Meeting Summary, September 7, 2017

Attending: Clark, Gosselin, Waldburger, O’Keefe, Hultgren, Manizza, Weinland

The meeting was begun at 6:33 pm in the Nash Zimmer Transportation Center main lobby.

The meeting notes from the August 3, 2017 meeting were reviewed and approved by consensus.

Hultgren gave a Treasurer’s report and circulated the current paid membership list. There is $537.21 in the checking account now (after the gift certificates for the photo contest winners were purchased). A check from the Thread City Cyclers for $350 (half their proceeds from the Thread City Century Ride) has been received and will be deposited shortly. Hultgren said that we might start thinking about how best to use some of these funds to further bicycle friendliness in the area.

Staffing the booth at the Town Festival on Sunday Sept 17th was discussed. Hultgren said he will bring the table, chairs, pop-up tent and other set-up materials to the booth site (in front of the Spirit Shop on Royce Circle) at the designated 9 to 9:30 set-up time. Weinland, Clark and Gosselin said they should be able to take a shift staffing the booth (12 to 4). More Bike Mansfield volunteers to work in the booth, particularly near the end of the festival, would be welcome. A brief Bike Mansfield meeting to pick the top 10 photographs received for display in the booth (for voting) was scheduled for 6:30 pm Thursday September 14th.  Clark suggested that a handout on the commuting facilities in the transportation center be available at the booth for distribution (showing the new, lower fees) and that tours of the bicycle commuting facilities be given during the festival. We also discussed putting pictures of the commuter showers, lockers and bike lockers on the website.

Hultgren passed around copies of a “tips card” for motorists and cyclists that is being worked on by the Resident State Trooper’s Office, the Mansfield Engineering Office and Bike Mansfield for bicycle safety in Town. Comments/edits were requested.

A business “follow-up sheet” is needed to give to those businesses that were previously contacted by Bike Mansfield members and said they were interested in becoming Bike Mansfield business members. O’Keefe said he would work on creating a draft.

Hultgren said that the Capital Region of Governments (CROG) was doing their annual region-wide bicycle and pedestrian counts at selected intersections next week. He said they were suggesting two different Mansfield intersections this year as the two at 195/Bolton and 195/275 have now been done 2 years in a row. Their suggestions, however, were for intersections that would be impacted by the North Eagleville Road construction, so 2 alternate intersections on Rte 275 (at Maple and Separatist) were suggested by our group instead. Hultgren will report this to the people at CROG, and plans to do the two counts from noon to 2 PM on Wednesday and Thursday (13 & 14) of next week.

Manizza outlined the cyclocross event scheduled for October 7th at the Mansfield Hollow State Park and noted that this year it was being sponsored by the Friends of Mansfield Hollow State Park instead of the Thread City Cyclers (who were still going to help out – just not be the prime sponsors). He said help was needed in setting up the course, directing parking, baking goodies and breaking down/cleaning up at the end of the day (4:30 PM or so). He will get a list of tasks to Hultgren to email to the Bike Mansfield email list for volunteers.

The meeting was concluded at 7:20 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for the first Thursday in October (Oct 5th)

Lon Hultgren, Secretary-Treasurer

info@bikemansfield.com