Minutes
Adirondack Mountain Club Laurentian Chapter
Executive Committee Meeting November 19, 2009
Minutes - Developed by John Barron
Meeting was held at Clarkson Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) room 149, beginning at 7 PM.
Executive Committee Members Present: John Barron; Hollis Easter; Rose Rivezzi; Tom Ortmeyer
Appointed Officers Present: Betty Peckham; John Omohundro; Susan Omohundro; Mark Simon
Incoming Executive Committee Members Present: Marianne Hebert; Blair Madore
Others Present: Ron Johnson
Agenda
Approval of Minutes and Agenda
Introduction of new officersOfficer reports
Old Business:
Discussion/action of donation to the club
Discussion of putting funds into a CD
New business:
Discussion of Stone Valley issues-- including recent complaints about hunting and dogs
not on leashes
Newsletter advertising, request to buy advertising on the Chapter web site
Preliminary budget development.
Location of future meetings.
Please find the treasurer’s report attached.
Minutes and Agenda
The minutes of the September 10 executive committee meeting and the November 8 annual meeting were approved. The agenda above was approved.
Officer Reports
Archivist (Betty Peckham)
Today’s meeting will be Betty’s last as Archivist. She will finish 2009 in the role, then turn over the records to Tom Ortmeyer, who is currently seeking a replacement. The records consist mainly of executive committee meeting minutes, issues of the North Wind, and budget documents.
Tom Ortmeyer now holds the photo albums from Perry Yaw.
Vice Chair, Education (Rose Rivezzi)
Rose is now bringing Blair Madore up to speed as her successor. Other than that, nil report.
Vice Chair, Outings (Hollis Easter)
Quite a few fall outings were cancelled on account of weather. The fall schedule is thinner than Hollis would have liked, and Hollis plans to take a more proactive role in the future.
There was discussion about extending membership at a preferred rate to members of student outdoor clubs like the Clarkson Outing Club.
Rose made a suggestion to Hollis to go to special lengths to organize easy trips for beginners. It was further suggested to remind leaders on more difficult trips to be sure to adjust the pace so as not to leave slower participants behind.
Hollis requested committee concurrence to using the $75 discretionary budget for Outings to produce business cards to hand out to participants on trips. This idea was fully supported.
Secretary (John Barron) - Nil report.
Publicity (John Barron)
Several of the more remote newspapers that we can’t regularly monitor (e.g. Plattsburg and Saranac Lake) have made finely detailed suggestions and requests in respect of outing listing format for their event calendars. We will do our best to comply. The fact that they should ask is a positive sign, and suggests our outing schedule is receiving good exposure even on the fringes of the Chapter’s territory (we’ve known for a long time that that is true in the nearby papers).
John presented the third place award in the photo contest to Blair Madore, who could not attend the fall meeting, to applause.
North Wind (John Omohundro)
John reminded members that December 7 is the publication deadline. Outgoing and incoming members of the committee are both requested to make a report.
Chair (Tom Ortmeyer)
The Buffalo Chapter and SUNY Buffalo have established a very good prototype arrangement so subsidize student memberships. It is not approved yet by the ADK Board, but it is running very well on a trial basis.
We are not purview to how the discount and cost sharing is handled between the Buffalo Chapter and the ADK.
In the trial, the discount is being offered to outing club members only, not to all students.
There was discussion of how young people obtain information on the web. Hollis and Marianne indicated that the preferred mechanism was “RSS” (“Really Simple Syndication”, not web sites.
Treasurer (Presented by Tom Ortmeyer on behalf of Ellie Menz)
Report is attached. Financial Statement, Nov. 15, 2009
Old Business
Donation to the Club
$500 has been donated to date this year; a further $500 had been budgeted.
Rose indicated that $250 of Education funding cannot be spent because a second student could not be found.
The financial statements show the Chapter is running a better fiscal position than predicted.
It was moved by Rose Rivezzi, seconded by Hollis Easter, to donate $1000 to the ADK, for unrestricted use. This was passed unanimously.
Investment in CD
Discussion led to a consensus that the Chapter should not lock in funds for two years, rather for one year to maintain reasonable liquidity. It was considered that $3,000 to $4,000 was the right amount to invest for one year; it was considered a fine judgment call which amount to apply. In the end, to allow enough liquidity to support proposed extra expenditures in conservation in 2010, the lower amount was preferred.
It was moved by Hollis Easter, seconded by Rose Rivezzi, to invest in a one year CD at SeaComm FCU with Eleanor Menz and Thomas Ortmeyer as signors. This was carried unanimously.
New Business
Stone Valley
There have been complaints about dogs and about hunter/hiker conflicts at Stone Valley. (In answer to a question asked to estimate the extent of the problem, Mark estimated that two complaints per year are about average.
John Omohundro remembered an incident in which a woman had to use pepper spray to defend herself against a dog. John added that, in their experience as maintainers of the Red Sandstone Trail, they have no way to control against such episodes.
Mark circulated for information a list of guidelines - not rules - from Leave No Trace, about good trail etiquette. This kind of code, Mark explained, is unenforceable; but information often helps sway people’s minds.
Susan indicated that trail problems extended at least so far as vandalism of signs and access points.
After discussion, Mark’s recommendation is to post one or two very simple ideas for improved behavior on trailhead signs and get Raquette River Advisory Council (RRAC) to pay for them. John Omohundro suggested that they could be seasonal signs, which are changed a couple of times a year and are directed at the worst problems of that season. Some examples are dogs; trash; shared use of trails; removal of plants.
Mark will discuss the proposed signs with Tim Lemieux (Land Manager at Brookfield Power); then send the proposal to Leave No Trace for comments; then obtain Chapter review and concurrence; then manufacture and install signs.
On a different topic, Bob Bowman of the mountain biking group contacted Mark and proposed that Stone Valley be designated a mountain bike destination. More discussion is required. Rose Rivezzi expressed the thought that, as she sees it, bikers use Postwood more often than Stone Valley.
Advertising on Web Site and in North Wind
Linstar.uk, a company that seeks out web sites that seem appropriate for the advertising needs of its clients, identified the Laurentian Chapter site during one of its trolling expeditions as worth exploring and contacted John Barron to ask if the Chapter would be interested in selling advertising on the site. By the time John replied to them, they indicated that their client’s specifications had changed and our site no longer met the criteria: so for now, the question is moot. In general, members were not at all sure we want advertising on the site.
All past due accounts receivable from Wear on Earth for advertising in the North Wind are declared null by consensus. For the Winter 2010 edition, John Omohundro will contact Wear on Earth for the ad content, and will notify them of the need to pay in advance if the ad is to be published. Ellie Menz will generate an invoice of $50 to be used if the ad is run.
No additional companies potentially interested in advertising in the North Wind have been identified. There has not been much inventive, as the Chapter does not really need additional revenue.
Preliminary Budget Planning
No discussion took place but it was indicated that budget preparation will be the main topic of the next meeting and members should plan ahead for it. John Barron will circulate a preliminary budget will before the meeting.
Location of Future Meetings
Tom Ortmeyer indicated willingness to arrange a meeting room at the Clarkson student center, which is appreciated.
Next Meeting
January 21 was proposed as a date for the next meeting but Hollis Easter is unable to attend on that day. Note since the meeting - John Barron will poll the committee and try to arrange a date that is workable for as many members as possible.