NEBRA Announces Annual Meeting and 2006 Promoter’s Meeting
Tuesday, September 20, 2005


This is to notify you that the NEBRA Annual Meeting and 2006 Promoters’ Meeting will be held at 12:00 p.m. on December 17, 2005 at Royal Plaza Best Western Hotel and Trade Center, Route 31 in Fitchburg, MA. Every licensed rider in New England helps fund NEBRA. $10 from each rider’s annual license fee to USA Cycling comes directly back to NEBRA. This is your organization, and this meeting your chance to help shape the future of bike racing in New England.

The NEBRA Annual meeting will focus on a brief review of NEBRA activities during 2005, open discussion of NEBRA issues or business, and the election of the NEBRA Board of Directors for the coming year. The Promoter’s Meeting will begin immediately following the business meeting and will focus on upcoming changes in USAC rules/regulations, changes in the permitting and administration of races in the region, as well as laying out the schedule for 2006

This meeting is a good opportunity for the race promoters to form a well-balanced race schedule, and for anyone to voice their opinions about how NEBRA can help make cycling better.

Annual Meeting & Elections

Anyone who is a legal resident of one of the six New England states (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT) can run for the Board of Directors. All five positions are elected annually. Anyone wishing to run for a Board of Directors position should contact Jonathan Lowenstein ([email protected]), NEBRA Secretary, by November 1, 2005.

The Board of Directors election will be run as follows: only NEBRA members may vote in the election. Members are limited to New England based clubs and promoters that pay the annual NEBRA dues of $25.00. All people running for the Board of Directors will be listed on the NEBRA website with their candidate statements. Each member will have 5 votes. Each of the 5 votes must be cast for a separate candidate; that is, not more than one of each member’s 5 votes may be cast for any one candidate. Any person or club who is eligible to be a NEBRA member, but has not signed up for 2005 can still join and vote in the upcoming election. To form a quorum, we must receive votes from 33.3 percent of the NEBRA membership. Proxy ballots will be sent prior to the meeting; if you are not able to attend, please be sure to vote by proxy.

The current NEBRA Board of Directors, elected last December, includes NEBRA President Mark Hagen, NEBRA Vice-President Mark McCormack, NEBRA Secretary Jonathan Lowenstein. NEBRA Administrator Diane Fortini, and Mike Norton. The Board appointed Norm Collard as Treasurer and Bill Black as Clerk. Mike will be leaving the Board this year after several years of service. We would all like to thank Mike for the time and effort he has contributed to New England cycling.

2005 NEBRA Accomplishements

In 2005, NEBRA provided grants totaling $3,000.00 to Union Velo Club, Portland Velo Club, and New Hampshire Cycling Club to support junior development, to the Cat ¾ Women’s Series, and to assist running a Junior Track series.


We have built on New England Rankings we started in 2004. In 2005 we established the New England Bicycle Racing Association Ranking System. Over 40 races participated in the Ranking System this year. NEBRA hired an outside contractor to tabulate the New England Ranking System. The standing in the Ranking System are posted on the NEBRA website,

www.ne-bra.org. There will be an awards banquet this winter. Details will follow.



The Board of Directors has also taken steps to improve its corporate structure and functioning. The Board has been working to update the NEBRA bylaws this year and is in the process of moving the Corporation to Massachusetts with assistance of its legal team. The Board has worked to ensure that all Board and corporate Officers are completely and fully aware of all Board discussions, actions, and activities, through minutes, email, and phone conversation. No contract or other legal obligations are entered into by any NEBRA board member or officer without prior review and approval from counsel, legal and accounting. We have strengthened the fiscal procedures and controls and have established a budget for 2005 and have stayed with it through the year. The Board has also taken steps to improve our working relationship with USAC and the other Local Associations by planning to participate in a series of meetings held in Colorado Springs to be held in mid-October. We will be report the outcome of these meetings at the Annual Meeting.

We look forward to meeting with you and continuing to serve you. We wish you success in all your cycling endeavors.


Sincerely,

The NEBRA Board of Directors

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