MINUTES

SENIORS OUTDOORS! BOARD MEETING

July 29, 2009

Present were: David Wright, Co-President; Bill Cagle, Treasurer; Clark Lagow, Outings Co-Chair; Mary Ann Bryant, Secretary; Nancy Mead, Membership; Kate Martin, Hospitality Chair; Carroll Groeger, Circulation Co-Chair; Dell Manners, Singles rep; and Dick Reitz, Newsletter Coordinator.

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm. Minutes of the previous meeting (April), which had been circulated to Board members, were approved.

Old Business:

• Newsletter follow up: Dick is still willing to put together the newsletter but needs volunteers’ input. Nancy will get Dick names of members who indicated potential interest. We agreed this would be on the Club website and those without computer access would be mailed a black/white newsletter with the quarterly outing schedule. The newsletter should be no more than four pages. Dick will discuss publishing software options and website loading with Lyle Hancock. The Club approved paying for one copy of the software.

• Liability insurance followup: Bill telephoned SJMA’s insurance agent regarding liability insurance policies for Board officers and trip leaders but received no response. This issue is tabled indefinitely.

New Business:

• Budget report 08-09. Dick reviewed the budget for fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. Income was 99% of budget and expenses were 94% of budget. We had net income of $1,276.65 with an ending balance of $5,667.83. There are no IRS issues for the amount of our ending balance.

• Proposed Budget FY09-10. Bill presented the draft budget for the new fiscal year. The revenue is budgeted at 90% of last FY based on projected membership levels. We agreed to plan for a June picnic again next year. David will make this facility reservation at Edgemont Ranch picnic area if the picnic committee chooses it again. Kate will get the bill for the radios purchased last year to Bill Cagle for reimbursement to John Martin. We discussed satellite phone status and expense. Dick noted that the Globalstar service expires 6/2010. We agreed to keep the current service and add 10% to the budget line item for satellite phone service; to add $30 to the Outings Schedule mailing and add $200 for publishing software to the Newsletter/Outings budget. Issues for the coming year are verification of the cost for meeting room rental and membership packets. Bill will confirm this and send a final budget to Board members for record keeping. David motioned to approve the budget as discussed; the motion was seconded and the Board voted to approve.

• Procedure Manual and New Member Information Packet Review. Mary Ann noted the annual review of these two documents included updates from the Hospitality Committee to reflect the new volunteer structure and procedures. Clark will provide Mary Ann an electronic version of the Outing Committee procedures to include in the Procedure Manual. He will also update trip leader responsibility language to reflect that it is acceptable to ask non-members on hikes about their level of hiking ability. Dick will review the draft changes in the Newsletter section (proposed by Nancy Mead) and get any further comments to Mary Ann to finalize. Once all comments and changes are received by Mary Ann, she will finalize these two documents and email out to Board members and committee leads.

• Member Recognition Program Proposal. We discussed a proposal to formally recognize Club members who provide exemplary service to the Club. After discussion, we agreed to the requirements, nomination, review and approval process for this program. Clark motioned to accept this proposal and to adjust the FY09-10 budget to add $200 for this program; Bill seconded the motion and the Board approved. David will make the wording change to the proposed document to reflect any club member may nominate someone. He will send an email to the Club membership informing them of this program and the guidelines. He will notify Lyle Hancock to put this on the Club website.

• Board membership and voting issues. We discussed the open Co-President Board position. Clark offered to serve as Co-President once his personal obligations are completed. He will discuss with Dorothy Bregar her serving as Outing Chair if Clark were to serve on the Board. We also discussed extending voting privileges to other non-Board members. After discussion, we agreed to not do this or change the by-laws regarding voting privileges to non-Board members.

• Wednesday Wanderers Rules. Dell voiced concerns regarding too many rules and safety requirements for Wednesday Wanderers. Trip leaders did not want to lead if they had to comply with these rules. We discussed that moderate level hikes do need to comply with SO! trip leader and safety guidelines. What we need are more easy hikes as originally planned for Wednesday Wanderers with less responsibility for leaders. Dell and David will work together on a plan for this and come up with a list of easy hikes that leaders will participate in.

Committee Reports:

• Hospitality Report: Kate reported there are no issues.

• Membership Report: Nancy Mead reported 283 paid members and 115 still un-renewed members as of this date. She will send emails to unpaid members reminding them to renew.

• Outings Report: Clark reported the Committee will meet in August to plan the fall outings schedule. He noted we need more leaders for moderate hikes. Dick will get a list of potential moderate hikes he recommends to Clark to review.

· Singles Report: Dell reported there were no issues.

· Volunteer Coordinator: The Board reviewed Barb Hancock’s submitted report.

• Circulation Report: Carroll reported that she and Barb will contact mailing volunteers again for needed participation in the mailings. Carroll announced she will end her Circulation Coordinator role in December 2009.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 5:30pm and will include a potluck dinner. Location will be at Bill Cagle’s home.

David motioned to adjourn; Clark seconded; the motion was carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Ann Bryant, Secretary