October 26th 2021 @ 7pm
Metro Meeting
Benno’s – West Allis
22 Members in attendance
Dave opened the meeting by reading our mission statement and introduction of Board members
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.
Introduction of Board Members
James Mattox, Chair (Absent)
Ron Stawicki, Member at Large
Dave Burch, Co-Chair
Isaac Olson, Member at Large (Absent)
Dan Kutz, Treasurer (Absent)
Chris McArdle, Member at Large
Beth Kazinski, Secretary
Election of New Board Members
Next Election meeting will be here at Benno’s on November 30th here at Benno’s for 2022 positions. Positions available: Co-Chair, Secretary, and 2 Member at Large positions.
We would like to accept the nominations for the following positions. Everyone to say a few words on who they are, their background, and why they want to be on the board.
- · Co-Chair - Chris Shay
- · Secretary - Melissa Clark
- · Member at Large – Bryan Douglas
- · Member at Large – Tom Hartman
Floor opened for additional nominations. Bryan nominated Lindsay Carlson for Member at Large and she excepted via text message.
Treasurer Update:
Dan was not present to give update. Dave touched on a few key points of the financial report. One was membership at 163. Discussion on how to get membership numbers up. Ideas surrounding getting awareness out there, visibility, pride in belonging, supporting community, NICA, and social events. Trail pages are very visible, but Metro page is not.
Pleasant Valley and Port Washington Trail Update – Eric Hackbarth
Pleasant Valley:
The 5x6 storage shed is finally purchased and will be assembled and installed soon. Got both county and city to approve. It’s a small storage shed and testing to see if it will be vandalized – hoping not.
They will also be looking for new sponsor opportunities on their sign/board. This is done yearly.
The last several weeks a bunch more of the problem wet areas on the green loop have been patched and graded so water will run off the trail. So far, they are working well. These added patches to several similar patches from last year, the green loop is becoming much more sustainable. One more round of patching is planned for the beginning of November. A workday will be announced on the Pleasant Valley Facebook group.
Port trails:
Update will be provided on at the next meeting.
Milwaukee County Parks Update – Dave & Marty
Kegel 2.0 workdays won’t be until spring. Final review by parks is in December which means it’s too late start dirt work. Meantime, workdays are happening at Oak Hill 4. Watch the page for dates. Marty is going to be stepping down as Milwaukee County Trail Coordinator next year and we will need someone to step in for him. Trails are Kegel/Alpha, Tosa system, and River Glen. If anyone is interested, please let the Board or Marty know.
Heritage Trail Update - Chris Shay/John Slawny
Green loop is done! It is about 1 mile of additional trail to the blue that is out there. Flow trail is complete just waiting on signage before the Park will allow it to open. Dirt has been delivered for the jump park. All the take-offs will be wooden ramps to help with maintaining them. The Grand opening will be in Spring of 2022. The trail is going to have an 80’s theme. The Green loop will be named “Fraggle Rock”; Blue Trail will be “Take On Me”; and jump line is “Double Dragon”. There will be a phase 2 which will include more miles as a stacked loop.
Minooka Park Project Update - Ron
Workdays are in process. Completed 4 already in October with at least one more in Nov. Last workday we will have a cook-out. We’ve been building up the berms and this coming weekend we will be taking on the powerline berms.
We are still working with the park to put in a new storage shed to keep the new tools in.
Fat Bike Grooming – Bryan
Bryan is working on new trailer. Building sides so they can cover the machine when in route to trails. Snow and salt not good for the machine. Anyone have ¾ inch plywood they would like to donate to the build? If so see Bryan Douglas. It would be nice if we had another snow dog, one for northern trails and one for Minooka or southern trails. There is a lot involved coordinating between the 3 trail systems. Should start thinking about fundraising for one either for this year or next.
Social Events/Rides
Soliciting the group for ideas of what they would like to see for social rides/events. Suggestion to bring odd Tuesday rides back. Maybe a weekend group ride for those that aren’t fans of night riding. Maybe Sunday late morning. Rides/social events should be schedules for each trail. Will work on dates and reach out for group ride leaders at different trails.
Become a member or donate to your local trails at www.metromountainbikers.com
Meeting adjourned 8:39pm
