Details

Written by Patricia Hutchison

Published: January 18 2019

Last Updated: January 18 2019

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SLAGA Board Meeting

January 10, 2019

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Steve Bromley, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Carolyn Jaycox, Jan Salvaggio, Dave DeWitt, John Elfrank, Jason Jaycox

                The meeting was called to order at 5:46 PM.

                Motion to approve the December minutes was made by Carolyn, seconded by Jan. The minutes were unanimously approved.

                The treasurer’s report has been tabled as it was not ready to be presented.

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 – Save the Date needs to be updated and sent out. Steve has requested anyone who wants their event information included to contact him.

• Event Recap:
  • Christmas Party – The event was very well attended and the Board extends its gratitude to Nan Dabler for hosting and to Terri Nealon for organizing the toy and food drives, both of which were also very successful. Terri Nealon had reported that the recipient charity, Circle of Concern, was very grateful to receive the items, as well as by the generosity shown by our SLAGA members who donated.
  • President’s New Year’s Day Hike – This event was well attended, with about fifty people showing up for the hike around Horseshoe Lake.

• Upcoming Events:
  • 11th Annual Slurpin’ Soup and Watchin’ Eagles – GC80C6K – Village of the Blue Rose, Clarksville, MO
  • SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever 2019 – GC802VY – 1/26/19, 9 am-5 pm. Entrees are needed! Volunteers for various jobs are still needed. Please visit the cache page and sign up.
  • 2019 Winter in the Woods Festival – SLAGA will participate in this event with an information booth about geocaching on Saturday, February 2, 2019. The event is scheduled to run between 10 am and 3 pm at Rockwoods Reservation. Volunteers should contact Bill Lange, who will coordinate the carpool meeting point an hour before the event is scheduled to begin.
  • 2019 Spring Picnic – The picnic site in Columbia, IL is reserved for 4/27/19. Steve Bromley is hosting.

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

• SLAGA Website:
  • Membership list – SLAGA is updating its membership list. To accomplish this, a raffle is being held with the following rules:
    • The 2019 Great SLAGA Membership Raffle
    • All entries must be submitted by midnight, January 15, 2019
    • One entry per user account
    • Prizes:
      • One randomly chosen member will receive a one-year SLAGA Premium Individual or Family membership, a set of SLAGA Fleur de Lis geocoins and a SLAGA Pathtag.
      • Four additional randomly chosen members will receive a one-year SLAGA Premium Individual or Family Membership and a SLAGA Pathtag.
    • Submitted information will be used to update member accounts.

• Budget:
  • The board discussed setting up a budget for the coming events in 2019, which would encompass expected expenses for all SLAGA-sponsored events, such as the Winter Potluck, the Grave Hop and other like events. Steve requested budgets be submitted for discussion at the next meeting.

• SLAGA Volunteer Coin – Steve requested Board members submit proposed criteria for being nominated and for being considered for this award.

• Excellence in Geocaching Award – Steve requested Board members submit proposed criteria for being nominated and for being considered for this award.

• Travel Bug Race – The winners will be announced at the Winter Potluck.

• New Equipment – Bill brought in and demonstrated the new projector and Chromecast devices at the meeting.

• Adopt a Highway – Steve reported hearing from Candy Grisham regarding this issue. There are several stretches of roadway open for adoption, including on Olive Street Road, west of Highway 141. The Board requests more information and alternatives for consideration.

• 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.
  • 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.

New Business

• Event Photographer – The Board received a suggestion that we appoint an official event photographer to record events and to have photos available for posting to event pages, the SLAGA Facebook page and SLAGA.org. This idea was discussed but the Board has decided not to appoint anyone at this time.

• Action List – Bill proposed that the Board create an ‘action list’ to prevent items from being forgotten between meetings, but this discussion fizzled fairly quickly.

