RMOC Annual Meeting DCSO Highlands Ranch Substation Community Room 11/7/2015 ATTENDEES: Kris Beecroft (President), Doug Berling (Vice-President), Sverre Froyen (Treasurer), Brooke Mann (Secretary), Troy Bozarth, Chris Ray Dmitriy Zamoshchin, Yelena Zamoshchina, Daniel Zamoshchin, Sarah Ginsbach, Amy Winston, Kathleen Brennan, Galen Moore, Sherry Litasi, Bob Ellis, Craig Murray, Neal Barlow, Chris Silva, JP Lande, John Crowther, Sharon Crawford MEETING SUMMARY: 1. Kris Beecroft called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm. 2. We approved the minutes from the 2014 annual meeting. 3. President's Report from Kris Beecroft. - 2015 was a good year, but not great. We had 23 events with an average attendance of ~40. - Let's plan to have more training-type events in 2016. Focus on one or two skills per training. Continue holding weekend events with some training. - RMOC hosted the 2015 US ARDF Championships (radio orienteering). - Tom Bagby led another successful ZombiePocalypse at Peaceful Valley. - We plan to hold several teaching sessions this winter -- Course Setting, E-punch, and Meet Directing 101. 4. Vice-President's Report from Doug Berling. - Doug is about to submit our 2015 report to USFS. - We have continued to maintain a good working relationship with the various permitting agencies we work with (USFS, El Paso County Parks, etc.). - RMOC is now included in the USFS South Park Ranger District's five-year environmental study / plan. This means that we still have to request permits for our events, but the review and approval process is streamlined. - Jim Baker is working on a permit request for Florissant Fossil Beds. 5. Treasurer's Report from Sverre Froyen. - Sverre delivered a report that summarized our cash on hand over the last two years, 2015 income by category, and 2015 expenses by category. RMOC's funds have grown steadily over this the past two years. This means that we are in good shape to take on new mapping projects — usually our biggest capital expense. - Upcoming expenses include the OUSA annual charter fee (primarily for insurance), which is based on total 2015 starts, and the cost of Steve Willman's mapping work for Camp Alexander. 6. Secretary's Report from Brooke Mann. - Brooke summarized our year-over-year membership numbers. The 2015 membership total is down by about 50 members compared to 2014. Perhaps this is due, in part, to not having Bob's REI workshops this year (since REI changed their class policy). - Brooke also summarized our year-over-year meet totals and attendance totals. ZombiePocalypse and the CSOL meets had the largest numbers of attendees. 7. CSOL Update. - We lost our CSOL Coordinator when Leif Anderson moved to Iceland in late 2014. - We hope to be more organized in 2016; Kris has already submitted a draft 2016 schedule to the CSOL coaches. 8. Mapping Update. - Our Kelly Dahl and Observatory maps have both been updated by Mikell Platt (mainly to reflect USFS tree-thinning work). - Yves Nager is in the process of updating our White Ranch map. - Jim Baker has several mapping project in progress near Woodland Park, along with an area near Deckers / Hwy 285. - Dmitriy suggested that the Cherry Creek State Park is badly in need of updates. Perhaps Mikell Platt can work on that for us. - We have money on hand to allocate to mapping; the problem is finding skilled, available mappers. - We should review and update the mapping priority list we created in 2014. - We really need to get a digital map library set up (for version control, check in / check out, etc.). Michael Rounds has indicated an interest in administering this for RMOC. - Kathleen Brennan suggested that Flying J Ranch might be a good area for a map. 9. 2016 Schedule Update. - Kris has drafted a schedule for next year, accounting for OUSA championship meets and other events we usually coordinate with (e.g. Barnelopet and the AdventureXstream races). - Kris has several new ideas for 2016: (a) a Snowshoe-O at the Happy Jack area near Laramie; and (b) training events only in March, since the weather can be very nice or very snowy. - OUSA has asked us to host the Junior Team Trials in April. Erin Schirm (OUSA Junior Team Coach) will set the courses, which will likely be at White Ranch and CU-Boulder. This event will be for OUSA Juniors only, although we may be able to reuse the courses for a local meet. Kris will serve as the main liaison to OUSA/Erin Schirm, but we'll probably need additional volunteers for e-punch, control setting, control retrieval, starts, etc. 10. 1000-Day Proposal. - Kris has been working with Mikell Platt (LROC) on a plan to revive our "1000-Day" meet. The plan is to hold the meet at the same time every other year (late June or early July), starting in 2016, so that it becomes a biannual event that people from across the country plan on. - The first few days would be informal events (one long course with shortcuts, mass start, no e-punch, etc.); the weekend events and possibly a third day would be sanctioned as national events (formerly known as "A-meets"), but not necessarily championship events. - We agreed to move forward with this plan. - Sverre volunteered to be the Registrar. - John Crowther and Chris Silva volunteered to be the main e-punch coordinators (Chris will get training from John). 11. Volunteer Recognition. - Kris recognized all the Course Setters, Meet Directors, and E-Punch Coordinators from our 2015 season. All received custom water bottles with the RMOC logo! Other key volunteers were also recognized. - Kris awarded a plaque and an REI gift card to our 2015 Volunteer of the Year, Jim Baker. Jim has done lots of behind-the-scenes work for RMOC since joining about a year ago: several ongoing mapping projects, a training course at Rainbow Falls, writing a grant proposal for OUSA MTBO mapping, working on the Florissant FOssil Beds permit negotiations & application, etc. THANK YOU, JIM! 12. General Discussion. - Chris Silva suggested that we add the year-long waiver to our online registration and/or membership form. This is a good idea, except for cases when one person registers for a team, or when one person joins on behalf of multiple family members. - Chris Ray gave an update on his permanent course project in Parker. 13. Meeting adjourned at 3:05 pm.