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BAOC Board Meeting

Date: (Tue.) Jun. 10, 2008
Location: Millbrae, CA
Event Directors: - 650.906.9672, - 650.248.9595
Type: Quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors -- 7:00-10:00 PM; pizza will be available at 6:30 -- All club members are welcome


Approved minutes of the June 10, 2008 board meeting – Trinka Gillis


The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Nick Corsano

Present were: Mark Blair, George Minarik, Dan Greene, Scott Aster, Nancy Lindeman, Everett Beuerman, Jean Beuerman, Esther Heller, Jeff Lanam, Steve Beuerman, Brad Wetmore, Nick Corsano, Kelly Wells, Tony Pinkham, Alex Finch, Trinka Gillis, Rosemary Johnson, Rex Winterbottom

1. Approval of Minutes – Nick Corsano

The previous meeting's minutes were approved.

2. Email Votes – Trinka Gillis

The club held two online votes this quarter.
A motion was made and approved that the nominating slate of Nick Corsano, Steve Beuerman, Trinka Gillis, and Alex Finch be presented to the membership at the Annual General Meeting on April 13th at Sunol.
A motion to amend the BAOC bylaws, postponed from the March board meeting, was passed.

3. President's Report – Nick Corsano

Nick announced that Rosemary Johnson had been elected as the new Pacific Region Representative to USOF.
Malcolm Wyatt-Mair is participating in the Junior World Orienteering Championships for a second time.
We had a successful Annual General Meeting in April in Sunol. About 40 club members participated. The membership approved the changes to the bylaws. We held a small observance of BAOC's 30th anniversary, and heard from members about their vision of BAOC at 35. The long-range planning discussion today is a follow-up to that.

4. Event Coordinator's Report – Alex Finch

Alex Finch thanked the club for welcoming him as the new Event Coordinator.
He mentioned that Steve Haas is the new South Bay Coordinator, Steve Gregg is continuing as the East Bay Coordinator, and the North Bay Coordinator position is vacant.
They are planning some additional events that are not on the calendar yet—Bike-O in August in Indian Gulch (Oakland), one day at Spooner Lake, Montebello in late September. The summer schedule is light, but fall is looking good.
Ben's training in Redding was well-received.
Alex would like to integrate training and social events into regular orienteering events.
The Scout-O will be held at Briones again. They were hoping to move it to Tilden.
We now need a sponsoring club and permit to hold events at U.C. Berkeley.

5. Treasurer's Report – Steve Beuerman

We discussed the budget and expenses.

6. Mapping Report – Bob Cooley

Report submitted by email on June 12th:
Vladimir Zherdev is here working on Pacheco Park. He should finish it and do a little work on some other projects before he leaves.
I have checked enough of Knowland Park for a White, a Yellow, and a Sprint. I will do some more so that an Orange is possible, but an Orange will involve some poison oak.
Jeff Lanam suggested mapping Hellyer Park in east San Jose. A small park, but better for orienteering than Vasona.
Nick pointed out that we need to plan where to dedicate mapping resources.

7. A-Meet Committee – George Minarik

Tahoe 3-Day planning is going well. We are not using the north part of Burton Creek State Park where the goshawks are nesting.
O in the Oaks 08 will include the U.S. Trail-O championship.
Boggs Mountain 2009 will include a sprint at Spring Lake and the U.S. Team Trials.
BAOC has applied for World Ranking Event status for the elite men and women for the Saturday and Sunday events at Boggs Mountain. We won't know until October if we are chosen.
Fall 2009—we are planning an A-meet event at Pacheco State Park.

8. Insurance Report – Brad Wetmore

The club is purchasing the supplemental auto insurance for about $198 in order to run shuttles at Almaden Quicksilver on October 5th and at the fall A-meet. The supplement is valid for one calendar year.

9. Event Pre-registration – Mark Blair

The pre-registration application is created and will probably be first tested at China Camp before moving it to the BAOC website.
Phase 2 will be to implement general online registration for all B and C events.
Phase 3 will be to extend online registration to A-meet event handling.
They are planning a demo session, and were advised to discuss the new system with registration.

