SLAGA Board Meeting

November 21, 2016

6:00 PM, Panera Bread (Brentwood)

Attendees – Kathy DeWitt, Tony Colter, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Dave DeWitt

Guests – Nan Dabler, Chuck Baker

• The meeting was called to order at 6:05 pm.
• October minutes were read by attendees.  Motion to approve the October minutes was made by Tony, seconded by Bill.  Board unanimously approved the minutes.
• Treasurer’s report was glossed over as Laura MacLeod was not in attendance.  Laura still does not have access to the accounts, however, per Kathy, she is to be added to the bank accounts on Friday, 11/25/16.  Treasurer’s report has been tabled.

Old Business

• Brochures are still in process, per Kathy.

• Newsletter is postponed until next year.

• Event Recap

¨       Coinfest – Milestone coins and T-shirt sales – Sold a good portion of the unengraved coins that were in stock and we have two T-shirts left.

¨       Grave Hop – Participants agreed that it was a fun time and expressed the desire to do it again.  Kathy will speak to Scott Griffin about potentially hosting it again next year.

¨       Halloweenie Roast – Successful, laid-back event with about 15-20 attendees.  Bill mentioned that $3 per person was collected to cover costs and sharable items were brought by attendees.  He also mentioned purchasing toasting forks which were then given to those who wanted to keep them.

¨       Boone’s Lick Kickoff – The event was well-attended and participants have been submitting their passports for commemorative coins, as well as positive feedback for the whole trail.  There was mention of the final cache in New Franklin being uncomfortably close to private property with a No Trespassing sign, and at least one cacher refused to make the grab because of its proximity.  Tony suggested that cache pages may need more historical information on some of the locations, as it’s not clear as to the nature of the historical ‘value’ of some of the sites.

• E-mail blast/Upcoming Events: 

¨       E-mail blasts will need to go out weekly for the month of December.

¨       Milestones – Recipients must notify SLAGA of eligibility by 12/28/16 to be recognized.

• A second email will go out around 12/21/16 as a ‘last call’ for eligibility.

¨       Save the date – Dave will do one the first week of December for upcoming events.

¨       Christmas Party – 12/17/16 – Nan volunteered to host.  Patricia is heading the toy drive.  Dave and Kathy are heading the food drive.  There was discussion that the event is going to be scheduled for 5-8 p.m., but there’s an REO Speedwagon cover band scheduled for 9 p.m. and the manager wants to charge SLAGA members a $3 cover that would theoretically be refunded if they leave before the band begins playing.  Kathy indicated she didn’t like this idea and offered to call the manager again to let him know SLAGA won’t pay a cover charge or we can take the business elsewhere.  Topic tabled, pending further information.

¨       New Year’s Day Hike – 1/1/17 – This event will be published under SLAGA.  The meal meeting will be at 11:00 am at the Eureka Culver’s (400 Meramec Blvd, Eureka, MO 63025) followed by a hike in Robertsville State Park at 1:00 pm.  Bill called to confirm that we still have the reservation, which includes two pavilions and a firepit.  SLAGA must supply its own wood for the fire, so Tony volunteered to find the firewood.

¨       Winter Potluck – 1/28/17 – Cache page is live (GC6X1ZQ) and L Frank is hosting in the shelter at Jefferson Barracks.  Ray Bernecki has achieved 25,000 finds and will be honored with a jacket at this potluck.  Bill will investigate purchasing the jacket for the award.

¨       Spring Picnic – Nan is volunteering to host on May 6.  Patricia will help with the cache page.

¨       Halloweenie Roast – Nan suggested Kirkwood Park, but Kathy countered with Larson Park due to the historical number of attendees.  Nan will look into reserving Larson Park for next autumn.

• Classes

¨       Canoe – This is still Pete’s realm.  It was mentioned, but not discussed in-depth.

¨       Girl/Boy Scouts – This was discussed in further detail under New Business.

• Brief discussion about SWAG and that Nancy Gelb has been providing it for her training sessions.  SLAGA was going to allot $100 to purchase SWAG from Oriental Trading Company and ship it to Nancy’s house, but Bill suggested that SLAGA provide her with a gift card instead to allow her to purchase whatever she would like.  This appears to be the best option, however, there was no indication as to when this would occur.
• A Thank You note is needed to send to the Girl Scout leader who sent in a donation of $100 to SLAGA with their thank you note for our handling the classes in Queeny Park on 11/12/16.  Kathy is to provide Patricia with the name and address for this purpose.

¨       GSAK – Jason Collier is the one who usually leads GSAK classes, but there is nothing currently scheduled.  This was not discussed in-depth.

¨       Cache Publication – Tony Colter is planning a class in April, 2017, to be held at the St. Louis Public Library on South Grand.  This was not discussed in-depth, as it’s still in the planning stage.

• SLAGA Geocoin

¨       Geocoin – This is still in the design stage, per Tony.  He is hoping to begin presales at the Christmas party.

