NSMBA AGM!

personally, those who make the decisions make the decisions and I support them.

blind faith and trust is never a good thing, sometimes it's good to question the process.

blind faith and trust is never a good thing, sometimes it's good to question the process.

Then why not show up in person and be a part of the process? (Not directed at you or anyone else in particular)

I agree with heckler that the people who choose to get involved are the ones who get to make the decisions…not the internet peanut gallery.

Then why not show up in person and be a part of the process? (Not directed at you or anyone else in particular)

I agree with heckler that the people who choose to get involved are the ones who get to make the decisions…not the internet peanut gallery.

posting the info is not so much about getting involved and helping to make decisions but about developing awareness. to answer your question directly i see two distinct reasons to share the agm info. one is that is gives people who can't be there the opportunity to be see what's going on with the organization and potentially see an opportunity to get involved. secondly, and more importantly, it creates transparency. as a charitable non profit society i think it makes sense to be as open as possible.

this sort of info used to get shared on the web and we could typically look forward to some sort of "report" as to what was shared at the AGM here on the boards.

Perhaps it will…the AGM was just a couple of days ago.

Perhaps it will…the AGM was just a couple of days ago.

yeah, they might but comments at the agm (and heckler's post here) would leave to believe that won't happen. i was mainly addressing heckler's point about the agm being for members and having to ask for minutes though.

anyone care to share a synopsis with the rest of us.

thanks

By no means official (the opposite of official actually), but I did attend the whole meeting. In terms of bias I'm a grumpy (not that) old prick so you'll have to add a zest of sunshine and some rainbow sprinkles if you are one of those glass-half-full-positivist-sunshine people… this is just the super-critical, meat and potatoes, straight goods, etc (you've been warned):

1) NSMBA in best financial shape ever // More Donations = More Maintenance + More Trails. This is good!

2) NSMBA did most trail work in history. Adding public days, TAP days, and Builders Academy days together there will be [HTML_REMOVED]100 trail days in 2014. This is good!

3) NSMBA Board full of amazingly qualified people who like working together. Coveted volunteer positions -- instead of Matt Bond strong arming people to stand for positions there was actually a #*[HTML_REMOVED]%ing election! This is good!

4) NSMBA has HUGE plans for 2015. Now that the house is ~ in order in terms of maintenance on heavily used trails some of the projects (purposely not listed here -- e-mail NSMBA // contact Mark Wood for details) include revitalizing more aggressive trails that are currently dead or dormant. This is good!

5) Donate to the Legacy Fund and the first $15,000 gets matched. It's like buying a donation and getting an equally valued donation for FREE: http://nsmba.ca/trailsforever/. This is good!

6) Sponsors names were all read out -- logos were all shown -- over 100x members in attendance were encouraged to support the sponsors who support us! Thank you sponsors = [HTML_REMOVED]3 (This is good too!)

*edit: Sponsors: http://www.nsmba.ca/corporate-members

7) Vince did a great job running the meeting.

8) Rachid was dreamy as always with his sultry voice and super-on-task Q-and-A management! (if anyone from the NSMBA is reading -- let's have more Rachid next year. How much? Can't have enough Rachid -- just schedule what you think is too much and add a little more).

9) Mark Wood gave an excellent presentation on this year and next year. Very Positive - High Energy - To The Point. This was Very Good!

10) There will be Town Hall meeting(s) in the spring to address specific trail plans for 2015. See you there? That would be good!

11) Vince, Mark, and Rachid all re-iterated multiple times that if there was any information that attendees felt was missing they should definitely contact the NSMBA. Our board wants to answer your specific questions. (Frankly -- and this is me talking -- putting a bunch of stuff in writing in an info package, that you then have to update anytime anything changes or else risk getting called on it is a total waste of time. If you need information send an e-mail). Communication is good! -- one of the NSMBA Board's goals for 2015 is better communication -- this is also good!

12) Lee Lau and Cam McRae made out in a corner.

13) The above thing didn't actually happen, but it's 2014 and it would have been all good if they did.

14) I got to catch up with a whole bunch of folks I don't regularly see and there was socializing afterwards. Everyone who attended is awesome -- how often are you in a room with over 100x awesome people at one time? Yep, it was good.

