MINUTES
Anne Squire, President, gaveled open the meeting at 4:07 PM.
A quorum was reached despite absence of several members.
Present were: Judy Bentley, Toni Edgar, Rich Kinsey, Harriet Schwartz, Anne Squire, Marianne Tubman, Marcelle Welch, Lori Wong
Minutes were approved from the January Meeting.
REPORTS:
Al Peter's was ill but provided the following Treasurer's Report
Feb 29, 22024 Financials.xlsx
Jean Fiske, New Member Coordinator
Additional 50 members have joined since January
New member meeting is being planned for mid-April. Under consideration is an outdoor event dividing new members into appropriate hiking groups for a short hike followed by a bag lunch.
Anne Squire requested that at least one Rep be available for each group to assist.
Bruce Freeland's neighborhood walks were emailed out to all new members in the meanwhile.
Anne Squire reviewed membership renewal numbers which follow regular trend with about 25% dropout each year which is then replaced by new members. Club currently has 351 members down from 420+ at the end of 2023.
Anne noted what a good job Joanie Boyle, Registrar is doing handling signups.
Larry Barclay, Trail Steward, outlined work Club volunteers had performed since January
included clearing downed trees from Veltman and Clyde Wood Trails and permanently relocating bench on Skyline trail.
Future work is planned to widen some trails and adding additional steps in step areas.
Trail renaming policy is being further researched by GRF.
If and when that occurs new signage will be paid out of $10k GRF allocates to trail maintenance each year.
Anne Squire discussed attending the Activities Council President's meeting in January
Council provided list of approved Catering Vendors and discussed difficulties GRF Rec Dept was having catching up on room reservations.
Anne Squire gave a Tech Update
Anne demoed Trails Club's use of Wild Apricot for the Orinda Hiking Club tech person, via Zoom.
Issue of tracking Club members' hiking participation, other than on paper arose - since Orinda uses that to prioritize their Safari registrants. She asked the Board if we should consider something similar and discussed possible ways to track online. For example, Amblers don't pre-sign up for hikes so that info is only on individual hike sheets.
If Club assigned each member a QR code on their name tag or had a digital sign-in sheet at Gateway it would be easy to track.
Website now includes a lot of relevant information for Event hosts formerly kept in paper files. New Event Coordinators, Molly Clopp and Kathy Devine can use this material to assist hosts in planning future events.
All relevant accounts related to maintaining TeamUp Calendar, Wild Apricot, the Domain name registration and have been updated to new Club email address trailsclubrossmoor@gmail.com so that if anything happens to the current administrators (Diane Hinds and Anne Squire) the Board can assign replacements.
OLD BUSINESS:
A motion was made and seconded to select Mary Smith as new VP for the Club. Approval was unanimous.
MEMBERS FORUM: Anne
Discussion - Status of Trekkers, Judy & Rich
Trekkers have been concerned about lack of leaders recently and poor hike attendance compared to membership.
Gloria Reid hosted a potluck for the group on 2.28 to discuss possible reasons and solutions.
Following recommendations were made
QCs solicit for hike leaders in person on Wed & Sat
Special effort be made to welcome newcomers
Ramblers interested in longer hikes at quicker pace be encouraged to join Trekker hikes since Rambler hikes often exceed 20 signups.
Hikes might be offered on days other than Wed & Sat if that's preventing members from joining in.
Find easy ways Trekkers can reach out to each other to get a scouting partner.
Anne noted that the Member's Forum had been enabled on the website so that all members can share ideas and requests with fellow members. An email will go out to the Club alerting members to the new tool.
NEW BUSINESS: Anne
Update on 2024 Social Events
All Potlucks now have Hosts thanks to recruiting efforts of Event Co-coordinator, Kathy Devine.
Rich Kinsey has volunteered to co-host the Summer Party. His committee will meet on March 25th to finalize proposal for Board approval.
The December Holiday Party still needs hosts. The Board is hoping some of our new members will step up.
Board is considering canceling if no one volunteers. The Holiday Party, Last Hike Party and Chili Fest all fall within a (3) week period.
Reminder about Earth Day April 20, 2024. Volunteer Opportunities in area parks have been added to the website.
Future Safaris - Harriet Schwartz volunteered to start a planning committee to research future Safaris and bring ideas to the Board. The Club used to take up to (5) per year.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:37 PM.
Many thanks to Lori Wong, Scrambler Rep for stepping in and taking notes in Secretary's absence.
Minutes compiled and submitted by Anne Squire.