Details

Written by Melissa Pierce

Published: June 29 2021

Last Updated: June 29 2021

Hits: 464

St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2021

17 May 2021/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform) and in person at SmithPro Painting

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Michael Smith, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Bill Lange

Meeting called to order at 6:51 pm.

Motion called to approve April 2021 minutes by Robert, seconded by Nan.

Motion called to approve April 2021 treasurer's reports by Michael, seconded by Robert.

• Milestones have been broken out on the spreadsheet

Retrospective: Classes/Training/Events

• Spring Picnic was held on Saturday, April 17, 2021 at 9 Mile Garden in Affton.
  • There was positive feedback from members.
  • There were approximately 50-60 people that attended.
  • Was a very low maintenance event.
  • Only expense was for the three gift cards
    • Gift card total was $75
• GC 101 class is scheduled for June 12th, 2021
  • Steve Bromley and Bill Lange will not be able to attend
    • Michael will take care of teaching the class. 
    • Can send out email for volunteers.
  • Steve brought the swag for the class and passed it on to Michael.
  • Will need to get the GPSr units from Bill.
    • New batteries have been purchased and were passed off to Michael
• Laura MacLeod reached out to us about 2022 GC 101 dates.
  • We normally host this class three times per year
  • Steve will reach out to Laura with two possibilities each for the months of March, June, and October.
    • Laura will let us know which dates will work best.

      Events

• Need to start planning for the Summer Picnic
  • Email for a volunteer host was sent out.
    • No one has responded to be the host at this point.
    • Nan will get a venue set up, but does not want to be the primary host.
      • Will look at July 17th in the Kirkwood area.
  • This is a “bring your own food” event
  • We will have the 50/50, raffle, and sell inventory. 

      Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins
  • We currently have 54 coins left for sale
    • Started with 125.
  • John Elfrank is still selling some of the coins for us at events for $15 each.
    • Have not had a chance to get the money for the coins he’s sold.
    • He has either 12 or 13 out of the 25 given at this time.
  • Nan has 3 for pickup and Michael has 19.
• Procedures/Systems
  • We now have a new Google account to use for shared files.
  • Need to find a way to link family groups with memberships.
    • This appears to be a manual process at this time.
• SLAGA finances
  • Executive meeting was held on April 26, 2021
    • We will be raising the prices of membership, effective with the SLAGA membership meeting in fall 2021.
      • Yearly individual $15, Yearly family $20, Lifetime individual $150, Lifetime family $200.
  • We will be switching branches of our bank to one within St. Louis, rather than the branch in Granite City, IL.
    • Nan will work on seeing what is needed to get this completed.
  • Kathy DeWitt has so far been unable to find her copies of the SLAGA financials from her tenure as President. She will continue to look.
• SLAGA store products
  • David DeWitt did let us know that we could do some additional things with the SLAGA store if we purchase an add-on for it.
    • Need to find out what the cost of add-on would be
  • John Elfrank has a large amount of donated items that are for SLAGA.
    • We will try to sell as many of these items as possible through the store front or at the picnics.
• Paypal
  • Received email about needing the incorporation papers.
    • Steve will go in and look at what is needed.
• MOGA 
  • There will be a financial meeting for financial reconciliation with Steve, Nan, Kathy DeWitt, John Elfrank and possibly Michael.
    • We will be scheduling soon.
• Officer Elections
  • Vice President and Secretary are the offices that are up for election
  • Email has been sent out looking for nomination
    • Melissa will send out additional emails for this
  • We have received nominations for both positions.
    • The board does not deal with nominations directly.
  • Nominations close at the end of July.
• Physical storage space
  • Michael will look into costs of storage spaces to see if there are any feasible options.
• Community building
  • Need to brainstorm ideas to increase memberships
  • Maybe we should do a new member package utilizing the excess fleur de lis and Geocoinfest 2016 pathtags, as well as the reviewer tags.

