The Organization is a Mess
- Board fails to maintain basic standards of 501c3 organizational standards:
- Board meeting minutes on website are from Oct 2020
- Organization fails to publish required IRS 990 forms
- Organization fails to provide required info upon request
- Organization fails to publish Annual Report detailing financial activities UPDATE: COPMOBA has published a 2022 Annual Report
- Organization’s Bylaws lack important and standard policies
- no Term Limit policy
- no effective Conflict of Interest policy
- no effective Dispute Resolution policy
- no Communications policy
- The Organization is poorly set up
- The Board of Directors oversees the Executive Director UPDATE: The new Executive Director quit after a few months and they haven’t hired a replacement.
- The Executive Director oversee the Chapters
- The Chapters are run by Chapter Committees with an elected Chair
- The Chapter Chair has a seat on the Board of Directors
- The result is that the Chapter Chairs both oversee and are overseen by the Executive Director creating a situation where there is no real chain of responsibility and is rife with conflicts of interest UPDATE: it looks like COPMOBA has made motions to address this in their Annual Report (at least with a graphic).
Project Planning Corruption
Although many dedicated volunteers have put in countless hours to develop trail project plans, there is no clear, effective, accountable method for those trail projects to be considered and executed upon. For example, dozens of trail projects were proposed after the GVC requested projects for consideration within the Bangs Canyon SRMA in 2016-17. Submitted to that effort were maintenance projects, reroutes, new trails, and an entire new trail system. Despite the huge effort by members and the community, the proposed projects have been effectively ignored with efforts instead being focused at the direction of leadership.
Overlooking Old Spanish Trail
This continues today. A highly supported project, formally proposed in 2016, to create and expand beginner and intermediate trail in the Old Spanish Trail/Gunnison Bluffs area has been repeatedly passed over despite having excellent circumstances to be a very positively impactful trail system;
- the landscape is designated to be managed as a recreational and historical resource
- largely on Mesa County land with some BLM allowing for a potentially easier approval process
- proximity to underserved Mesa County residents
- beginner/intermediate landscape that is unique in the Grand Valley
- offering exceptional educational opportunities that would help alleviate some pressure on Lunch Loop trails
- good connectivity to transportation corridors and existing resources
- unique historical opportunities
- unprecedented support from other non-motorized trail organizations
The Horse Mountain Problem
A project on Horse Mountain continually gets moved up in the queue despite having some significant issues;
- the Horse Mountain ERMA requires land managers to consider recreation on an even level with other uses including; mining, grazing, oil and gas, energy, etc.
- the Horse Mountain ERMA is a designated motorized area
- the landscape offers significant trail building and riding challenges including being rife with embedded “baby head” rocks
- the area has very few trees that can be used to confine travel
- access to Horse Mountain is difficult and remote despite being in relative close proximity to Palisade
Why does Horse Mountain keep getting moved ahead of the Old Spanish Trail proposal? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Board President owns a bike shop in Palisade?