Minutes of the October 7, 2016 Arkansas Geocachers Association Board Meeting
218 Burdick Building, UCA, Conway, Arkansas

The Arkansas Geocachers Association October 7, 2016, Board Meeting was called to order by Vice President Susan Smith Dodson at 6:30 pm.

Members present were:
Rich Swanson, Past President
Susan Smith Dodson, Vice President
Sharon Simmons, Treasurer
Maribeth Laster, Secretary
Phoebe Sellers
Eugene Smith
Sue Hayes

Visitors were: Ron Laster, Kendall Tabor, and Ken Hayes
Absent were: Les Williams, Jackie Hefley and Jason Nuckols, Web Site Manager

The President’s Report was prepared and presented by Susan Smith Dodson

Goal 1: Fund Raising – Implement fund raising initiatives to raise $500.00 by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Maribeth Laster
Status: goal met
$1275 sold to date this year.

Goal 2 – Events – Hold 4 CITO events by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Sharon Simmons
Status: in progress
1. ArkGeo 2016 CITO & Hot Dog Roast on April 9.
2. CITO at Springhill Park at Barling (Fort Smith) on June 25th.
3. CITO at Crowleys Ridge State Park on July 16th.

Goal 3 – Events – Each board member host 1 event by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Les Williams
Status: not yet started

Goal 4 – Teaching Opportunities – Teach Geocaching at 4 locations around the state by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Jackie Hefley
Status: in progress
1. ArkGeo/S.W.A.G. Geocaching 101 May 21
2. Geocaching class held at the Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center May 25th
3. Geocaching class held at Cabot Library (need to find out date)
Scheduled: Friends of Fourche Creek event on October 29th. ArkGeo will have a table and explain geocaching to interested attendees and take them to find some of the caches hidden at Interstate Park.


The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Sharon Simmons.
Maribeth made the motion to accept the reports, seconded by Eugene Smith.

Treasurer's Report 9/30/16
$20 in Money Bag
Submitted by Sharon Simmons, Treasurer 9/30/16
Beginning Balance $3,851.51
INCOME:
Merchandise sold at Paragould event by Eugene $60.00
TOTAL Income $60.00
EXPENSES:
Transfered to Pay Pal $84.00
TOTAL Expenses $84.00
Closing Balance $3,827.51
Pay Pal Beginning Balance $25.32
Sold Coin less fees $14.26
USPO expenses $2.45
Transferred from Checking Account $84.00
Payment to InMotion Hosting $83.88
Pay Pal Ending Balance $37.25
PathTag Cash Beginning Balance $15.50
PathTag Cash Ending Balance $15.50
Pay Pal Balance $37.25
PathTag Cash Balance $15.50
Checking Balance $3,827.51
Total in Checking, Pay Pal, & PathTag Cash $3,880.26
The following committee reports were presented:
Elections Committee: Presented by Board Liaison Susan Smith Dodson
Chairperson: ???????
Chris Denton has asked to step down as chair of nominations. We need to recruit a replacement. No other report at this time.

Fund Raising Committee: Presented by Board Liaison Maribeth Laster
Chairperson: Sharon Simmons
Goal 1: Fund Raising – Implement fund raising initiatives to raise $500.00 by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Maribeth Laster
Goal of $500 in sales for this year was met and surpassed. $1275 sold to date this year.
Committee Members:
Maribeth Laster – rklmbl (Board Liaison)
Sharon Simmons - Flyfishingcachers (Chair)
Rich Swanson - Clark~Griswold
Deanna O'Malley - Hogwildfamilyof6
Linda Tredway - Angel06
Susan Smith Dodson & Mike Dodson - St. Rock
Ron Laster - rklmbl
Sandy Fryar – likestocanoe
Judy Vaughn – MathSeeker
EuGene Smith - BUTCH46
Adam Schoenwald - Cloak.n.Dagger


EuGene sold some merchandise at his event in Paragould.
One coin was sold off the website.
There are still 5 bags of pathtags to be sold on the Geocoin Store website.