New Business

• Future SLAGA events
  • Fall picnic issues
    • Do we want to try to host a potluck? 
      • Current health guidelines and regulations might prohibit that.
    • Would we rather sell box lunches online? 
      • Those who choose not to purchase can bring in their own meals from other restaurants.
    • Could we do something in between where SLAGA provides the meat and people bring their own side dishes?
      • Some of the same issues as potluck re: current guidelines at that time.
  • Winter potluck
    • At this time, John Elfrank is planning on being able to do this event in January.
      • Uncertain how the food handling will be done at this point.
• Pathtag credits and mold
  • Nan received an email that our mold will be expiring soon as well as having $197 worth of credits that need to be used.
    • How do we get into this account?
      • Steve believes that this was something that Tony Colter took care of.
        • Nan will reach out to Tony about this.
    • What do we want to do with the credit and the mold?
      • We feel we should use this instead of letting both expire.
      • We could reach out to Sarah Chisolm about designing a new pathtag.
      • Nan has worked with two designers in that past that charge $25 plus 2 tags.
      • Steve asked if we could get a QR code placed onto a pathtag.
        • Nan will ask her contacts if this is possible
        • The QR code would go to the SLAGA website.

Meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

June 21, 2021 at 6:30 pm at SmithPro Painting, 2655 Metro Blvd., Maryland Heights, MO 63043 

map, 5/27/2021 @ 1613

Details

Written by Melissa Pierce

Published: April 29 2021

Last Updated: April 29 2021

Hits: 481

St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2021

12 April 2021/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform) and in person at SmithPro

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Michael Smith, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Jan Salvaggio,  Bill Lange

Meeting called to order at 6:43 pm.

Motion called to approve March 2021 minutes by Robert, seconded by Michael.

Motion called to approve March 2021 treasurer's reports by Michael, seconded by Melissa.

• We are all enjoying the standardization of the financial report.

Retrospective: Classes/Training/Events

• GC 101 class was held on March 27, 2021 at the Corporate Pavillion at Queeny Park. 
  • We had 14 people total attend
    • 3 are now new geocachers 
  • Laura gave us a listing of the attendees including their email addresses.
    • Unsure if we would be able to obtain this for each class.
    • Do we want to do a short survey?
      • After using Survey Monkey or survey the adults during the transition point of the class? 
      • Have a set of standardized questions to ask.
    • Pass out the SLAGA business cards
      • QR code takes straight to the website
        • Add a link to the FaceBook group.
  • There were some issues in facilitating this particular GC 101 class with organizing the volunteers and equipment.
    • We generally agree that the long time period since our last GC 101 class combined with an unfamiliar location was partly to blame on these specific issues.
  • Need to get a new presenter trained as Bill Lange would like to step away from this role. 
    • Bill’s presentation is available for review on Slack
  • May need to think about reformatting the class to be a better fit for the age groups we have attending.
    • Many of the younger attendees were restless by about 20 minutes in to the informational section.
    • Should we host multiple classes with different focuses based on ages?
      • Could cause more work
    • Should we do two classes, such as a GC 201, where we go over the more detailed aspects of geocaching and leave the GC 101 as a general overview.
      • Could cover phone caching in more depth as well.
      • These are great ways to market SLAGA and increase membership.
    • Need to evaluate the general ages and groups coming to these classes.
      • Are they mostly scouts? Are we meeting the technical part of their badge requirements?
      • If mostly younger, could we skip certain areas of the presentation in order to keep their attention? 
      • Should we offer an adults only class? Do we have enough interest in that?
  • Need to purchase new rechargeable batteries for the GPSr units.
    • Steve will purchase 24 total 
  • Next GC 101 is scheduled for June 12, 2021.
    • Unsure where we will be holding this class at this point.
    • Michael will be doing the lecture.
• Spring Picnic will be held on Saturday, April 17, 2021 from 10:45 am until 3:00 pm at 9 Mile Garden in Affton.
  • Steve will pick up the gift cards for the events 
    • Three for $25 each
  • Awards and group photo will be done around 1:00 pm.
    • What should be done with the items that aren’t picked up?
      • More so the large items, such as the chairs, than the smaller items.
        • Currently we have one chair that has not been picked up and three coins from 2011.
      • We will also be giving out awards during the summer picnic, date and location to be determined.
    • Planning to do a FaceBook live of the awards.
  • Will announce the opening of officer nominations as well.
    • Melissa will send out an email about this as well.

