September 2019 Metro Meeting
9/10/19
Bennos’
West Allis, Wi
19 members in attendance
Introduction of Board
Mission Statement
Metro Mountain Bikers is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to safeguarding the future of mountain biking through the preservation and promotion of responsible off-road bicycling opportunities. Which includes the education, sponsoring events, trail construction, and trail maintenance.
Minooka Park Update - James
Minooka project is fully approved just waiting for contract to be signed at next executive committee meeting. This should be in late October. There were no objections during the county parks meeting so should go through no issues.
County fully approved our plan which included reroutes with donated Little Switz features on the hillside! Also includes new trailhead, parking lot, hang-out area, etc. The contract waiting to be signed also includes the use of heavy equipment which is a big win! Note, we are not held responsible for building the parking lot if we are not able to raise the funds.
Watch for invites for trail workdays!!
County is also allowing us to place a storage shed behind the bathhouse at Area 5 so we don’t have to keep dropping off and picking up equipment at someone’s house.
Waukesha Freeman interview gave us more exposure and we should capitalize on this with fundraising efforts to local business…maybe asphalt companies???? We’ll need to start putting together a Fundraising Committee.
Alpha Trial Update – Marty
Marty and Harold are working with Jessica the Milwaukee County Trails Coordinator. We are trying to protect the downhill run. The naturist shut down the inner loop we were looking for; however, they are going to sanction the use of the hiking trail for mountain biking –it will become a multi-use trail. This is for the root river parkway only. The river line will still be there if its dry enough to use.
Marty and Harold did walk the property and are suggesting to the trail’s coordinator the area behind the archery range for additional single track. We do have to close some trail but gaining just a bit more than we are losing.
There will be a public meeting regarding making the hiking trail multi us and we do expect some push back from hikers so we need MOUNTAIN BIKERS to show up in force on our behalf. Meeting is scheduled for Thursday October 10th at the Ross Lodge from 4pm to 7pm.
James will have Darin send out a post via social media and email.
Fat Bike Grooming – Brian Douglas, Chair
Everyone should have received an email form regarding what they would like to see for grooming. Where? Which Trails? Who is interested in being on the Fat Bike Committee?
We will need people to help move the equipment and groom the trails. We will also need individuals to help coordinate grooming schedule once we have a few places to groom. The open/close for trails will be on Metro website.
We do have a place in Cedarburg to store the equipment and James donated the use of his snowmobile trailer to move the groomer. It is small enough for a car with a hitch to pull.
Feedback from the returned responses we’ve received so far, Pleasant Valley trail came up in 75% of those responses. We will also start with county golf courses. Of course, everyone would like to see Minooka on that list. Please complete the form and send back with your suggestions. Our goal is to start with 3 places to groom.
Membership – Goal is still 1000.
We had 10 new members in the last 30 days.
· Metro 118
· GEARS 19
· OCMB 17
We had small flyers printed to hand out. The flyers ask riders to join Metro and support our trail systems. Please take a stack and hand out whenever you can.
Volunteer Hours
With all the new opportunities coming our way there will be a lot of volunteer hours that need to be counted. We send these hours to the counties and they use when applying for special projects. You can email your hours to Chris Cooper at cooper4768@hotmail.com
Board Positions
Voting will take place for the new Board Positions this November so if you are interested place email Metro.
Positions that are coming up:
· Co-Chair
· Social Chair
· Member at Large (Isaac Olson)
· Secretary
Open Floor
Ron presented check to Metro for $150 from the last Bike-Sha. Thank you to Dan at Magellan’s on Main St for the Pizza and beer donation as well as everyone who came out to ride and donate. Stay tuned for the next one!
Eric Hackbarth gave an update for OCMB. The Port Washington short trail that washed away and then the city was using to dump debris on is now a trail again. They have been working hard re-creating the trail all summer long and is better than what it used to be. They just finished a ridable 2mile loop so check the OCMB page and go ride it in!!! Exciting to have more trail to ride!
A plus to note that River Glen Trail has been open a lot his year although the Mountain Bike stickers on the sign keep disappearing. Hmmm
Today’s 50/50 raffle donating $35 back to the Club.
Meeting adjourned.
