I strongly support the cost to rent a storage unit for the gear and equipment described. I think it makes practical sense, relieves a non-board-member of work they're doing for the club, and is a good step towards addressing one of the "in perpetuity" questions that come up with generational transfer.

My one caveat there is Adam's willingness to house the sensitive equipment personally. That is a smaller "in perpetuity" requirement than housing the trailer and gear, but it's still a question going forward. If one day Adam no longer wishes to be president or the membership no longer supports him: is the next president required to store that stuff on their property? And if they don't wish to or can't, will Adam feel pressure to keep doing it past his term? "Don't go borrowing trouble," but at the same time I think it's good to ask these questions before they are urgent.

I am hesitant about using U Haul rentals instead of using the trailer. Here are a few thoughts.

We just paid to have it repainted. I believe the work was approved at the Summer '23 meeting, then acted on at Summer '24 and executed in Fall '24. For transparency, I want to remind folks that I have a bias here: the artist that did that work, Aimee Manion, is my girlfriend and I was part of helping to get that project to happen. All that said, we chose to make an investment in a paint job with the idea that the trailer would be a resource for the club for many years to come. It seems like a poor RoI for the club to get basically one use out of it (Trilogy '24).

Sentimentally, I just plain like doing things in-house. It can make more work, but it's the feel of the club that I know and love. It's cool that everyone's finish line photos for a bunch of races for so many years have the same trailer in the background, aging slowly, instead of a big honking corporate logo. That's not true at other races and that scrappiness does set us apart; it matters. It super stinks that they paved the road from Horton to Spring Ridge, but I'm a Luddite and I don't want to see those kinds of changes happen faster than they need to. I've seen people posing for photos in front of the trailer since my first Highlands in '22 and first Trilogy Half in '19; it's a fixture. That doesn't have to be that way forever, but it has been that way.

I understand that owning a vehicle that is capable of towing a trailer like that is not and should not be a requirement of being president or the RD of any one race or another. That's not reasonable or practical, and, to Adam's point, in many ways it creates another "in perpetuity" question. But it seems like the trailer has been an important resource for us for many years, and renting instead of using something we own (or, in this case, have had somewhat casual and de facto owner-like access to and almost certainly could acquire at a reasonable price) does not feel like a good use of resources. The costs rack up but don't amount to much.

From the Summer meeting, I believe that the margins for Highlands have gotten tighter each year. Adding a new cost of a 3 days of a truck and gas and insurance and possible damage repairs to that race, or probably closer to a week for Trilogy, might change the economics. Are we prepared to see the cost of those bibs go up so that we can pay a corporate rental place for some trucks every year? I am not so sure.

There is also a new "in perpetuity" question of using U Hauls indefinitely.

Would the continuing costs of the trailer not outweigh renting u-hauls occasionally? Thinking yearly insurance on the trailer, maintenance, tires, monthly rent on a storage space? 

Who would need to rent? Would it just be Highlands and Trilogy? I would think ~$400/yr is cheaper than the maintenance of the trailer. 

I do understand the nostalgia Ian mentioned, but financially I think I am in favor of letting Dan keep the trailer. If the club general funds pay for the costs of the U-haul rent, I don't think RDs would have to raise fees for that specific increased expense. I don't see an issue with the general funds paying these costs since the club would be deciding to divest the trailer. 

Ian, I actually intentionally left out the discussion about the trailer artwork.  But since you brought it up, I will briefly address it.   That was actually one of Dan's big hang-ups with our plan of action, but he eventually conceded that the recent artwork wasn't completely restrictive or relevant to our next steps.  If we had the gift of prophecy, we wouldn't have paid to have the artwork done, but such is life.  It's just money, we have plenty, and it went to a good person who did a good job.  End of story for me.

You can certainly be hesitant about moving away from the trailer model.  So am I.  But what is our actionable next step/s?  Where do we securely store it.  Who is going to load it and drive it to Highlands and/or Trilogy?

I support the storing of the non-perishable items in a non-climate controlled storage location in Elkins. It is centralized enough to the two nothern-WV races that use it, and easily accessible to any new events. The expense of renting a u-haul for HS or Trilogy is not terribly burdensome. 

As for the perishable and sensitive equipment stored in Adam's house ... I also have the timing equipment at my house. These are the responsibilities we take on when volunteering for the BoD leadership. That's something I'm willing to live with. The timing equipment consumes less space in the basement than my other half-completed projects!

Ian does offer a good point on the visual aspect of having the WVMTR logo and trailer visible at Trilogy finish line. It's not a problem at HS since the trailer is behind the shelter. For Trilogy, we should move the uhual away from the finish line. That would be easy since it is one vehicle and not a truck hauling a trailer.

As for a photo op, perhaps we consider a photo box similar to WV Tourism, but less sophisticated https://wvtourism.com/west-virginias-most-instagrammable-views/ . Maybe an inflatable or simply constructed stand? Those are intensive options that require money and/or time. Or maybe a new WVMTR banner hanging from the finish line?

@laurbeam20, Highlands and Trilogy are the only races that would be involved, at this time.

We will be likely raising entry fees for both races this year.  This is simply due to increased costs and contractual increases with facilities.  These costs are insignificant to our race operational budgets, but regardless, we would itemize them as a general club fund line-item.

