Details

Written by Laura Million

Published: October 08 2014

Last Updated: February 18 2015

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SLAGA Board Meeting
October 6, 2014

Members Present: Kathy DeWitt, Pete Shaw, Tony Colter, Laura Million, Wendy Neal, Dave DeWitt

Meeting Called to order at 6:14pm

Minutes – Tony made a motion to accept. Pete seconded. The board approved the minutes.

Treasurer’s report – It was noted that the title was “August” and the dates were from August and should have been September dates. Tony motioned to accept the Treasurer’s report after the corrections. Pete second the motion. The board unanimously approved the report.

Old Business

• The St. Charles Parks event had a good turn out with both families and SLAGA members. The morning sessions were much busier than the afternoon session.
• Website updates – Dave will test the website with the new updates. He expects the new website to go live January 1st.
• SLAGA Credit Card – It was believed that the credit card was closed, but it was not. Jim Nelson was contacted to close the account
• SLAGA Shirts – Shirts have been ordered for the officers. Colors are tan, white, and black; 100% cotton. Silk screen are $5.63; Embroidered are $6.47. Cost to members will be determined when we see the quality of T-shirts. SLAGA Premium members will pay less than Basic members.
• Fall picnic went well. A small profit was made. The ammo can toss was popular. Pete will publish the winners of the game in a future email blast.
• 12-13-14 event – the holiday party will be held on 12-13-14 at Kirkwood Station. Coins will be available to SLAGA Premium members for $10; basic members $12. Premium members will be allowed to pre-order at the Halloween Bash. Dave will set up an email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to allow Premium members will be allowed to order coins with this email or mail checks to the SLAGA PO Box.

New Business

• Brochure – Dave will update the SLAGA brochure.
• Cub Scout training – Tony, Dave and Gary did Cub Scout training on 10-4-14 went well. It was a family weekend.
• Halloween Event – we will pre-sell T-shirts and 12-13-14 coins to SLAGA Premium members only.
• SLAGA Premium Member Perks – early coin and t-shirt sales; discounts on merchandise and events; separate email blast.
• SLAGA Road Trips – Pete suggested a Caching Director to organize SLAGA Road Trips. The Caching Director would coordinate SLAGA Road Trips.
• New Year’s Day Events – At Highland IL’s Silver Lake. Kathy will contact CO to maintain caches.
• Winter Pot Luck – will be run by RGS and Mrs. RGS at Jefferson Barracks Park. The event date will be late January
• Newsletter/email blasts – Laura will gather details for newsletter and email blasts, including Premium Member blast
• Milestones – a discussion was held about milestones for teams. If a team logs under one name, they are a team and both receive a milestone. If a couple log under different names, only the member that reaches the milestone will receive the award. This is separate from registering as individuals or family membership.
• Events for 2015
  • 1-1-15 – Highland’s Silver Lake
  • Boy Scout Merit Badge Councilors – Laura has submitted an application to be a Geocaching Merit Badge Councilor. Others may be interested in applying.
  • Wendy will check on Willoby Farms for a location for Geocaching activities.
  • Spring Picnic – May 16th Quail Ridge Park – Pavilion #6 (Wentzville, St. Charles Co)
  • Summer Picnic – Checking with someone in Fairview Heights IL
  • Halloween Bash hosted by the Mad Chef 10/24/15
  • Christmas Day lunch – hosted by Jim Greene
• SLAGA challenges – members have requested a Fizzy and Jasmer Challenge – Pete will organize a Jasmer and Dave will organize a Fizzy Challenge.
• MOGA donations – SLAGA has been asked to send donation letters for MOGA. Kathy has a list of names from GeoWoodstock
• Generator – SLAGA has a generator that has never been used. John Elfrank has offered to buy it. The board decided to ask for $100 based on the contingency that John will loan the generator to SLAGA if needed.
• CITO April 25 & 26 – Board members will look for parks and cemeteries that need cleanup for CITO. Kathy will check with Hobbit Taz about the Pet Cemetery from last year. Kathy will look into the Missouri Bottoms area.
• Class Schedule – Laura has arrange the Glen Carbon Community Center for the Nov 11th GSAK class.  Laura will check with SIUE for continuing education classes. Wendy will check with SLCC for continuing education classes.

