Meeting Minutes – September 2014

Minutes of the June 16, 2014 meeting were reviewed and approved.

National Bike Challenge

The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition/State College Cycling Club team is currently 15^th in the National Bike Challenge out of more than 1,000 teams. The 91 Centre Region cyclists participating on the team have recorded over 114,000 miles since May. Brian Dempsey submitted an entry to the Centre Daily Times for this team to be recognized as “Athlete of the Week”.

Shared Use Path Winter Maintenance

Jim Serene noted that Ferguson Township announced its Public Works Department will provide winter maintenance for an additional 4.8 miles of paths, including Bristol, Blue Course, Science Park and Havershire, for a total of 7 shared use paths where snow will be cleared. Jim suggested a good project would be to pursue obtaining winter maintenance for the shared use path along South Atherton Street between Hills Plaza and Boalsburg, including the Scenery Drive path from South Atherton Street to Windmere Drive. These paths are located in College and Harris Townships and are frequently used by pedestrians and cyclists. Discussion followed on approaching College and Harris Townships with this recommendation.

Cycling Events

Meagan Tuttle distributed information about the “Fall Ride with the Mayor” on Saturday, October 4^th, sponsored by the Borough. This family-friendly ride will start at 9:00 from Sydney Friedman Park and follow bike paths through Orchard Park, along Blue Course Drive, through the University and returning to SF Park. Bike-mounted police officers will participate, and bike safety information will be available. Anna Nelson suggested having a short survey available at the information table asking for public suggestions for other biking events. Jim suggested that CRBC have a membership information table and offer refreshments at the Park. Jean Bemis motioned to approve a $300 budget for refreshments for this event ; Meagan Tuttle second; all in favor.

Election of Officers

A motion to approve the full slate of officer nominations was made by Lynda Crow; Jean Bemis second; motion passed unanimously.

Approve Signatories for Bank Account

Lynda Crow noted the Board must appoint new authorized signers for the bank account.  Jean Bemis made a motion to authorize Jim Serene, President, and Paul Barsom, Treasurer, as the new signatories for the financial accounts to replace current signers. Meagan Tuttle second; motion passed unanimously.

Executive Committee

A vote to elect a new 9-member Executive Committee will be held at the next regular membership meeting.  Nominations include the newly-elected officers and 5 additional members:

Name Change

Jim Serene recommended that we consider a new name to replace Centre Region Bicycle Coalition (CRBC). His reasoning is the local cycling community has changed since the creation of CRBC in 2000, and CRBC is no longer an umbrella organization for the Nittany Mountain Biking Association, Penn State Sustainability Institute, Penn State Cycling Club, and Penn State Eco Action, although the vision of a more cycle-friendly Centre County remains unchanged. Additionally, the name may easily be confused with the new Centre Region Bicycle Advisory Committee (CRBAC).  There are many who are comfortable with the CRBC name and don’t have second thoughts about the ‘coalition’ word, however in speaking with potential new members some are unsure they want to belong to a coalition, finding it intimidating.

Discussion followed and it was agreed that a shorter contemporary name would be more appealing. Many other bike groups around the country who once had longer names have updated to shorter names – BikePGH and Bike Austin are examples. But rather than use Bike State College, it was felt we should incorporate the wider region in the name.  Eric Durante suggested we simply use our website address for the name – CentreBike.org. Those present were very positive about this logical suggestion. An announcement will be shared with the listserv for comment, and the name change will be put to vote at the next meeting. It was noted that changing the name will not change the mission of the organization.

2014 Outstanding Cycling Advocate Award

A nomination for the OCA award was received from Paul Rito. He recommended the award be presented to Ferguson Township this year for their continuing commitment to an excellent cycling and shared use path network. They have done more integration of bike paths into their planning and implementations than any other governmental organization in the area.  Meagan Tuttle made a motion to give the 2014 Outstanding Cycling Advocate Award to Ferguson Township; Paul Barsom second; motion passed unanimously.

Drive Friendly slogan

Nan Moshella suggested a new slogan, “Drive Friendly”, be considered to replace or coincide with “Share the Road” signs. Meagan Tuttle said she would pass this along to CRBAC for consideration.

There being no further business to come before the meeting, it adjourned at 6:45 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan Potter, Secretary