St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2021

10th Jan 2022/ 6:00 PM / meet at SmithPro Painting

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Robert Klemme, John Layman, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Michael Smith

Meeting called to order at 6:03 pm. 

      Motion called to approve November 2021 minutes by Robert, seconded by John. There was no meeting in December 2021.

Motion called to approve November 2021 treasurer's reports by Robert, seconded by John.

Motion called to approve December 2021 treasurer’s reports by John, seconded by Melissa.

• Can we also set up a listing of the specific types of gift cards we have on hand and total? IE: inventory.
• Money in/out is stagnant.
  • Will need to figure out some fundraisers.
• UPS has a special rate on the mailbox, see below.

Retrospective

• Cachemas
  • There was some drama with one of the First to Find competitions where someone fell going up a hill and did not receive help from other cachers going to the location.
    • Two of the individuals involved were very vocal about this.
      • Did later apologize for comments that were made in person and on social media, as many people reached out to them after learning of the incident to make sure they were ok. Including those that were at the location at the time of the incident.
    • We will ask the organizer of Cachemas to add into the standard write for each cache that this is a competition and that there are several highly competitive individuals in the area that participate.
      • Should also add to Facebook.
  • RDW and Curious George made it in time to join most of the First to Find groups.
  • Cost to SLAGA for this year was $76.88.
    • Thanks to John Elfrank for purchasing and painting this years First to Find ornaments.
• Christmas Party
  • Was held at Fortel’s Pizza in their party room.
    • Was a bit cozy, could not fit all attendees into the room.
      • Could’ve rearranged some things to be outside the room. No one seemed to mind much however.
  • We donated 183 food items, 67 toys, and 20 pet or other items.
    • Thanks to TerriBikes+ for setting up, running, and dropping off the donations.
  • Maybe next year we could go to St. Charles county or to North St. Louis county for our holiday event.
• New Year’s Day event
  • We were very surprised how many people showed up to the event considering the weather.

       Events

• Winter Potluck will be held on January 29, 2022 from 9 am to 4 pm at The Pavilion at Lemay. Hosts are LFrank and Denmother.
  • Will be handing out milestones
    • One - 100 finds pin, two - 500 finds pin, one - 1,000 find coin, and one - 10,000 chair.
  • Mask mandate is currently enacted. Unsure what the status of that will be on the day of the event.
    • John Elfrank will check on this a few days prior and update on the cache page.
  • Will have gloves and will be handed out at the start of the food line, for handling the serving spoons.
  • Will also sell preforms and log books.
• Slurpin’ Soup event
  • Robert will be hosting it this year.
    • Went and moved the caches around, as per usual.
    • Will do the event for the weekend.

      Ongoing Business

• Milestone Awards
  • Devon Morgan’s gift card was received. 
  • Robert brought one chair back for Steve to get to David for embroidery.
• 22222 Geocoins
  • Bought 50 sets of coins.
  • Have already sold 27 sets.
    • Still need to get money from 3 people for 4 sets. 
  • Invoice needs to be uploaded at this time.
  • We are hoping that we will have them by the Winter Potluck.
  • We can notify people on FaceBook about what remains
    • Give those who already bought a set another opportunity to purchase
  • Can mail a check for the coins as well.
  • Add this information to an Upcoming Events email
    • Add to email the officers if interested.
• 20th Anniversary Coins
  • Have 38 left.

New Business

• Mailbox through UPS
  • Nan called them today, they are running a special on buying 6 months, receiving an additional month free.
  • If the deal works out to buys one year and get 2 month free we would like to take advantage of it.
  • Nan will look into this deal further and try to buy a 2 year maximum with a 20 month cost.
    • Motion called by Nan, seconded by Robert
• Pathtag credits
  • We still need to use the credits that we have.
  • Suggested to use this to get a SLAGA officers pathtage made
    • Would be divided between the 5 officers to be passed out to new people at events as a way to promote SLAGA.
  • Nan will contact Sarah Chisolm about a logo for this.
• Fundraiser opportunity for SLAGA
  • Get apparel branded with SLAGA logos to sell.
    • We have had several people express interest in these types of items.
• John Elfrank is not receiving emails 
  • Steve will check with David to see if they can find the problem.
• St. Charles Library
  • John gave out information to the staff there about geocaching and our willingness to teach a GC 101 class there.

CLOSED EXECUTIVE MEETING

• None

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm by Nan and seconded by Robert.

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

Monday, February 21, 2022 at 6:00 pm at SmithPro Painting, 2655 Metro Blvd., Maryland Heights, MO 63043.  Dinner at 5:30 pm.

map, 2/17/2022 @ 1623