Meeting adjourned 8:38pm.
Next meeting: Monday, November 3rd at 6pm.

Details

Written by Kathy DeWitt

Published: September 22 2014

Last Updated: February 18 2015

Hits: 927

Board Meeting SLAGA Minutes

Meeting date: September 8, 2014

Present: Kim Balek, Michael Allison, Sylvia Titgemeyer, Tony Colter, Wendy Neal, Laura Million, Pete Shaw, David DeWitt, and Kathy DeWitt

Meeting called to order at 6:20 PM

Treasurer’s report- Michael made a motion to accept. Tony seconded. The board voted and approved July and August treasurer’s report

Minutes- Kim made a motion to accept. Tony seconded. The board voted to approve the minutes report

Old Business

· GSAK Class: Steve Bromley hosted a class August 16. Michael Allison helped teach the class. There were 8 people who attend the class. It went very well. Discussion was made on having more GSAK classes in the next year.

· Q & A: September 6^th at Voyagers Room at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center in Forest Park. Kim Balek did the class geared more towards the kids. We had 3 brand new cachers. Some discussion was made on how to promote the Geocaching 101 class. Some of the ideas were community college continuing education, YMCA, Science Center and History museum. We will also check with Lena Dowers who does some classes at the Missouri Bottoms.

· Rappelling Event: Event went really well. There has been some interest in doing a Rappelling event closer to the metro area. Pete suggested doing one at Englemann Woods. We will possibly look into hosting an event Spring 2015.

· St. Charles: Indian Camp Creek Park we will be doing 2 classes before lunch and 2 classes after lunch on September 27 from 9-12 and 1-4. They will provide lunch for our members that are teaching the classes. Pete and Kim volunteered to help teach the classes. An article will be put in the newsletter asking for volunteers.

· Web site: Dave and Tony gave a demonstration of the new website. They are hoping to have it going live by the first of the year.

· SLAGA credit cards: Kim was able to close the second account. When Kim and Wendy Neal meet at the bank to change everything over to Wendy, they will verify that it has been closed.

· SLAGA Shirts: Michael had not gotten pricing from his source. Kathy did have some pricing from a local business. Pete mentioned the shirts that CIGA had were very nice. Pete will find out who CIGA used for their shirts for possible CITO shirts.

New Business

· Newly Elected Board:

President-Kathy DeWitt-Team_State

VP-Tony Colter-Eravau

VP-Pete Shaw-Major134

Secretary-Laura Million-2_cats

Treasurer-Wendy Neal-Moonchild1800

Duties were discussed

• Calender-Dave DeWitt will continue to update.

• SLAGA geocaching account- Pete and Tony will share in monitoring the account. They will ensure that all maintenance is performed as needed.

• Milestones-Pete will keep the list. Tony and Pete will ensure that milestones are ordered and will present them at the picnics.

• Newsletter-Laura will get all the articles together. Dave will continue to e-mail the newsletter. Will do quarterly.

• PAF list-Laura will put together a new PAF list. Will start getting the list at the fall picnic. It you put your name on the list, you will get a copy of the list

• Name Tags-Dave will continue to do the name tags for the major events.

• Inventory-Laura will keep the inventory.

• Post office box-Tony will help check the box

· Fall Picnic: Everything is good to go.

· 12-13-14 Event: Still waiting to hear back from a couple people for toy donation. Wendy has a possible place to donate the toys. Kat and Brad will be doing the food pantry donation. Kathy and Laura will host the event. Will see if there is an event coin available.

· Meeting: First Monday of each month works for everyone.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:48

The next meeting will be October 6^th at 6 PM at Bread Company. If you want to attend, please contact one of the officers as seating is limited.

Details

Written by Kathy DeWitt

Published: August 25 2014

Last Updated: February 18 2015

Hits: 915

SLAGA Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: August 4, 2014

Present: Kim Balek, Michael Allison, Sylvia Titgemeyer, Tony Colter, David DeWitt, and Kathy DeWitt

Meeting called to order at 6:19 PM

Treasurer’s report- will be reviewed at September meeting.

