SLAGA Board Meeting

February 7, 2019

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Steve Bromley, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Jan Salvaggio, Dave DeWitt, John Elfrank, Kathy DeWitt, Carolyn Jaycox (via computer)

                The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM.

                Motion to approve the January minutes was made by Bill, seconded by Steve. The minutes were unanimously approved.

                Kathy presented the MOGA treasurer’s report as well as the December and January SLAGA treasurer’s reports. Motion to approve the December treasurer report was made by Patricia and seconded by Bill. Motion to approve the January treasurer report was made by Patricia and seconded by Jan. Both motions passed unanimously.

Old Business

• Newsletter – Articles are needed. SLAGA members are encouraged to submit short write-ups of their geocaching adventures to appear in the newsletter and on the SLAGA website. Articles can be submitted to SLAGA via the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address.

• Email blast – Steve will work on gathering information for the email blast.

• Event Recap:
  • SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever 2019 – The photo scavenger hunt will be discontinued due to lack of interest. The WIFI at the location isn’t very good, so the board discussed the need for HDMI cable and a hotspot for the future.
  • 2019 Winter in the Woods Festival – There were approximately 1,000 visitors to this event. Swag, especially whistles and carabiners were very popular; the board will inventory what stock is left and order more. While the group of volunteers who showed up for this event were able to handle the crowd that stopped by and went out on geocache hunts, we are in need of more volunteers. Several ideas were discussed on how to attract other volunteers, including having an information booth at quarterly SLAGA events to show potential volunteers what’s required of being a volunteer, and offering a free year SLAGA membership to volunteers who sign up and help out at training events and classes. Motion to try out this idea was made by Bill and seconded by Carolyn. The motion passed. Additionally, several ideas were outlined for future events like this one, including:
    • Discussion of time needed for group hunts as well as the course setup to potentially include two courses instead of just one.
    • Possibly acquiring additional GPS units, if practical and available, which would allow SLAGA to take out larger groups or set up a second group to go in a different direction.
    • Possibly acquiring a ‘Participation Pathtag’ to be handed out to those individuals who complete one of our group hunt sessions. It could also be used as a ‘turn in your GPS at the end and receive one of these’ tokens. The board decided this idea was worth researching further.
    • Set up a whiteboard on an easel to show the scheduled times for group hunts, to grab the attention of passersby who might not otherwise approach the group. The board decided this idea was worth researching further.
    • Obtain and fill a ‘Trainer Container’, which would hold all the items needed to take to these kinds of events, so that everything is in one place and is ‘grab and go’. The board agreed as to the practicality of this idea.
    • Obtain new banners, especially since the current banner is outdated with a website that no longer exists.

• Upcoming Events:
  • 2019 Spring Picnic – The shelter in Bolm-Schuhkraft Memorial City Park in Columbia, IL is reserved for 4/27/19. Steve Bromley is hosting and planning on providing fried chicken from Aunt Maggie’s.

• Geocaching 101 Classes
  • The upcoming scheduled classes are: 3/30/19, 6/1/19, and 9/7/19.

• Add New Treasurer to Bank Account:
  • Kathy, Jan and Steve will meet up on February 16 to take care of this task.

• Budget:
  • Steve requested budgets be submitted for discussion at the next meeting.

• SLAGA Volunteer Coin – This idea has been withdrawn.

• Excellence in Geocaching Award – This topic was briefly discussed and quashed.

• Travel Bug Race – Due to low interest, it is suggested that the Travel Bug Race be suspended for a year. If interest picks back up, it may be reinstated.

• Adopt a Highway –Candy Grisham has been given the go-ahead by the board to set up this program, but she is currently awaiting a response from MODOT. The proposed area is near Beckemeier Conservation on Olive Street Road.

• Award Coins Update – The new vendor, Cache Advance, did a great job not only on providing the coins for the last awards presentation but rushed and provided additional items – the pin and a coin stand – in time for the Winter Potluck. Carolyn reported that her experience with her contact, Lisa, was excellent. The board is pleased to continue working with this vendor.

• MOGA:
  • Status – John Elfrank reported on his progress in setting up caches and related items. He has several teams assisting but will accept other volunteers for both set-up processes and to help at the events. There was extensive logistic discussion.
  • Event publishing – Carolyn has taken the lead on promoting the published events on a variety of geocaching Facebook pages. This is ongoing.
  • Tee shirts – Tee-shirts are available as presales only. To order a tee-shirt, visit the MOGA website. So far, there are only 20 shirts sold. The cutoff date to order shirts is March 13, 2019. There will be no MOGA store at the event, so all purchases must be made in advance.
  • Friday night bonfire – John promised s’mores, so supplies will need to be purchased. John will present receipts for reimbursement.

• Mary Windsor, Virtual Images:
  • SLAGA was contacted by this individual who runs a website dedicated to Mark Twain Lake and events held there. The board is leaving this topic in John’s hands as he is the lead for MOGA activity. John will look over the information presented in the introductory message and respond as he sees fit.

New Business

• Event Checklist – Steve will work on this issue. It’s been determined that an event checklist would be beneficial to provide to the quarterly event hosts in order to make things run more smoothly and ensure that things are not forgotten. Once this checklist has been produced, it will be made available on the SLAGA website as a resource document. This topic also led to discussion to make the SLAGA website a little more search-friendly as the board has received a request for a copy of the Boone’s Lick Road passport, which is available on the website, but not easily found by those who don’t regularly use the website.

• New Banner – This topic was touched on during the Winter in the Woods discussion, but reiterated under New Business. Dave will bring in designs and a catalog with banner options to the next meeting.

• Swag Replacement – This topic was touched on during the Winter in the Woods discussion, but reiterated under New Business. The items left over from the Winter in the Woods event will need to be inventoried to determine which items and what quantities need to be purchased.

• Geocaching Adventure Lab Opportunity – Bill updated the board on the progress with Ethan, including the theme of the lab caches. Steve would like the board members to beta test the lab caches before they are released to the public.

• Trailer Condition and Repair – It was noted at the Winter Potluck that the SLAGA trailer is in need of minor repairs. Some of the roof seams are leaking and the weather stripping on the rear doors has come off. John volunteered to inspect the trailer and effect repairs, if practical. Otherwise, this issue may become an ‘all-hands’ task at the Spring Picnic.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held March 14, 2019 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.
• Adjournment – Motion to adjourn was made by Patricia, seconded by Jan and passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:54 pm.