St. Louis Area Geocaching Association

MEETING MINUTES 2020

12 October 2020/ 6:30 PM / via Zoom (internet meeting platform)

ATTENDEES

Steve Bromley, Carolyn Jaycox, Michael Smith, Jan Salvaggio,  Melissa Pierce, David DeWitt, Bill Lange, Patricia Hutchison, Robert Klemme, Nan Dabler, John Elfrank

Meeting called to order at 6:31 pm.

Motion called to approve September 2020 minutes by Michael, seconded by Carolyn.

Motion called to approve September 2020 treasurer's report by Carolyn, seconded by Melissa.

Will be closing the MOGA account around the end of the year. Need to transfer t-shirt money into the MOGA account and then wait for all payments to clear before closing.

Retrospective

• MOGA 2020 GC8F5PX was held this past weekend. Overall turnout was low, as expected.
  • Had a few firsts this year:
    • Everyone that competed received medals
      • Including a 4th place as well.
      • Remaining medals returned to Jesse Tuttle
    • First time a two person team found all 30 caches
  • Had some issues with loading punches, but was remedied quickly
  • MOGA has been sold to Jesse Tuttle for $350
    • Check was for payment of the 2 MOGA cups, website, and punches. Also covers the legal name transfer from SLAGA to Jesse.
    • He is now interested in purchasing ammo cans as well
      • We have 49 - 50 caliber and 35 - 30 caliber, ammo cans which we would be willing to sell
  • John has retained 100 black and 50 opaque white containers that were donated
  • We also have 15 - 30 caliber ammo cans, 10 cache containers for kids caches and $200 worth of kids swag
    • Some of these items need to be stored in a more climate controlled area.
  • The SLAGA trailer is now stored at Larry’s house
    • John has receipts for his expenses related to bringing the trailer to MOGA. Will turn in for reimbursement from the MOGA accounts.
  • The Knight of Columbus hall charged us $100 for usage.
  • Michael reported on the shirt sales
    • Bought 80 total and had 4 extras that we were able to sell over the weekend
    • We have 6 shirts belonging to SLAGA members that Michael will contact
    • We have 6 other shirts that need to get to the purchasers.
      • David will look into finding their billing info for addresses and phone numbers to contact them.
    • We had some double orders that were caught prior to ordering.
      • Were those that had double orders refunded?
        • David will look into that.
    • Also received a payment for a 2019 shirt!
  • Steve currently has the check book and all cash that was collected over the weekend.
  • John appreciated all the help, standing ovation and the kind words from Steve
• Zoom get together was held October 8 with about 15 attendees
  • Mostly long time members attended, no newer cachers were there.
  • Heard from CIGA (Central Illinois Geocaching Association) that some of the members would like to join us for the instructional online meetings
  • Will have one more social meeting this month
    • Melissa will host it somewhere between October 25th through 30th
      • Steve will get log in information to Melissa soon as well as to the rest of the SLAGA officers.

      Events

• Fall Picnic Halloween Celebration Event GC8HKB0 October 31, 2020 9 am to 3 pm. Update given by host Patricia.
  • Achievement awards will be given at the event.
    • Please see below in “New Business” for additional information on this.
    • Carolyn ordered 17 coins from Geocaching.com
      • Carolyn's contact there gave us a discount of $68 dollars.
      • Should receive the coins in time for the fall picnic.
    • We have two 10,000 Finds milestones to award
      • Carolyn will get the chairs
      • David will get the chair backs embroidered
    • We have one 25,000 Finds milestone to award.
      • Steve will reach out to give SWAseeker his choices on award.
      • If the jacket is chosen, David will get the jacket embroidered as well.
  • Saint Louis County Health Department and County Parks are aware of our plans and have approved.
    • Picnic tables at the park have been moved by park officials and need to stay where they have been placed due to social distancing guidelines.
      • There are 7 tables at our shelter, 6 are under the pavilion..
  • Attendees to bring their own food otherwise.
  • Patricia has three - two packs of handmade Halloween cloth masks as door prizes
  • New officers will be announced at 1:30 pm.
    • Steve will be working with the old and new officers for the transfer. 
  • Will be doing the costume contest with an adult and children categories
    • Two $20 gift cards will be needed for the winner of each category.
  • Will have the premium membership gift cards
    • Three $25 gift cards will be needed for that.
  • Will be having the raffle
    • Ensure that the extra raffle tickets are available for this.
  • We will need the PA system for the event as well.
  • SLAGA has hand sanitizer, masks, gloves and a thermometer for use during events.
    • May need to purchase hand soap for the restrooms at the park.

      Ongoing Business

• 20th Anniversary geocoins are done and have been shipped to Steve
  • Should receive coins next week.

New Business

• Additional achievement awards
  • We have had the third 25,000 Find achievement met, however there is no real guidance on what to give.
    • The previous two members were given multiple choices per Kathy DeWitt, former SLAGA President, although she no longer remembers what all the choices were. 
      • The members picked an embroidered jacket and a trackable hiking stick.
    • Officers discussed what should be done with these awards.
      • A blanket policy of anything up to a certain monetary amount, giving a choice of multiple items, or using the previous awards as precedence.
      • The decision was made to offer either an embroidered jacket or trackable hiking stick.
        • Motion to vote called by Steve, approved by Carolyn, seconded by Melissa.
  • Do we plan on giving awards for achievements greater than 25,000?
    • Officers decided to not give awards for achievements beyond this point.
• Membership engagement ideas
  • Zoom training classes using a broken down GC 101 format class for newer cachers followed by some social time.
  • Zoom training classes going over separate aspects of GSAK.
  • Zoom social meetings to try to get newer cachers meeting each other and to help them get some connections and mentorship with long standing cachers
    • There is an intimidation factor for new cachers when faced with experienced cachers 
    • There is also the opportunity for new cachers to learn a lot even by listening to conversations.
  • Group hikes to local parks in order to cache together and get the caches in each park.
    • Would plan one per month
    • Board would get together and decide on where to go.
• Bill Lange has asked for permission to use the SLAGA Zoom account.
  • He is working with seven other local cachers to set up an ambitious group Adventure Lab utilizing one area park.
  • Permission given as this will be a benefit to the overall SLAGA community.
    • Steve will get Bill set up to use the Zoom account.
  • May use this opportunity to have a group hiking event, which could also serve as a hands on training session for Adventure Labs.
• John mentioned that at this time the January SLAGA Potluck is not planned unless there are improvements in the Covid-19 pandemic
  • It was also mentioned that this would also be true of the holiday party, as it is also held indoors.
    • Maybe we could use these days as the group hike for the month or possibly as additional hikes? Maybe have Zoom social time instead of or in conjunction with?

Meeting adjourned at 8:27 pm by Carolyn seconded by Michael

NEXT MONTH’S INFORMATION

November 16, 2020 at 6:30 pm on Zoom