      Events

• Need to start planning for the Summer Picnic
  • Host, location, and date are still to be determined.
  • Will be like other past summer picnics with a “bring your own food and drink” set up.
    • Maybe we should do a prepaid box lunch?
      • Could we use the SLAGA store front to deal with the payments?
      • KC picnic did a hybrid catered or bring your own food event.
  • Venue should be the only expense for this event.
  • Melissa will send out an email for volunteers.

      Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins
  • Will bring coins to Spring Picnic in order to sell.
    • Nan and Steve both have cash boxes that they can bring
  • John Elfrank currently has 25 coins to sell at the events he plans on attending
    • Will sell them for $15 per coin.
    • John has one additional coin that he will be dropping off that has already been paid for.
  • Nan and Michael  also have coins on hand for those who would like to purchase and do pick ups.
• Award Coins and additional achievement awards
  • Steve now has the embroidered five chairs and one jacket.
  • Robert has generated a list of all awards needed. 
    • He has all the pins and engraved coins.
• CITO Coins
  • Currently have four coins available.
    • Robert to ensure we have the inventory and to purchase when needed.
  • Michael is hosting the next MODOT CITO event
    • Took one coin with him for that event.
    • We are obligated to clean the MODOT assigned area four times per year or we will lose our signage and spot. 
      • It’s not a generally dirty area and really only needs about a dozen people to clean it up. 
        • Can we send excess people elsewhere to help clean up?
          • Such as one of the local parks or continuing down the street further?
        • Candyce Copp Grisham is the SLAGA member who has been coordinating this with the state. We should contact her for guidance. 
• Procedures/Systems
  • Had set up Slack, thinking it would work for this purpose.That does not seem to be the case.
  • Due to money flow problems, we have decided to go with a Google account to save shared documents, photos, etc.
    • Steve will set up a new Google account for this purpose.
• SLAGA finances
  • We need to restructure our membership levels, cost of membership, and awards as well as award requirements in order to break even.
    • We are not trying to profit off of our membership costs.
    • Have some people that sign up for one year in order to get a specific award
      • Does not usually cover the cost of the award
      • How to track?
    • This would help with the financial issues we are having
  • Also need to look into what we are spending on things such as coins for CITOs, gift cards, venues, etc.
    • Example: we spend $150 per year on gift cards.
  • Will be holding an executive meeting to review all finances and vote on the changes needed to keep SLAGA going.
  • Use the store more to also help.
    • See additional information under New Business
• Paypal
  • Nan transferred $4,000 from Paypal into the main SLAGA bank account
• MOGA 
  • Money for the MOGA t-shirts is in the SLAGA account
    • Need to remember this for account reconciliation
  • John found his MOGA related receipts
    • Will turn in to Kathy for reimbursement.
  • There will be a financial meeting for reconciliation with Steve, Nan, Kathy DeWitt, and possibly Michael.

New Business

• SLAGA store products
  • SLAGA Apparel
    • We need some!
      • It’s been about 5 years since any SLAGA apparel  was made available for members.
    • We could also do a SLAGA specific CITO shirt in safety colors
      • Could be a nice option for those who regularly attend CITOs.
    • We could do pre-orders on the website store.
      • Michael to check with the same company that printed the MOGA shirts to find out about pricing.
  • Sell excess coins that we have through the store
  • Could even sell postage for award coins for those who don’t or can’t make it to an event to pick them up
  • Use the storefront for prepaid meals also.
    • Maybe use for the SLAGA meat provided picnics.
  • Sell smaller geocaching supplies in smaller quantities than you would normally find, such as lots of 5.
    • Could also bring to events to sell.
    • Things such as preforms, bison tubes, etc.
      • Steve will reach out to John about where he purchases preforms.
  • Will schedule an executive meeting on how to run the store with David DeWitt.
• Coin inventory
  • Robert has a large amount of coins in his possession.
    • Will be making a spreadsheet to document the coins and costs in order to sell them.
      • Will save the document in the new Google account.
  • Will sell at events and through the store.
• Physical storage space
  • Currently can not afford however we do need to be thinking about this as we have many items spread out in many different places
    • PA system is with Michael, all coins are with Robert, Steve has all the large awards, GC 101 class items and banner, picnic trailer is being stored with Larry.
  • Will need a climate controlled storage setting.
• Social Media use
  • We are underutilizing things such as Facebook
• Community building
  • Most members stay due to the community of people surrounding geocaching and SLAGA specifically
  • Mentorship program
    • Ask new members if they would like to have a more experience cacher reach out to them to help them out with aspects of the game.
  • Ambassadors
    • Could we have specific people search out the new people at events to help them feel more welcome, introduce them to other attendees.
  • Ways to highlight new members to the group.