In summary: The NSMBA is (now) a "Big Tent" organization where anyone who wants to be involved is (or can be) involved, epic amounts of trail work are going on, in 2015 there will be more active - authorized - trails then ever, companies are donating money to help make that happen (and we're going to do our best to support those companies when we can: http://www.nsmba.ca/corporate-members). If you have more questions, fire the good folks an E-Mail and they will be happy to get back to you. This is all good!

D

…

Seriously Mark -- and I get accused of being a grumpy #$%[HTML_REMOVED] -- we are not talking about a faceless bank or government bureaucracy conspiring to take your house, job, or your right to ride a Dirt Bike on the seawall when you're 85 years old because #$%[HTML_REMOVED] everyone else.

It's a volunteer board who have stepped up to make sure that they, their friends, and the other 99% have awesome trails to ride. They are ridiculously accountable -- they are accountable every time someone in our community recognizes them in the community (riding a bike, shopping for groceries, having a delicious Okanagan Springs brew at the Raven or Queen's Cross -- see what I did there?).

They very politely -- and with good reason -- asked at the meeting that you e-mail them if you have a question. If you feel something wasn't answered in your time at the meeting why not give it a shot?

D

12) Lee Lau and Cam McRae made out in a corner.

long time rumoured ,never confirmed…picts?

They very politely -- and with good reason -- asked at the meeting that you e-mail them if you have a question. If you feel something wasn't answered in your time at the meeting why not give it a shot?

D

sigh

Drew, i'm not being grumpy here at all. someone that wasn't at the meeting asked a question and heckler responded with an answer that wasn't really fair to them or to people that may want to attend in the future. then tom responded with a question to me and i gave him a reasoned and clam response - that's all.

wrt to asking questions, i was at the meeting and heard MW speak to why they're not going to post a trail plan online. i appreciate where his reasoning is coming from but wonder if that's the right approach for the oganization. and, as heckler suggests, if they're not going to post a summary of the agm online i also question if that is the right approach as well.

it's not a fight or heated argument, just questions and discussions.

SORCE has posted their agm minutes online (although they are hard to read - i think something was lost with respect to formatting) and TORCA has emailed their financials and AGM minutes to the members.

the constitution and bylaws of every society are of public record and should be posted online for all to view. some do this, some don't. they are available from the Registrar of Companies however for a fee.

agm minutes should be available to all members for viewing. the nsmba used to have a "members only" section, i'm not sure what happened to this.

As a quick reply, the event was live tweeted and minutes will be posted after we've had the opportunity to go through them at our next directors meeting. Also, the directors meetings are open to the public, please email [email protected] if you would like additional details. Cheers. Rachid

Ps. Thank you for the kind words Drew, you sure know how to make a guy feel special.

Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk

a quick search of precedence, because I'm curious

http://www.fvmba.com/?s=agm Nope

http://www.sorca.ca/sorca-a-g-m-january-15th-2014/ Nope

http://www.imbacanada.com/blog/ontario-trails-council-annual-general-meeting Nope

http://www.imbacanada.com/blog/guelph-road-bicycling-association-gorba-agm-2013-%E2%80%93-kinships-and-partnerships Nope

granted…
http://www.worca.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/2014-WORCA-AGM-minutes.pdf

Associations are required to provide minutes of the AGM to members upon request. They can choose to share the information openly, but have no obligation to do so.

There's lots of impatient folks around here. As DrewM mentioned, those of us on the board are volunteers. I took minutes at the meeting, and yes, these will made available to members (as we are required to and as Rachid indicated). Please give us a chance to review first, and please remember that we all have other jobs, lives, etc… as well.

As a quick reply, the event was live tweeted and minutes will be posted after we've had the opportunity to go through them at our next directors meeting.

Really appreciate the information. Cool to see the list of trail projects scheduled for this year!

you can email directly and ask questions, but he AGM is for members to attend and learn about the organizations goals and plans.

(read as: you likely won't get minutes off the internet, but you're certainly welcome to request them)

Not sure how this attitude helps. Communication seems like a good thing.

There's lots of impatient folks around here. As DrewM mentioned, those of us on the board are volunteers. I took minutes at the meeting, and yes, these will made available to members (as we are required to and as Rachid indicated). Please give us a chance to review first, and please remember that we all have other jobs, lives, etc… as well.

If you're getting behind and you want to use mine that's no problem… you can even put your name on them:

…

:D