Arkansas Geocachers Association Board Meeting Minutes for October 11, 2013

[ArkGeo_Board]

ArkGeo Board Meeting
Minutes for October 11, 2013


Immediate Past President: Chris Denton
President: Kent Uhrich
Executive Vice-President: Jim Sick
Treasurer/Secretary: Judy Vaughn
Website Manager: Kevin Cackler

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION (6:00-6:30) Start conference call recording

Open Discussion

CALL TO ORDER (6:30) ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS PRESENT
Board Members present:Kent Uhrich, Chris Denton, Jim Sick, Judy Vaughn, Sandy Fryar, Ron White, Mark Willis, and Morgan O’Neal (Call-in)

Visitors: Jim Fryar, Pat Vaughn, and Kim Uhrich

OFFICER REPORTS



President's Report: prepared by Kent Uhrich



October 11, 2013 Board meeting

Goal 1 - Membership -- Increase registered voters by 20% by 5/31/13.
Owner: Kent Uhrich
Status – 10/11/13 As of 7/12/13 there were 282 registered voters. We have 285 registered voters need 53 more registered voters to meet this goal.

Goal 2 - Fund Raising – Implement 2 fund raising initiatives to raise $350.00 by 5/31/14
Owner: Judy Vaughn
Status – 10/11/13

Goal 3 – Events – Hold 1 general membership meeting by 6/15/14.
Owner Jim Sick
Status – 10/11/13 Event is planned _______ (date) at__________ (location)

Goal 4 – Events – Hold 2 CITO events by 6/15/14. – Owner Kent Uhrich
Status – 10/11/13 1 CITO event at State meet. Still need one more to meet this
goal.

Goal 5 – Events – Hold 2 ‘Eat & Greets’ by 6/15/14 in the following regions of the
state:
NE – Planned on this date this location – Owners Morgan and Kent
NW – Planned on this date this location – Owners Linda and Chris
Central – Planned on this date this location – Owners Mark and Judy
SE – Planned on this date and this location – Owners Kent and Jim (Can someone
help Jim)
SW – Planned on this date and this location – Sandy and Ron
Status – 10/11/13

Goal 6 – Teaching Opportunities. Teach Geocaching at 4 locations around the state
by 5/31/14.
Owner: Community Relations Committee - Kent Uhrich
Status – 10/11/13 July 18 ArkGeo taught at East Lab. 3 more teaching opportunities are needed in order to meet this goal.

This format should keep our goals and progress out in the open and help keep us
accountable.






Treasurer's Report:




Arkansas Geocachers Association Statement of Income and Expenses for July 11, 2013 – October 11, 2013
Prepared by Judy Vaughn, Secretary/Treasurer




Beginning Balance
$ 1,756.94






INCOME:



Fundraising (Geocoins & Merchandise)
$ 307.00



TOTAL
$ 2,063.94






EXPENSES:



Calling Card Reimbursement
$ 31.48



TOTAL
$ 31.48







Closing Balance
$ 2,032.46








NOTE:
PayPal Balance $ 278.24
Checking Balance $ 2,032.46
TOTAL in Checking & PayPal $ 2,310.70

$20.00 in Merchandise bank bag




Website Manager's Report: No report



COMMITTEE/OTHER REPORTS




Election Committee: prepared by Chris Denton, Board Liaison




The election committee has had very little going on this quarter. There is a recommendation to the board to add rklmbl to the fundraising committee as per the bylaws.

The committee consists of MathSeeker, idratherbehiking, and topkitty98, at this point.




Fund Raising Committee: prepared by Judy Vaughn, Board Liaison




Committee Members:
Flyfishingcachers - Sharon Simmons, Chairperson
The_Griswolds - Rich and Carla Swanson
Angel 06 - Linda Tredway

The following people are listed as a committee member, but have not responded to any posts or emails.

Brian Landers - GeoJeepers
Jeremy Rowland - DaTexanBoy
Deanna O'Malley - Hogwildfamilyof6

Sharon Simmons aka Flyfishingcachers agreed to be the committee chairperson.
Thank you to Rich and Carla Swanson aka The_Griswolds for serving as committee chairpersons.

Merchandise was sold at the S.W.A.G. event. ($265)
Merchandise sold from home ($42)

Fund Raising Committee has discussed the possibility of purchasing car decals/window stickers, t-shirts, and/or bison tubes.



Community Relations Committee: prepared by Kent Uhrich, Board Liaison




Chairman - Pat Vaughn
The EAST Lab has asked ArkGeo to have a booth again this year. The following members attended: Pat (Woodwalker), Sharon (Flyfishingcachers), Sandy (Likestocanoe) and Jon (IronHorse4).

There was a write up in the Leader where member Butch724 was interviewed. The article appeared in the Leader the week of September 16th. Arkgeo did get a plug in the article!

The Committee will get the opportunity to reach out to the public over the next couple of months.
1. GIS event
2. Mills High School
3. Perryville Schools

The committee has asked about having items they can hand out like pens or pencils with the Arkgeo logo. I have asked them to make a recommendation for what they would like to see.

Jim Sick had a teaching opportunity with the LRPD. The class/video went well and the officers will get to watch the video over the coming days. The LRPD did have concerns around those cache owners who were not getting permission before hiding a cache.

I for one am excited to see us reaching out and not only educating the public, through schools and events, about Geocaching but also seeing our name, Arkansas Geocachers Association, attached to the education too.



