11/17/2002 Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Folks:
Here are the minutes from the Sunday, 11/17/2002 meeting held in Palmer, MA, which was the District 2003 USCF race scheduling meeting and at which Gerard Bisceglia (new President of USAC) spoke and a NEBRA update was presented.
Best,
Bill Black

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The North Atlantic District scheduling meeting was held Sunday, November 17, 2002, commencing shortly after 9AM in Palmer, MA.

Mr. Gerard Bisceglia, the newly hired President of Cycling USA, was in attendance and chaired the initial portion of the meeting with Judy Miller, the current District Representative.

Mr. Bisceglia initially spoke at length about the changes being made at Cycling USA. Those of particular note include increased licensing fees and administrative changes. Extensive discussion was had with Mr. Bisceglia concerning all of these matters, especially the fee increases and Mr. Bisceglia’s responses were generally well received. It is clear that Mr. Bisceglia is oriented towards more of a "customer service" approach for USAC. He promised to review some of the percentage fee changes proposed to be assessed for race licensing, as various of the promoters explained how the changes would negatively impact their races.

Adam Myerson engaged in lengthy interchanges with Mr. Bisceglia and made some very good points concerning New England cycling and what it has been and hopes to become.

After Mr. Bisceglia concluded his business by explaining the hoped for arrangement whereby NEBRA will retain $10 of each USCF annual license fee (going up to $50 for 2003) paid from the District and in exchange assume administrative responsibility for the District, the meeting was then transferred over to NEBRA [NORBA license fee split and administration of NORBA by NEBRA remains an open question — but it seems paramount to do very well with a limited number of matters initially rather than taking on too much].

Bill Black gave a brief explanation of the legal structure of NEBRA and the organizational work done to date and noted that it must be determined which portions (or all?) of Connecticut and New York will be included under NEBRA auspices for purposes of the $10 and administration. Bill Black explained that NEBRA will account to the members (clubs and promoters) for each and every dollar that it deals with and that the law requires this. Once NEBRA has a complete understanding of what USAC is proposing and the resulting financial consequences, an update will be sent out explaining the expected budget for NEBRA for the coming season.

Adam Myerson then explained the NEBRA Race Guidelines that are in proposed form. These are designed to enhance the quality of races held in New England and are in addition to the USAC race rules/requirements. Adam asked for comments by anyone choosing to have input concerning the draft Guidelines.

Richard Fries, who was also in attendance, gave a brief explanation of his media-contact resources and plans for publicizing the District’s cyclists, race results, and cycling in general in the future. It is envisioned that the integration of the NEBRA website, electronic race results/timing, and NEBRA’s advertising, coordination and contacts will result in all cycling related information being regularly and promptly forwarded on to regional media in an organized and personalized manner.

Diane Fortini then took over the meeting and conducted scheduling for the 2003 USCF season. She put together a draft race event calendar and all those desiring dates should be sure to coordinate with her.

The exact arrangement between USAC and NEBRA has yet to be formalized. It is expected that we will receive from USAC a document of some sort in the next few weeks outlining what USAC is proposing and the District will be kept up to date on further developments.

photos by Jonathan McElvery, Jack Milton, and BikeReg.com