SLAGA Board Meeting

January 5, 2017

6:00 PM, Chemical Interchange Building

Attendees – Kathy DeWitt, Tony Colter, Bill Lange, Laura MacLeod, Patricia Hutchison, Dave DeWitt

Guest Attendee – John Elfrank

                The meeting was called to order at 5:57 pm, with Bill motioning and Laura seconding.

               Motion to approve the December minutes was made by Tony, seconded by Laura.  Board unanimously approved the minutes.

               Treasurer’s report was provided by Laura.  Motion to accept treasurer’s report was made by Bill and seconded by Tony.  Board unanimously approved the treasurer’s report.

Old Business

• Brochures – Kathy provided some customizable, generic forms from the Internet, to be utilized for classes and events.  SLAGA’s forms were outdated.  Tabled for consideration.
• Newsletter is postponed until right before the spring picnic.
• Event Recap
• ¨       New Year’s Day Brunch and Hike
• Dave said that people had fun.  We had an excellent turnout for both events.  The bonfire was not held due to most of the hike attendees needing to be elsewhere by the time the hike was completed.

• E-mail blasts – Separate e-mails will go out for Save the Date and Winter Potluck.
• Upcoming Events: 
• ¨       Milestones
• Bill requested that Dave set up a page on the SLAGA website for people to verify that SLAGA received their submissions for milestones.
• Kathy mentioned to Bill that he needs to remember to ask for the discount when he places his order for the milestone coins.
• ¨       Winter Potluck – 1/28/17 – John Elfrank is hosting.  Ray Bernecki will receive his 25,000 milestone award.  Discussed positioning of food between kitchen and meeting room.  Kitchen should be used for storage only; crockpots should be placed on the sink area.  Volunteers should show up at 9:00 to help set up.  Both Patricia and Bill volunteered for Registration.  Kathy will handle Geobingo, the raffle and 50/50.  She will also pick up the gift cards to be awarded as contest prizes.  John will handle the photo scavenger hunt.  Bill will also be the photographer and bring the PA system.  Food will be served between 11:45-1:30.  Raffle ends at 1:30.  Speeches, milestones, jokes, contest/drawing winners will follow.  John will set out a couple of new geocaches in the park prior to the potluck.
• ¨       Spring Picnic – 5/6/17 – Nan-D1955 will host.  The Kirkwood pavilions have been secured and paid for.
• ¨       Summer Picnic – 7/15/17 –Michael Rogers of Arthur & Trillian is hosting at Rock Bridge just outside of Columbia, Missouri.  The facilities have been secured and paid for.  Attendees will provide their own food.
• ¨       Eclipse – August 21, 2017, 1:15-1:19 pm – Jefferson Barracks Park.  Laura will be hosting a St. Louis County Parks event here for the eclipse.  There is no geocaching event set up as yet, however, someone may consider posting a flash mob.
• ¨       Fall Picnic – The Confluence at Hartford, Illinois, September 16, 2017.  No host has been found for this event yet.  There are no barbecue grills there; Food will need to be brought in, possibly fried chicken.
• ¨       Grave Hop – The board has not heard from The Grif.  L Frank may volunteer to host.  The topic is tabled.
• ¨       Halloweenie Roast – Larson Park is already paid for; we just need a date and a host.  Kathy is reaching out to Michael Maryan to see if he will host, but Laura MacLeod will be backup.
• ¨       Holiday Party – This event is too far in the future to plan at this time.  The topic is tabled.
• ¨       Spring Picnic, 2018 – (From previous discussion) Queeny Park has been suggested with the further recommendation that caches currently in play be replaced with new ones, excepting the oldest ones, for those players who need ‘dated’ caches.  This picnic is currently tabled.

• Classes
• ¨       Canoe – Tabled.
• ¨       GSAK – Tabled.
• ¨       Cache Publication & Placement – Date changed to May 13, 2017, 9:00 am-2:00 pm, as it conflicted with the Spring Picnic.  Tony is still hosting the event and teaching the class.
• ¨       Queeny Park – Bill contacted Queeny Park to inquire if SLAGA can hold classes in their facilities, however, they did not get back to him.  Suggestion to obtain a meeting room at a library was met with positive response.  Big Bend branch and Grant’s Trail branch were among those recommended.

• SLAGA Geocoin
• ¨       Geocoin – This issue is tabled, per Tony.
• ¨       Pathtags – This issue is tabled, per Tony.

• BLR – Trail activity has slowed down due to winter.

• PayPal – Dave DeWitt contacted them and will try to work something out with the SLAGA account status.  They still require a social security number, but we still have Square as a backup for accepting payments.  We will give PayPal a little more time to work out the issue.

• Website Training for New Officers

¨       Laura needs to know how to update memberships; Dave is to meet up with her sometime before the picnic for training.

¨       Patricia still needs to learn how to do e-mail blasts.

• Liability discussion
  • Boy Scouts – Dave spoke to BSA about liability.
    • If they call us and ask for instruction, liability is on them.
    • If we call them and offer instruction, liability is on us.
    • Troops that request instruction in geocaching should be asked to provide a copy of the insurance contract from the BSA.  All scouts are insured up to $1m for activities sponsored by the BSA, according to information Dave acquired from his contact.
    • Bill presented several documents, but they may not actually provide a safety net for our group.  John suggested contacting a lawyer.  Sylvia Titgemeyer’s name came up for this.  It was also recommended that SLAGA discuss our needs with an insurance company for more information.  Coverage would also need to be investigated for both states. 
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• Doodle.com – Discussed again, despite being quashed last meeting.  It was determined that this service was not needed.
• Location of SLAGA Trailer – Bill requested the physical address of the SLAGA trailer’s location so that it was documented.  It is at John Elfrank’s Festus property.  The fee for the permanent license plate this year is about $56.  John will take care of filing for it.

New Business

• No new business was raised.

•       Next meeting will be 6:00 pm, February 5, 2017 at Chemical Interchange.

Adjournment

• Patricia motioned for the meeting to be adjourned and it was seconded by Laura.  The meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm.