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.