ITS Trail Committee Meeting Minutes

September 4^th, 2007

Board members present : John Fritsche, Poonam Jain, Bryan Siegfried, Nelson Grman, Russ Masinelli, Larry Leone

Excused: Bill Napper, Sandy Lane, Jarid Ott, Paul Skeans

Also present: Jim Marcacci, Conrad Kee

The meeting was brought to order at 7:16 PM.

The meeting minutes from the last meeting were reviewed. Russ Masinelli moved to approve the minutes, seconded by John Fritsche, and approved by a voice vote.

Staunton Youth Council: Poonam has talked with them and we will work on involving the SYC in activities such as a midnight ride, taking pictures for the website and other publicity.

Sandra Lane was ill today and was unable to provide a financial report for our review today. However, she has appraised Poonam that the auditors at First National Bank have been discussing with her ways to improve the financial accounting for the ITS. They have suggested setting out a basic budget, with fund raising goals. This was discussed and some tentative figures will be forwarded to Ms. Lane.

We discussed a way to celebrate the achievements of the ITS so far and to show our appreciation of the ITS Committee Members. The bicycle raffle has not yet occurred, even though this had been planned for the summer. Our intention was to raffle the bicycle during the Ribfest in July, but this had not been feasible. After some discussion, the board decided to have a members appreciation day on October 21^st, 2007. This will be a picnic with some activities and the bicycle raffle. Nelson Grman will check on a reservation for the ITS that day at the Firemans' Park.

Rus Masinelli reported that the committee in charge of St. Michael's Octoberfest was very supportive of the ride we had been considering as a fund raiser and activity. Although it is now too late to pursue this year, we may consider it for next year.

We have a meeting arranged to speak with Mr. Gonzalez from the State of Illinois in Litchfield to discuss the best approach to seeking state funding and what goals we should be pursuing at this point.

The Tour de Coal is scheduled for Saturday, September 22^nd. At this point, we have enough help and volunteers for the event, although we would encourage as many ITS Committee members to participate as possible.

The ITS Society is planning their convention to be in Staunton in 2008. We would like to assist them in their convention, especially as they have been gracious about use of the name and logo of the ITS. They have also shared information and enthusiasm for the ITS Trail. Jarid Ott is in contact with Dale Jenkins and will provide a more thorough report next month.

Respectfully Submitted, Bryan Siegfried