• Award Coins Update – Carolyn reported that she has been unable to procure the Milestone Award coins at this time. The vendor has apparently changed ownership and has been unresponsive to emails. John recommended another vendor and provided contact information for such. It is unknown at this time whether the coins will be available for awards at the Winter Potluck on January 26, 2019.

• Geocaching Adventure Lab Opportunity – SLAGA board members received an email from Groundspeak detailing a new app and an invitation to essentially set up and beta test lab caches in our area. Bill led the discussion about whether to accept the invitation and suggested that the Board nominate Ethan Rogers as the SLAGA representative to undertake this project. Carolyn motioned to accept the invitation, seconded by Jan and passed unanimously. After some phone tag during the meeting, Ethan returned Bill’s call, accepting the appointment. Patricia forwarded the email from Groundspeak which contained a link to fill out the required forms.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held February 7, 2019 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.
• Adjournment – Motion to adjourn was made by Carolyn, seconded by Bill and passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:57 pm.

Details

Written by Patricia Hutchison

Published: December 11 2018

Last Updated: December 11 2018

Hits: 681

SLAGA Board Meeting

December 6, 2018

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Steve Bromley, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Carolyn Jaycox, Jan Salvaggio, Dave DeWitt, John Elfrank, Kathy DeWitt, Jason Jaycox

                The meeting was called to order at 5:53 PM.

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

                Motion to approve the October and November treasurer’s reports was made by Patricia and seconded by Carolyn. The treasurer’s reports were unanimously approved.

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 – Save the Date needs to be updated and sent out.

• Geocaching 101 Classes
  • The December class went well, with eight attendees and four board members participating. Bill made motion for SLAGA to cover the board’s dinner at the meeting in lieu of having gone out for lunch post-class due to time constraints that day. Carolyn seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

• Upcoming Events:
  • Christmas Party – GC80C8P – Kirkwood Station Brewing Company is reserved for 12/15/18, 1-4 pm. Nan Dabler has offered to host.
  • Cachemas Day Luncheon – GC810GV – Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet
  • Post Christmas/Pre New Year’s Day Friday at Fudd’s – GC80W74 - Fuddruckers
  • President’s New Year’s Day Hike – GC80GEN – Horseshoe Lake, near Granite City, IL, will be the site for this hike, which is scheduled for 9 am. A possible breakfast event will be at Cracker Barrel.
  • 11th Annual Slurpin’ Soup and Watchin’ Eagles – GC80C6K – Village of the Blue Rose, Clarksville, MO
  • SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever 2019 – GC802VY – 1/26/19, 9 am-5 pm.
  • 2019 Winter in the Woods Festival – SLAGA will participate in this event with an information booth about geocaching on Saturday, February 2, 2019. Volunteers should contact Bill Lange.
  • 2019 Spring Picnic – Steve has volunteered to host and will research sites, possibly in Columbia, IL. The target date is 4/27/19 with 5/4/19 being an alternate.

• Milestones:
  • The submission deadline for the next round of milestone awards is 12/15/18. SLAGA Premium Members are eligible for this recognition, so visit SLAGA.org, log in, and submit your milestone.

• SLAGA Pathtags:
  • The new SLAGA pathtags were distributed to SLAGA Premium Members at the Fall Picnic. SLAGA Premium Members who have not received theirs yet should see Kathy DeWitt at the Winter Potluck event. After the Winter Potluck, tags will be available for purchase for $1 each.

• SLAGA Website:
  • Geostl.com will not be renewed when its license runs out next spring.
  • Membership list – SLAGA is updating its membership list. To accomplish this, a raffle is being held with the following rules:
    • The 2019 Great SLAGA Membership Raffle
    • All entries must be submitted by midnight, January, 15th, 2019
    • One entry per user account
    • Prizes:
      • One randomly chosen member will receive a one-year SLAGA Premium Individual or Family membership, a set of SLAGA Fleur de Lis geocoins and a SLAGA Pathtag.
      • Four additional randomly chosen members will receive a one-year SLAGA Premium Individual or Family Membership and a SLAGA Pathtag.
    • Submitted information will be used to update member accounts.
  • Budget – The board discussed setting up a budget for the coming events in 2019, which would encompass expected expenses for all SLAGA-sponsored events, such as the Winter Potluck, the Grave Hop and other like events. This discussion has been tabled, pending further research.

