Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club

November 13, 2004

President Sherry Litasi called the meeting to order at 5:15 pm at the home of Gordon McCurry and Nancy Hobbs in Boulder, Colorado. Officers who were present were introduced.

Members present:

Mark Bockmann	Molly Bockmann	Betty Bramhall
George Bramhall	Anita Brattland	Anne Chapman
Kate Chapman	Sharon Crawford	Jonas Fast
Sverre Froyen	Mark Gibbard	Nancy Hobbs
Jan P. Ingebrigtsen	Rich Kelly	Robin Kelly
Sheryl Lehman	Steve Levin	Brooke Mann
Dick Matthews	Gordon McCurry	Geoff Murphy
Jim Plant	Mil Plant	Stephen Price
Alex Thomas

1. 2003 Minutes: Minutes of the last Annual Meeting on November 1, 2003, were read by Mil Plant and approved as read.

2. President's Report: Sherry read her 2004 President's Report, mentioning some highs and lows of the club and its members over the past year.

3. Treasurer's Report: Dick Matthews distributed copies of the 2004 Treasurer's Report. Our cash balance is $28,606.75, which is about $2,000 more than last year. A discussion of map making followed. Base maps can cost $1,100-1,500; field work costs about $300 per square kilometer. It was agreed that, with a good cash balance, the club should focus on making more maps. The Treasurer's report was accepted unanimously.

4. Membership Report: Membership chairman Mil Plant reported that we currently have 48 family memberships and 76 individual memberships, for a total of 124 memberships.

5. Vice President's Reports:
   • Medicine Bow Region (WY): It was reported that Mikell Platt was unaware he was an RMOC Vice President throughout 2004. He feels that, since the club managed to get along OK without any input on his part in the capacity of Vice President, it's probably a good idea to do away with this position.

   • Central Region: Sverre pointed out that a large and important component of the Vice-President's role is securing permits for the meets in his/her region. In terms of working with various agencies and land managers, it's helpful to have the title of "Vice President" when applying for permits.

   • South Region: Neal Barlow was unable to attend the meeting, but he sent a message for all Springs-area meet directors to return any outstanding equipment to him (ph# 719-531-5733).

6. 2005 Five-Day "A" Meet Report: Steve Willman sent in his report. The Colorado 5-Day meet will be August 3-7, 2005. USOF sanctioning has been obtained; the meet will include the US Night-O Championships, the US Relay Championships, three classic-distance events, and a Prologue/Chase event. Steve is working on a new map near Buena Vista for the event, as well as getting the Manitou Lake map updated. A barbeque dinner is planned. Steve needs vetters and a few course setters; contact him at 719-783-2649. He's in the process of applying for permits from Pike National Forest and BLM. See http://www.colorado5day.com/.

7. Forest Service Update:
   • Steve Willman sent in his report for the Pike Ranger District. There was no negative feedback about our events in the Pike areas this summer. In fact, the Forest Service did not even know that the Scapegoat took place. Steve's Forest Service contact reiterated that we can have up to 74 people at a club-only event without a permit. The $5 fee per participant is OK with FS regulations since that's a reasonable amount to charge for maps, insurance and water. Making an obvious profit is a "no no", even at club-only events. The FS suggested that we give the applicable district a "heads up" about our future events (say, the week before) just so their rangers won't surprised to see cars and people.

   • Sherry reported that Kelly Dahl, one of our most popular areas, will not be available to us anymore. The Boulder/Arapaho Ranger District suggests we use Pickle Gulch Campground, about 10 miles south on Highway 119. Jan Ingebrigtsen has run out there, and he says it's steep but could be usable.

8. Mapping Update: We did not have a mapping coordinator in 2004. Adam Feerst laid groundwork for an RMOC mapping process in 2003 (i.e., a process for identifying and prioritizing new areas to be mapped). Adam is unable to continue with the map coordinator role, but he's willing to pass along all his previous work to whoever assumes the role.

   Jan Ingebrigtsen volunteered to be RMOC's map coordinator for 2004.

   It was suggested that we contact visiting mappers, e.g. from Czech Republic. Another suggestion was to map an extension of our existing Chatfield map. We also have the base map necessary to finish Cherry Creek, an area that we are free use each year before May 15 and after September 1. Sverre mentioned that the Saylor Park map should be amended and updated.

