The meeting was called to order by John Phillips at 6:35. The meeting was held at Star Pizza Expresso.

Members present:
John Phillips, Roger Boak, Annie Hadow, Bill Dubinsky, Terry Garrett, GiGi Wark, John Reich, and Tom McBrayer.

Reading of the minutes:
The reading and approval of the minutes was deferred until the January meeting.

Report of the President:
John greeted the group and started off with committee reports in order to expedite the meeting in order to let us join the visiting club representatives.

Reports of Directors and committees:

Treasurer –
John revisited the replacement for Jeremy. He briefly reviewed the candidates for the position, both of which were excellent. Ultimately he appointed Michelle Wolpert since she was the first to apply for the position. He was going to approach Audrey Christiansen about filling another position on the board.

Power in Motion –
Ralph Collins was at the Just for Kids Fun Run Training Program, thus no report for PIM.

V.P of Road Race Management – Randy Carlson
No report

V.P. Of Clubs - Roger Boak
1. Roger is developing the volunteer database and will write up a spot for FootPrints as to its function and to get people involved.

2. Roger will order towels for distribution to HARRA members that finish the marathon.

3. It was recommended that the uncollected Ironfoot singlets be made available at the HARRA booth at the expo.

Membership Committee - Annie Hadow
Membership activity was light this past month. Currently there are 1507 members. As usual there will be the BCC and HARRA booth at the expo.

V.P. of Communications – GiGi Wark
1. GiGi extended an invitation to all present to submit anecdotes or short stories about their marathon experience for publication in FootPrints.

2. There has been plenty of positive feedback regarding the quality of the publication and its new format.

3. Advertising is improving and all ads are now paid for.

4. GiGi raised the issue that had been circulating via email concerning printers for FootPrints and other associated expenses. She once again explained the process by which the printer was selected…a bidding process. The printer was chosen on the basis of cost, quality of paper and color processing. Printing Express was out of the acceptable range.

5. Annie reiterated the concern that Tad Malloy of Printing Express has been donating $10,000 per year for 4 years in printing costs to the Bayou City Classic, and that this should have been considered in awarding the contract. Until the discussion that was being conducted via email, the board had not been informed of this large of a contribution, therefore it was never taken into account. GiGi once again defended her choices both on the basis of not being aware of the contribution and the quality of the product. She also questioned the rationale of sacrificing FootPrints for the Bayou City Classic, particularly since BCC considers itself a separate entity from HARRA.

6. John Phillips expressed his concerns and opinions. His major concern was that so much discussion had been taking place at the BCC meetings and amongst the committee members that he felt should be discussed before the entire board. In his opinion issues such as this should be discussed openly and frankly before the entire board, not clandestinely by email or pulling a board member aside. He fully supported GiGi and the job that she was doing. He expected people to do their jobs and she was doing hers and doing it well.

7. A discussion ensued regarding the financial aspects and control of the Bayou City Classic. The profits from the BCC go into a separate fund, the Parks Fund, and are designated for that use only. John reported on his discussion with Camille that she feels HARRA has no entitlement to any of the funds generated by the BCC. John questioned the policy, stating that if HARRA came up short for some reason and needed the money, he felt we should use it. John expressed several concerns at this point that evolved from his discussions with Camille. The first was that if we are spending $10,000 on advertising the race, that amounts to about $5/person and seems to be a bit excessive. Secondly, perhaps the gratis work that Tad was doing for BCC should be spread across all HARRA needs as a discount. It seems inappropriate to single out one event for the benefits. Annie raised the question as to whether the new printer would be as amenable to providing discounts and services.

8. Bill Dubinsky raised the question as to who determined how the proceeds of the BCC would be apportioned. Both Roger and Annie pointed out that the board voted for the revenues of the race to be designated for the Parks Fund.

9. Terry Garret interjected that the organization would have to come to a decision as to how to handle these issues. Either the race directors respond to the board, or establish them as independent entities. As independent entities the race director would simply do what ever is best for their individual event. In this way you wouldn’t have take away from one activity to support the other.

10. Roger Boak reminded us that thee are a number of people involved and that there are many opinions on this topic, but at the root, everyone does their best. John then closed the discussion with an affirmation of GiGi's performance and that as a whole, the organization will do the best that it can.

Just For Kids Fun Run - GiGi Wark
GiGi reported on the Kids Run. It was a success, many positive comments during the run and the main sponsor was very pleased and impressed with the entire operation.

Students Run Houston - John Reich
John introduced Zach Gonzalez as new director of the students Run Houston program.

John had been seeking new sponsors for the program and reported that there were two possibilities. USA FIT expressed an interest in support for the program. Reliant Energy also indicated enthusiasm for the program. John would get back to them.

New Business
1. There was a brief discussion of our relationship with RRCA. Annie had circulated information earlier in the day (copy attached) but further discussion was deferred to next meeting.

2. There is a potentially damaging new policy instituted by the city requiring an engineering report. The process will cost between $2,500-$5,000 dollars and could potentially ruin a number of our smaller races. They will also no longer provide cones or barriers…race directors will have to provide their own. This is a serious blow to the running community.

3. Dick Esselbaum of the Woodlands Running group expressed their desire to maintain the team competitions in this year’s marathon. He described the process. The board was fully supportive of this action. He would continue discussions with John.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 pm.