Events Committee: prepared by Jim Sick, Board Liaison




After looking at various locations for the June 2014 annual meeting the Events committee is recommending that it be held at the Arkansas Game and Fish, Janet Huckabee River Valley Nature Center. After the great hospitality in Little Rock last June they felt that location would be ideal. Contacts were made with the Fort Smith Parks Department as well as several other places in town but most of those places already had bookings for June 7th or were not large enough to hold the anticipated crowd. Camping is available at a Corps of Engineers campground along the Arkansas River in Fort Smith and the committee is still working on some type of CITO for Sunday at some location still to be decided.There has been a lot of discussion about the Second Arkansas Challenge scheduled for sometime in early 2014 but as of yet no concrete plans have been as to the location.



Membership Relations Committee: prepared by Morgan O'Neal (Board Liason)




Current Membership Relations Committee Members:
Ron White – ronwhite
Judy Vaughn – MathSeeker (Chairperson)
Justin Murphree – arkfiremedic
Morgan O’Neal – drmo913 (Board Liaison)
Sharon and Glynn Simmons – Flyfishingcachers
Chris Dickinson - Saint Aubie
Mark Willis - thefab5willisclan

Membership Relations Committee Activities:
Selected Arkansas Geocachers to profile on the ArkGeo website:
August - Judy Franklin (Jffok)
September - Linda Tredway (Angel06)
October - Jim White (Fishigfool60/FF60)

ArkGeo Newsletter:
July - Featured David Soloman as guest columnist
August - Featured Mark Willis as guest columnist; added SWAG from the President's Ammo Box as a monthly feature
September - Featured David Soloman as guest columnist; Featured new format to address problems some members were having with reading the newsletter
October - At the printers...

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

I. Welcome new board members
Mark Willis – Thefab5willisclan
Linda Tredway – Angel06

II. Possibility of selling ArkGeo coins on Ebay. (Kent Uhrich)
Kent Uhrich will try again.

III. Arkansas Challenge – March 2014 update (Jim Sick)
Look at other state challenges, such as Texas Challenge, for ideas and guidance.

NEW BUSINESS

I. Recommendation from the Election Committee: Add rklmbl to the Fund Raising
Committee. So done.

II. 2014 ArkGeo Annual Event to be held on June 7, 2014 at the Janet Huckabee
Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith

2015 location should be where we can get the most members to participate

III. Cache of the Month/Year
Membership Relations Committee to review requirements

IV. ArkGeo Meet and Greets
Central - ArkGeo November Meet & Greet: North Little Rock (http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4PHQ6_arkgeo-november-meet-greet-north-little-rock) (GC4PHQ6)
More in the works/planning stage

V. Ideas to get members to register to vote

Need better way to become a registered member, make it simpler. Possibly a
banner on the home screen about registering.

Word of mouth from current members
Board members encourage people to become members of ArkGeo

Acknowledge new members at the Annual Meeting

VI. New fund raiser ideas?
Items to pass out at teaching opportunities

Raise money for ArkGeo - 2014 Goal of raising $350 by selling geocoins and
other merchandise

Fund Raising Committee has approval to purchase a total of $100 worth of car decal/stickers in two different designs.

VII. Getting permission on hides
Newsletter will do an article about hiding a geocache

Police Departments can get a free premium membership on geocaching.com
Official representatives of parks, land management organizations and law enforcement agencies are eligible for a free Premium Membership (http://www.geocaching.com/premium/). So they are able to identify (http://www.geocaching.com/map/) geocaches currently placed in their region, receive notifications (http://www.geocaching.com/notify/) when new geocaches in their area are placed, and communicate (http://www.geocaching.com/email/) with the geocachers who are playing in their area.

VIII. ArkGeo Phone list - Kevin Cackler is working on phone list.

Next board Meeting January 10, 2014

Adjourn

[rklmbl]

FYI The amount of merchandise sold at the SWAG event reported as $265. $48 of that was sold by rkl at the Lake Ouachita event hosted by Geocachers of Western Tennessee in late June.

We sold seven geocoins at a Texas event in March. Much appreciation to the board for this credit.

[perm74]

I'm liking the enthusiasm of our board! Thank you. I hope we reach our goals. I'm interested in hosting the second CITO if you need someone to do the leg work.

[OldRiverRunner]

NEW BUSINESS

II. 2014 ArkGeo Annual Event to be held on June 7, 2014 at the Janet Huckabee
Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith

So, is it official? Will the next annual event be held in Ft. Smith?

[ronwhite]

Yes, the Board voted to have the 2014 ArkGeo Annual Event on June 7, 2014 at the Janet Huckabee
Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith

[knkincabot]

Sorry for the late update, been out of pocket caching! :)

Yes, as Ron stated: The 2014 ArkGeo Annual Event will be on June 7, 2014 at the Janet Huckabee
Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith.

This is a beautiful location and I hope to for a fantastic turn out! Way to go Event Committee!

Kent

[perm74]

Members, please look at GC4RMRT. it's a C.I.T.O. That will help our organization wth the clean up projects. This one will be the first and the second coming at the annual event. I understand Feb 1st is potentially cold but I know a good many people that would rather clean without the flora, fauna, sweat that comes with the summer months. :)

[likestocanoe]

Amen on having a CITO when we won't get covered in ticks, chiggers, or poison ivy.

[Flyfishingcachers]

There is a lot of trash down in that part to pick up. Wonder if they would let someone drive down that hill. If I remember correctly, walking out was horrible last time. Of course, we were also having to haul all our trash up that hill also.

[perm74]

Cfd29 posted a will attend and he already has permission to tave his ATV on the trails. An alternative would be a firemans line and we just pass the junk up to the next person until it hits the top and cfd could get the "heavy" or "sharp" objects on the ATV.