Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting

December 7, 2011

Charlene Bohl called the executive committee to order at 6:15 p.m. at Ken Hertz's home in Montpelier.

Officers present: Charlene Bohl (president); Bob Lorenz (treasurer); Kevin Ryan (publicity coordinator); Nancy Jordan (Trail Talk editor); Ken Hertz (membership coordinator); Priscilla Daggett (alternate director); John Buddington (past president); and Kathryn Gohl (secretary)

Officers absent: Eric Seidel (trails and shelters coordinator); Cynthia Martin (director)

Members present: Fred Jordan

OLD BUSIINESS

1. It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the September 7, 2011, meeting be accepted as corrected and submitted earlier by email. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

2. Bob submitted a detailed treasurer's report; it was accepted without questions. Charlene asked if she could be reimbursed for taking the SOLO wilderness first aid course; Bob said she should send him the tuition bill from the main club.

3. It was reported that during the two fall work hikes, the crew got up to Duxbury window, where they cut away a portion of the roots of the large tree that had fallen; the whole trunk is still there. The Elephant's Head section may require a little work, but even the remote part isn't in bad shape. Fred reported that the section beyond the shelter is also in fairly good shape.

4. Ken, as membership coordinator, reported that the membership count is relatively stable. He has found that the main club is willing to send out invitations to join the Montpelier section to current at-large members living in specific zip codes, if the executive committee agrees. Charlene asked for more information about how it would work, what the invitation might say, under whose name it would be going out, and so forth.

5. Nancy reported that everything at Trail Talk is fine.

6. Kevin says 'same old, same old.' He may ask The Bridge to give us a picture and more of a write-up around the Taylor series. He had the Taylor series poster with him, and its distribution was discussed. It was agreed that, following Reidun Nuquist's advice, eight or nine days before an event is the optimal time for putting up posters. If posters are put up earlier, people lose interest or the poster gets hidden.

7. Priscilla said she didn't have much to report but that the last issue of Trail Talk contained a good summary of the previous board meeting by Cynthia.

NEW BUSINESS

1. John reported that, for the Taylor series, the space at the Montpelier Grange had been arranged and paid for. Thomas Weiss will not be there to open up for us on the night of the lecture, but someone will be. People should arrive around 6:00 to help set up. Charlene will arrange for the cookies and will get cider; it was agreed to forget about making coffee. John, Ken, and the speaker need to work out details regarding the need for and use of the projector and laptop from the main club. John agreed to introduce the speaker. He asked if the treasurer would take money at the door. Charlene said she has the section's display, which she'll bring. John wondered if he should offer the speaker an honorarium. Usually $100 is given, and often the speaker gives it back.

2. It was agreed that April 13 would be a good date for the annual meeting; the alternate date would be March 30. Bob will check with the gallery about the date. Marge Fish will probably attend, along with others from the main club. Suggestions for other locales, in case the gallery wasn't available, included Bethany Church and Noble Hall at the college. Suggestions about the speaker included Scott and Mary Skinner talking about their El Camino hike and Dave Hardy discussing the upcoming work on the LT's Winooski crossing.

3. The GMC snowshoe festival, on February 4, is still looking for volunteers.

4. During a discussion of list-serve issues, Ken reported that at the moment there are no restrictions on the list serve. Even nonmembers can join the list and use it. Administrators can delete members, but there aren't any rules, and perhaps it should stay that way for now. Charlene and Ken talked about how they may have worked out some of the current use issues.

5. Ken proposed adding some links about hiking to the website; if we send him some, he'll find a place to put them. [Webmaster's note: Ken published some links on the Contacts page, under Contact Others.]

6. Fred said that progress on the Winooski crossing is being made and passed out a brief report. Parking is a problem at the site and needs to be worked out with Bolton. The actual on-site work will begin next fall.

7. The committee decided to ask the following persons to serve on this year's nominating committee: Priscilla Daggett (who agreed to the job), George Longenecker, Steve Lightholder, Christie Carter, Mike Wetherell, Matt Krebs, and perhaps Lexi Shear. Knowing that not everyone would accept, the committee suggested more persons than needed.

8. The next meeting of the executive committee is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15. Later in the evening, after the quarterly events meeting, we reconvened briefly to discuss nos. 7 and 8 above.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn Gohl, Secretary

Drafted December 13, 2011
Approved 7 March 2012.
Edited 2 April 2012.