Feb 15, 2017 CAGA Board of Director Meeting - Minutes

Feb 15, 2017 CAGA Board of Director Meeting - Minutes

Giant Foods Community Room, 6 p.m.

i. Call to Order by Barry Schoch, President

Attendance: Exec. Committee: Barry Schoch, Keldeen Stambaugh, Cindy Hogeman, Marcia Nye. Directors: Carl Dickson, , Mike Krempasky, Geoffrey Knight, Scott Shepler, Doug Charney, Shannon Gority. Members: Sarah Hopkins, Charles Palenz, Tim Poole, Patty Landis, Becky Schuchert, Larry Beyer

ii. Review/approval of minutes: No corrections were requested. Motion to accept minutes/seconded by Keldeen/Geoff.

iii. Treasurer's Report: Marcia noted that this month's report reflects end-of-the-month donations for 2016 and not typically repeated throughout the year. Aldona Kartorie (assistant treasurer) and Keldeen (Vice President) have been added to the PSECU checking account as approved signatories on CAGA checks. Marcia and Aldona currently have the keys to the P.O. Box and regularly check the mail. Any donations by checks should be written to CAGA or Capital Area Greenbelt Association and can be mailed to the P.O. box in Harrisburg. Discussion about the accountant we currently use to "review" (not audit) our financial records. They charge ~$2,000/yr to review our records and file our taxes which are always filed on an extension and paperwork is completed very late. It was agreed that we should investigate finding a new non-profit accountant and that an audit should be done rather than a review due to the size of our cash flow. This issue will be handled by the new Finance Committee.

Motion to accept Treasurer's Report/seconded by Carl/Geoff.

iiii. Committee Reports

a. Membership: Geoff, chairman. (committee members: John J. "Ski" Sygielski, Doug Charney with Tim Poole consulting). A Membership committee meeting held prior to the BOD 6 pm meeting reported the need to get membership lists to the BOD as soon as possible so that the Directors can network with other outside groups and corporations. Discussion regarding the security of the lists and other information considered the "property" of CAGA in the database is paramount and measures will be taken to not compromise the integrity of the system Tim Poole is setting up yet allow Directors to get the information they need possibly in the form of 'read only' files. Policies need to be set up and put in place. Details will be worked out. Geoff intends to be utilizing the GIS database to filter membership information to target specific areas for potential recruitment for donors, participants, volunteers, etc.

Marcia requested a letter to be drafted for the upcoming mailing to members and others associated with CAGA for membership renewal and/or donations. These letters will be sent to current members, tour de belt participants, donors, volunteers and former members going back 3 years. Approx ~1200 mailings. Included in the mailing will be a membership form which Geoff will be updating. The form also will be asking respondents to select a preference between paper vs electronic mail for future communication. When the letter is drafted (by Barry and Keldeen) and the membership form is finalized (by Geoff) Marcia will send out the mailing. This should precede the Tour de Belt mailing so as to not confuse the recipients.

b. Tour de Belt: Becky gave report for Diane Kripas, chairman (absent). Becky distributed a 2 page description of the TDB history, bike ride, and sponsorship opportunities available including deadlines for sponsor commitments for the brochure (March 3) and for the t-shirts (May 5). See attached file. For additional information on sponsorships contact Dick Norford (717-460-4684 or ). Sponsors (past and future) will be contacted directly by members of the committee or BOD. We have already received confirmation of our first platinum sponsor: Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority (LCSWMA). Becky reported that workers from previous TDB years will continue to volunteer this year. The TDB committee needs a publicity chairperson to handle the press release. CBS21 usually helps with publicity plus day of the event coverage. Barry will ask the Communications Department at his firm to draft something then send it to Carl to send it out. Barry also will handle the announcement of the new BOD of the Greenbelt Association, since it has not been done yet. The TDB committee is urging all CAGA Directors on the Board to be involved with the TDB event in any way they feel they can whether it is riding, registration, lunch, t-shirts, etc and of course sponsorships. We are hoping that paypal will be set up in time for TDB registration on-line. Early registration is $20, late registration and day of event registration $25. Patty agreed to update our website to announce deadline dates, etc.

Barry will be checking with an acquaintance of his concerning our need for website maintenance. We need someone to help update what we have and make future changes simple to make on our own, i.e. User Friendly.

c. Governance committee: Committee members include Scott Shepler, Dick Norford, Diane Kripas and Tom Connolly. They will be meeting soon and will choose a chairperson.