Meeting adjourned at 9:01 pm by Nan, seconded by Robert

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

May 17, 2021 at 6:30 pm.

Details

Written by Melissa Pierce

Published: April 17 2021

Last Updated: April 17 2021

Hits: 472

St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2021

15 March 2021/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform)

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Michael Smith, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Jan Salvaggio,  Bill Lange, John Elfrank

Meeting called to order at 6:43 pm.

Motion called to approve January 2021 minutes by Nan, seconded by Michael.

Motion called to approve January 2021 and February 2021 treasurer's reports by Michael, seconded by Melissa.

• Nan has reformatted the treasurer’s report to make it easier to read. Many thanks to Nan.

Retrospective

• Zoom get-togethers were held February 13, 2021, February 25, 2021, and March 9, 2021.
  • Mostly established cachers, did have some first time attendees
  • Forgot to send out a reminder email and set up a Facebook event for the March 9 event
  • Try to get some informational sessions set up
    • Setting up Adventure Labs as one of them with Bill.
      • Melissa will try to set up a day in April for this as well as set up a new format that will work better for this type of meeting.
• GC 101 class is scheduled for March 27, 2021 at the Corporate Pavillion at Queeny Park. Meet there at 9 am.
  • Currently 10 attendees have signed up.
  • There will be power at the pavilion, we may need to have a projector screen, although we can do the presentation without one.
  • Steve, Melissa, Bill, and Patricia Hutchison are the volunteers for the day.
  • We now have the ability to introduce phone caching into the training.
    • Steve and Bill may need to work on that after the training class.
  • Nan asked to get a budget guideline for the after class thank you and feedback lunch.
    • Will try to stick to approximately $10 per person.

      Events

• Would like to schedule an informal spring get together sometime between the end of April and May.
  • Robert suggested 9 Mile Garden food truck park and will look into setting this up. 
  • Spring picnic is also when we traditionally open up officer nominations.
    • How to handle getting that information out. Emails, Facebook announcement.

      Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins
  • Have 79 out of 125 coins left.
    • 5 waiting for pick up currently.
  • Will bring coins to events in order to sell.
    • John Elfrank volunteered to take 25 coins to sell at the events he plans on going attending
      • Will sell them for $15 per coin.
      • Robert will get with John to pass off the coins.
    • Nan and Steve both have cash boxes that they can bring
  • Selling coins on Ebay was brought up however no one wants that responsibility.
• Award Coins and additional achievement awards
  • Chairs and jacket have been sent for embroidery by Dave DeWitt.
• SLAGA Rend Lake CITO
  • Will be held on May 1st, 2021.
  • The current cap on people for outdoor events is 50 per the Illinois reviewer.
  • Further information to be gathered.

