IDITAROD TRAIL COMMITTEE, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTOR S MEETING Millennium Hotel Anchorage, Alaska December 1, 2006 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9:44 a.m. by President Richard Burmeister. ROLL CALL Members present: Richard Burmeister, Lee Larsen, Sam Maxwell, Mark Moderow (via telephone), Mike Owens, Jim Palin, Dan Seavey and Rick Swenson Members not present: John Handeland and Joe Redington, Sr. The president noted that Redington s absence was excused. He is on the trail. He also noted that Handeland is busy with numerous power outages in Nome and he was unable to participate today. Others present: Stan Hooley, Executive Director; Chas St. George, Director of Public Relations; Greg Bill, Development Director; Don Patterson, Finance Director; Joanne Potts, Race Director of Administration/Recording Secretary; Mark Nordman, Race Marshal; Stuart Nelson, Jr., DVM, Chief Veterinarian; Andy Willis, Trail Logistics Coordinator; Bernadette Anne, Communications Coordinator; Andi Mallard, Headquarters Communications Coordinator and Dale Meyers PUBLIC COMMENT Bernadette Anne and Andi Mallard were introduced to the Board. Anne is the communications coordinator this year and Andi is the coordinator of the communications at the Millennium. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Swenson/Owens moved to approve the agenda. Lee Larsen asked to bring off the table the discussion of revenue sharing regarding the Insider. Dan Seavey said he would like to add to the agenda an item for adopting an Iditarod icon, Herbie Nayokpuk. Swenson/Owens motion to approve the agenda passed with the additions.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Larsen/Seavey moved to approve the minutes of the October 6 board meeting. The words pulling the plug should be replaced with adjusting the plan. Larsen/Seavey motion passed as amended. PRESIDENT S REPORT RICHARD BURMEISTER Burmeister reported that Herbie Nayokpuk is not doing well at the Alaska Native Medical Center and noted that an account had been set up at Wells Fargo for people who wanted to contribute to help Elizabeth and family while they are in Anchorage. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR S REPORT STAN HOOLEY Hooley submitted a written report. He noted that we have a commitment to reduce expenses and a commitment to restore them when we know how the finances will turn out for the year. He presented a list of line items that he proposed to reduce and the amounts by which he proposed to reduce them for a total of $111,608 in reductions. He explained that the Redington trophy was not sponsored last year and Iditarod has been looking for a sponsor ever since. He said that he felt it should be a $75,000 sponsorship for a company to associate itself with that trophy. He did say that if someone wanted to pay for that trophy with no recognition, he felt that would be appropriate. He explained that the production expenses he proposed reducing would be line item 127 in the budget. Chas St. George explained that a production assistant position and a camera position have been cut out. Hooley explained that Versus wants to supplement our production team which may mean further expenses can be cut. Seavey noted that he is opposed to cutting any compensation to the mushers noting that they have not asked for an increase for 2007. All they want is to maintain at the same level. He asked the Board of Directors not to reduce the purse, stating that that would be a major hit for the mushers. Don Patterson explained that the reduction in catalog expenses would mean mailing only one catalog rather than two. He explained that they will try and do more with the Internet. He did say that mailing a catalog was more prudent but much more expensive.
