POTOMAC APPALACHIAN TRAIL CLUB 118 PARK STREET, SE VIENNA, VA COUNCIL MINUTES Tuesday, 14 April :00 PM

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1 POTOMAC APPALACHIAN TRAIL CLUB 118 PARK STREET, SE VIENNA, VA COUNCIL MINUTES Tuesday, 14 April :00 PM The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club s (PATC) regularly scheduled Council Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM on 14 April 2015, at the Club Headquarters building by President Dick Hostelley. Attendance: Club Officers: Dick Hostelley, President; John Hedrick, Vice President-Operations; Wayne Limberg, Supervisor of Trails; Bill Downes, Supervisor of Lands; Emeline Otey, Supervisor of Marketing (excused absence); Mel Merritt, Supervisor of Facilities (via phone); Steve McLaughlin, Supervisor of Membership; Rush Williamson, Supervisor of Activities; Alan Day, Supervisor of Communications; Joe Lombardo, Treasurer; Tom Avey, Secretary Committee Chairs: Tom Johnson, Archivist; Pete Brown, ATC Mid-Atlantic Regional Partnership; Chris Brunton, Blackburn Trail Center (via phone); Susan Nelson, Grants and Donations; Ric Francke, Hikes; Lee Manning, IT Committee; Brian Goudreau, Maps; Rick Canter, MD AT Management; Henry Horn, Shelters; Chris Firme, Trail Patrol / Ridge Runners Chapter Representatives: Bob Wise, North Chapter Section Representatives: Steve Weiss, SMRG (excused absence) Club Staff: Edna Baden, Staff Director Other Attendees: Jayne Mayne, 2014 Biennial Hikes Chair I. Members Comments to Council: There were no members that expressed an interest to address Council. II. General Management A. President s Remarks (Dick Hostelley) Nothing significant to report. B. Staff Director (Edna Baden) 1. Capital Project Updates Team of HVAC inspectors performed a complete analysis of the HQ HVAC system last week to identify the reason for poor air flow distribution. The team will present findings at the next EXCOM meeting. American Architectural Restoration will perform maintenance on the back stairs 5-8 May. The stairs will be closed to traffic during this time. 2. Inventory Control A manual inventory count will be conducted on 6 May. A POS software system has been purchased to assist in more accurate tracking of inventory, recording of sales and issuing receipts. To maintain accurate records, all volunteers and officers must follow procedures outlined in the Field Expense Authorization and Reporting Procedures and are asked not to remove inventory from the sales office or sales floor. 3. Audit Auditors will be on-site Monday through Wednesday to conduct the annual 1

2 audit. Auditors will also visit Bear s Den next week. C. Secretary (Tom Avey) 1. The March 2015 Council meeting minutes were unanimously approved as written by vote of Council. 2. Discussed new policy template being implemented. Template will be posted on the PATC website under Club Documents. 3. Reviewed procedures for Motions to Council. D. Treasurer (Joe Lombardo) 1. Joe distributed the Profit and Loss statement with budget vs. actuals. 2. The Bear s Den financials will be reported separately which will facilitate reporting to ATC and aide in auditing. E. Strategic Planning Committee (Tom Avey/Steve McLaughlin co-chairs) The membership survey has been completed with 17% of the membership participating. The consultants are working on compiling the results which will be discussed at the 1/2-day workshop on 25 April. III. Trails and Lands A. Vice President for Operations (John Hedrick) 1. Recruitment is going slowly to fil backcountry positions which impacts PATC s work in SNP. 2. Steve Baer is working on fireplaces in cabins in the Park. 3. John attended a Hazardous Tree Identification course from NPS. Need to push agency partners to identify problem areas around shelters. B. Supervisor of Trails (Wayne Limberg) 1. Crews are out up and down the corridor, focusing on sections for the Biennial. 2. Sawyer recertification will be conducted the last weekend in April. Checking with Prince William National Forest for assistance in setting up another course. 3. Wayne discussed the current draft policy on protections for volunteers under Volunteers in Parks (VIP) and Volunteers in Forests (VIF) programs. Wayne will send the policy out for comment after the Council meeting and requests that all comments be submitted by Friday 24 April. 4. Recently took a trip to the South District to look at Black Rock. 5. Took another trip to Belle Grove/Cedar Grove. Trail work planning will be a challenge as 5 entities are involved. C. Supervisor of Lands (Bill Downes) 1. The annual Tract Managers committee meeting took place on March 28 at 1:00 at Horwitz Cabin. Fourteen were in attendance. 2. No update on the Horwitz property tax issue. Rappahannock County has not decided whether PATC is exempt from paying property taxes. Phil Paschall has been asked to pen a letter. The county tax office mentioned that if the property had a conservation easement, then the decision would be easier. 3. Working on closing on the Huntley property. When money is received from the 2

