Omaha Bikes Meeting Minutes - January

Omaha Bikes

Meeting Minutes – January 2011

In attendance: Bob Brindamour, Joe Simoens, Mark Siepker, Julie Harris, Jason Alter, Tammie Dodge, Steve Herbermann, Tony Wilderwing, Chris Wolf, Tony Todd, Robert Shaw, Joel Zimmerman, Kurt Goetzinger, Sarah Johnson, Mike Grubbe

Updates:

No Ladies & Gentlemen’s rides will be scheduled for January and February. The next ride will be Sunday, March 13. Jolene will update the blog with details in March.

Andy Clarke, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists, will be in town on February 11! Activate Omaha and Welcom (Wellness Council of the Midlands) will be planning a luncheon for business leaders that day, and a Handlebar Happy Hour is being planned for that evening. Watch the blog for more details.

Iowa Bike Summit is January 28- 29. Matt and Julie will be driving to Des Moines and attending Saturday’s session; others interested in attending can get ahold of Julie (jharris at activateomaha dot org) and we’ll coordinate travel plans.

The National Bike Summit is March 8 – 11. Activate Omaha staff are planning to attend, as is Matt Martin, Kent McNeill (Trek Bicycle Stores), Jim Carveth (Bike Rack), Carlos Morales (City Bike/Ped Coordinator) and some other local business leaders. Anyone else interested in attending and being part of the Nebraska delegation is welcome!  Get in touch with Tammie or Julie for details.  We’ll plan again this year to tweet, blog and post our little fingers off while we’re there!

PACE (People Aspiring to Cycle and Exercise) is a new organization in Omaha looking at helping people with physical disabilities gain access to adapted bicycles and cycling opportunities. It was agreed that their mission fits well with that of Omaha Bikes and we look forward to having them join us in our quest to get more people on bikes.

Moving Forward: Omaha Bikes/Community Bike Project/Activate Omaha partnership
The leadership has been discussing the best way to organize and manage our resources in the most effective way. The following structure has been proposed:

1. The creation of an Omaha Bikes “SuperBoard” consisting of reps from Omaha Bikes, CBPO, Activate Omaha and the Mayor’s Bike/Ped Advisory Committee. This group would meet quarterly during the transition to help guide the organization. Omaha Bikes would remain under the Live Well Omaha umbrella for now.

2. The “staff” of Omaha Bikes would be Tammie Dodge, Julie Harris, Matt Martin – continuing the work they are already doing behind the scenes, but coming together to organize themselves and the work more formally.

3. The focus areas/committees identified during the Omaha Bikes strategic planning session would be used moving forward. Each committee would be co-chaired by one person from the membership of Omaha Bikes and a designated staff person. Each committee would continue to use volunteers from the OB membership to accomplish the goals that have been established. We encourage all Omaha Bikes members to get involved with at least one of the subcommittees!

4. The Chair position of Omaha Bikes will continue to be needed: this person will be a part of the “SuperBoard” and will help chair the monthly meetings. Bob has done an extraordinary amount of work as President the past year, and the new structure will take a large load of work off the shoulders of that position. It has also been suggested that a Chair Elect be selected to serve with the Chair and help with transition from year to year.

5. The actual Community Bike Shop at 33rd/California will serve as a branch of Omaha Bikes for classroom space, outreach opportunities and potentially satellite office space for staff. The CBPO board is in discussions about their vision of the partnership with Omaha Bikes as well.