PRESENT: Lisa Rowland; Richard Balm; Thomas Schwarz; Karyn Hutton; Pete Masters; Mike Langley; Keith Crate

APOLOGIES RECEIVED: NIL

CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES:  Committee agreed that minutes of  23 January 2008 were a true and correct record, Accepted by Pete/Mike

MATTERS ARISING:

1.       ViaStrada meeting – ongoing

2.       Bike Taupo Strategic Planning Day – ongoing

INCOMING/OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE:

Incoming:

1.                   28 Jan 08 -  copy letter from Keith Crate to Council re W2K track

2.                   24 Jan 08 – copy letter from Kinloch Community Assn to Council re W2K supporting track

3.                   1 Feb 08 – TDC – Taupo State of the District Report 2007 Summary

4.                   14 Feb 08 – Top Gear Cycles – request for event at Wairakei.

Outgoing:

1.                   20 February 2008 – letter to proposed sponsors for W2K track

Accepted by Keith/Thomas

TREASURERS REPORT: 

OO Cheque:  $1,431.60

O1 Account balance (W2K) is $1,743.09

Online Saver Account:  18,627.04

Petty Cash:  $4.00

Receipts:   $17,423.49

Payments: $35,087.10

Overdue debtors:

·         TDC                                        $2,165.62

·         Tukairangi Valley Props     $18,000.00

·                     TDC have been invoiced for $7,500 in February and this has not been paid to date.

·                     Regarding the TDC overdue account – they advise it was paid In August 2007.  Karyn will check old statements for this.

·                     TDC will also be invoiced in June 08 for the first payment due in July of $5,000 plus GST for W2K maintenance.

·                     Helistar is to be invoiced for 100 maps

·                     Rapids Sensations have paid for their maps.

·                     It was stressed that we need to be able to have the same systems of “buckets of money” relating to jobs etc.  Thomas, Karyn and Richard are still to get together regarding the MYOB software system.

W2K Treasurers Report

So far $61,500 has been spent on the track.  Perry Fletchers visits incur costs and we have just paid his October and November account.  No invoice has been received since then. 

Accepted:  Pete/Lisa

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:

Urban/Rural Cycle Facilities:

1.       Rainbow Drive Culvert:  We received a letter from Council stating they could not back our project to reopen the said culvert because of Health and Safety issues.  Not satisfied with this answer, Lisa and Richard recently met with the Mayor, CEO and Head of Works Department at Council regarding the above situation.  It resulted in another onsite meeting with Dan (Works) and the Mayor who had both not been on site.  All parties agreed that the safety for people crossing the busy state highway far outweighed the risks of opening up an underpass.  We are to write a letter to council stressing their need to revisit their decision on the basis they had not fully researched solutions to their concerns.  They will then contact us with a view to having our engineers and theirs get together.

2.       Via Strada urban implementation plan:  Richard advised the Mayor is keen to fund half the fee to have the Via Strada consultants come to Taupo to look at the feasibility of this project.  $2,500 will be funded by Bike Taupo and $2,500 will be funded by TDC.  Richard will look at dates for them to visit and look at stakeholder options for funding ie. Youthtown.  We will look at who will be at the initial Via Strada presentation :  Council; Town Centre, Chamber of Commerce etc.

3.       Cycling/Walking Focus Group Workshop:  Environment Waikato is hosting this workshop which will be attended by TDC, Bike Taupo, Road Safety, Sport Waikato, Councillors etc.  The purpose is to look at a review of EW’s 2004 cycle strategy document as it’s due for updating.  Lisa said she will attend and Thomas and Mike said they could possibly attend also.  It’s on 2 April 2008.

Media Promotion and Website:

1.       Lisa has placed two ads in the Taupo Times.  One in an environmental supplement which included an article on cycling as a sustainable form of transport.  The other ad was for the Ironman supplement. 

2.       Go by Bike Day was successful with over 200 people attending.  Once again it was good publicity for Bike Taupo. 

3.       Other good promotion for us continues to be the Mountain Bike Club Race Results which of course can be viewed via our website.

4.       Thomas said to keep feeding him information, bits and pieces for updating the website.

5.       Everyone agreed the website continues to look great and fully up to date thanks to Thomas

6.       Thomas will investigate prices for a mountable video camera for videoing commuting routes etc.

Maintenance:

1.       All the tracks have had a hammering especially with the dry weather.  Chipping away at maintenance.

Wairakei Forest Mountain Bike System

1.       The See-Saw is proving very popular with all ages and abilities.  They have now put in a more advanced one (see video footage on website)

2.       Thomas talked about the DoC land on the left side of Waikato River near Aratiatia and opening it up for using.  Pete will investigate this.

Submissions:

1.       Nil.

Funding/Projects:

1.       For building new tracks at Wairakei we need to find $20,000 to keep them going.  Looking at other sources.

2.       There is a possibility to approach Youthtown to apply for funding to help with the implementation transportation plan Via Strada would do.

W2K Track

1.       As at today’s date they are up to 5.5kms on the Whakaipo side.

2.       Looking at 26 April for the tentative opening of the track.  Keith put together a draft action plan for consideration

CAN Update

1.       A media release is out re the NZ Cycling Facts

2.       CAN want a letter of support for a quarterly newsletter on cycling/training – Lisa will look at this.

3.       Thomas is off to Christchurch next week re the website and will have more information regarding the Digital Strategy on his return and training courses.

GENERAL BUSINESS:

1.       Subcommittee for Committee for Concessions  - A subcommittee will be formed for the purpose of reviewing races on our tracks.  Richard and Pete will head this.  On this note – they have not  received an application from the Odyssey Race for use of the Rotary Ride.  Richard will check with Wayne.

2.       Charities Commission – Lisa has prepared relevant documents for Bike Taupo to register with the Charities Commission as a charitable trust.   The committee signed these documents and Lisa will deliver them to Alan Vane for checking and forwarding the Commission.

3.       Volunteer Awards – Richard and Pete will head down to Wanaka for the finals with the mayor.  Apparently the Mayor is getting right into it and is looking forward to showcasing Bike Taupo as he’s getting the idea of what we are all about.  They’ve organised the presentation and it’s to be simple and to the point.  Richard and Pete recently spoke to Rotary as a bit of a practise run.

Meeting closed 9:02pm

NEXT MEETING:

·         16 April 2008 at 7pm (or such other date as committee chooses)