New Business

• CITO Coins
  • Adopt-A-Highway organizers no longer have CITO coins for attendance raffles.
    • SLAGA will continue to provide those.
    • Should buy fewer of these in order to get new designs with each order.
      • Estimated 6 coins per order
    • Nan will work with Robert on coin orders.
  • Robert located four additional CITO coins
    • Different design to the ones that were given out at the last event
  • We will use what coins we have already purchased.
• Procedures/Systems
  • Is there a way to streamline our information in order to help with the continuity of officer changeover?
    • A repository for PDFs, pictures, spreadsheets, financial information, etc.
    • Slack does have some of that type of information on it
      • Need to look into that for functionality.
    • Could we use Joomla for this purpose, as we already pay for it?
    • Mircrosoft OneDrive as an alternative as well.
      • Look into the pricing of that.
    • One concern is to try to find a product that won’t be gone in five years. Do not want to have to potentially lose information due to losing storage.
• Officer Responsibilities
  • Some not aware of all responsibilities
  • All responsibilities are on the SLAGA website under the bylaws
    • Responsibilities are somewhat vague so as things come up, expand, or change they are hopefully easier to deal with without needing officer approval with each issue.
• SLAGA finances
  • We are going bankrupt
    • Have some people that only pay for one year of membership but getting high level rewards (example: personalized chair)
    • Should not be losing money on memberships
  • We have both MOGA and SLAGA finances in our accounting
    • Need to reconcile it when MOGA is finalized.
  • Nan is having to reconcile two separate accounts currently
    • Regular account and Paypal
• Paypal
  • Questioned who is responsible for the Paypal account and who has access.
    • Nan is responsible for the account
    • Steve, Kathy DeWitt, and Nan have access
  • There is a large amount of money in the account.
    • Nan to check with David DeWitt to see if there are any automatic bills that are paid from that account
      • After Nan speaks with David, can transfer whatever money she feels is appropriate as the treasurer.
• MOGA 
  • Waiting on $1100 from Jesse Tuttle before being able to finalize the closure of MOGA on our end.
    • Money is for the sale of the ammo cans
  • Will need to reconcile all accounts owed, paid, and collected as well.
    • John lost his receipts, will see what Kathy DeWitt can do to fix that for him.
      • Jan believes she may have received the receipts and paid them already
    • There are MOGA entries in the SLAGA accounts
  • MOGA account holds $365.85

Meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm by Nan, seconded by Robert

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

April 12, 2021 at 6:30 pm.

Details

Written by Melissa Pierce

Published: February 02 2021

Last Updated: February 02 2021

Hits: 489

St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2021

19 January 2021/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform)

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Michael Smith, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Jan Salvaggio,  David DeWitt, Bill Lange

Meeting called to order at 6:34 pm.

Motion called to approve November 2020 minutes by Michael, seconded by Nan.

One correction had been made to add our new officers into the minutes.

Motion called to approve November 2020, December 2020 and the 2020 Yearly treasurer's report by Michael, seconded by Melissa.

• Several issues were brought up for discussion prior to approval.
  • We had a loss this past year.  The probable cause would be due to Covid. We were unable to hold as many events where we could get new members, have additional raffles, sell available coins, etc. Biggest expenses were:
    • 20th anniversary coins
      • Paid a total of $872. $300 was paid in 2019, remaining $572 was paid in 2020.
      • We have sold 25 of the 125 coins total and returned about half the cost.
    • UPS Store for SLAGA mailbox
      • We paid $450, next renewal is February 2022.
      • Is there a cheaper alternative? What do we need to make sure of before switching? 
        • Due to the incorporation, we must have a “physical address”. We do not want to use an officers address as they only serve for 2 years and we would have to redo the paperwork frequently.
    • Membership awards
      • We paid $612.93 this year in awards.
      • Some people won’t pay for the membership until they qualify for the award and then they won’t pay until they have another award opportunity.
      • Had 57 renewals in 2020.
        • We have 124 paying members. Out of that 34 are family lifetime and 32 are individual lifetime. Leaving 58 other members
      • May need to reevaluate our policy on giving out awards
        • Suggestion was to maybe require membership for a certain time period before being able to qualify for an award. Such as 3 years for a 5,000 finds award, 5 years for a 10,000 finds award 7 years for a 25,000 finds award. Another suggestion was to allow lifetime members to get these awards regardless of time period.
        • Tracking this could be problematic.
      • May need to reevaluate our membership rates
        • $12 new, $10 renewal
    • Paypal account currently holds around $2000. Is there a reason why?
      • Hasn’t been transferred into the SLAGA bank account for a while. Usually keep up to $500 in that account.
      • David uses this account to pay for website related costs
      • Treasurer, President, and David have access to this account.
    • Who has access to the SLAGA bank account?
      • Currently Steve has a debit card and Nan has checks.
      • After much discussion regarding who has access to the account and why, it was decided that Steve will retain a debit card as he is responsible for getting items for picnics (food, supplies, gift cards, etc)
      • Nan will retain the check book for the account in order to reimburse those who purchase things for SLAGA events. Examples: picnic hosts, GC 101 lunches.
      • Robert will also have a debit card as he is in charge of purchasing awards and shipping items
        • Motion was called that the Vice President in charge of the awards should have a debit card for the SLAGA account. Approved by Michael, seconded by Melissa