10. Club Uniforms – Ben Legg

No report.
Nancy suggested getting input on the uniform design. Rex suggested holding a uniform fashion show.

11. Mentor Program – Alex Finch

Alex talked about starting an Event Director/Course Setter Mentor Program. The goal would be to help identify possible new Course Setters and Event Directors and hook them up with a mentor. Possible mentors would be Kent Ohlund and Dennis Wildfogel.
The program would recruit new people through a combination of advertising and talking up people.
It was suggested that the Board could suggest possible Course Setters and Event Directors, and to include CS/ED training when skills training seminars are offered.

12. Transporting Club Equipment – Jean and Ev Beuerman

Jean and Ev's van that has been used to haul and store so much BAOC equipment is beyond repair.
They need to get rid of the large table and the Gookinaid jugs.
It was decided to give away the t-shirts as a raffle at the end of the A-meet award ceremony.

13. New Business Venture – Rex Winterbottom

Rex has left his job as a teacher and is starting his own venture doing event planning and organizing, catering to people who want to get outdoors with maps. He plans to supplement the club's offerings with light-weight events and different formats. Rex hopes to promote the club and increase the base of volunteers. He will hold team-building events, make maps, and hold events for the public.
He wants to work with and coordinate events with the club.

14. Long-range Planning

Attendees broke into four groups, each discussing one of the following as it pertains to BAOC in the next five years. Here is the summary of the session:
Strengths
  • A thinking and running adventure
  • A sport you can grow old with
  • Social aspect, camaraderie
  • Enthusiastic members
  • Passionate volunteers
  • Accessible to people with different abilities
  • Great communication
  • Great parks
  • A variety of events
  • High quality events
  • Reliable core of volunteers
  • Different environmental perspective
  • Good value
Weaknesses
  • High expectations intimidate volunteers
  • Communication not always positive or constructive
  • Volunteers are too busy
  • Club lacks diversity (age, gender, ethnicity)
  • We don't build relationships with parks or give back to them
  • Some volunteers are irreplaceable
  • Unclear meaning and value of membership
  • Lack of openness to a range of abilities or different styles
  • Long distances to mapped venues
  • Club doesn't have an aggressive interest in growing
Opportunities
  • Expand with juniors and elite runners
  • Work with other sporting groups
  • Improve park relations/educate rangers
  • Publicize more (schools, JROTC, ...)
  • Tie events with other activities and venues
  • Promote greenness
Threats
  • Distances to venues
  • Park access and land management issues
  • U.S. trend toward decreasing outdoor activity
  • Perceived dangers (poison oak, snakes, wild boars, ...)
  • Increased cost of transportation to events
  • Terrain issues
  • Aging members/lack of younger members

15. Director's Reports

Bulletin – Jeff Lanam
The club needs someone to mail out bulletins to first-time attendees. Chuck Spalding is no longer doing that.
Postage has increased again.
Outreach – Scott Aster
The club has received several outreach requests lately, including one for employees of the Charles Schulz Ice Skating Rink.
Social – Rex Winterbottom
No requests have been received for a social event at Tahoe because the campground has become the gathering place.
Having food available after events keeps people around and talking.
He will look into planning a 30th anniversary event.
Equipment – Mark Blair
The club will soon have enough bags and stands (not controls) for them to become regional equipment.
Membership – Kelly Wells
He will focus on age/gender demographics in his next report.
Publicity – Nancy Lindeman
Camping and lodging attract people to A-meets.
Website – Van Boughner
Brad Wetmore mentioned that several people have requested their names be removed from the results. They are replacing the name with "name withheld". He suggested that the club create a formal policy.

16. New business – Nick Corsano

At the next meeting, we need to give formal authorization to the Event Coordinators to sign agreements in the name of the club. The Board has the sole authority to grant someone this authority.
The next meeting will be held in Menlo Park on September 9th, 2008.

Meeting adjourned at 10:04 PM.

Minutes approved September 9, 2008.

Trinka Gillis
BAOC Secretary