GCWG Board Meeting Minutes 3/15/15



Location: The meeting was held at Holly & Tom Whitten's house.

ATTENDANCE (Board members): Bob Saint, Al Rothenbach, Lisa VonderHaar, Tom Papathakis, Gary Perkins, Tom Whitten, Roger Shaw, Doug Smith, Jim Magill, Christine Lee

GCWG Members & Guests: Sue Perkins, Stephen Lee, Toni Wujek, Holly Whitten, Beth Collins, Nick Schade (Forest Service Rep), Kelly Larkin

APPROVAL OF JANUARY 11 MINUTES: Meeting began at 5:00 p.m. Motion was made to approve January minutes. Motion passed.

TREASURER'S REPORT – Tom Whitten – We have a current balance of $4126.68. Additionally there is also $1418.50 in the Joan Shaw Memorial Project fund.

MEMBERSHIP – Al Rothenbach – Reported that we had a couple of new members and there are 10 non-renewals still on the books.

BY-LAW CHANGES – Jim Magill – Jim presented two by-law changes. In ARTICLE II – Directors, Section 1b. Non voting Board Members. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS SHALL INCLUDE TWO NON-VOTING CLASSES: 1. Ex-Officio Board Members & 2. Board Members Emeritus. Section 2 – Notice of Meetings (can now be held if notice is sent via e-mail). A BY-LAW change about voting between meetings via e-mail could not be approved as state law prohibits this. (Tabled until fall meeting). A MOTION WAS MADE TO AMEND THE BY-LAWS FOR ARTICLE II – DIRECTORS (SECTION 1b Non-Voting Board Members to include two non-voting classes – Ex-officio Board Members and 2. Board Members Emeritus. ALSO: Section 2. Meetings, Notice ALSO: ARTICLE V, Section 4. NOTICE. The MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY. A suggestion was made to let the members know of these actions at the next member meeting, if not sooner.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE FOR 2015 BOARD POSITIONS: There are five positions to be filled this year. Three of these can be reelected – Al Rothenbach, Lisa Vonderhaar, Tom Papathakis. Two other board positions (Roger Shaw and Ingrid Anderson) are on their second terms and cannot serve again. Bob Saint, Roger Shaw, Gary Perkins and Doug Smith agreed to serve on the nominating committee.

VOLUNTEER POSITION OPENINGS – Cabin Hosting Coordinator, Adventure Backpack Program Administration and Granby July 4th Parade Coordinator. Nick Schade asked to speak at this time since there will be many changes in the Forest Service and so, in consequence, changes in the cabin hosting duties & responsibilities. Because the Forest Service office will not be open during the weekends , which is when GCWG will be hosting, the subject of camping permits, backpacking permits and emergency needs and how to deal with them were discussed for a long time. Nick said that the Forest Service will be working on these problems and how they will or should be handled. In the meantime, we still need a Monarch Lake cabin hosting coordinator. Ingrid suggested a co-coordinator. The duties of the coordinator are to fill up the dates that the cabin is being hosted by GCWG. We will again ask for volunteers at the Spring Meeting (April 12) and Al will also put in a call for this volunteer position on the website.
The Adventure Backpack Program Administration also requires someone who will take on the responsibility of keeping the backpacks full at Monarch and Junco cabins. To make it easier for that person it was suggested that a bag of extra supplies be kept at each cabin. This would entail fewer runs to replace missing or used supplies.
Granby 4th of July Parade – Roger volunteered to coordinate this event.

WSP – 2020 Vision and Wilderness Stewardship Performance. This is not just a Forest Service program. All federal agencies are participating. The Forest Service will have to monitor at least 10 criteria and will be graded on these. For ex: campsite management. Nick mentioned that the Forest Service has a lot of data that has been gathered but not entered into their computer system. This could be a good winter project for anyone who can volunteer their time for data entry.

HTA MEETING – Bob Saint reported on the HTA meeting. HTA is drafting a MASTER TRAILS PLAN for Grand County. This draft is scheduled to be completed sometime in April, with specifics on areas between Berthoud Pass and Red Dirt Hill.. GCWG should give our input on this plan especially regarding wilderness-like areas that might be marred by having biking trails in or close to these areas.

JOAN SHAW MEMORIAL PROJECT – Roger and Nick will be working on the signs. There are going to be some fundraising events for Joan's memorial project - a Bingo fundraiser by the Rotary Club and donations from Mountain Moon Yoga.

WILDERNESS VOLUNTEER PROJECTS – Nick Schade presented a list of volunteer projects for the upcoming spring/summer. Starting on May 30 (a training day) and ending at the beginning of September there are work days available throughout the summer. Some projects are Knight Ridge in June, Columbine and Devil's Thumb in July and Monarch and Junco cabin hosting. The list of projects will be on our website and can be advertised at the spring meeting. Volunteers can also do trail/lake hosting. There are lots of issues related to camping around lakes or dogs off leash. Nick will try to have a sheet with the top 10 sites and what to look for.

REGISTRATION BOXES – Stephen Lee reported that he had all the reports. Because some had to be reentered it would take a while to have all the data ready for presentation. The Monarch Lake area sheets had not been entered for the 2013-2014 years and he was having to enter them himself. A volunteer for the Monarch Lake registration box would have to be found for the 2014-2015 year. He also reported that some of the boxes would have to be redone because they leaked. There are some new boxes available and he will e-mail each trailhead compiler and ask if their box needed to be changed.

CLOTHING INVENTORY – Sue Perkins/Lisa Vonderhaar – We still have quite a few old cotton T-shirts. They should have a price so that we can get rid of them. We will have a sale at the spring meeting. All cotton non-volunteer T-shirts (short sleeve group) will be on sale for $5.00. Sweat Shirts will be $20.00 and the green polo shirts will be $10.00.

SPRING CAMPING TRIP – Tom Papathakis - The trip to Capitol Reef will be May 2-5. There are still some spots left. Toni Wujek will send out food assignments in early April.

SPRING MEMBERSHIP MEETING (Sunday, April 12) – Bob Saint will pick up the main course (probably chicken) from City Market. The program will be an introduction to Trail Hosting Duties.

SUMMER ACTIVITIES – A preliminary schedule of events for GCWG for the summer of 2015 was given out to board members. These and other events will be put on our website.

JUNE BOARD MEETING – The date of the June Board meeting will be Sunday, June 14 hosted by Toni Wujek and Al Rothenbach.

OLD BUSINESS/NEW BUSINESS – Bob Saint announced that there would be a semi-annual Networking Luncheon for Non-Profits on April 15 at Devil's Thumb Ranch. He is planning on going and invites anyone else to attend.

There was an adjournment at 8:05 but the board had to reconvene to consider one more item.

A MOTION WAS MADE TO NOMINATE NICK SCHADE AS AN EX-OFFICIO MEMBER OF THE BOARD. The motion carried.

The meeting finally adjourned at 8:12.

Submitted by:
Christine Lee, Secretary


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