Hooley explained that the sale of DVDs at Costco has not been reflected in the budget but has the potential to add revenue. He explained that the budget has not been adjusted yet except to add in $16,000 to support the Jr. Iditarod. He explained that the reduction in sponsor relations referred to the entertainment of sponsors at the beginning of the Race, ie, the trail trip. Mike Owens pointed out that we do have to be careful about taking out of one hand and losing from the other at the same time, stating that the sponsor entertainment at the start of the Race might be very important. Hooley explained that he didn t want to take from any of these categories, but these are things we can do immediately and get to where we want to be. He said he could see no place else to cut. Palin asked about the projected revenue and expense of the Insider. The expense is expected to be $361,000 and the income is under royalties. Hooley said we would break even with 5000 subscribers. He also explained that we have a verbal agreement from Versus for $250,000. Hooley said we are working on how advertising can be done on the website. St. George noted that the sponsors have to be signed up for advertising by December 15. Hooley explained that we have a proposal out to the State of Alaska for 1.2 million regarding advertising tourism for the State and Insider in the schools. There was a long discussion regarding this but we have no idea whether we ll get that or not. Hooley explained that Channel 2 had submitted a proposal to the Iditarod. He said they want to take us out of the business of production. He explained that we already have commitments that mean we can t work with their entire proposal this year but will still have discussion with them regarding the broadcasting of the start, re-start and finish. He said Channel 2 is agreeable to incorporating our talent into their broadcast. Hooley said Greg Heister will be back and we are talking to Joe Runyan. Hooley suggest that the Board notify Channel 2 that with the current financial situation and commitments already made we can t work under this agreement. DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR S REPORT GREG BILL Greg Bill submitted a written report. Lee Larsen asked if Alaska Airlines would be agreeable to work with Northwest in having the DVD shown on the planes. Bill said he would talk to them about that possibility.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT CHAS ST. GEORGE St. George submitted a written report. He noted that there are some challenges in Europe now. One of our European mushers had to withdraw from the Race because his sponsors had been contacted by animal rights activists and they withdrew their sponsorship. He explained that we are putting something together to pass on to the sponsor. He said he had been contacted by 60 Minutes. They want to come here to do a human interest story on last year s top ten finishers. BACK TO PUBLIC COMMENT Dale Meyers was introduced and asked about Iditarod s putting someone on the trail to talk to the old timers in the villages and record their stories before we loose all this history. Seavey noted that there will be INHT people on the trail in 2007 and maybe this is something they can work on. He agreed to look into this. RACE MARSHALL/RACE DIRECTOR, TRAIL AND COMPETITION Mark Nordman submitted a written report. Seavey inquired as to what kind of protection the dogs would have in Unalakleet. Nordman explained that they will be off the slough, behind the AC Store, the Post Office and Brown s Lodge. Nordman explained that we had a difficulty with the Ophir food but that has been solved. There will be another wall tent in Ophir this year. He explained that the mushers will check in on the same gravel bar as they did last year in Nikolai. He noted that the Eagle Island Checkpoint will be in the same place as it was two years ago. He explained that Ken Chase is having his property surveyed and that Spenard Builder s has donated a cabin. That checkpoint will be fixed up but not for this year. He said Rainy Pass is one of the hot spots. He plans to make a trip there and work things out with the owners. He also noted that he isn t sure we ll ever get conditions that will allow us to run out of Wasilla and said we are facing some of the same issues in Eagle River. There was a lengthy discussion of trail issues in Wasilla.
Larsen noted that Iditaready should be registered by Iditarod. RACE DIRECTOR, ADMINISTRATION JOANNE POTTS Potts submitted a written report. Potts reported that we were up to 100 mushers as of when she left the office last night and 39 rookies. Burmeister appointed a banquet committee to work on making the banquet more enjoyable for everyone: Sam Maxwell, Dan Seavey and Richard Burmeister. Larsen suggested that Wells Fargo be involved in banquet planning. Seavey noted that we are doing the champions and top mushers a disservice by not having them come to the podium until the end of the banquet in Nome. Burmeister suggested we look for ways to honor them earlier in the banquet. CHIEF VETERINARIAN S REPORT STUART NELSON, JR., DVM Nelson submitted a written report. Nelson explained that we can t cut out any veterinarians. We need them all. Burmeister noted that the veterinarian support keeps us out of trouble later. RULES COMMITTEE REPORT Potts noted that the Rules Committee has recommended approval of the Seeley Lake 300 and the Cantwell Classic 200 as qualifying races. Larsen/Palin moved to approve both races as qualifiers as per the recommendation of the Rules Committee. Motion passed. Nordman noted that we should establish a policy that all qualifiers for the year be adopted by the December board meeting. Swenson/Larsen moved that the deadline for submitting races for qualification be November 15. Seavey proposed an amendment that a race not be accepted if it hasn t been run at least once. There was no second to the amendment. Swenson/Larsen motion passed. One opposed.
