2004 AGM minutes

---

Minutes, Greater Nanaimo Cycling Coalition Annual General Meeting, Oct 20,2004

Call to order and welcome by John Van Beek, chair of GNCC. Board members present were Jim Kirby, Signy Parkin, Russ Thomson. Regrets, Graham Shuttleworth.

Recording secretary for this meeting was Jim Kirby.

A financial statement was prepared by treasurer Graham Shuttleworth and presented by John VB. As of this date the GNCC shows a balance of about $2000 in the bank, a much healthier financial position than a year ago, primarily due to an increase in revenue and the closing of the downtown office.

Gay Cunningham was given a well-deserved thank you on behalf of the members for her hard work in publishing the SpokeLore. Gay advises due to other time commitments in her busy life she must pass the task onto another volunteer. The board will address this at the next board meeting.

Debby Keith reported that Chaingang rides are happening every Sunday, weather permitting, and that new members are being signed up as well. Ride reports with photos are usually emailed to the riders following the rides. Members are urged to let Debby know of any ride routes they would like to participate in or lead.

Keith Brown was thanked for his continuing hard work in maintaining the GNCC website. He says that it now needs updating and he would give the task to a new volunteer. Keith advised he would like to pass the task of data base manager onto another volunteer as soon as possible. David Beer volunteered to take over this task from Keith.

At this point it was requested that the phone numbers and email addresses of all members be made available to the general membership, as is done by a number of other similar organizations.

At the moment this information is kept confidential. Debby Keith agreed to contact each member to determine if they would object to sharing this data with other members, and to circulate this data to those in favour of doing so. Keith or Dave should email the membership list to Debby for her to undertake this. Future membership forms will be re-worded to allow new members the opportunity to have this data shared or not, as they wish.

John VB presented his year-end review. A big THANK YOU to John for leading the GNCC for the last two years. He says it’s now time to pass the torch to new blood…….John expressed his appreciation to all the members and volunteers who have made his time as Chair so rewarding.

A discussion took place about whether or not the GNCC should seek registered charitable status, an issue which all members will be able to vote on at a later date. While the board is generally in favour of this move, several pro and con views were expressed…..attaining charitable status might inhibit the coalition’s ability to advocate in the best interests of cyclists, the additional paperwork might not make it worthwhile, tax receipts could be issued for donations (unlike at present) but will additional donations flow to the GNCC as a result?…. Members are asked to weigh these views and be prepared to vote on the issue later.

Election of officers then took place. Many thanks to John and Signy for two years of board membership, both are bowing out…..Graham Shuttleworth, Russ Thomson, and Jim Kirby have agreed to continue on the board. New members elected by acclamation were Tony MacGregor, David Beer and Barbara Henoch.

The members were then treated to a presentation by John Luton, coordinator of the Vancouver Island Cycle Tourism Alliance. John’s very knowledgeable and thorough discussion around the benefits of bike lanes convinced everyone of the need to continue to lobby various levels of government for cycle safety.

Jim Kirby, recording secretary

---

---

Last updated: November 12, 2004.