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News and notes from the Feb NJBMX State meeting:
(note: this is NOT the official minutes, just my notes, so if I get something wrong, please bear with me!)Grant:
Vinnie has been working with the Carolan’s and the grant is basically a go. We need the letter of determination (done), 07 budget (done) and a written proposal telling who NJBMX is, a little history, and details of what the grant would be used for. It was decided today that the proposal would be for the following:
$620.10 new NJBMX computer to run state series and new software (currently NJBMX does not have its own computer, but uses EHT)
$1700 state PA system
$1321.85 state series hoodies
$1378.05 state series number plateswhen the grant goes through, money that was allocated in the 07 budget for hoodies and plates can be earmarked for promotion. Vinnie explained that we need to have specific uses and $$ amounts in the proposal.
Vinnie also explained that this could open doors for other grants from other organizations in the future.Bob Warnicke:
NJ currently pays a higher percentage as a state to the NBL than most states for the Bob Warnicke scholarship. No NJ rider has gotten a scholarship in the past 5 years. It was proposed that NJ give less to the NBL scholarship and establish a state scholarship.NJ state series dates:
EHT May 5, Sept 15
Pottstown May 19,20
CJ Aug 18,19
HC July 14,15
Championship Oct 6 @ HCState series requirements:
10 local races
3 state qualifiers (5 best will be counted)
State championship racecost:
pre reg: $15 points
$25 ‘bucks’ or trophy which you will need to specify
post: $20 points onlyThe state and local races will still be run under the old points system. The NBL will convert the points for Regional standings.
The new software does ask if you are running a local or national, but nationals group riders differently.
Florida is still Beta testing new points system for locals.
each track will be given one copy of the software and you cannot load it onto another computer. The software does allow you to upload results via high speed internet to NBL, and will be updated the same way.Assistant State Commissioner:
3 eligible names were brought up (must be an NBL official for 2 yrs)
Vinnie Mannino
Matt Danek
Linda VanderhoffVinnie and Linda were nominated.
Congrats to Vinnie who won by 1 vote!A letter from Brett was read concerning the Janeen being selected as the 06 volunteer of the year. A letter from Janeen was read in which she declined to accept the Volunteer of the year award. After discussion, a motion was brought up by Linda V to retain Janeen as volunteer of the Year. It was seconded by Matt D, with all those voting in agreement.
If I missed anything, I apologize.
LorenOK so what happened to the promotional items, to be used to generate new riders, so that you WOULD have the money for the awards plus some. I guess it was good I didn’t waste my time going, becase I see no want for new riders from NJBMX.
Logiacally, think of the grant as investment capital, then you take that money and invest it in growing the sport so you make more noney, to pay for the awards, and more, and next year you still have the riders putting money into the program, and you don’t need the infusion of money again from Rich. You have now become solvent on your own.
my only point was earmark the money now! Then you have the money for that
Leet me ask you this, how can you earmark money for awards, when the series hasn’t started and you don’t know how many you will need, but you can go to a printer and get an estimate on what the promo goods cost and you know you need say 2000 pieces and it will cost you X amount
Billy – I see your point. Honest. But lets take baby steps here.
The money that was intially budgeted for those awards can now be moved over to the promotional committee – and then its up to the that group to use it wisely.
I think what they were saying at the meeting is this: in order to accept this grant ASAP we needed to itemize stuff right away, and here were some things we know we are going to spend money on. AND we get the new PA system AND a dedicated computer to make things run smoother at state races, etc. Not a bad deal to start.
BIG PICTURE: Carolan is on board, and his foundation has clout. Now, if the right people take the lead on this, we can focus on raising more money which is now made easier by saying we are supported by the Carolan Foundation, blah, blah, blah.
BUT – Billy – I do hear ya and understand your concerns. It would have been nice to say that $x amount is for developing a school promotional programs to be shared with the tracks, or something else, etc. If we stay positive on this, we will get there. Try to keep the faith.
Thanks for putting out what happened at the meeting Loren.
I would like to clarify a few things to everyone.
The grant.
Originally I had contacted Rich Carolan about getting an approx. 5,000 grant for NBL NJBMX. This money was loosely outlined to be for the following:
PA system
promotional material
state awards.
Since this was in the planning stages as far as were the money would wind up, these original ideas were in “flux”.The PA system will be a welcome addition to the program.
The laptop is needed to run the ~new nbl software~, (I shall leave that rant for another time as it is NOT the states fault that the nbl does things in a strange manner. Trust me there will be discussions on usb dongles and multiple point systems that add to confusion….later)
The rest of the awards are needed as well and Rich Farside was able to get a competitive bid from HRP designs on the 2007 plates to further save us money.
