity, we have a good start on the upcoming phases of our various projects.
Tim then shared the fundraising numbers from 2024’s TCTF.
365 total registrations
180 Full Pint starters
111 Half Pint starters
27 Tour starters
24 Norte Balance bike racers
Net profit of $22,756.33
And 2025’s TCTF, scheduled for Saturday, September 27th.
2025’s race/tour will be a part of The Michigan Off Road Championship MTB Race Series.
This will increase our registrations to a max of 500.
General fund stood at $21,193.73
Fundraising:
Kate then spoke of the fundraising projects on tap for 2025.
$80,000 for Vasa Bike Park.
$75,000 for VST Wayfinding proposal.
$250,000 for the NMMBA/TART Maintenance Building.
$60,000 for a NMMBA/TART staff employee.
$28,500 for the VST TREE.
She then discussed the membership base.
Currently at 305 members but there have been some additions.
This 305 figure includes 183 individual memberships and 122 family memberships.
Kate then read off the wonderful partners NMMBA has.
These include:
Timber Ridge
Up.bike/Great Lakes Stainless
Stone Hound Brewing
Brick Wheels
Cherry Capital Cycling Club
TART
Norte
Michigan DNR
Among others.
TCTN:
Brian led this discussion.
He started by introducing the committee.
• Mike Walters
• Tom White
• Steve Mentzer
• John Roe
• Amy Kennedy (Mario Kennedy)
• Kate White
• Joe Wendel
• Duane Archambo
• Doug Schultz
• Dan Ellis
• Brian Pugh
Brian led a video presentation and talked about the improvements added to the VST in the last few years.
Parking lot
Archway
Restroom
Changing room
Pavilion
DNR Kiosk
Bike rack & repair stand
Trail crossing signs.
All these improvement/additions came with a cost of $204,639.75
Coming in 2025 are a water source and additional improvements to the fire pit area, landscaping and a large trail map.
As well as a maintenance facility with TART to be constructed on land being donated by Gordan and the Timber Ridge Association.
Backcountry VST:
Tom led this presentation of a proposal submitted on January 3rd of 2024 to add 60+ miles of DNR sanctioned non-motorized trails.
He added that several prior proposals did not get approved.
DNR finally said “submit it all”!
Could take a few years for approval but once approved the proposal would be protected. Some wayfinding signage would be needed.
Highlights of this proposal:
Trails protected during forestry management events. Trails to remain non-motorized. Improved rider accessibility. Wayfinding supports emergency services. Trailhead connectivity. Potential to expand winter trails Insures balance between all trail user groups
Tom had a slide about Balanced Connectivity.
I’ve added his slide here.
Volunteers:
Heath led this discussion. He talked about the dedication of the volunteers who worked throughout the year.
He added that it takes a tremendous amount of man hours to keep these trails the best.
Among the projects that drove these dedicated volunteers were Mud, Sweat and Beers, The Commons, Mt. Holiday, TCTF, Grooming and various work bees.
There was also discussion of a joint staff person to be shared with TART.
This individual would be responsible for merchandise sales, website maintenance, membership and event assistance.
Volunteer of the year:
Mike also spoke about the volunteers that came out this past year and one who stood out from the rest.
This person was at all the scheduled work bees and contributed so much more.
The Dan Morley Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Tom Kuemin!
Tom was present to receive this award.
Next up was the Golden Hatchet awards presented by Tom.
He also spoke of the tremendous efforts these two brought each time they came out to work on trails.
The two award winners were John Lohner and Chuck Hathaway!
Thanks to all!
At this time the business portion of the meeting was concluded.
Committee heads then broke out in small groups to field questions.
Heath: Volunteer
Brian: TCTN
Chad J: Bike Leelanau
Brooke: Glacial Hills
Mike: Winter trails
Tim J: Vasa Bike Park
Tom: Iceman course and Greilick property
Kate: Memberships
With that the meeting was adjourned at 6:48 pm.
Submitted by
Steve Mentzer, secretary