Executive Committee Meeting April 23, 2024

Meeting

GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB, MONTPELIER SECTION

Minutes of the Executive Committee

April 23, 2024

The meeting was held Tuesday March 23, 2024 at the home of Scott Richardson, Bliss Road, Montpelier and was called to order at 6:30 pm by President Steve Bailey. Present were Steve Bailey, Heather Bailey, Suzi Swanson, Andrew Nuquist, Missy Ethridge, Scott Richardson, Heidi Kunkel and Charlene Bohl.

Minutes of the January 30, 2024 Meeting. Approved as written.

Treasurers Report. Approved as written.

Membership Report. The section has 456 members, slightly down from prior years.

Discussion of the Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting will be held Sunday May 19, 2024 at 2:00 pm at the Country Club in Montpelier. In prior years the meeting was held on a Friday evening at the Episcopal Church. This practice changed during the pandemic. There was discussion about whether in the future a better time might be a Friday evening so not to interfere with work hikes and other activities, but it was decided to proceed this year with the Sunday afternoon meeting.

The Annual Meeting will begin with a short business meeting. There will be a Budget Report, an Outings Report, and a Trails and Shelters Report. The new business cards will be presented and discussed. There will be snacks to share.

Annual Meetings prior to the pandemic featured an outside speaker. It was decided this year to have four short presentations of approximately ten minutes each by section members. Each speaker will send pictures/slides to Scott Richardson who will ready them to project on a wall. Scott will furnish the projector. The four speakers and their topics are:

Andrew Nuquist, Above the Timberline in Norway

Heidi Kunkel, Hiking and other activities in Costa Rica

Scott Richardson, Annapurna Base Camp, and

Steve Bailey, to be determined.

Nominating Committee. The nominees are:

Rob Penney, Vice President

Missy Ethridge, Secretary

Phyllis Rubenstein, Director to Main Club, and

Charlene Bohl, Alternate Director

Newsletter/Trail Talk Report. Morgan Irons was not present at the meeting. Steve will find out the deadline for articles. He will also write an article about the Annual Meeting. Ken will send out an email message to all members about the newsletter and the Annual Meeting.

Scott is in the process of preparing a survey to determine member participation and what activities would be interesting. Hopefully, it will be sent out as a google form which will be linked to Trail Talk.

Website Report. There was discussion about the need for a redo of the website. Steve has a potential volunteer who may help design a new website. It may be possible to use a Square Form, “off the shelf.” One goal would be to keep activities, trip reports and newsletters accessible. Steve will contact Main Club to discuss how other sections operate their websites.

Trails and Shelters Report. Work hikes are May 11 and May 18. Heidi is in charge. Additional Special work hikes are needed to repair flood damage. Heidi has contacted the Norwich cadets (who are not available in October), the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts. She may contact high schools to see if the hikes could be a community service project. More later.

Heidi reported that she has purchased an electric chainsaw with a 12 inch bar, and an additional battery. Scott suggested that another additional battery might be useful. Heidi agreed and will purchase an additional battery.

Scott Richardson has agreed to be Andrew’s assistant trail maintainer for the section of the LT from the bottom of Bamforth Ridge to the bridge across the Winooski River.

Storage Space. Ken has numerous items from the section he would like to “return.” These include written records, equipment and banners. A new home will have to be found.

There is also trail equipment stored at Ann Burcroff’s house. The items at Ann’s will be taken by Scott.

Next Meeting. Will be determined at the Annual Meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Charlene Bohl, Secretary