¨       Pathtags – No tag is currently in production, however, SLAGA has almost $200 in credit on account, due to ‘give backs’ (a little spiff kicked back to the organization when people purchase the SLAGA custom back design for their tags).

• Road Trips

¨       Jack Daniels – This will be held sometime in 2017.  Kathy wants to do this one.

¨       Butler County Donut Trail Geotour – An Ohio geotour mentioned by Nan.

¨       Future trips – Due to planning issues (that no one individual wants to become the planner), Road Trips is being removed from topical discussion and left up to those who want to do them on their own.

• Paypal – Requires an SSN.  Tony has resent the link with information about accounts for non-profit organizations, which do not require an SSN.  The subject is continued for discussion next meeting.

• Square – This is set up and working.  Dave has the Square swiper and chip reader available for SLAGA’s use.

• Bank Accounts – Laura will be added on 11/25/16, per Kathy.

• Website Training for New Officers

¨       Patricia was briefly trained before the board meeting.

¨       Bill indicated he didn’t feel he needed training at this time.

• SLAGA Caches

¨       There are currently a half a dozen SLAGA-owned caches. The two located in Queeny Park (GC2FGH4 & GC2FGG1) will be offered to Jim Greene for adoption.  If he doesn’t want them, they will be archived when they get to the point that they need maintenance. The Weldon Spring cache (GC1PWM7) is currently disabled and will be archived. The cache, "A Window on Caching," in Greensfelder County Park includes an educational display about geocaching and will be maintained by SLAGA since it fits in our organizational purpose. Our two caches in West Tyson (GCRV3K) and Rockwoods Range (GCE074) will be maintained as long as we can due to their status as older caches.

• SLAGA Equipment Check-Out

¨       Dave and Kathy have the PA system and projector.  Bill has the GPS units and ‘training junk’ (a large display box containing samples of geocaches and contents).  Dave will turn over the other equipment to Bill, who will keep it in his basement and advise the secretary when things are checked out, so that someone other than he has the information.

New Business

• Bill brought up the Girl/Boy Scout training sessions.  (See attached training suggestions, as this encompasses much of the discussion.)
• Does SLAGA need permission slips, hold harmless/liability waivers for these training sessions?  Does SLAGA need liability insurance?
• Nan indicated that Girl Scouts require these things for their people and that SLAGA may be covered under their umbrella when the Council requests SLAGA’s volunteers at their programs, however, this may not be the same when individual troops request the training.  No one knew whether the same could be said for the Boy Scouts.  These issues need to be researched.  The same issues are in question with regard to Geocaching 101 classes, which are geared toward adults and their families.
• Kathy will speak to the SLAGA ‘elders’ to find out more about possible liability.  Patricia will speak to her brother (the lawyer) about liability options.  Bill will speak with Nancy Gelb about Girl Scout coverage.  The topic was tabled until we have more information.
• The GPS units – Garmin Dakota 20s – were discussed, regarding the issues that occurred in the field, such as unit #8 not functioning properly and several of the units not having received the data they indicated they’d received during the set-up phase.  They are about three years old and have a value of about $150 per unit.  (Tony reports that the units were purchased at $169.95 each and that the model has been discontinued.)
• Further discussion ensued about limiting group sizes and group ages, with recommendations that Scouts have a minimum age to be trained.  Younger students would still be welcome, but SLAGA may require a parent be present to aid in the training.
• Nan suggested that SLAGA schedule a monthly training session and when approached by those wanting training, advise that the next training session is schedule for a particular date and advise that is when SLAGA would be available, instead of having to scramble to find volunteers for training.
• Bill recommended that we add the Geocaching app training as well as the GPS units, as many beginners may be unwilling to spend several hundred dollars on GPS units at the outset.  This was countered with protests that Scouts are required to learn with a GPS unit as part of their merit badges, however, it was also conceded that this is likely a correct assumption for beginners and would allow the parents to participate in finding the permanent caches set out on the course.  It was decided that for Geocaching 101, the app would be appropriate for those who don’t want to use a GPS or invest in one.
• It was also recommended that Laura MacLeod look into whether there has been any interest in Geocaching shown by any park visitors lately, as this is where many of those looking to learn more about the hobby originally came from.

v     Further discussion was made about future e-mail blasts.

v     Future Meetings

• The topic of future meetings was brought up and several alternatives for dates were presented – and rejected – in an effort to allow all officers to be present for the meetings.  Unfortunately, no date in December appeared to be viable for everyone, so the next meeting will again be on the third Monday of the month – December 19 – with the hope that a more suitable date could be found for January.
• In addition, discussion turned to the meeting venue, and several of the officers are looking into alternative locations which have fewer distractions.  Patricia is checking with her boss to see if her office could be used for December’s meeting.

v     Adjournment

• Patricia motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and it was seconded by Bill.  The meeting adjourned at 8:11 pm.