3 endowment, Dick Hostelley will sign the paperwork. A tract manager will be assigned to the property. Mel Merritt will be going out on Sunday morning to survey the property to identify what needs to be done before the cabin can be put into the reservation system. D. Supervisor of Facilities (Mel Merritt) 1. Shelters (Henry Horn) a. Recent activity checking for hazardous trees around shelters. Unfortunately, around shelters in MD, DNR cut down problematic trees and left them laying around the shelters. So there is some cleanup that needs to be done and a corner of the Garvey Shelter will need to be repaired from where a tree fell. b. The roof for the Jim and Molly Denton shelter will be delivered next Wednesday. Will need plenty of assistance moving it to the site and putting in place. c. Working on the schedule for work for Whiskey Hollow. Shooting for completion by the Biennial. d. PA Parks has decided they do not want the shelter from the Devil s Racecourse to be places on the grounds of the AT Museum. Need to have a decision on the disposition of the shelter by Trial Days. 2. Cabin Operations a. Bear s Den (1) Glenn officially starts as caretaker on 16 April. Edna conducted an exit interview with Dana last Monday. (2) Auditors will be on-site next week. b. Blackburn Trail Center (Chris Brunton) (1) Chris thanked Glenn for his work at Blackburn last winter. (2) Currently busy with hikers in and out. (3) For the rest of the month, have cabin crews coming in this weekend, ATC LNT being conducted on Sunday and Monday, hosting Corridor Monitoring group on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then 40 game wardens on Sunday from around the state. c. A group staying at Dunlodge recently left a huge mess at the cabin. The renters will be banned from future rentals. d. At Little Orleans, the owner that owns the right-of-way to the cabin is trying to restrict access to the C&O by locals across their property. Have asked the overseer to work directly with the owner to avoid confrontation with locals. e. Have had issues recently with cabin work trips exceeding the cabin capacity as defined by the special use policy. f. Cabin Overseers Meeting April 18 at Blackburn Trail Center from 10:00-12:00. g. Dick is working the issues with having the lease signed for the Cunningham Falls cabin. 3. Old Rag Cabin The septic contractor will be on-site next week. The crew worked on the roof last weekend. E. Mid-Atlantic Regional Partnership (MA-RPC) (Pete Brown) 1. AT will need to be re-routed with the controlled burn in Michaux Forest. 2. Recently held Annual Overseers meeting for North Chapter. 3

4 3. UPDATE: PA Game Commission has put aside hiking fees during hunting season. 4. Attended the MA-RPC on March at the Bowman Park Camp in Bowmanstown, PA with Dick Hostelley and John Hedrick (a full copy of Pete s report is available on-line). a. Stewardship Council has committee openings for Youth & Diversity and Landscape & Resource Planning committees. b. A forum is planned for all AT Communities this year. c. Discussed the use of FMSS for counting structures along the AT. The system is used for identifying replacement value and appropriating funding. PATC may be part the test case. d. Wind Gap, PA application as an AT Community was approved. IV. Membership, Volunteerism, Training and Communications A. Vice President of Volunteerism (Steve O Connor) No Report. B. Supervisor of Communications (Alan Day) 1. The Friends of Wolf Trap has received 501(c)(3) status. 2. The new campers outing at Wolf Trap will be held this Friday and Saturday (17-18 April). Have received great support from PATC. A press release will be sent to local media. C. Supervisor of Membership (Steve McLaughlin) 1. Membership increased by 32 this month to 7361 members with 4332 of those being dues paying members. This is a 13% increase over the past year. 2. Steve is still looking at the problem with reinstatement of members. 20% of drops each month reinstate several months later. Considering a number of options to keep membership numbers up including automatic renewal. D. Supervisor of Marketing (Emeline Otey report provided in absentia) 1. A Sales Committee has been established that will provide advice to the Supervisor of Marketing and the Chair of the Publications Committee on (1) new publications and revisions of existing publications to be undertaken by PATC; (2) resale publications and other items to be carried by PATC; (3) pricing of new and existing publications and resale items, as well as other issues related to marketing, publications, and sales. The Committee will transact much of its business through conference calls and conversations, but will have an initial face-to-face meeting and probably a similar meeting at mid-year. 2. The members of the Sales Committee are: Jean Golightly, who has many years of experience in writing and editing guide books for PATC and serving as marketing supervisor; Alan Kahan, who spent most of his career as a graphic designer and just retired as Director of Publications for a professional society; and Kyler Nerison, a new volunteer with communications and online marketing experience. E. Supervisor of Activities (Rush Williamson) 1. Attended the George Mason Health Fair which was very successful. Seems to be some interest in starting a youth chapter at the university. 4

