The future of the Seattle Running Club, part 3
October 22, 2010Eventually there will be a section of the SRC website where meeting minutes are archived, but for now, here’s the latest.
Greg’s summary of the October 19, 2010 meeting of the Seattle Running Club
Attendees included Eric Bone, Julie Cassata, Greg Crowther, John Guza, Peter Kline (host), Leslie and Scott McCoubrey, Win Van Pelt, Glen Weissman, and Blair Williams.
The top priority of this meeting was to make progress toward electing new club officers, as our longtime president and treasurer (Scott and Leslie McCoubrey, respectively) are stepping down. After some discussion, those present agreed that we would elect a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, plus up to eight “at-large” board members who, as the club continues to evolve, may eventually have more specific duties and titles (membership chair, social chair, marketing director, events liaison, etc.) corresponding to their areas of interest.
The roles of the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer were discussed. Approximate job descriptions are as follows.
PRESIDENT: Provides “big-picture” coordination of the club. Runs the board meetings. Preserves and refines the club’s vision and mission.
VICE PRESIDENT: Fills in for the president when he/she is unavailable. Helps ensure smooth transitions from one administration to the next. Otherwise serves in the manner of a board member at large.
SECRETARY: Oversees communication with club members, including processing of new memberships. Writes and distributes minutes of board meetings. Works with the webmaster (assumed to be a separate person) to keep club web pages updated and accessible.
TREASURER: Uses software (e.g., QuickBooks) to track money coming into and out of the club — mostly event registration and membership fees, event expenses, and donations. Prepares budgets for future events (not currently done, but we can dream…).
Having defined the board of directors as the four positions listed above plus up to eight at-large positions, we then accepted preliminary nominations for these positions. Additional nominations may be emailed to Greg Crowther (trappedinlab@yahoo.com) before November 1, 2010. While any club member may nominate any club member (including yourself), you’re encouraged to talk to potential nominees before nominating them so that we can avoid “Shermanesque statements.”
A decision was made not to publicize the nominations already received so as to encourage additional nominations. In other words, we don’t want someone to decline to run for a position simply because someone else has already been nominated. If you are absolutely dying to know who has been nominated so far, get in touch with Greg. The finalized slate of nominations will be announced on November 1.
Elections will be held at our next all-club meeting, which will take place on Tuesday, November 9 at the Capitol Hill Fleet Feet store (formerly the Seattle Running Company). All members are invited to participate in the usual Tuesday night store run, which starts at 6 PM. Elections and general discussion will start at 7 PM; nominees need not be present to win. At around 7:30 we will head over to Piecora’s, as the Tuesday night runners often do. Those unable to attend the elections in person will have the option of submitting their ballots via email.
Aside from club officers and elections, several other issues were also discussed. Rather than providing an exhaustive summary, I will just mention two items: (A) we need to prepare a club vision/mission statement ASAP, and (B) eight volunteers are needed for the final Cougar Mountain work party of the year (October 30, 9 AM, Sky Country trailhead). People interested in the work party should contact Scott McCoubrey (searunco@aol.com).
My Track Record 
hey there gthanks for the updates here. Do you have information on the Bridle Trails 50K (is it happening/dates etc…).ps – you gotta be president.
Chris: The Bridle Trails races will take place on Saturday, January 8th, 2011. They will be directed by Eric Bone of nwtrailruns.com. More info should eventually be posted on Eric's website, on the Facebook event page for Bridle Trails, etc.