Merchandise Sold in ArkGeo Fiscal Year 2016:
$60 - Eugene Smith sold merchandise in his event in Paragould.
$15 – One geocoin sold
$75


Events Committee: Presented by Board Liaison Sharon Simmons
Chairpersons: Ken and Sue Hayes
Goal 2 – Events – Hold 4 CITO events by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Sharon Simmons
April 9 - ArkGeo hosted a CITO at Crater of Diamonds State Park
June 25 – Sharon Simmons hosted an ArkGeo CITO at Springhill Park Fort Smith
July 16 – EuGene Smith hosted an ArkGeo CITO at Crowley Ridge State Park

Committee Members:
Sharon Simmons – Flyfishingcachers (Board Liaison)
Sue Hayes - Racquetball Girl (Co-Chair)
Ken Hayes – Nukeworker (Co-Chair)
Sandy Fryar - Likestocanoe
Jason Nuckols - jclaudii
Lisa Nuckols - Southerngirl
Becky Kinnu - Nannabear
Bill & Joy Chatham - Bills Joy
David Solomon - KSDS97
Adam Schoenwald - Cloak&Dagger

Eugene held a CITO at Crowleys Ridge State Park on July 16th.
No other ArkGeo events have been held.

The events committee has been having discussions planning the Annual Event to be held in April 2017
Sue has been busy getting quotes on cost for catering the meal and confirming that we have secure
reservations for the pavilion. Prices for the meal came in higher than expected. We would really like to
have the meal catered this year rather than relying on our members to cook. We have had to ask Jim
Fryar & some others for the last 2 years to man the cooking. We have a hard time getting volunteers to
volunteer to cook & do not feel we should rely on the same ones each year to do the cooking.

We are in the process of beginning to contact companies for contributions. This has basically become a dead end street due to so many events asking companies for contributions. We are still going to try, but have not had much luck at all in the past.

We have also been discussing a process for determining the location of the 2018 Annual event and future events. We will present another proposal as old business.

Submitted by:

Sharon Simmons, Board Liaison


Community Relations Committee: Presented by Board Liaison Jackie Hefley
Committee Chair: Pat Vaughn
No acitvity this quarter.
Goal 4 – Teaching Opportunities – Teach Geocaching at 4 locations around the state by 3/31/2017.
Owner: Jackie Hefley
May 25, 2016 – Pat Vaughan conducted a teaching session at the Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center
A Geocaching class held at the Cabot Library last spring


Membership Committee: Presented by Board Liaison EuGene Smith
Committee Chair: Judy Vaughn
We featured the following Geocacher Profiler of the Month:
August – Kay Ekey - Arekey
September – Josh Adams - Ashallond
October – Jeremy Axe - Fauxtopro


Sharon Simmons made a motion to accept the committee reports, seconded by Rich Swanson.


OLD BUSINESS:

1. Annual event
A. Site selections
Rich Swanson made a motion (after discussion), seconded by Maribeth Laster to accept the committee's recommendation:
We are proposing having the event location within 125 road miles of the center of the state. We would divide this radius into 4 sections and have the membership vote on which section they would like the event be held. We would have this vote along with the Board Members voting in March for the next years event. For the vote in 2018 and forward, we would have a stipulation that the event could not be held in the same section 2 years in a row. The vote would also ask members to suggest a location and sign up to volunteer to help. In case of a tie vote, the Board would make the final decision.

The Board also approved a $50 reimbursement to Sandy Fryar for the pavillion for the 2017 ArkGeo Event at Maumelle Park.

B. Catering
Maribeth Laster made a motion (after discussion), seconded by Sharon Simmons to accept the Committee's recommendation to spend up to $700 to get Whole Hog BBQ to provide the meat, 2 sides, utensils, and deliver the food to the event site by 11 am.

2. Committee members update and put on Web Site
The Fund Raising Committee and Events Committee members are correct on the ArkGeo web site. Susan Smith Dodson has sent emails to members of the other committees asking if they still want to remain on the committee and participate in the committees' discussions and activities.

3. Newsletter update

Susan Smith Dodson submitted a draft of the items that will be included in the first newsletter.

4. Website updates for Jason

Everyone was reminded to post their web site changes to the Board Forum thread so that Jason can make the changes necessary.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Revision of election committee questionnaire
The election committee is working on this.

2. Purchase of GPS units
A proposal was made to purchase 12 basic GPS receivers to be used by ArkGeo members to teach geocaching and to be used for demonstration purposes at public events/displays, including a protective carrying case for transport, protection, and storage of the units.
The Board thought this was a great idea on the surface, but after a lengthy discussion it was decided not to do this primarily because new geocachers now use smart phones to geocache, and the logistics to get the GPS units back and forth would be too difficult.

3. 2017 board meeting dates and locations
January 13, 2017 - Clarksville
April 7, 2017 - Location in Little Rock to be determined
July 14, 2017 - Conway
October 6, 2017 - Conway

The next Arkansas Geocachers Assocation Board meeting is to be on January 13, 2017 at the Best Western Hotel in Clarksville.

Maribeth Laster made the motion to adjourn, seconded by Sue Hayes.

Respectfully submitted by Maribeth Laster, Secretary, Arkansas Geocachers Association