Executive Committee meeting of 31 December 1969
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27 April 1955 |
Executive Committee meeting of 31 December 1969
Following a delicious potluck dinner, Reidun called the Executive Committee to order at 7:30 p.m. at Kathy Gohl and John Buddington’s home in Middlesex.
Officers present: John Buddington (Webmaster); Kathy Gohl (Vice President); Kevin Ryan (Publicity Coordinator); Christie Carter (Membership Coordinator); Reidun Nuquist (President); Nancy Jordan (Trail Talk editor); Fred Jordan (Trails and Shelters Chair); Eric Seidel (Alternate Director); Ken Hertz (Treasurer); Mari Zagarins (Secretary)
Officers absent: Mike Wetherell (Director)
1. The committee approved the minutes of the March 5 meeting on condition that Christ Church be added before Parish Hall under the Vice President’s report for better clarity about the section’s annual meeting venue.
2. President’s report: Reidun welcomed Christie Carter to the committee as Membership Coordinator. She asked whether it would be worth it to create an up-to-date binder of section information, including bylaws and job descriptions, to give to Christy. The committee agreed that since all of that information is already on the section website, section officers can easily find it there and save paper and printing costs.
Reidun also announced that this meeting would be the last for Mari, who is moving to Burlington in August to begin a graduate program in Accounting at UVM. Mari’s final day as Secretary will be August 1.
The Annual Meeting was overall a success, in spite of some technical difficulties with the GMC A/V equipment. Slideshow presenter Cathy Frank was unable to use the projector, which turned out to be incompatible with her laptop. The main club is looking into purchasing a better projector that will work with newer computers. In the meantime, presenters should be advised to burn their slideshows onto CDs, save them onto USB drives, or create some other form of backup which is compatible with a backup computer that we should provide.
Other areas of feedback for future annual meetings include: have paper plates on hand in case attendees don’t all bring their own plates; have the Treasurer specify the section’s fiscal year to avoid confusion between that and the calendar year; have a sign-in sheet at the door to record who attends and provide a reliable head count; and set the annual meeting date early so the planning committee has a better chance of reserving the venue of choice. Christ Church Parish Hall worked very well as a venue and fit the group size (40 – 50 people) well. Kathy observed that the Saturday date might have interfered with possible attendees’ plans and hindered the group size; in the future, the committee will plan to stick with Fridays. The committee will set a date for the 2015 annual meeting when it meets in the fall.
3. Vice President’s report: The deadline for submissions to Kathy for the fall outings calendar is July 10. Kathy was pleased to receive several inquiries (including from people she’d never heard from before) about a backpacking trip she’d scheduled to lead over the spring with John. Unfortunately, due to bad weather predictions and other circumstances, everyone who expressed interest did not ultimately commit themselves. Still, Kathy thinks backpacking trips may be a good way to attract people who don’t usually participate in day trips.
Regarding the loss of the Long Trail News calendar, Kathy and Nancy are both happy with not being constrained by the GMC’s very early LTN deadline. This saves them the burden of getting trip leaders to commit to their outings whole seasons before they occur.
4. Trails and Shelters Coordinator’s report: Aside from some seasonal obstacles including high water, Fred’s spring work parties observed no major problems on either of the section’s trails. Fred was very impressed by several new section trail volunteers, including a mother and son duo, who worked very hard.
Work has started back up on the Winooski Bridge, and the GMC crew expects to finish by fall.
Fall work hikes are scheduled for October 25 (Sterling Pond) and November 1 (Bamforth Ridge).
5. Treasurer’s report: Ken reported that there was very little activity in the section accounts this quarter. Currently, the section has nearly $7,500 in checking and $2,000 in CD, and when the CD matures Ken will increase it to $3,000 and designate it as the section’s emergency reserve.
In January, the section paid the main club $2,300 as its annual gift.
The section has budgeted some money for section members who are willing to take the SOLO first-aid course at GMC. Look for information about upcoming workshops in the back of the Long Trail News.
6. Membership Coordinator’s report: Christy reported that the section currently has 363 memberships and 556 voting members. Nine members were dropped during the last quarter, eight joined, and four previously dropped members rejoined. Reidun is working with Jill at the main club to develop a protocol for section officers to insert hand-written notes to people we know personally into the mailing to dropped members.
