Executive Committee meeting September 28, 2016

Executive Committee meeting

Wednesday September 28, 2016

Executive Committee Minutes

Those present: Steve Bailey, President; Sharon Plumb, Vice-President; Andrew Nuquist, Trails and Shelters Coordinator; Mike Wetherell, GMC Director; Kevin Ryan, Publicity Coordinator; John Buddington and Ken Hertz, Webmasters; Christie Carter, Membership Coordinator; Steve Lightholder, Secretary.

Those absent: Morgan Irons, Treasurer; Eric Seidel, Alternate GMC Director; Nancy Jordan, Trail Talk Editor.

Steve Bailey called the meeting to order at 7pm at Mike Wetherell’s house.

Old Business:

The minutes of the July 20 2016 meeting were unanimously approved.

President’s Report:

Steve inquired as to the desirability of presenting, as part of the Taylor Series, a program he and Heather have previously given elsewhere on the Worcester Range. The Committee’s feeling was that it should be presented as part of the series at the main club in Waterbury.

Steve has reserved the Wood Gallery for the November 4 membership meeting. A presenter still needs to be firmed up. (Subsequently Alan Paschell and Morgan Irons have offered to present a slide show of the Hundred Mile Wilderness.)

The January membership meeting was set for Wednesday, January 25. The format will be ex-temporary stories presented by attendees. Sharon and Mike will develop this.

The Trip Leader’s Handbook and the Section Leader’s Handbook are now on the web and are worth a look.

Vice-President’s Report:

Sharon reported 43 trip reports have been received out of a total of 56 scheduled. The average number of participants is 6. There was much discussion of the difficulty of attracting new people. Most folks, especially young families, are very busy. Other venues such as meet-ups, are popular. We may need to sponsor more kid-friendly events.

Sharon also said that she just does not have the time to take on the YAC program.

Trails and Shelters Coordinator’s Report:

Andrew reported that Dave Hardy requires a count of volunteer hours. Anyone not reporting their trail work hours to the main club should report them to Andrew.

Steve Titcomb, the Long Trail South adopter, has done a lot of work. He could use help with some rock-moving work. Champlain College students will help on the October 29 work day.

The Smuggler’s Notch trail relocation plans are still a muddle.

A long trail relocation is proposed in Duxbury to avoid an unfriendly property owner.

Dave Hardy still plans to look at the relocation around the “Big Dig”, but the present trail will have to remain as a side trail.

Director’s Report:

Mike said the board met last Saturday.

A new Long Trail Guide is in the works; Matt Krebs is working on it.

Lexi Shear is leaving the board.

The auditors gave the club a good report.

A governance study on the relations between committees, staff and the board continues.

Trail challenges include maintenance of historic open areas, trail use by non-hikers, and over-use of Cooper Lodge.

The new Membership Coordinator is Kristen McLane.

The 2017 Annual Meeting will be held in June at the Common Ground Center in Hinesburg, hosted by the Bread Loaf Section.

Section members recognized at the Volunteer Picnic were: Ken Hertz, for digitizing The Long Trail News; Cindy Griffith and Ira Sollace as volunteers of the year, and Charlene Bohl and the Barnes Camp Volunteers as the group of the year.

Publicity Coordinator’s Report:

Kevin reported that the Times-Argus has been more receptive to our listings lately. He plans to add Seven Days to our regular media contacts , and to provide extra mention for our work hikes and special events. A poster could be made up for our Taylor Series event.

Webmaster’s Report:

John had praise for Ken, who has undertaken the monumental task of digitizing all of the section’s past reports, a monumental task.

Treasurer’s Report:

Morgan was not present, but she subsequently emailed her report. It indicated balances of $3,157.99 in checking, $3,666.69 in savings, and $3,101.91 in a certificate.

Membership Report:

Christie noted that the section has 380 members. Over the past quarter 13 members dropped out, 2 joined or rejoined and 28 renewed.

New Business:

There was no new business.

Next Meeting:

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 7 pm at Ken Hertz’ house.

Respectfully submitted, Steve Lightholder, secretary