2014 - The DE Meeting on March 8
D.E. Meeting Minutes
By Jay Lawrence
Allan & Ding Wicker’s House
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Attending Emmett and Ruth Harder, Bob Jacoby, Steve Jarvis and Kate Fosselman, Neal and Marian Johns, Ted Kalil, Jay Lawrence, Steve Marschke and Debbie Miller Marschke, Marilyn Martin, Nelson Miller, Terry and Eileen Ogden, Mal Roode, Bobbie Sanchez, Allan and Ding Wicker. Regrets Nan Savage, Dave Given, Jean Roode.
Meeting open Noon. Welcome Eileen Ogden! Terry should bring you more often. General greetings, then a moment to remember Rick Cords.
Minutes Approved as written
Finance Bob Jacoby reports as of the end of February we have $4,356 in the treasury and will possibly have in excess of $5k after the Rondy. This will put us in a good position to put some money to good use backing worthy groups or causes. Q&A on how much money non-profits can legally hold. Next regular meeting we will discuss who to give money to.
Newsletter 82 current subscriptions. Only 11 copies of the Subscriber Guides left and we may need to reprint soon. Neal will furnish a hard drive to Jean for backup.
Website The new website is up and running. Deb is still migrating content. She noted the importance and historical coolness of the old trips posted there. We have already had two new subscribers through the new website. Neal noted that she was doing a good job for a common floozy. Noted that the option of subscribing without joining the museum was good for out of state subscribers who do not plan to go on trips. The archive area is set up but not populated. Jay has about ten years of old newsletters in PDF format currently and is working on the balance. Ted suggested incorporating a PayPal option to pay online for subscriptions and Deb said that could be an option when the dust settles and the website is up to speed overall. Deb would like to keep the web programmer Crazy Suzy on a small annual maintenance retainer to help keep our fat out of the fire. All present agreed. Deb will get a number for next meeting. Top priority is to migrate all old files and make them easy to search. Carbonite was suggested as a good service to back up the site files. Barb Gossett volunteered to proof the site once everything is in place, very welcome and she is a pro. A blog will be set up on the site in the future which will offer a place for more subscriber interaction.
Museum Pat Schoffstall loves our newsletter! March meeting will be replaced by a presentation by the authors of the book “Fire and Forge” on March 30th at 2:00 p.m. The Museum 50th Anniversary Barbecue is coming up May 17th.
Trips Current trips are in the newsletter and we are looking for more. Plenty of Rondy trips. Bob Jacoby would like to see us get back to having one or more trips per month, all agreed and discussion followed, with several new trips falling out of the conversation as well as ideas for getting more trips on the calendar. Ideas included a yearly trip list at the first of the year that we would ask leaders to sign on for and Ted suggested signing up twelve leaders at the first of each year to each be responsible for a trip over the course of the year. This discussion will be the focus of our next regular meeting. Bob will lead a trip to the Mono Basin, Ted will lead a trip to the Los Padres area and Bob Rodemeyer will also lead a trip. Jay will do a Bristlecone Pines trip this summer. It was also noted that day trips should be in the mix.
Rondy 60 dinner signups as of 3/8. Deadline is 3/15. An email reminder to subscribers will go out. Noted that first time guests have traditionally been OK’d without museum membership on trips to get to know the group. Mal announced that a new member from Germany will be there! There will be a separate room for the silent auction as well as a separate room for the trip sign-up boards. Mal needs trip write ups for the boards. Jay will include a note to bring items for the silent auction in the email reminder.
Next meeting Saturday May 3 at 11:00 at Neal and Marian Johns house. Potluck lunch.
DE Apparel Neal said the shirts and hats would be done the following week and he will get an email out to those folks when the items are ready. They can be picked up at Neal’s house, at the Rondy or shipped.
check out the photos!
