Executive Committee Meeting November 11, 2020

Meeting Wed Nov 11 2020

Members present: Dana Lawrence, president; Ken Hertz, vice president; Alan Paschell, trails and shelters coordinator; Steve Bailey, treasurer; Heather Bailey, membership coordinator; Kevin Ryan, publicity coordinator; George Longenecker, director; Nancy Jordan, Trail Talk editor; Andrew Nuquist, alternate director; John Buddington, webmaster; Kathryn Gohl, secretary

The meeting was called to order, on Zoom, at 7:06 p.m. The minutes of the August 12 meeting were approved as written (although this did not occur until the end of the meeting); they can be found on the section’s website.

Dana began the meeting by asking if any of us were getting outdoors, and if so, how were the safety measures working. Heather and Steve said they were getting out quite a bit but mostly were hiking only with a one or two other persons; they were hesitant to advertise trips, especially at that point in the year, when Covid cases seemed to be on the rise again. George too had done a few trips, one with 7 persons, but he too was reluctant to advertise. Both said they were trying to hike at off times or to less-known locations. It was suggested that their trip summaries be added to the website or to TrailTalk to give people ideas about less-frequented destinations, although of course that might tend to make such destinations more crowded.

All agreed that it seems important to keep Trail Talk going, and an excellent topic would be ideas for trips. Putting out an issue of Trail Talk would be a good way to recapture some energy and keep us moving forward. Nancy suggested that any articles, and especially pictures, would be welcome—and not necessarily section business, but people talking about what they are doing, as well as short outing reports. George said he would write a prose piece about the importance of getting outdoors.
Steve would write a review of the online Avenza maps and
Guthook.
Kevin volunteered an article on his recent hiking trip abroad.

It was suggested that we add to Trail Talk an announcement that we are looking for people interested in a job on the Executive Committee, as there will be openings this spring. John mentioned that people can use the section mailing list to find other hikers but that now seems a bad time to be inviting random people to come hike with us, so we shouldn’t be adding formal trips to this issue of Trail Talk. Also, should we find ourselves with too much material, some articles could be saved for future issues. As for deadlines, Nancy said we should call this the winter issue and have articles to her in three weeks. She would work at her usual speed, and it would be done when it’s done.

Dana reported that he had been participating in Zoom meetings with other GMC section presidents but nothing particularly noteworthy had transpired.

Ken needed to know what should be done about this year’s annual meeting, usually scheduled for April or May. Shall we repeat last year’s plan, with elections only, or should a room be reserved for an actual meeting? We agreed that perhaps by the next EC meeting in February we’ll have a better idea.

Alan reported that basic autumn trail work had been accomplished. He and Morgan had done some work as far as the Window, and others had gone as far as Bamforth Ridge shelter. He had taken out some rotten trees and that generally the trails were in pretty good shape. Dana mentioned that the main club had also done a lot of work at Bamforth shelter and that it looks good.

George reported that the traffic on the LT and side trails is way up and that a lot more camping is occurring around shelters. The club didn’t hire its usual seasonal staff, but there were caretakers on summits and at ponds. Financially the club is stable; in part because it didn’t have a lot of staff to pay, the financials are up. Also, $270,000 in stimulus money is apparently coming to club. One main problem is misuse of the Winooski River bridge, with people apparently jumping off of it. Also there are parking problems.

Kevin reported that without events planned, he really didn’t have much to do at the moment.

Steve too said life was pretty simple, with $0 in expenses and money coming in—$8,000 in the bank.

Heather again reported that membership is down. We are wondering if the main club is sending out reminders to renew or do we need to do it? Dana suggested tabling the topic for next time until we have more information.

Nancy reported that she was all set for the next issue of Trail Talk and that what she needs to do is clear. Ken moved to accept the minutes as written. The next EC meeting was scheduled for February 10, at 7:00, on Zoom.

We adjourned at 8:08.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn Gohl, secretary