• MOGA:
  • Event publishing – Carolyn has taken the lead on promoting the published events on a variety of geocaching Facebook pages.
  • Tee shirts – Dave and Kathy have been investigating the cost to produce MOGA tee shirts. Options were discussed and the board requested more information. Tee shirts will likely be sold on a pre-order only basis.

• SLAGA Volunteer Coin – Steve proposed that volunteers should be recognized with some token of appreciation and suggested that a coin might be created for such recognition. Gift cards were suggested and a motion to purchase gift cards, which would be held by the Treasurer until needed, was made by Patricia and seconded by Bill. The motion passed unanimously.

New Business

• Adopt a Highway – After some discussion, Bill motioned that SLAGA continue to pursue this and get more information about the location of the proposed Adopt a Highway. Carolyn seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

• CITO – In the past, SLAGA has provided a CITO geocoin to CITO hosts as an incentive to volunteer at these events. This practice has fallen by the wayside in recent years, so Steve motioned for this practice to be revived and for SLAGA to obtain a stock of CITO coins. Bill seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

• Equipment upgrade – Bill presented a proposal to upgrade some of the equipment used to teach the geocaching classes. Items include a new video projector, a protective carrying case and a Chromecast unit. Motion to proceed with the equipment purchase, not to exceed $750, was made by Steve and seconded by Carolyn. Motion passed unanimously.

• SLAGA banner – Bill recommended the purchase of a free-standing banner to be used for geocaching classes and events as needed. Dave is investigating sources and costs. Dave is also putting together designs that will be presented to the board at the next meeting.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held January 10, 2019 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.
• Adjournment – Motion to adjourn was made by Bill, seconded by Carolyn and passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm.

Details

Written by Patricia Hutchison

Published: November 15 2018

Last Updated: November 15 2018

Hits: 916

SLAGA Board Meeting

November 8, 2018

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Steve Bromley, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Carolyn Jaycox, Jan Salvaggio, John Elfrank, Jason Jaycox

                The meeting was called to order at 6:21 PM.

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

                The treasurer’s report was unavailable, so it is tabled until the next meeting.

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 wants to see monthly email blasts. Event hosts should notify SLAGA when their events are submitted for publication, to be included in the email blasts.

• Event Recap:
  • Grave Hop – Everyone who participated in this event responded positively and several offered suggestions for improvement for next year. Additionally, as there had been a tie for third place, Nan Dabler purchased additional gift cards on her own to present to the team which had not received theirs at the Grave Hop Finish Line event. Steve motioned that the board reimburse Nan for the cards and Bill Lange seconded it. The motion passed unanimously.
  • Robert Winter Park CITO – Bill reported that about 70 people – including about a dozen SLAGA members – attended this CITO, hosted by Terri Nealon. They pulled out another hundred tires and loads of other debris, similar to what was done in the spring earlier this year. John recommended asking Terri to be the CITO coordinator for SLAGA, as she did a great job.

• Upcoming Events:
  • Christmas Party – Kirkwood Station Brewing Company is reserved for 12/15/18, 1-4 pm. Nan Dabler has offered to host.
  • President’s New Year’s Day Hike – Horseshoe Lake, near Granite City, IL, will be the site for this hike, which is scheduled for 9 am. A possible breakfast event will be at Cracker Barrel.
  • SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever 2019 – GC802VY – 1/26/19, 9 am-5 pm.