9. Volunteer Deficiencies: Brooke Mann reported on the problems some Meet Directors have experienced this year with finding a sufficient number of volunteers to help share the workload associated with each of our meets. It was noted that we cancelled several meets in 2004 due to a lack of volunteers. Bob Ellis sent in a suggestion that we create a new position of "Volunteer Coordinator" -- someone who would (a) coordinate with meet directors to help them recruit volunteers, (b) call RMOC members and regular meet attendees to personally encourage their participation as volunteers (i.e., remind them they need to help at a few meets each year in addition to competing), and (c) design and implement an incentive program to encourage more volunteer participation.

   It was moved, seconded and voted to add the position of Volunteer Coordinator to the roster of RMOC officers. Geoff Murphy volunteered to fill the role; Geoff will have an updated membership list from Mil to use for contacting volunteers, if asked to do so by meet directors.

   A discussion of volunteer incentives ensued, and some suggestions were: to have a sign-up sheet at each meet so competitors can sign up to work at the next meet; to establish a point system for the volunteers at each meet; to possibly award a prize at the end of the year to whoever volunteers the most time at meets.

10. 2005 Officers: The slate of officers for the coming year was presented:

    Officer	2005 Nominee
    President	Sherry Litasi
    Vice-President (South)	Neal Barlow
    Vice-President (Central)	Sverre Froyen
    Treasurer	Dick Matthews
    Webmaster	Brooke Mann
    Membership	Jim and Mil Plant
    Scout Coordinator	Tim Hibbs
    Mapping Coordinator	Jan P. Ingebrigtsen
    Volunteer Coordinator	Geoff Murphy

    It was moved, seconded and voted unanimously to elect the slate as presented.

11. 2005 Schedule: Sherry will send out a draft schedule once she has a chance to compile it.

12. New Business:
    • Brooke suggested the creation (or update) of an RMOC charter, in order to guide the club's decisions about things such as annual dues, meet fees, insurance costs, mapping priorities, etc. Betty Bramhall agreed to resurrect the By-Laws that were drafted several years ago.

    • Gordon volunteered to help assemble a "Meet Director's Handbook" to standardize some of our practices and provide guidance to new Meet Directors.

    • Adam Feerst sent in a suggestion to have a Night-O at Bear Creek Lake Park in 2005. Adam discussed this with the BCLP ranger recently, and the ranger was favorable to the idea. This idea was well-received among the club members present.

    • There was a question about setting up a permanent training course. Alex Thomas mentioned that there's an existing permanent course at Chatfield; maps are available at the Visitor Center/Ranger Station, but the course is not very challenging (it's geared more towards kids and beginners).

      Several club members stated that, in their experience, permanent courses tend to generate problems with land managers, as permanent tracks get worn between the control markers over time.

      Rich Kelly offered the idea of a "virtual" course, where digital photos of each control are posted on a website, rather than the placement of permanent markers. The course and the digital photos would change often (every three months?) to prevent social trails from emerging.

    • Alex Thomas (Newsletter Editor) posed a question about the continuing need for a club newsletter, since most of the newsletter's content has transitioned to the website. It was generally agreed that almost everyone has website access these days; and, very few other clubs are still publishing paper newsletters. Although the training tips and special articles Alex collected for past newsletters were interesting and informative, it was generally agreed that a hardcopy newsletter is no longer necessary.

    • It was mentioned that our schedule seems to change frequently, rendering our printed schedules obsolete. Sherry pointed out that Brooke has been printing up-to-date schedules in small batches just prior to each meet, to alleviate this problem (rather than printing a single large batch of schedules at the beginning of each year, as was done in the past when our schedule wasn't as "dynamic").

    • It was suggested that we publicize RMOC and our events at REI, college bulletin boards, and the Rocky Mountain Sports and Adventure Sports publications.

    • The issue of meet fees was discussed. Due to USOF insurance charges, we will have to keep track of the types of participants at meets, e.g., individual, group, under 18 years, member, non-member. The final basis for charges is still being discussed in USOF and will be instituted by January 2006.

      It was moved, seconded and unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 pm.

       - Millicent Plant, Secretary Pro-Tem

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