Finance Committee: Carl Dickson, chair. Marcia, Aldona, Keldeen, Tim Poole consulting.

Other committees to be discussed: Possible Grounds committee to form policy on mowing, maintenance, husbandry of flora/fauna including invasive species and native plants, gates, fences. To be discussed at next meeting

Possible public relations committee - to be discussed in future meetings.

v. Old Business

a. MLK issue/meeting with chief of police: There has been no news from Rob Martin concerning meeting with the Chief of Police. There was a question RE using security cameras to monitor problem areas. Decisions on this issue will be decided after we hear Rob's report concerning his meeting with the Chief of Police.

b. Grant updates: Carl. Currently handling ~$6 mill in grant funding total which includes both the Fort Hunter Extension Construction grant plus the Traffic Safety intersection improvement construction grant (See Mike's report). Both these grants will be going out to bid ~July, 2017. The Paving project is pending.

Scott reported he applied for a construction grant in January with DEP for the Paxtang Parkway for $541,000 with the assistance of Skelly & Loy as well as Rusty Diamond, who are both skilled in grant preparation. They are still waiting for permits and will not know the outcome for ~6 months. Matching funds include our previously raised $60,000 as well as "in kind" volunteer work.

Mike reported on the traffic safety improvements. Keeping the trail open during construction is crucial to all the users of the Greenbelt. 6 ft wide temporary trail but 10 ft wide during heavy usage such as HBG marathon, HBG half-marathon, butterfly release, etc. We are hoping the improvements will be made during this construction season, 2017.

vi. New Business

a. Kiosk improvements: Mike reported the survey of the kiosks is completed. We currently have ~20 kiosks, some wooden others aluminum. Sara Hopkins (specializes in environmental education) is assisting. The Kiosks are used to distribute educational materials to the public and includes maps of the Greenbelt for users of the trail. Charles assists with construction. They have developed a proposal to work on the first 14 kiosks to design a panel to include a map and information made of fiberglass. They will need $16,000 to do the project. $13,000 is currently left and earmarked for this project. Their bid package is done, 3 contractors will be used for the bidding process. Motion/second to proceed with the bidding by Marcia/Keldeen. Motion passed.

b. Child Clearance forms (PSP website): Keldeen will provide link to the PSP website for all BOD plus TDB chair (plus possibly others on TDB committee) to complete criminal clearance and child abuse clearance due to our contact with children in CAGA activities. The process of obtaining clearance on the PSP website is FREE. When certificates have been printed out by Directors and others, copies should be sent to Cindy Hogeman, secretary, to compile and keep on record.

Doug Charney questioned our level of insurance of CAGA. We currently have an insurance policy through Millers Mutual but no one was able to report if we have Directors and Officers Liability Insurance. Doug offered to look into what we need.

c. Technology overview: Tim Poole. Information Technology issues were discussed as needed throughout this meeting.

d. Paxtang Parkway overview: Scott. This was postponed until next meeting.

e. SAMBA request for maintenance agreement: Charles. Logistical issues regarding use of any mowers at the Paxtang Park site were discussed as were insurance issues regarding injury to person or property during mowing or transporting equipment. No decision was made at this meeting. Future discussion needed after insurance questions are answered.

f. Further discussion, if required, on Membership - none

vii. Other business: Discussed Hometown Habitat Movie showing at Appalachian Brewing Company on Cameron St March 27, 6-9 pm. Harrisburg Parks Foundation is offering various level of participation at the event. $100 sponsor would have a table to set up at the event to promote the Greenbelt (good for new members, volunteers), CAGA would be listed on promotional materials and possibly have a seat on the panel. Without the sponsorship we would still be able to have a table with CAGA brochures but not listed on promotional materials. Discussion was in favor of a sponsorship which would help get our CAGA name out and visible in a positive environmental issue and attract members. Motion/second for CAGA to sponsor at $100 level by Mike/Carl.

Next meeting is on March 15, 6pm at Giant Foods.

Future date for meetings was discussed due to conflicts of Board members causing them to miss meetings. Dick Norford will be asked to run a Doodle Poll to enable new meeting dates to be established and avoid conflicts. Stay tuned. This will be done on email.

Motion to adjourn: Geoff.

Attached are 2 files from TDB committee.