• Geocaching 101 Classes
  • December 1, 2018 – This is the next scheduled class. No information on whether anyone has signed up as yet. Steve Bromley and Carolyn Jaycox have offered to assist.
  • March 30, 2019.
  • At the January meeting, the officers will need to select 2019 training dates to submit to the County Parks for approval and to be included in their publications for the year.

• MOGA:
  • John expressed concerns about a low Will Attend count and that t-shirts have not yet been ordered. He reported that the designer has yet to be paid for his work. He also mentioned that the Friday night activities will include a s’mores bonfire. Carolyn offered to be in charge of the MOGA Facebook page calendar as well as to take over duties for the SLAGA calendar on the SLAGA.org webpage.

New Business

• Events – The board spoke with Mickey Gallagher via phone to discuss her suggestion of adding kid-themed events to include younger players. John said that MOGA would have kids’ caches. ‘Bring a newbie’ was also suggested as a theme event, to engage new players. Bill suggested an Easter event for kids. These ideas are to be discussed further in future meetings.

• Officer training – Steve suggested that SLAGA hold an officer’s meet and greet at an event to let SLAGA members see how it’s handled and what each officer does in his or her capacity. Alternatively, it may be set up as a completely separate meet and greet dinner.

• SLAGA Volunteer Coin – Steve proposed that volunteers should be recognized with some token of appreciation and suggested that a coin might be created for such recognition. This idea was discussed but no conclusion was reached.

• Email distribution list – The board discussed the addition of a separate email distribution list for appointed members to the board.

• Milestones – The deadline for SLAGA premium members to submit their milestones is December 15, 2018. Milestones will be awarded at the Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever 2019 event.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held December 6, 2018 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.

• Adjournment
  • Carolyn motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and it was seconded by Bill. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:34 pm.

Details

Written by Patricia Hutchison

Published: October 08 2018

Last Updated: October 08 2018

Hits: 696

SLAGA Board Meeting

October 4, 2018

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Steve Bromley, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Carolyn Jaycox, Jason Jaycox, Dave DeWitt, Kathy DeWitt, Tony Colter

                The meeting was called to order at 5:56 PM.

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

                Motion to approve the September treasurer’s report was made by Carolyn, seconded by Bill. The treasurer’s report was unanimously approved.

Old Business

• Newsletter – Steve will send it out after he receives an article he requested from Carolyn.
• Email blast –Email blast will go out when more events have been officially announced.

• Event Recap:
  • Fall Picnic – Fun, successful event with great attendance.

• Upcoming Events:
  • Grave Hop – 10/13/18, Melvin Price Memorial Park, Swansea, IL. The starting event number is GC7VBK6; the finish line event number is GC7V98Q and will be held in Belleville, IL.
  • Christmas Party – Discussed; arrangements need to be made.
  • President’s New Year’s Day Hike – Discussed; arrangements need to be made.

• Geocaching 101 Classes
  • October 20, 2018 – Citizens for Modern Transit; expecting about 30 participants for the “Ten Toes” event. Volunteers are requested.
  • December 1, 2018.
  • March 30, 2019.

• SLAGA Geocoin
  • Geocoin – SLAGA still has the new standard coins for sale. Contact Kathy DeWitt to purchase.
  • Pathtags – The tags were received and distributed to SLAGA premium members at the Fall Picnic. Premium members who did not show up to the Fall Picnic will have their chance to receive a free tag at the Winter Potluck.

• SLAGA Website
  • com – Motion was made by Carolyn and seconded by Patricia for the ongoing ownership of Geostl.com domain to be dropped when it expires at the end of the year. Motion passed unanimously.
  • Membership – Currently, there are 794 registered members on the SLAGA website, with only 143 being paid memberships. A large quantity of registrants have not logged into the SLAGA website since they registered. Motion was made by Steve and seconded by Carolyn to set up a validation method on the SLAGA.org website for members to log in and verify that they are still active and interested in receiving communications from SLAGA, in return for which they will be entered into a drawing for prizes. Motion passed unanimously.
  • Web Hosting Budget – Motion was made by Carolyn and seconded by Bill to approve a maintenance budget for the website, as submitted by Dave DeWitt. Motion passed unanimously.

