Meeting was called to order at 6:02 pm.

Members present: John Phillips, GiGi Wark, Annie Hadow, Bill Dubinsky, Roger Boak, Ram Tekumalla, Ralph Collins, Tom Woltz, Joe Sellers, Terry Garrett, Randy Carlson, Tom McBrayer and Elizabeth Bearman.

Members not present: Jeremy Mills, John Reich.

Reading of the minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were deferred until the July meeting for approval.

Report of the President : John Phillips opened the meeting with introduction of the new officers and board of directors.

John Phillips commented on his role as president of the association and his expectations of the members of the board. First and foremost will be a renewed and emphasized focus on the affiliated clubs that comprise HARRA. The rationale is that if we can satisfy the needs of current members, they will become the best ambassadors for the recruitment of new members to HARRA.

Reports of Directors and committees:

Treasurer - Jeremy Mills:
The report was deferred until the next meeting.

V.P. Of Clubs - Roger Boak :
1. Roger updated us on plaques and awards for the various runners which will be completed and ready for distribution shortly. John Phillips commented on the mechanism of getting awards to winners and the problems with timing and attendance at awards ceremonies. Thought that presenting awards in a more timely fashion might help and suggested that getting the scoring information to Roger faster might help with this issue. He asked the board to think about and address this problem.

2. Roger also reported on the efforts of the Mountain Bikers to work on and improve Ho Chi Minh trail and the Huntsville trails. They had a scheduled workday for June 29th at Ho Chi Minh.

Power in Motion - Ralph Collins:
Ralph reported that a new series will start in the fall. He requested the presence of board members at the inaugural meeting, particularly the president to introduce the program to new members. John Phillips responded to a question about PIM by restating the purpose of PIM and elaborating on some of the background fo its beginnings. The strength of the program lies in the fact that it is a good training regimen for runners of all abilities, not just for marathoners. In addition it is highly successful with introducing the sport to new runners. John views it as one of HARRA's strongest programs and encourages us to strongly support PIM.

The Kid's Run - Ram Tekumalla:
1. Ram brought us up to date on the Kid's Run, most significantly, Memorial-Herman came through with another year of support ($7,000) for the run. The date has not been established, but after discussion, September 28 was chosen as the best date for the event.

2. Volunteers are needed for just about everything necessary to put on the race. John Phillips expected all of the board members to help with this highly visible event. We also need to get the word out for this event with plenty of advertising. Joe Sellers also mentioned that there were reciprocal agreements between the mayor's office and HARRA for help with these kinds of events, particularly in advertising. Randy Carlson identified the contact person in the mayor's office for Ram to get in touch with.

V.P of Road Race Management - Randy Carlson:
1. Camille Yarborough is stepping down as race director for the Bayou City Classic creating the need to identify a new race director. He also mentioned that a new director was needed for the Friends of Hermann Park Run. From those present at the meeting there was a consensus that the committees and support group would remain in tact perhaps facilitating the new director. The biggest task facing the leader would be to identify a corporate sponsor(s) Several ideas were exchanged regarding a new director and the board was charged with trying to come up with names by the August meeting.

Approximately 2600 runners participated in the BCC which made in the range of $6,000-7,000. The shortfall was due to loss of some of the major sponsors.

2. The mile markers (continuing saga ) appear to finally be on their way after a number of unanticipated delays.

3. AED unit will be ordered for $2970. Arrangements have been finalized such that the unit will be kept in a patrol car that is permanently assigned to the Memorial Park area.

Membership Committee - Annie Hadow:
1. Several hundred members have signed up for the new year, but we will have to push to get the membership up at upcoming events like the Marathon sign up.

2. John Phillips brought up the idea of returning to the issuing of HARRA membership cards to members. The purpose is to remind them that they are the part of the organization. Cards could be sent out with the notification of membership to new and renewing members. There will be further discussion.

V.P. of Communications - GiGi Wark:
1. Proposed to update the appearance and content of Footprints. She has approached April Murphy and others about redesigning the cover page.

2. As part of reorganizing the editorial staff would like to have Assistant Editors have board level appointments. She will have people assigned to cover advertizing, work with publicizing and expanded coverage of the clubs and meet our members.

3. The editor will have regular meetings with the staff.

4. Look into ways for improving turnaround of each issue. It appears that there are significant delays that occur after printing of the issue (labeling and mailing).

5. She will try and make Footprints appealing to all types of runners with sections devoted to track, marathons, trail running and triathletes.

6. In an effort to increase participation from the running community GiGi will have awards at the years end for the best photo and the best article.

7. To improve the handling of finances, GiGi also suggested that the Treasurer send out invoices for advertizing.

8. As a cost cutting effort publish the newsletter on the website, cheaper production costs, better quality of images, larger content.

9. John Phillips suggested having introductory, shorter articles in the newsletter and referrals to the website for more in depth coverage and lengthier articles.

10. Randy Carlson suggested that we include more short newsworthy tidbits about individuals or hot topics.

New Business
1. John Phillips discussed the job descriptions for each of the various positions of officers in HARRA.

2. Tom Woltz brought the group up to date on his final forthcoming edition of Footprints.

Old Business
1. Tom McBrayer commented on the presence of Steve Karpas at a previous board meeting and noted that as far as he could remember that was a "first" to have a representative of the Marathon attend a meeting. He then strongly encouraged inviting him to attend on a regular basis to improve communications between HARRA and the Marathon Committee.

The kick off party will be held on September 9, 2002.

He also noted that the USATF cross country trials will be held in Houston and there was some discussion as to how involved HARRA should be in this event.

2. Roles of new board members were discussed with Terry Garrett who was appointed to the board by John Phillips at that time.

3. Pat Nelson of the Memorial Park Running Club attended the meeting both to introduce himself and the club to HARRA. He noted that over the past year that his club had grown in size and were willing to get more involved with HARRA and its functions. This kicked off a discussion of the benefits that HARRA offers to its members and the different venues available to members to participate in its functions.

4. Randy Carlson updated the board on meetings about the Memorial Park Planning Committee of which he is a member. The outside consultants had met with the group earlier in the evening and presented a number of ideas regarding future plans, but nothing concrete was presented to the group. Randy will report to us in the future when more is known.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:50.