Narragansett Chapter Board Meeting

June 10, 2014, Tuesday, 6:00pm

155 South Main St. Providence, RI

Call to Order – 6:08

Attendance: Debbie Mitchell, Chris Shafer, Mike Krabach, Bob Tessitore, Linda Pease, Debra Huntington

Business Meeting

Review and Approval of May 2014 Meeting Minutes

Treasurer’s Report – no report given.

Chapter Chair Report

Debbie spoke about the marketing initiatives at Joy St. They would like to participate in events so that they can give out new marketing material.

Chapter Vice-Chair

Bob reported that he is actively looking for his successor. He made a list of people who attended the last leadership course. He will approach the individuals to see who may be interested. Debbie commented about that there is a nominating committee is needed. Chris recommended to let the candidate know that he/she could be the vice chair for a year before committing to being the next chair.

Old Business

Annual Meeting Speaker Project – Debbie passed out a list of speakers recommended by Joy St. There was a discussion about the list and who might be a good speaker, as well as, who the speakers who have been in the past. Debbie pointed out that there has not been a paddling speaker. She will send out the list and ask people to suggest speakers. The annual meeting is on November 8.

Website Succession – This discussion was tabled until Tom Eagan is available. Linda commented that she knows of someone who is studying web design and she would be happy to speak to them. Mike voiced a concern about becoming too dependent on one person.

Financial Reserves – tabled until Tom Eagan is available.

Virtual Meeting – This will be reviewed again once Bob becomes chairperson in November.

New Business

Membership and New Members Survey – Chris discussed that he would like to update the new members’ survey. He reviewed the questions and the updates he would like to make. He will update the survey and send it to the committee chairpersons to get their opinions. Additionally, he will survey the chairperson to understand if they will use the information from the survey. He will report again in July.

Fall Festival- The Fall festival will be held October 4-5 at Cardigan Lodge. Bob brought up the band and everyone agreed that the band from last year was excellent. There was a brief discussion about events that could be at the event. Bob will get information to Mike to post the ‘Save the Date’.

Status of Climbing Committee – They are a separate group. Debbie pointed out that they are very cooperative when asked to provide information or participate.

Other

Joy St. is looking to update the ‘Backcountry’ section of their magazine by looking for new ways to list club wide activities. They did a survey to understand how people read the magazine. Debbie read the results of the survey.

Committee Reports

Activities - In relation to RI Outdoor Pursuit, http://www.riparks.com/RIOutdoorsPursuit/

There was a discussion about putting outside events on the website. Mike explained the difference between putting information on the website versus on the calendar. In order to post items on the calendar and event has to have an approved leader. Mike said he could put it on the website.

Conservation – Linda talked about the Community garden and Edible Forest event on July 12 at Roger Williams Botanical Garden. There is also a paddle on that day. It is a retracing of Roger Williams escape.

Trails – They had a successful event last weekend. They worked on the George Washington Management Area - Walk-about-Trail, making a number of areas that were wet and impassable. Chris also commented that there has been approval for the Wood River bridge project. Mike asked about the expense of this project. Chris gave a brief description of how it will be funded. AMC is up-fronting the money and then they will get reimbursed at the end.

Chris also reported that he has received a $4,000 grant to repair an Arcadia shelter on the Ben Utter trail.

There is also a grant for the Gormley trail additional boardwalk bridging effort.

Young Members – Debra read a report from Scot Disnard about the May event and the others planned.

Meeting adjourned at 7:35.

Next Meeting is July 8