Retrospective

• Zoom get togethers were held November 20, 2020, December 4, 2020, December 17, 2020 and January 6, 2021
  • All established members, no new cachers were there.
  • Tend to have 15 or more attendees to each session.
  • Seems to be people wanting some form of social interaction at this point.
• GC 101 classes are currently scheduled for March 27, 2021, June 12, 2021, and October 2, 2021
  • Steve will check with Laura MacLeod about the location of the classes as there had been talk of renovating the space. 
  • David to check if these dates are on the SLAGA website and add if not.

   Events

• No events scheduled at this time
• Will skip the spring picnic, usually held in April or May, and plan on having a summer event, probably in July.
  • Have traditionally used St Louis County Parks for picnics, can go elsewhere if desired.

  Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins
  • Have sold 41 currently
    • 17 left for pick up
      • One is unpaid with arrangements to pay at time of pick up
    • Six have been picked up already
    • Rest have been shipped with no outstanding shipments waiting.
      • Had one coin with tracking issues. We sent a new coin only to have the first coin show up. 
  • Double orders have been identified and individuals contacted and refunds issued where needed.
  • Thinking of having a pick up event for coins
    • Michael is willing to use his business to arrange pick ups from there
    • Nan is also willing to work with people to get pick up arranged.
      • Robert will get with Michael and Nan on the list of people.
  • Bring coins to the summer picnic for sale also.
• Officer transition
  • Bank accounts will be taken care of on Friday, January 22, 2021
• Award Coins and additional achievement awards
  • We have two 1000 finds coins, nine 5000 finds coins, five chairs, and one jacket to award.
  • Chairs and jacket will be given to Kathy DeWitt on Friday, January 22, 2021 for embroidery
    • Robert will send a list of the awardees to David
  • How to award?
    • Maybe Facebook live stream if awardee is ok with that.
    • Maybe film as mp4 and upload for a premiere to everyone on Facebook
    • Steve willing to go out to take care of these
      • Both filming options would be a good way to show new cachers what they can get as members.
    • Bill suggested that we could have a single event for the coins then do the chairs and jacket as separate videos.

New Business

• 2020 MOGA shirts
  • Michael has the remaining 6 shirts that have not been picked up as of yet.
  • Michael and Robert will work together on the shipping cost.
  • Michael can then confer with the individuals to see if they want their shirts shipped or if they would prefer to pick up.
• SLAGA Rend Lake CITO
  • Corp of Engineers reached out about the availability to do this.
  • Had had plans to do this last spring, however it had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
  • Host is looking at either May 8th or May 22, 2021
    • May 8th is the same as the Mingo weekend event
    • May 22nd is the weekend before MOGA, so may not be heavily attended
    • Is there another date in May that would work? Could it be moved to June? Excluding June 12th, which is a GC 101 class date.
    • Will Illinois allow events such as these by that time?
  • Steve will reach out to host about these concerns and issues.
• Shipworks demonstration by Robert
  • Robert is allowing SLAGA to use his ShipWorks account to mail our coins at this time.
    • This is Robert’s personal account through his work. Thank you to Robert for allowing us to use this resource.
  • SLAGA will pay for postage and insurance, as per usual. ShipWorks allows us to import orders, track the orders, and the ability to print out our own postage.
    • It also allows us to be able to see the status of the packages, ie: pick up, mailed, delivered, waiting. 
    • We are also able to print an invoice for postage and insurance.
  • Usual cost for this service is $49 per month.
  • SLAGA owes Robert $64.16 for shipping costs currently.
    • Will turn in the invoice for payment.
• SLAGA website training provided by David
  • David has created two videos for help in updating the website.
    • One is for the home page picture slider. The other is for adding events onto the homepage calendar.
  • David walked us through how to upload and caption photos
    • Including albums as well as the slider.
  • David showed us where to find the membership list
    • Can use this to sort by membership types, get email addresses or phone numbers for SLAGA related business if needed.
  • Discussion was started about what to include or not include on the front page of the SLAGA website and to look at it as a new cacher would.
    • Should keep inside jokes to a minimum
    • Use few abbreviations/acronyms
      • Spell them out?
      • Make a glossary of terms under caching tools?
    • Goal should be both educational and promotional
      • Pictures of group events, awardees, educational venues
    • Keep older pictures to a minimum and make sure they are well captioned.
      • Example used was a 2014 picture of RGS and MrsRGS. On it’s own it looks like an old picture that maybe shows we haven’t updated our website recently. With a caption of “Founding SLAGA members etc.” it becomes more relevant.
    • We have not had any new submissions for articles in a long time.
      • Could be due to Covid?
      • Maybe put in an article about CuriousGeorge and embed the video from the last event?
    • Michael only one who has been submitting photos as well
  • It was decided to let Michael and David do the updates to the website as far as pictures go at this time.
    • Concern about too many people trying to go in and change things only to have them changed back.