7. Editor’s report: Nancy has started working on the fall issue. Let her know if you have articles or photos to include. Reidun shared that Breadloaf Section President Jan Abbott recently praised Trail Talk and said it was among the best section newsletters.
8. Publicity Coordinator’s report: Kevin continues to submit section events every month to various media. The Times Argus’s event submission page continues to be frustrating to work with. Kevin apologized for the typos on the most recent version of the section flyer on display at Onion River Sports. There was a glitch with the Microsoft Word version he’s using, but he’ll be careful to catch it next time.
Ken noted that a recent issue of the Times Argus included a large photo of a section hike to Barre Town Forest.
John suggested that various communities’ online Front Porch Forums might be good places to send the section’s outing schedule to. Kevin will look into it.
9. Webmaster’s report: Ken is working on creating a logo for the Tuesday Trekkers and getting some other graphics up on that part of the section website to attract more attention to it.
Both John and Ken receive notifications whenever someone posts a trip report to the website. Ken usually approves the post, but John is able to jump in when Ken is not available.
Ken shared that some people on the section’s email list are not receiving our emails because the web host has a bad reputation. Right now we’re stuck with it, but it doesn’t seem to be a huge problem at the moment.
Ken has been capturing the section website annually, and he’s just given a copy to Paul Carnahan to store in the Vermont Historical Society archives.
10. Director’s report: Though not present at this meeting, Mike emailed his report to the committee and included the news that the GMC’s new Executive Director, Mike DeBonis, has been aboard for several weeks now and will be at the upcoming annual meeting; and Development Director Maisie Howard is departing at the end of June. GMC is currently seeking a new Development Director as well as a Finance Manager.
Last winter, Jean Haigh asked Mike to switch from the Publications Committee to the Budget and Finance Committee, and he’s been working to review the past fiscal year and look forward. Bill Lyons has been working with staff to help finalize the FY15 budget which the board will review in two weeks. A key feature of this is how the club will manage payment of the bridge project.
Mike enjoyed a good spring with YAC. In April, ten families joined his on a hike to Grand Lookout in Barre Town Forest: ‘We checked out the cliffs around still-frozen quarry #13, sloshed through puddles, and learned a bit about the quarry industry’s 150 year history. Kids searched for cool granite carvings and examined the towers, derricks, and other reminders of the industry scattered along the trail. We dangled our feet over the edge and snacked at the top of the Grand Lookout, which has an expansive view of the Green Mountains and Worcester Range from Camels Hump all the way to Jay Peak.’ In May, 7-8 families biked from Montpelier High School to Red Hen bakery and back with Lexi. On Sunday morning, Matt and Alyssa Krebs will lead a trip to Mt. Abraham. Another early June trip has been cancelled. In late June Shawn Keeley is leading a hike and swim at Mt. Elmore. The families usually take a break in July and August and will map out a new schedule for fall.
11. New business: Appointment of interim secretary: Reidun will (1) ask Mike if he knows of any YAC parents who would like to get more involved with the section; (2) send a notice to the section’s email list; and (3), as a last resort, invite Cynthia Martin or the Garcias, former section officers, to return.
Farmers Market table: Reidun would like to set a date for this during the beginning of the fall hiking season. She welcomes any and all volunteers from the section to participate in this fun, interactive event.
GMC annual meeting, June 13-14, at Killington: come and enjoy the opportunity to meet GMC’s new Executive Director Mike DeBonis, go on outings with other section members, and learn more about the main club’s operations.
How to attract younger members to the GMC/Montpelier Section? Suggestions include: get more young people involved in trail work or coordinate a special trail work day specifically for young people; set up a display table at trailheads or at Barnes camp on a busy weekend day and pass out cards and other section information; keep up with the farmer’s market table; and coordinate singles events with the main club. Ken reminded the committee that the section’s sixtieth anniversary is next year, and we should be sure to reserve a spot in Montpelier’s Fourth of July parade.
12. The date for the next EC meeting was set for Wednesday, October 15. Reidun has invited the GMC’s new Executive Director, Mike DeBonis.
Respectfully submitted, Mari Zagarins, secretary