Minutes- Kim made a motion to accept.  Michael seconded.  The board voted to approve the minutes report

Old Business

· Q & A: September 6^th at Voyagers Room at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center in Forest Park.  Michael and Sylvia will place a multi and a simple puzzle.   Kim will get the event page together and get it published.  Dave will load the GPS units. Kim will put a note on FB and free list about the event.   Sylvia will post a note on the cake FB page.        

· St. Charles:  Indian Camp Creek Park we will be doing 2 classes before lunch and 2 classes after lunch on September 27 from 9-12 and 1-4.   They will provide lunch for our members that are teaching the classes.

· Newsletter: Newsletter was sent out on July 31^st.   We only had 5 bounced e-mail addresses.   Out of the 730 sent, 174 opened and 45 clicked on one of the links.  

· Web site:  Was looking at automating the family memberships.   They decided to hold off on this until the program will support the family member and sub member.  The sub members will have an expiration date but, will not get the expired membership e-mail. 

· SLAGA credit cards:  One of the credit cards did get closed.   Kim will try to get the other one closed.

· SLAGA Shirts:  Tabled till September.   Michael needs some information from his source.

· SLAGA coins:  Tony and Sarah will work on possible coin for the spring picnic

· EZ-up:  John was able to fix the one that we had.   We will hold off on a purchase until we need to.

· GSAK:  GSAK class is scheduled for August 16^th.   Steve Bromley will be teaching the class.    

New Business

· Taxes:  The taxes for this year have been submitted.

· Rappelling event: Tony will check to see if there is anything they might need from SLAGA

Meeting Adjourned at 7:07

The next meeting will be September 8^th at 6 PM at Bread Company.   If you want to attend, please contact one of the officers as seating is limited.

Details

Written by Kathy DeWitt

Published: July 31 2014

Last Updated: February 18 2015

Hits: 902

SLAGA Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: July 11, 2014

Present: Kim Balek, Michael Allison, Sylvia Titgemeyer, Tony Colter, David DeWitt, and Kathy DeWitt

Meeting called to order at 6:12 PM

Treasurer’s report-Kathy motion to accept, Michael 2^nd, approved

Minutes-Tony motion to accept, Michael 2^nd, approved

Old Business

· Treasurer’s Software: After some discussion and some research,   Quicken Deluxe seems to be a good fit for our group.  Tony motion to purchase Quicken Deluxe, Kathy 2^nd, approved.  Kim will purchase at Walmart

· Summer Picnic: Everything is a go.  John Elfrank will bring items needed from the trailer.        

· Q & A: September 6^th at Voyagers Room at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Canter in Forest Park.  Kim will put the event page together and get it published.   Michael and Sylvia will place a simple puzzle, simple multi and a few traditional.

· Newsletter: Next one will go out around August 1st.  Possible items for the newsletter are pictures from summer picnic, geo-art, milestones, GSAK class, fall picnic, reminder to vote, PAF list revived and upcoming events.  The last newsletter went out to 740 e-mail addresses.   Out of that 269 opened (37%) and 45 opened a link to an event.

· Web site: Dave and Tony have been making a lot of progress.   They showed the new website.   Some of the items that they are working on for the new website are automating family membership connections.   Premium SLAGA members will have a form on the website for milestones.  Need a field for birthdays.   Want to display membership expiration date on the home page (when logged in).  Community builder will cost $160 and the Community builders subs will be $190.   There is also transfer software that will transfer the community builder items from our version to the new version for $30.   Also, signed up with Blue host as the web hosting.

· SLAGA Tri-fold Brochure:  Michael looked over these and said everything looks good.   

· SLAGA credit cards:  Credit cards are not closed.  Kim will touch base with Jim Nelson.

· Elections:  Should be a good election.   All offices are contested, except treasurer.  

· SLAGA Shirts:  Michael to check on pricing on hats, polo’s and shirts.   Kathy did talk to Laurie Elfrank and found where they use to purchase SLAGA logo items.  

 New Business

· SLAGA coins:  Would like to have a new SLAGA coin to come out at the spring picnic.   Tony will get with Sarah to get a possible design.   Presell to premium SLAGA members at a discounted rate.    Purchase 100 coins and possibly have a new coin every year.