Meeting adjourned at 8:56 pm by Nan, seconded by Michael

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

February XX, 2021 at 6:30 pm.

Details

Written by Melissa Pierce

Published: November 26 2020

Last Updated: January 17 2021

Hits: 544

St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2020

16 November 2020/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform)

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Michael Smith, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, Melissa Pierce, Jan Salvaggio,  David DeWitt, John Elfrank

Meeting called to order at 6:36 pm.

We would like to welcome our new officers Robert Klemme, Vice President, and Nan Dabler, Treasurerer. We are glad to have you with us.

Motion called to approve October 2020 minutes by Nan, seconded by Jan.

Motion called to approve October 2020 treasurer's report by Melissa, seconded by Robert.

Plan to close the MOGA account around the end of the year, if everything is complete.

Retrospective

• Zoom get together was held October 28,2020 with about 15 attendees
  • All established members, no new cachers were there.
  • Suggestions were made to make accessing the Zoom meeting easier and faster.
  • Suggestion was made to have a reminder email
  • Next Zoom social is scheduled for Friday, November 20, 2020 at 7 pm.
    • Link is available on the Facebook SLAGA event page
    • Link was sent via WebChimp to the group as a whole. 
    • A reminder email with a link will be going out one hour prior to the event.
  • Would like to use this as a way to engage new cachers; suggestions on how to do that
    • Giveaway for a geocoin
    • Have established cachers reach out to new cachers and welcome them to the game, let them know about the SLAGA group.
    • Training sessions via Zoom
• Fall Picnic Halloween Celebration Event GC8HKB0 was held on October 31, 2020 and hosted by Patricia.
  • There were more than 70 people in attendance
  • Everything went well
    • Masks and social distancing were not an issue.
  • Many thanks to Patricia for hosting a great event!

      Events

• No events scheduled at this time
• Currently hoping to be able to host the Cabin Fever event at the end of January 
  • Will have to wait to see where things are at at that time
  • Will not be a potluck as getting a Health Department ok probably will not be possible.

      Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins are in
  • 14 or 15 are spoken for at this time out of the 100 ordered.
  • There were 17 different coins made by two groups and 15 individuals 
    • The 15 individuals chose to do a large swap in order to have a full set of all the coin versions. The two groups did not participate in this.
      • The individuals would like to obtain the SLAGA version
    • We will give them a chance to purchase after SLAGA membership and prior to general public sales.
      • The individuals involved in this could sign up as members to get an earlier opportunity to buy, if they choose.
    • Melissa will send out an email conveying all the information once it is finalized.
• Award Coins and additional achievement awards
  • Robert has the approximate 140 award coins.
  • Steve has the chairs and jacket
    • Needs to get with David to have the embroidery on it completed.
• SLAGA officer transition
  • Welcome to Robert and Nan!
  • David would like to get a biography and picture from both Nan and Robert for the SLAGA website.
    • If pictures are not sent, David will find one to use.
  • Nan does not have the Treasurers items at this point
    • Hoping to be able to add her to the bank account soon
      • Planned for November 27, 2020 at US Bank depending on possible restrictions.
    • Need key to the UPS mail box
  • David will be doing some training classes for all officers on how to update and caption website pictures and how to place articles.
• Zoom training classes
  • GSAK Q&A via Jason Collier (C3GPS)
    • Willing to do 2 question, 30 minute sessions if we have interest.
  • Candyce Copp Grisham reached out saying she had someone willing to teach on the Cachetur App
• MOGA sale
  • Jesse is going to buy the offered ammo cans
  • Kathy DeWitt will pay out MOGA bills
    • Steve returned the check book to her
  • After all items are sold, John will inventory all remaining items.
    • Can decide on final disposition of items at that time.
  • There is a new bullhorn that we will offer to Jesse
  • Will be keeping preforms
    • SLAGA would like to purchase several
  • T-shirt sale money needs to be transferred to the MOGA account.
    • Michael still has some shirts that need to be picked up or shipped
      • Discussed using flat rate USPS boxes 
      • Either PayPal or send a check for the shipping costs.
        • David will send Michael the PayPal account information

