For over 10 years the only BBC club meetings have consisted of board meetings every month or two or three, and the annual meeting (usually combined with a social event in the off-season), plus the pool party we’ve had in August for several years.
Saturday evening, May 8, at 5:30 pm the membership of the BBC convened in a special meeting called, according to club by-laws, by a petition of members. The meeting took place in the social hall of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church on the By-Pass. Approximately 25 club members were in attendance.
The original purpose of the meeting was to consider how the relationship between the BBC and TRIRI (Touring Ride in Rural Indiana) could or should be maintained into the future. More generally it was to discuss what kinds of events with paid admission the club can sponsor, under what conditions the club can arrange with vendors to manage such events, to discuss the ways such activities further the stated goals of the club, and how the funds of the club should be used in support of such activities.
As it happened, the purpose of the meeting was largely moot because of a decision of the board of directors, meeting the night before. At that meeting there was an amicably-arrived-at decision to move toward severing the historical relationship between the BBC and TRIRI. For now rides already scheduled for this season will continue, but the club and Joe and Barbara Anderson, long-time directors of TRIRI and the related September Escapade and RAINStorm rides, will negotiate a separation, to be concluded no later than December 31, 2010. Joe Anderson will continue to serve as ride director for the Ride Across Indiana this summer.
Issues still to be negotiated involve bank balances, shared equipment, equipment storage, shared publicity, and probably other issues.
In view of the board decision the official petition was withdrawn. Thus the meeting was largely informational. However there was still an extended discussion. In particular Joe Anderson had an opportunity to express his concerns and to educate the club on some of the larger contributions TRIRI has made to furthering the BBC goals of promoting bicycling in Indiana.
As members may have understood from voluminous email exchanges in the last few weeks, the fundamental issue has been the tax exempt status of our organization and whether TRIRI and its associated rides are or can be compatible with increased IRS standards for tax exempt organizations.
Once the board became aware of the potential for being found in violation it became imperative to take some action.
Most club members have also realized that this has been an issue fraught with possibilities for misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and mistrust. Indeed it was seemingly necessary to have a couple of lawyers involved to bring the process to a reasonable conclusion.
The BBC board of directors and Joe and Barbara Anderson as directors of TRIRI still have much work to do to effect the agreed upon separation of these entities but now all parties seem to be on the same page and working toward the same goals.
In the meantime TRIRI and RAIN will continue. And we all can do what we joined the club to do: Ride our bicycles!