· Ez UP:  Have not purchased one yet.   Dave will do some more checking on this.

· GSAK:  GSAK class was changed to August 16^th.   Steve Bromley will be teaching the class.  

· 12-13-14 and Christmas party:  These will be combined.   Possible times are 11-2 or 4-7.   Have to confirm the venue (Kirkwood Station Brewing Company).   Brad and Kat will take on the food drive.  We will be doing a toy drive.  Sarah has heard some talk about a 12-13-14 coin.  She has agreed to design our coin.

 · Halloween Event:  TheMadchef is working on a Halloween event.   SLAGA will sponsor the event.  Date for the event is October 26th.   

· Meetings:  Sylvia will check to see if the library on Grand would be available for our next meeting.   The next meeting is scheduled for August 4^th.  Place to be determined.   

· Bylaws:  Several changes were made to SLAGA’s bylaws.  Kim motioned to change the bylaws, Michael 2^nd, approved

Section 6. SLAGA Territory Definition

The target membership of SLAGA are those geocachers who live in an area around St. Louis, Missouri. SLAGA Territory is defined as the area insides the boundary of an imaginary circle with a diameter of 100 miles from a center point located in the vicinity of the area code of 63025. This area encapsulate much of the area where our members live and spend their time hunting for caches.

Changed to:

Section 6. SLAGA Territory Definition

SLAGA Territory is defined as the area inside the boundary of an imaginary circle with a radius of 100 miles from a point located in the center of the 63025 zip code.

Section 7. Office

The office of the organization is to be located within SLAGA Territory (See Article I – Section 5).

Changed to:

Section 7. Office

The office of the organization is to be located within SLAGA Territory (See Article I – Section 6).

Section 3. Membership Sub-Types

• An Individual Membership that does not pay dues is an Individual Standard Membership.

• An individual Membership that pays dues is an Individual Premium Membership.

• A Household Membership that does not pay dues is a Household Standard Membership.

• A Household Membership that pays dues is a Household Premium Membership.

Changed to

 Section 3. Membership Sub-Types

• An Individual Membership that does not pay dues is an Individual Standard Membership.

• An Individual Membership that pays dues is an Individual Premium Membership.

• A Household Membership that does not pay dues is a Household Standard Membership.

• A Household Membership that pays dues is a Household Premium Membership.

Section 9. General Membership Voting

When voting on an issue is required by the general Organization membership, such as election of officers, an Individual Membership has one vote; each member of a Household Membership 18 years of age or order, has one vote. Only members living within SLAGA Territory (Article I – Section 6) are eligible to vote.

Changed to:

Section 9. General Membership Voting

When voting on an issue is required by the general Organization membership, such as election of officers, an Individual Membership has one vote; each member of a Household Membership 18 years of age or older, has one vote.

Section 3. Eligibility

Anyone who fits member eligibility (See Article II - Section 1) can run for a Board of Director position.

Changed to:

Section 3. Eligibility

Anyone who fits member eligibility (See Article II - Section 1) and is 18 years of age or older, can run for a Board of Directors position.

Section 5. Elections

Board of Directors members are elected by organization members before the end of August. Once nominations are finalized, a ballot will be created with all members accepting nominations. This ballot will be mailed electronically to all active SLAGA members. The membership must vote electronically by sending their completed ballot to a provided email address. Votes will be compiled under the supervision of at least two SLAGA members not running for a contested office (ie. An officer running unopposed or no longer running for an office may help count the votes). The first vote submitted by a member will be the only one counted. Members will not be allowed to change their vote and any subsequent ballots will be ignored. Voting will be closed August 31. The membership will be notified electronically of the results prior to the SLAGA Fall Picnic. In the event of a tie, the Board of Directors will serve as tiebreaker.

