MINUTES OF THE ADIRONDACK FORTY-SIXERS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2017 WINTER MEETING
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Lake Placid, New York
President Brian Hoody called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM. Those in attendance introduced themselves.
In attendance:
Brian Hoody, President
John Barron, Recording Secretary
Fran Shumway, Director
Laurie Rankin, Director
Lisa Arthur, Membership Coordinator
Doug Varney, Director
Siobhan Carney-Nesbitt, Vice President and Office of the Historian
Lee Nesbitt, Office of the Historian
Hank Sondheimer, Director
Phil Corell, Treasurer (by phone)
E-MAIL VOTES SINCE LAST MEETING
The following E-Mail votes took place since the last meeting:
October 10, 2016: Increase in Price of Peeks Subscriptions to Non-Members
It was moved by Dan Stec, seconded by Sally Hoy, to increase the price of Peeks to non-members. Previous rates: 1 copy $3.50; 1 year $6.00; 2 years $11.00; 3 years $15.00. New rates 1 copy $7.00; 1 year $12.00; 2 years $23.00; 3 years $34.00. In favor 7. Opposed nil. No vote 2. Carried. Motion on October 5, 2016. Vote finalized on October 16, 2016.
November 3, 2016: Rental of Storage Space at Adirondack Pennysaver
Adirondack Pennysaver offered to store all 46er merchandise at a cost of $40 per month. Motion November 3, 2016 to accept. In favor all. Opposed nil. Declared carried on November 13, 2016.
November 10, 2016: New Copies of FileMaker Pro
It was proposed to purchase two additional copies of FileMaker Pro for Merchandise Coordinator (Paula Selmer) and Membership Coordinator (Lisa Arthur). Motion November 10, 2016. In favor 8. Opposed nil. No vote 1. Deemed carried November 13, 2016.
January 12, 2017: Approval of Minutes of Fall 2016 Meeting
It was moved by Hank Sondheimer, seconded by Joe Murphy, to accept Version 2 draft of the minutes of the Fall 2016 meeting as final. Carried unanimously. Motion date as Jan 12, 2017. Declared final on January 20, 2017.
March 3, 2017: Additional FileMaker Pro License
An Internet vote was held to approve the purchase of one more copy of FileMaker Pro, for Database Admin (Bill Fowler). Carried unanimously.
TREASURER (Phil Corell)
Financial statements were circulated.
Cash on hand is $199,500 in three separate accounts. A couple of deposits are in process, so there is approximately $200,000.
$55,900 has been received in dues so far this year. The total dues received for all of last year was $45,300, so we appear to be doing very well.
$44,000 in contributions have been received so far this year, compared with $47,000 for the whole of last year, so we are again doing very well.
Observation on this year's dues increase from $8 to $10: so much is being sent in contributions that in percentage terms it is not having a very large effect on revenue.
$19,200 in merchandise sales to date. Fleece jackets and throwback T-Shirts are being offered. We're using merchandise to try to promote the fact that we're not only climbers but also mountain stewards. We will probably have increased sales compared with last year, for which the total sales was $27,500.
Total income this year $136,500, compared with $143,300 for all of last year.
$16,922 of profit so far this year.
There are two long-term liabilities, one to the Conservation Trust and the other to Lean2Rescue. The reported values may be slightly lower than they should be for procedural reasons - will be revised. About $500 to $1000 is owed by general funds to the Lean2Rescue fund.
The period covered by this report included the expenses of one issue of Peeks. The next issue will be significantly more expensive due to the finisher list - 712 finishers.
Trailhead Steward Program: Phi has the crests to be sewn on the shirts that will be given to trailhead stewards.
MERCHANISE (Phil Corell)
Paula and Lisa have been hugely helpful.
All orders now go to Paula. Receipts are deposited at TD Bank and a record is sent to Phil.
Fine tuning of membership status is going on. We still have some members who owe dues at the previous $8 rate and others who owe dues at the new $10 rate. It is a nuisance but a minor one.
No trouble is envisioned until we begin to run out of T-Shirts.
20% for shipping and handling will be added to charges.
Kudos to Paula (as well as Lisa). IT expert Bill Fowler has been indispensable in supporting FileMaker.
Chuck Schwerin and Phil spoke about E-Commerce. Implementation is difficult because of the need to verify membership status of people placing orders. Q from Brian Hoody - would Chuck continue to pursue E-Commerce? A: Can't say. A person who, it was hoped, would work on it didn't work out well. It's a setback, on what is a major task.
Q from Lisa: FileMaker puts up offers to upgrade to the next release. Should we? A: There may be ramifications. No recommendation yet.
Phil and Fran briefly discussed how to administer ordering of Trailhead Steward materials. Resolved.
OFFICE OF THE HISTORIAN (Lee Nesbitt and Siobhan Carney-Nesbitt)
712 new finishers. All the recording is complete. There's feedback that finishers like getting their climbing number right away instead of at the next Spring meeting.
There was brief discussion about the sequence of events in the Office of the Historian. There was brief discussion of means of communication (phones etc).
Fran Shumway noted there is very good material for the Boulder Report.
CORRESPONDENT PROGRAM (Brian Hoody on behalf of Mark Simpson)
As a result of the webcast that Mark did on the Aspiring 46ers Facebook page, they received 60 new clmbers.
Laurie noted that Mark put together a very nice evening for the correspondents in Speculator. Despite bad weather there was a good turnout - 20 or 25 people.
OLD BUSINESS
TRAILHEAD STEWARD PROGRAM
Handouts were circulated. Most of the material is advice from Julia Goren.