THE NEXT FOUR ITEMS, IDITAROD INSIDER SURVEY, WEB SITE ANALYTICS, MEMBERSHIP SURVEY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON STRATEGIC PLANNING PROJECT WERE IN THE PACKET FOR REVIEW ONLY. ANCHORAGE WINTERFEST Bruce Bustamante, Carolyn Vaughan, Nance Larsen and Char McClellan, from the ACVB were introduced and had been invited to the board meeting to talk about the proposed Anchorage Winterfest. They explained that this event would be on Friday, March 2, Saturday, March 3 and Sunday, March 4 and would utilize the Park Strip to create events to keep people downtown. The Saturday events will not be open during the start of the Iditarod. They plan to use the Park Strip to have snow events for families. They also suggested having an Iditarod checkpoint, a vet there to look at dogs, a snow maze, vendors etc. They hope to build this event over the next three years. They want the Iditarod and the Tour of Anchorage to be part of this. They explained that this year the Fur Rendezvous will not be part of the event. FUNDING OF THE JR. IDITAROD Larsen/Seavey moved that line 216 of the budget be adjusted to include $17,200 for the Jr. Iditarod. Burmeister said he didn t think the scholarships were as meaningful to many of these young mushers as the expense of getting the dogs out of the villages and into the Race. Bill noted that he has asked ASRC for a $50,000 donation to support the Jr. Iditarod, but hasn t gotten an answer from them yet. Burmeister commented that if we ask for $50,000 for the Jr. Iditarod and give them $17,000 and give the other $33,000 to the Iditarod, that could be a problem. Hooley explained that the Iditarod does a lot for the Jr. Iditarod that the Iditarod pays for and with this sponsorship we could recoup those costs. Swenson noted that we need to be very straight with ASRC about this. Owens suggested we identify why the 50% would stay with the Iditarod and where it would go. Larsen/Seavey motion passed. REVENUE SHARING PROPOSAL
Larsen noted that the Board had previously discussed a concept that if the breakeven point on the Insider was exceeded, the mushers who carry the transponders would share that revenue. He noted that now we have a plan to give each musher a subscription to the Insider and suggested that if each musher could get 10 subscribers, we wouldn t have to look at reducing the purse. He said he isn t sure that concept of the need to promote the Insider is totally understood. Larsen/Owens moved that we implement a musher incentive and profit sharing program based on carrying a transponder and/or sales of subscriptions to the Insider. Maxwell pointed out that the profit sharing idea came about because we were asking the mushers to carry something in their sled. Larsen/Owens motion failed. BUDGETARY ADJUSTMENTS Palin/Maxwell moved to table the discussion on proposed budget adjustments until the meeting on February 24. Motion failed. Swenson/Maxwell moved to implement the suggested reductions in the IFSS, the production expenses and the catalog and table the discussion of the remaining budget reductions until later. Motion passed. NEW IDITAROD ICON Seavey/Maxwell moved that the ITC adopt the likeness of Herbert Nayokpuk as one of our icons. Motion passed. It was suggested that Nayokpuk be an honorary mushers as well as Susan Butcher but it was decided to let Butcher stand alone for this year. KTUU PROPOSAL Larsen/Owens moved that KTUU be thanked for their kind offer and encouraged to be of support in the project on which we have already embarked. Hooley suggested that Iditarod continue to negotiate with them for coverage of part of the race. He explained that he is most interested in the start and finish and the possibility of negotiating for broadcast of the re-start. He said we have $45 to $50 thousand in the budget for that. He also noted that we d be giving up ownership and editorial control of that footage.
Larsen/Owens motion passed. DIRECTOR S COMMENTS Dan Seavey: Thanked the Board for putting the purse a #1 priority. Noted that INHT had passed a motion t o recommend that the BLM exempt the Iditarod and the Iron Dog from a user fee. Sam Maxwell: No comment Rick Swenson: Thanked the staff for putting all this information together Jim Palin: No comment Lee Larsen: Thanked Maxwell and Swenson for being at the board meeting. Noted that we should keep on target with the oral history project and that we should not forget the museum project we discussed previously. Mike Owens: Asked about when the new Insider project would begin showing. Chas noted that would be the first of January. Owens also asked what Iditarod has that he can give to KNOM. Chas will work on something for that. Richard Burmeister: Asked if there were any outstanding bills and Patterson said we didn t. He asked everyone to remember Herbie. ADJOURNMENT Larsen/Owens moved to adjourn. Motion passed Meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.