Changed to:

Section 5. Elections

Board of Directors members are elected by organization members who are eligible to vote. Once nominations are finalized, a ballot will be created with all members accepting nominations. This ballot will be mailed electronically to all SLAGA members who are eligible to vote. The membership must vote electronically by sending their completed ballot to a provided email address. Votes will be compiled under the supervision of at least two SLAGA members not running for a contested office (i.e. an officer running unopposed or no longer running for an office may help count the votes). The first vote submitted by a member will be the only one counted. Voting will be closed August 31. The membership will be notified electronically of the results prior to the SLAGA Fall Picnic. In the event of a tie, the Board of Directors will serve as tiebreaker.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:29 PM

The next meeting will be August 4th at 6 PM at Bread Co on Grand. If you want to attend, please contact one of the officers as seating is limited.

Details

Written by Kathy DeWitt

Published: June 22 2014

Last Updated: August 25 2014

Hits: 1295

SLAGA Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: June 6, 2014

Present: Kim Balek, Michael Allison, Sylvia Tigemeyer Tony Colter, David DeWitt, and Kathy DeWitt

Treasurer’s report-tabled till July

Minutes were accepted as presented

Old Business

· Treasurer’s Report: Some issues with invalid fields.   Kim mentioned there is a money program in the box.  Will look into and see if we can use that.   Will do some research to see what our best option will be. 

·  Spring Picnic: Picnic was a success.   The flying ammo can game was a lot of fun.   Need to suggest to future host to have this as one of the games.   Good turn out to stuff goodie bags for Woodstock.      

· Summer Picnic: Will be held at Manchester City Park on Saturday July 12^th.   Pavilion was $35 for the day.  MRS. RGS will host.   Slaga will supply paper goods and charcoal.  

· Fall Picnic: Will be held at Blackburn Park on Saturday September 13^th.   Pavillion was $150 for the day.  Strider and Crowsfeet will be hosting.     Jim will let us know what he needs the board to do.

·  Q & A: Dave reserved the Voyagers Room at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Canter  for Saturday September 6^th from 10 to noon.   Rental fee was $40.   Kim will host an introduction to Geocaching to families   Kim will host the event and will make the class geared toward children.

· Geowoodstock: Kim, Michael and Sylvia hosted the meet and greet.   This was a huge success with over 900 attended logs.  Everyone had a great time. 

·  National Get Outdoors Day:  Should have plenty of help for the event.   Dave and Tony will get coordinates on Friday night for the temporary caches.   Dave will get the GPS loaded and will put the caches out on Saturday morning.     

· Newsletter:  Newsletter should go out in the next 2 weeks.  

· Web site:  Talked about our wish list for the new website.   Dave and Tony will meet Thursday June 19^th to get started on the new website.   Did some surveys of different people and all most all like the current SLAGA logo. 

· SLAGA Tri-fold Brochure:  Michael will look over the brochure.   Michael asked us to check the e-mail address that was listed in the brochure to make sure it is valid.

· SLAGA property:  We did get the rest of the SLAGA property from Wendee.   Did find out we had a cooler that was donated.  The cooler is now on the trailer and has SLAGA on it. 

· Base Camp:  Base camp has been cancelled.

· SLAGA credit cards:  Jim Nelson will have to cancel the credit cards. 

New Business

· Nominations:  Have had a lot of nominations.   Think we will have a good election.  

· SLAGA Shirts:  Have had several request for SLAGA shirts.   Michael will check and see what our options are.  Possible SLAGA premium members would get a discount on SLAGA branded items.     

· MOGA:  SLAGA will offer to do a flash mob for MOGA 2015. 

· Ez UP:  The canopy was damaged and could not be used for Woodstock.   John Elfrank thought he could fix but, was beyond repair.   The top and sides are still useable.   Will get the frame from John and see if we can just replace that part.  Board approved $600 for the replacement. 

· SLAGA premium member:  Since several of our members are above the 10.000.  Was discussed about possible other milestones.   Also, possible other perks for being a premium member.    

· GSAK:  Steve Bromley would like to have an all GSAK class.   Sylvia suggested the library at Grand and Utah.  She will check into the library for July 19^th.   Steve would like to do another one on the Illinois side.  Dave and Kathy will look for possible locations for an Illinois GSAK class.  

Meeting Adjourned

The next meeting will be July 11^th at 6 PM at the home of Michael Allison. If you want to attend, please contact one of the officers as seating is limited.