New Business

• Boone’s Lick Road is being archived
  • Caches have already been picked up
  • Reviewer could unarchive them and have them adopted if a new owner could be located quickly.
    • May not be possible if left too long.
    • Melissa to reach out to Unitzoid in Columbia, MO to see if interested in taking over
  • We have approximately 30 coins left
    • May sell them if the challenge is not reinstated.

• GC 101 has two dates for 2021 at this time
  • March 27, 2021 and June 12, 2021
  • Steve will reach out to Laura MacLeod about setting up another date in September, for either the 11th or 18th.
• Discussion to ask Bill Lange to be an advisor for educational endeavors
  • Technically this responsibility for education falls to Michael as a Vice President of SLAGA.
  • As per SLAGA bylaws, Steve would like to offer Bill an appointment as an advisor to the officers in matters related to geocaching education.
    • Steve feels Bill has done a fantastic job during his tenure as Vice President and the year after leaving the position at getting educational materials set up for our GC 101 classes and ensuring they meet the requirements for organizations such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
    • He also feels that Bill has good suggestions and ideas when it comes to these matters and would like to retain his expertise by offering him an advisory position with SLAGA.
      • Officers will give their formal decisions prior to the March 2021 GC 101 class, giving time for any questions or concerns they might have.
• Possible pick up event for coins and MOGA shirts
  • Thinking we could do a pick up event for the coins
    • Michael offered use of his business area
    • Have it in multiple locations and on different days and times
      • Maybe have officers host a pick up in their areas
    • Coins are pre-packaged in plastic sleeves
    • Steve has purchased bubble mailer to mail coins as well
• Cachemas will be held this year. Robert is coordinating it.
  • Cachemas as a whole will not be an officially sponsored SLAGA event
    • SLAGA will sponsor the ornaments for each day however
      • Motion for approval to sponsor the ornaments, total cost not to exceed $100, was called by Michael, seconded by Nan. All approved.
  • Covid-19 concerns at this time
    • Please follow any national, state and local health and safety regulations in regards to the pandemic.
    • Encourage those that are participating in finding the caches or as part of the “harassment committee” to wear masks and social distance as much as possible.
    • Encourage those in high risk groups to wait until the first to find has been declared. 
  • Can use the Facebook SLAGA page to talk about or promote cachemas in the same way as any other cache owner would.
• Blue Anchor
  • Cache owner is unable to maintain it at this point.
  • Would like to adopt it out
    • May need help in getting all associated caches adopted out.
• Upgrade to SLAGA store 
  • We need a better set up in order to hold sales in the way we usually do.
    • In person, the membership levels determine cost and amount of coins you can purchase.
      • Current store does not have that ability.
  • David researched programs that will work with Joomla and found two capable of what we need.
    • Both are of similar price but one David feels one would be the better fit.
    • Cost for either one is around $55-60.
  • Motion to purchase David’s preferred webstore upgrade was called by Steve and seconded by Michael, all agree.
• Clean up of SLAGA email list
  • We currently have 848 people on the list. 
  • We have 128 paid memberships.
  • David will start removing those email addresses that have been listed as “undeliverable” for at least 2 months
    • Part of SLAGA membership is having an email address.

Meeting adjourned at 8:43 pm by Melissa seconded by Michael

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

None scheduled for December 2020. Enjoy the holidays all!