I had a defined amount set aside for promotional material, i.e: posters, flyers and bike hangers. I had felt that my lowest quotes were just a bit too much even with the grant. Lisa Heath volunteered up some information that Jeff’s brother could look into having the printing company he works for get these things made up at lower cost, to save us money. Some things occured and the material got put on the back burner and I will not lie, part of it was due to the lame response we got at the Jan 21st meeting concerning the grant.
Luckily Vinny was able to turn around popular board opinion and get this thing to happen.
And right here I have to say something everyone needs to hear.
This grant would not be happening if it was not for the riders and a couple of people who believe in what the riders can do. These riders are, myself, Rich Farside, Rich Carolan, and Bill Hayden. We spent a lot of time on the phone with Rich C to get him to realize this IS a cause worth contributing to. Scott Cranmer then proceeded to ask, why can we not accept the grant, Vinny volunteered to help the promotions committee… and here we are.
I will be contacting Lisa this weekend AND sending over the other quote I have for the posters and flyers. These will get done. We will promote BMX AND get the other things WE NEED.As far as the letter concerning the volunteer of the year. Perhaps NJBMX would be better served by coming up with a way of having a “Rider of the Year” to encourage more riders to step up and help out. I cause waves because I stir the pot and look for ways to better our sport not ourselves, which is why I gave awards to people I looked to outside what I was doing. The intent was not to make Janeen decline the award but to make NJBMX think how better to go about serving the sport.
That is, in effect what an all volunteer organization does, serve that which it says it promotes.I have a few final things to say on all this.
As of right now, we still have no status on the website for NJBMX, as far as I am concerned, I had the site ready to go. It has been taken down and the old standard has been put back in, all of our question and answer sessions are gone. Since I take that as no one would like to confront the issue of the website, I will no longer worry about the status of it. I would also ask that no more official news be posted here on NJBMX. If NJBMX would like to have an “official” forum on this site, I will be more than happy to oblige that, UNDER the condition that it is moderated by Loren Hamblin, Bill Hayden, Anthony Brown and Chris Vliet. So that people from ALL THREE TRACKS can post on a NEWS AND OPINION site. From this point forward any posts concerning NJBMX will be removed from here, this is not done as a snub but to push people in the CORRECT direction to get the information on NJBMX.I have also realized that I have split my time between too many things.
I cannot continue dealing with state issues as it takes an inordinate amount of time to make things happen, beurocracy and all that. This is not a complaint so much as the reality of dealing with situations like this.
I have the following on my plate right now:
* CJBMX promotions and volunteering
* BMXDemos.com, a venture with George Hoernig and Dave Pawlowski (edit) to get “the word out” via BMX demos. (I will NEED a flyer from NJBMX to hand out at these events, Vinny, Ant and myself will work on this as part of the promotions committee.)
* Helping several people from this board open new tracks in NJ.
* I will be talking with Ant-Dog on speaking with the woman from the Rec Dept in Lumberton on how their town is dealing with this new “practice track” in hopes that we can get something going like that in Brick.All of these things I have just mentioned seem to be happening with no drama and very smoothly. My workings with the njbmx state, I can say have not been so smooth up until Vinny took hold of this grant situation.
I will say with Scott and Vinny as the two top guys in NJBMX right now, their future looks pretty bright.That’s all I have to say on the matter of NJBMX right now. I will be asking Super Resz, (he’s the guy who’s the father of that crazy micro jumper Michael Reszkowski) for an officials license this spring. Which means that a few riders will be coming up to be elegible for positions in NBL NJBMX in the coming years.
Things change, just takes time and perserverance.
Think about where you are now, dream about where you could be and of course,
there is no spoon.BMXDemos.com, a venture with George Hoernig and Dave Pawlson
pawlowski man, pawlowski!!!!!
gotta roll
dave<dumba**….
Sorry man!
Dave Pawlowski…
zoinks!Bret
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot when talking volunteers…you have to remember to acknowledge them…in a non profit org. you are NOTHING without your volunteers!!!
Good idea on the rider of the year…maybe it could be tied in with helping new riders somehow…bring new riders out or help with new rider orientations…(this would also be for new rider parents!!)
One step forward two steps back…get you nowhere!
I have to say the meeting went well. Vinnie and Scott make a good combo. HEll for once they listened to what i had to say and are gonna use my idea. Things will be alot better this year trust me.
The riders are all that matters.
Without them there is no BMX.Get the riders, make them happy, and the parents will follow. As long as kids wanna race, there will be parents to volunteer. I din’t realize we were here for the volunteers, and the riders were second
14 races to earn a state plate? I know back in the day that was not the case. Why so many? Why not count 10 nationals 26 locals 15 state races and 7 aba nationals? Oh and 5 MTB races and run the New York marathon.
just a question
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