@arhodes5 My dad (Bill Young, for those who haven't known me my entire life) has been really into woodworking in retirement. He has made some truly incredible pieces. I think he would be open to the idea of creating something for us if we decided to go that route. I would also be in favor of our logo on one of those big pieces of canvas we could stretch in a stand and let people take pictures in front of. I never considered this "instagrammable" aspect of the trailer but I think that might be a cool idea to consider after letting the trailer go.

I don't think there is not a correct answer to this situation. My advice is to see what happens if we give Dan back the trailer and move forward with the U Haul plan. Lots of races use U Haul for transporting gear. If we as a club find the cost too high then maybe Dan will give the trailer back. Living in a house with a RD we also have a time machine in a climate controlled room. This is just a way of life until the next race. 

Also, keep in mind the wind situation for any canvas props! 

OK, thinking this through and I trust that Dan and Adam did that fairly thoroughly. The only other option I come up with is renting a parking place for the trailer at one of the many RV “campgrounds” nearby. That could allow most of the stuff to stay in the trailer, retain the artwork, and reduce shuffling items into and out of storage. It doesn’t solve the hauling issue and I really don’t like hauling trailers and maintianing the vehicles that are required to accomplish that. 

Storage unit and Uhaul seems like a solid direction to move and thinking about a vinyl or canvas backdrop for blocking wind and making Adam and Dan look really good sitting at the timing table, is going to be a new opportunity to have fun with our club logo, maybe include race names, artwork, whatever. Its an opportunity.

Speaking of succession planning, I’m also in favor of raising the race prices. I love a good dirtbagging deal but I also like to pay artists what they are worth, contractors what they are worth, and employees what they are worth. And I know this tends to ruffle feathers but some day, we might just have to compensate a hard working race director to some extent to keep these events going. I think that would be something to be proud of and I would like the races/the club to prepared to do that if and when it is necessary. I am grateful to Dan and Adam for all their hard work and love that they put into these events but some amount of compensation may actually allow someone who loves the job the chance to be able to do it. We have been lucky to have folks who can volunteer that time but there are many passionate folks who can’t afford that “luxury."

@kaernigmail-com, thanks Katie.  The RD compensation idea is something that we would have to discuss at length before action, but no harm in mention and considering for the future.

If discussion is winding down, a reminder, we will need a motion and second, then vote on this item.

I guess I kind of kicked the hornet's nest on this one, so I'd like to offer my opinion on some of the ideas that came up along with my thanks for people being game for it. I am not attempting to be authoritative, but maybe it's appropriate to get this on the record instead of being silent about it. I hope so, and I hope you guys will be generous with me if it isn't.

Adam, thank for peeling back the curtain on the artwork a little bit. I'm not surprised that you and Dan thought about it, but I'm glad and relieved to know that that you feel that way.

I didn't really think about the costs of maintaining the trailer, really, so thank you Lauren for reminding me about that. I wish some things were free but nothing is, really. I would be curious to see what the comparison is between the two in a year's time, though, in actual hard numbers. Would that be annoying to produce?

To Andrew's point: I would like to make a distinction here. If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds you have chosen to accept the storage of some equipment as part of your role as BoD member and VP. I think that's fine and indeed very generous of you. But I think it's also important to understand that it's not a requirement of the role: it's part of how you're choosing to interpret it and part of what you bring to it. I would not want willingness and ability to store stuff to be a stumbling block for future possible leadership. (Or maybe I'm totally wrong and off base here and it is indeed a requirement.)

To Andrew and Lauren's points about aesthetics, I like the idea of a big ole vinyl of the club logo. Big enough to cover the whole side of a 17" U Haul is probably a bit much, but a boy can dream. I think that's probably something we could get together sooner and then think about if we want gorgeous bespoke woodworking from the one and only Mr. 20xHS40 himself in the future.

I'm grateful to Ashley for pointing out that there isn't a best solution here and also that what we're doing isn't final. In theory if the U Haul thing stinks, the trailer isn't going to just turn into a pile of atoms over night. We can make a different choice later if we wish. Although "lots of races use a U Haul" is exactly part of my big fuzzy feelings point -- we're not lots of races! People run our events because we have something that other events don't!

To the general idea of price raising, I certainly agree artists should be paid what they're worth and I begrudgingly accept that things cost more than they did last year every year. I didn't mean to complain about raising prices generally, so much as asking if risking raising prices for this reason felt right. I'm much happier about $5 more from runners so that the RDs in question can keep paying permit fees and buying cold cuts or whatever else than to funnel a few hundred bucks to a corporate entity that has not much to do with WV or trail running.

I'd love to see Katie's idea of finding a pad to store the trailer happen: it's basically what's happening now at $0/yr rent. But it doesn't really solve the problem, just kind of puts it on life support.

I'm especially grateful to Katie for pointing out that part of the succession planning / generational transfer questions we're seeing here is that it really underlines how much devotion and care and generosity we've been lucky to have from Dan and Adam in the past (among so many others). It truly is a hell of a thing.

I won't stand in the way of a vote or anything, but. It's a bummer. I like the trailer, even if it may not be a practical solution right now or any more. I wish it was.

I make a motion to rent a storage unit near Elkins to store items previously stored at the Lehmann property and in the trailer.

I make a motion for the club to cover the expense of renting a uhaul truck for races that need transportation of race-related items, e.g., Highlands Sky and WV Trilogy currently.

I'll second the motion to rent a storage locker and relocate the club items from the Lehmann's.

Is there a second for the motion of renting U-Haul trucks?  I believe Andrew actually has two motions.

I’ll second.