5 2. Events: a. Had to cancel attending the Mt. Heritage Fair because of a lack of volunteers. b. Have 7 events scheduled to attend during the next month. c. Alexandria Earth Day is on 25 April from and only have on volunteer V. Committee Chairs A ATC Biennial (Rush Williamson) 1. Lee is meeting with Shenandoah University on Thursday. The contract should be signed by next week. 2. The number of dorm rooms available on campus has increased to 168 due to a cut in the University budget for refurbishing dorm rooms. 3. HELP WANTED: a. There is still a need for excursion leaders. b. Will need 16 people to help sell raffle tickets. c. Looking for backups for hike leaders, starting to get some cancellations. 4. Registration opens tomorrow at B. Archivist (Tom Johnson) 1. Working with Jayne Mayne on history for hikes. Challenge is being constrained by the amount of space available on the individual hike pages. 2. A George Mason professor has a possible intern. Would like to have the intern to start with scanning the card catalog. 3. Interviewed a woman for librarian last night and she is considering the position. 4. Lee asked Tom to document what the archive look like and what should be placed in the cloud and what should be kept in hardcopy. C. AT Corridor Management (Tom Lupp) No Report. D. Conservation (Lyles Creighton) No Report. E. Grants and Donations (Susan Nelson) We have run out of room for names on the $50K Donors plaque. The Club now has a second plaque with the first name. F. Hikes (Ric Francke) Nothing significant to report. G. Invasive Species (Dewey Clark) No Report. H. IT Committee (Lee Manning) 1. A car-sized rock recently fell until Skyline drive closing off the tunnel at Mary s Rock. The road is now open, however, the long term plan is to reinforce the rocks on the overhang which will close Skyline Drive for approximately 2 weeks. 2. A contract is in place with a developed to make design changed to the Club website. The website will be similar to those of ATC and the North Chapter. Anticipate having a beta version ready by the Biennial. 3. Discussing conversion of internal software from version 15 to 20 as the Club is in danger of losing support. 4. Dick mentioned that Council members need to start moving documents from personal computers and consolidating within PATC. Lee is looking at cloud storage in multiples of terrabytes, especially for maps and archives. 5

6 I. Maps (Brian Goudreau) 1. Map publication update: a. Will be starting Maps 12 and 13; should be ready for the printer within a month. b. Map 9 is at the printer and should be available any day. 2. Ramping up project to load database for online use. 3. The Biennial Hikes Map Book a. Work is progressing along with 65 maps completed. The remaining 5 maps should be completed by this weekend. Still working on photos. b. Received quote from printer will probably sell the books for about $ c. Covers 7-9 of PATC maps and will include photos and write-ups of the hikes. J. MD AT Management (Rick Canter) 1. The MCM Hike Across Maryland is May 2 nd. 2. Next meeting is scheduled 28 April. DNR asked to put hunting zone issue on agenda. 3. Need Volunteer of the Month by May 1 st. K. Naturalist (Dan Pulskamp) No Report. L. Public Affairs (Evan Jones) No Report. M. Trail Land Acquisition (Phil Paschall) No Report. N. Trail Patrol/Ridge Runners (Chris Firme) 1. Training is going very well: a. Master Educator for LNT is full. b. Hike Leaders Course this weekend is full. c. Backpacking 101 Course is full. d. LNT course is full. 2. Ridge Runner Lauralee Bliss started this past weekend. 3. Received a call from the Chambersburg Running Club. They are looking to PATC for some help with some trail work. 4. Six volunteers from the North Chapter have completed Wildfire Fire Training and will help with the Dead Woman Hollow Road controlled burn in May. O. SMRG (Steve Weiss report provided in absentia) 1. SMRG was called out to three searches, all of which were resolved. 2. SMRG is already ahead of last year's record pace for callouts. 3. SMRG provided support to a SAR exercise hosted by the Fairfax County PD, continuing to strengthen this relationship. P. Mountaineering (Andy Weinmann) No Report. Q. Ski Touring (Rob Swennes) No Report. VI. Chapters A. Charlottesville (Dan Ralston) No Report. B. North (Bob Wise) Nothing significant to Report. C. North Shenandoah Valley (Brian Heflin) No Report. 6

7 D. Southern Shenandoah Valley (Malcolm Camero) No Report. E. West (Dave Jordahl) No Report. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 P.M. Respectfully Submitted, Tom Avey Secretary, PATC 7

POTOMAC APPALACHIAN TRAIL CLUB 118 PARK STREET, SE VIENNA, VA COUNCIL MINUTES Tuesday, 11 August :00 PM

POTOMAC APPALACHIAN TRAIL CLUB 118 PARK STREET, SE VIENNA, VA 22180 COUNCIL MINUTES Tuesday, 11 August 2015 7:00 PM The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club s (PATC) regularly scheduled Council Meeting was called