Board Meeting Minutes, July 9th, 2012
President Karen Into called the Board meeting to order at 1835. Present were Karen, Chris S, Chris N, Chris M, Rick, Jeff, Deborah, Thad, and Chuck
Various events were the first item of business:
- ORAMM: It appears we have sufficient volunteers to staff the ORAMM aid station, and will haul water via a bladder…
- Bele Chere: Rick has received our booth location information (Haywood near Walnut) and will continue to recruit volunteers.
- Jack of the Wood is hosting a PAS benefit via Oskar Blues Brewing Company August 14. Come out and tip a mug for PAS.
- Save the Trails: Event date is August 25, with an August 26 rain date. Entry will be via GoGreen; entry fee is $45 in advance, $50 day of event. The PAS NMBP chapter will help support this event. Karen is working with Jon on event details.
- PedaLink: While we support area greenways efforts, we will not contribute via PedaLink’s website mileage logs. We have contributed directly to specific greenways funding needs and will continue to do so.
Chris S announced that Kevin Dobo-Hoffman has opted not to work as the PAS liaison with the USFS. Further, the liaison concept is changing, as the USFS would prefer to work directly with crew leaders. We will redefine the position (Crew Facilitator?) and its responsibilities to reflect these changes, and will continue to look for someone to manage the paperwork supporting our crew efforts on the District.
Open positions on the Board include Vice President (for which Chris Neubert has been nominated), Advocacy Chair, and USFS Crew Facilitator. This will be communicated via email and our website. Deborah Walters has been nominated for the Board. The general membership votes during our August meeting.
Jeff shared his jersey & sponsorship concept, and is recommending that we avoid taking sponsorships from LBSs so that there is no concern about one LBS selling a jersey with another LBS’ logo on it. This morphed into a suggestion that the jersey design leave a sleeve position open to allow LBSs to add their logo to the jerseys they sell. We also discussed ordering jerseys from StarLight Apparel or ordering ‘China direct’…
Chris M suggested we investigate the possibility of an ‘Asheville Affiliates’ fund-raiser party. (Seehttp://www.affiliatesofasheville.com/). The organization specializes in helping non-profit organizations raise money.
Membership now stands at 212, an increase of 40% in the past year.
Chuck has looked into setting up an ‘authorized provider’ agreement with the American Red Cross; the agreement would allow PAS to give ARC CPR and First Aid classes at a reduced cost to members (think trail crews and NMBP members). Giving the classes, however, requires the rental of mannikins and class-related supplies. Once that cost (rentals and supplies) is factored in, class cost is nearly the same as taking the class through ‘Comprehensive Training Solutions’ (see http://www.yourctsolutions.com/). Because ARC offices will discontinue their rentals of mannikins, etc, in September 2012, the authorized provider agreement loses its appeal. We should encourage people needing these classes to schedule them through CTS.
PAS funding of CPR and First Aid classes has been discussed several times. It was suggested that PAS pay half the cost of CPR and FA classes, with the remainder refunded after the student has contributed service hours to PAS projects.
Chuck briefly mentioned the proposed Sheep Mountain to Holly Road connector on DSRF. The connector would allow ‘distance users’ to avoid both the busy ‘falls district’ of the Forest and Staton Road when connecting the Sheep Mountain area with the Lake Imaging area. Karen will issue a letter of support for the proposed connectors on DSRF.
Mike (via email) had questions about USFS plans for North Boundary/Baldwin Gap and for Courthouse Falls/Summey Cove. Meanwhile our USFS contact has encouraged us to ‘go’ on the lower Trace Ridge relocation flagline after a final assessment is completed. Todd and Chris S plan to review the Trace Ridge relo with Patrick (USFS). This generated questions about the status of the Dingo (especially its tracks) and our ability to work with larger machines. NEPA work may already be completed on Baldwin Gap, and Chris S will determine the status of Spencer for a future project. Other USFS-related concerns include picking up again with our trails assessment position statement generated in the REI meeting as dictated by the USFS Trails Strategy process moving to a District-level implementation plan.
PAS will purchase magnetic trail crew signs (to be placed on vehicles at trail work locations) through Kinkos; which Chris N will pursue this purchase after getting logo work from Mike Dale.
The DSRF Strava comments were briefly discussed.
Karen adjourned the meeting at 2100.
