Executive Committee Meeting January 21, 2025

GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB, MONTPELIER SECTION

Minutes of the Executive Committee

January 21, 2025

The Meeting was held at Phyllis Rubenstein’s house at 15 College Street in Montpelier and was called to order at 7:14 by Steve Bailey. Present were Steve Bailey, Heather Bailey, Phyllis Rubenstein, Rob Penney, Heidi Kunkel, Scott Richardson, Charlene Bohl, Missy Ethridge and Morgan Irons via zoom.

Minutes of the October 8 2024 Meeting. A motion to approve was made by Scott and seconded by Heather and was approved by all.

Editor’s Report. Morgan will need articles by February 5 so keep them coming. She did send a spreadsheet where people can enter their proposed submissions. She suggested she could add a column of “Trail Tales” if people want to send in stories about unusual experiences they have had, or tales they have heard of from other hikers. Maybe someone can submit an article about the Zack Porter talk that was held or he may have something he can share. Scott may write a ski story and may have some reports for the next issue after this one about his running events. Steve may do a writeup and share photographs about his trip to the Dolomites.

Presidents Report. We first discussed when we should have the next annual meeting. We may go back to having evening meetings (probably on a Friday). Since the work hikes are scheduled for May 10 and 17, we should have the meeting before then so May 2nd may be the best day to have it. Maybe we should invite others to join to perhaps encourage adding members. And since these are potluck we would divide up who brings what, .ie. for salad, appetizer, main dish, etc. by last name letters. The following places will be checked out to see if we could hold the meeting there: Steve will check with Christ Church, Heather will check with the Senior Center and Phyllis will check with the Grange. North Branch could also be one choice but they are expensive. And we should schedule a speaker – will it be one of us or schedule someone else. Nancy Thomas and Dana Lawrence just went to Antarctica so perhaps they would be willing to speak about their trip. The speech would only be about 30-40 minutes. Should there be an Ad Hoc Committee to get details? Steve, Heather and Phyllis volunteered. We would need details by Feb 4.

We then discussed future events with speakers and we would open them up to all. Should we try and schedule another speaker before May 5? Scott suggested maybe we should get a list of possible speakers and then when we have time we can schedule them instead of hustling now to line one up. Heidi suggested we could line up regularly scheduled events and maybe they would encourage new members to join the club.

Regarding having our website upgraded Steve has not heard anything from the man who said he could do it. He has disappeared. We still need a new website. Ken and John made ours and it goes way back and has all our info in it. It might be easier if we leave it all there and develop a new website and have a link to the old one. If it would work, we could always have it possibly transferred. Heidi has a friend who is a web developer so she will check with him to see if he would be willing to do it but we understand he may charge us. He should look at Burlington’s website as they use Word Press. There would have to be a hyperlink to the main club. Currently the fee for our domain name is paid by Ken as it has to be paid by credit card. Maybe we could have it paid by our bank account. There is also a hosting fee that is around $100.00.

Phyllis suggested we should report on Zack Porter’s presentation during the President’s report since it was not on the agenda. It was interesting and provocative. It was successfully held in the Library and about 23 people attended.

Steve also asked which officers would be willing to run again so we may not need a nominating committee then. All of us agreed to run.

Membership. Alicia DiCocco wrote that the GMC is working this week to update January memberships.  Due to changes in staff and illness she apologized for the delay. They will be reaching out to lapsed memberships. As of October 2024 the Montpelier Section had 404 active, voting members.  As of January 2025 we have 328 voting members.  When we get the updated totals we will have a better idea of our active membership.

Our problem is lack of people to lead hikes even though we do have a fair amount of members. It is hard to schedule a hike when some of us have time constraints. Would people in membership be willing to lead hikes. Steve, Rob or Heather could write an article about that in Trail Talk. Phyllis suggested we resume having members sign up in advance to lead events. Maybe we could send out an email but we don’t have the capability to send 300 at one time. The service Chimp sends out mass emails so Scott will find out how much it costs.

Trails and Shelters Report. Two dates have been scheduled for the work hikes – May 10 and May 17 with the 11th and 18th as rain dates. They will be in Duxbury and Barnes Camp. Heidi will write an article for Morgan to put in the Trail Talk and will send Rob the info to put in the calendar. Morgan spoke up about the ladder build that will happen but they are working on a new design which looks like it has been approved. But they need approval for the materials. They will also need a hauling crew to remove the one torn down. Maybe it should be done before the scheduled work hikes? Heidi will check with college teams to do it but it can’t be done too early. Both Scott and Heidi now have all the tools.

Regarding getting hats for the volunteers, we may need about 50 and Northfield Company does print hats. We need a logo for the Montpelier section. The hats cost between $8-20 as the material can be different. We would like samples if we can get them so Heidi will get some and let us know when she has them so we can look them over. We’ve decided that blaze orange would be a good color with the logo being white and green. We also wondered whether we could get some buffs to hand out to those who have already received a hat as they would be less expensive. Scott suggested that maybe we could have one really nice and more expensive prize that we could raffle off, like maybe socks or gloves.

Treasurer’s Report. Our beginning checking balance was $9,738.64 on June 1 with $161.44 of expenses for events and miscellaneous. We added in $1453.75 from Section dues, $3.05 from dividends and a $500 donation to make the current checking balance $11,534.00. We have $1682.64 in our saving account. 150% of projected operating budget is $7650.00. Two outstanding checks amounting to $845.06 have not been cashed – one to Minuteman Press for $13.09 and one to Heidi for $831.97. Scott will cancel hers and resend one to Heidi’s at work as her mailbox keeps getting knocked down.

Director’s Report. The last meeting was 12/14. In September Middlebury College donated a 1.5 mile right of way trail to GMC. Also 70 new composting privies to replace pit toilets are now complete. A new Visitor Center has been completed and a grand opening is scheduled in June. Trail management has a new policy for chainsaw use and now sawyers and swampers will need new training to be certified.

Phyllis reported about a portion of the Bamforth Ridge Trail, which is south of the shelter where hikers have slipped down a ledge so ladders may need to be installed. Heidi confirmed that it is not a part of trail that the Montpelier section maintains.

Date for Next meeting. The next meeting date is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8 and at 5:30 but the location has not yet been determined. Maybe we could have it at the Senior Center or Scott and Phyllis may be able to have it at their house.

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Phyllis and seconded by Scott at 8:35.

Respectfully submitted,

Missy Ethridge, Secretary