• SLAGA Trailer – Steve plans to host an event to clean up the trailer, and has offered to pick up the items listed on the inventory which need to be replaced before the Winter Potluck.

New Business

• Appointment – Steve motioned to appoint Laura MacLeod as the liaison between SLAGA and the St. Louis County Parks Department. Motion was seconded by Bill and motion passed.

• CITO Suggestion – Candyce (Candyce54) Grisham contacted Steve with a suggestion that SLAGA consider the Adopt A Highway program as our way to CITO. Board discussed the program and agreed that it would like to hear more details about the program, location, length of service – both time and distance – commitment and cost to SLAGA.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held November 8, 2018 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.

• Adjournment
  • Carolyn motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and it was seconded by Bill. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:48 pm.

Details

Written by Patricia Hutchison

Published: September 07 2018

Last Updated: September 13 2018

Hits: 646

SLAGA Board Meeting

September 6, 2018

6:00 PM

Chemical Interchange

Attendees – Kathy DeWitt, Tony Colter, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Dave DeWitt, John Elfrank, Steve Bromley, Carolyn Jaycox, Jason Jaycox

                The meeting was called to order at 6:05 PM.

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

                Motion to approve the July treasurer’s report was made by Patricia, seconded by Tony. Motion to approve the August treasurer’s report was made by Tony and seconded by Patricia. Motion to set up a new PayPal account and move the funds to the bank account was made by Patricia and seconded by Bill. All three motions were unanimously approved.

Old Business

• Newsletter – Newsletter will go out once articles are submitted.
• Email blast –Email blast with upcoming events, etc.

• Upcoming Events:
  • Fall Picnic – 9/22/18, Greensfelder Park, Dogwood Shelter. The event number is GC7VJ5Z. Tony is picking up the food; John is picking up more plates. New geobingo sheets will be introduced at this event.

• Geocaching 101 Classes
  • September 15, 2018 – Per Bill, no one has signed up for this class at this time. (This class has been cancelled.)
  • October 20, 2018 – Citizens for Modern Transit; expecting about 70 participants. Volunteers are requested.
  • December 1, 2018.
  • March 30, 2019.

• SLAGA Geocoin
  • Geocoin – SLAGA still has the new standard coins for sale. Contact Kathy DeWitt to purchase.
  • Pathtags – The tags have an estimated ship date of September 14.

• Adopt a Park – Due to a breakdown in communications, no CITOs have been scheduled and John plans to begin the process again by contacting the parks department.

• SLAGA Website – The disposition for geostl.com website is still in process. We discussed the issue with the membership list and the potential purge of non-participating members. The budget for the website is still in process.

• SLAGA Trailer – The trailer is in need of washing. Discussion about holding an event to clean it up.

• MOGA
  • Inventory – John read off a list of inventory items as well as the need for the purchase of preforms for MOGA.
  • Coin – Jesse Tuttle submitted a coin proposal for MOGA 2019. The proposal was discussed and is pending receipt of an agreement signed by Jesse and John.

• Elections – New officers have been elected and will assume office on September 22, 2018. An announcement will be made at the Fall Picnic.
  • President – Steve Bromley.
  • Vice President – Carolyn Jaycox.
  • Treasurer – Jan Salvaggio.

New Business

• Bylaws – Updated to include MOGA. Motion to approve bylaw changes as amended was made by Tony and seconded by Bill. Unanimously approved.

• Memorial Marker – John advised the board that the marker should be placed next week. Additionally, he indicated that he will be purchasing an acrylic piece to be placed on a stake above the marker indicating the presence of a trackable on the marker.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be held October 4, 2018 at Chemical Interchange at 6:00 pm.

• Adjournment
  • Tony motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and it was seconded by Bill. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:24 pm.