SLAGA Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting date: August 3, 2011

Present: John and Laurie Elfrank, Jim Greene, Mike Henthorn, Yvonne Von Der Ahe, Rich Sheffold, Tom Wolpert, John Young.

The treasurer’s report was read and accepted.

Yvonne Von Der Ahe reported that the annual corporate report was filed with the Missouri Secretary of State.

The SLAGA 10-year geocoin will be distributed at the fall picnic to all premium members as of July 1, 2011. Individual members will receive one coin. Family members will receive two coins per family.  Surplus coins, if any, may be available for sale at a later date.

Laurie Elfrank reported that she has purchased the 10,000 milestone chair for Roelsch.

John Elfrank reported that the cache page for the fall picnic has been published.  L Frank and Denmother are putting in a new “power trail” on the five-mile paved bike path at Cliff Cave County Park in honor of the occasion.

John and Elfrank and Yvonne Von Der Ahe discussed registration problems related to a couple of specific members.  Yvonne will resolve these.

John Elfrank reported that the company from whom SLAGA purchases 100 and 500 milestone pins is no longer in business.  John has asked Sarah Chisholm to design pins for SLAGA.  The board briefly discussed Sarah’s preliminary designs.  John and Sarah will finalize them.  John, Laurie and Mike Henthorn will review pending milestone awards to make sure we have enough of the existing design for the fall picnic.  If not, some of the awards may have to wait until the potluck.

The board decided to continue the Q&A sessions which replace the prior “premium member classes.”  The first three sessions will take place in September, October and November.  Since the last session was in St. Charles, the September and November sessions will be in South County.  Tom Wolpert will book library meeting rooms at Cliff Cave Branch.  SLAGA will publish event pages when we have dates.  Post-meeting:  meeting room #2 booked for 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Wednesday, September 21 and Wednesday, November 16.  Reservations confirmed by the library.  Fees paid.

Tom Wolpert is to contact Mike Griffin to see if he wants assistance with the Fall Fun Rally on September 24.  This is a Scouting (Venture and Explorer) event to be held at Beaumont Reservation.  Laurie Elfrank will include a call for volunteers in the next newsletter just in case.  Post-meeting:  Mike thinks he will probably need assistance, but nothing is definite yet.

John Elfrank reported that the ballots for the upcoming election will be e-mailed shortly.  Steve Bromley is waiting for responses from two nominees.  Post-meeting: ballots e-mailed Saturday, August 6.

The board authorized John Elfrank to purchase 1,000 pens with the  SLAGA URL on them.  These are to be used as give-away items at public events.

Tom Wolpert reported that he responded to the request from Woodson Terrace for assistance with a geocaching activity.  The parks and recreation official has not responded with additional information (such as a date).  Tom will follow up.  Post-meeting: received a response to the follow-up e-mail. No action required at this time.

The board discussed the St. Charles Family Camping Expo.  Bill Brandel, the head ranger for St. Charles County Parks, has a rather complex plan involving 3 Geocaching 101 classes at various times during the day.  The board concluded that we probably don’t have enough volunteers to support that.  Mike Henthorn will try to convince Bill Brandel to use the “walk-up” format that we normally use at public events.  Laurie Elfrank will include a call for volunteers in the next newsletter.

Jim Greene reported that Sarah Chisholm is aware of the request for information regarding the path tag registration code which we received via the web site.  Sarah will handle it if she has not already done so.

John Elfrank distributed the containers for the cache contest.  Tom Wolpert will forward additional copies of the e-mails containing the rules to all officers.  Post-meeting:  done.

John Young reported that the Kids on Campus class at Meramec Community College is going well.  John, Guinivere and Candycane are helping out.

Jim Greene reported that the meeting with the Forest Park Forever organization went well. This is basically an informal forty-five minute chat with interested teachers.

After discussion, the board decided not to pursue the acquisition of the slaga.com domain name.  It appears that it is not actually available.  It is held by a private party.