Q from Doug Varney: Should the Trailhead Steward mission statement be checked for consistency with the 46ers' mission statement? A from Brian Hoody and Fran Shumway: they'll look into it.
The program has been given a green light from the DEC.
Should we have a vote on it? Siobhan would like it up by Memorial Day. Noted we have enough members here today for quorum.
23 people have signed up. Training will be held; the DEC offices in Ray Brook are one possible location. Materials and experiences from the first training sequel will be used for regenerative training. There will be publicity in Peeks and on the web site, and in Phil's newsletter, and more candidates will surely surface.
Q from Hank: what level of commitment is expected? A: a couple of all-day sessions in a summer. Recommendation from Hank - do insist on a minimum commitment.
Discussion re shifts. A steward won't be able to change shift.. For insurance reasons, the person slated for a shift must work that shift. There seems to be doubt whether we can cover a shift by stating the program will be active without specifying what individuals are on, or whether the specific people must be named. This is still up for clarification from the DEC.
We really need two people on serving a shift together. Stewards must be full-fledged 46ers, not Aspiring. All must be over 18.
Times to be covered will mirror the schedules of the Summit Stewards, and the scheduling difficulties are expected to mirror those of the SS also.
A core group of dedicated Trailhead Stewards who can stand in on short notice to replace those who have to cancel would be ideal.
Fran notes that the 23 Stewards now on the list are very reliable, including several 46er board members and other very well known and highly respected members of the climbing community.
It was moved by Doug Varney, seconded by Hank Sondheimer, to approve the program and to authorize associated expenses up to $10,000. In favor 6. Opposed nil. Carried.
TRADEMARK STATUS
There is no evidence that anything is trademarked, not even the logo. Copyrighting is even more difficult that trademarking.
We may have to do a formal trademark search to know definitively the status. It can be expensive. Perhaps we should put out for a trademark research lawyer willing to do a search for us pro bono.
Trademarking must be done by category - e.g. Food and Beverage; not globally.
There was recollection of all the different permutations of "46ers", to illustrate how exasperating it can be.
NEW BUSINESS
ALTERNATE PEAK LIST
This item arises out of trying to disperse some of the crowding in the High Peaks to other locations that are less crowded, just as scenic and challenging, and better able to cope.
The influx of people into the Adirondacks is hamstringing the DEC, which must dedicate resources to managing parking lots. Real rangers at the trailheads is a thing of the past.
As a possible 46er contribution to solving the crowding problem, a list of alternate peaks - or, better, alternative destinations, is proposed. "Alt" is considered fashionable today, and could be used as a label. An idea introduced by the AMC could be tried. They are awarding a four season patch to those who merit it, but there is a condition of doing 48 hours of trail work.
We could create an "Alt" list and accord recognition to it. If so we should share it with, for example, Lake Placid/Keene Chamber of Commerce, inns, etc. It was noted that "Alt" destinations need not be easy trips. Pitchoff is arguably more difficult than Cascade, for example.
SOCIAL MEDIA
The "Aspiring" Facebook page, created by Mike French in 2015, has 11,000 followers.
Lee Nesbitt, Siobhan Carney-Nesbitt, and Laurie Rankin are administrators of the 46er Facebook page. Brian Hoody has permissions too but seldom uses it. They hope to enlist Joe Ryan.
Laurie offers to make postings on behalf of anyone who'd like to put items on the 46ers FB page.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Do we want to continue to be a grass roots organization, or evolve into something bigger (an ADK?) ? We can envision regular, aspiring, and Alt member classes.
Observation by Lisa: Some 46ers, as soon as they receive their climbing number, are never seen or heard from again. Others contribute actively for many years.
Concern by Laurie that if we promote other areas we may export current crowded conditions in the High Peaks elsewhere. We have to be cautious. If we create a list, people are going to want to check off the items on it.
MISCELLANEOUS
Suggestion from Fran to make a bigger deal about Conservation Service Awards (CSA's). Siobhan suggests CSA's should be presented at the huge Spring meeting, not at the very small Fall meeting.
Elizabethtown Museum's hiking exhibit, to which the 46ers made a donation, is far advanced.
Chuck's hope is to put Peeks out for sale on the newsstands, which may be a tall order. This fell out of a question as to whether the increase in subscription price had been approved, which it had.
FOUNDERS AWARDS
It is hoped to find ways to invigorate the Founders Awards procedures and to assist the current volunteers. There are a lot of steps required beyond checking background and recommending possible recipients. It 's also necessary to contact the recipients to advise them and to ask if they can attend an award ceremony. It is necessary to manage the flow, so a few awards are presented each year and we have neither inappropriately large classes of recipients nor years with few or none.
Ideas on how to improve the process are welcome. Send them to Brian Hoody.
ENGINEERING STUDENT PROPOSAL
A student has proposed to track hikers with GPS to confirm attainment of summits. This was looked at askance, despite an earlier technology's having been used for such verification in the past (the canisters).
WINTER BANQUET - REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE
Peggy would appreciate help with this evening's banquet. Fran Shumway volunteered. In the longer term, Peggy is concerned about being the only one involved in organizing this event. There is no backup in case she were to be out of town on the critical day.
LEAN-TO UPDATE FROM SAM EDDY
Two lean-tos will be restored this year. The Boquet Lean-To will be moved uphill. Materials are on hand and the Mr. Van Lean-To will be restored.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is the Spring meeting, on May 28 at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned by consensus.
Respectfully submitted,
John Barron
Recording Secretary