GMNC Board Meeting
November 9, 2022
In attendance: Dan Tilley, Joe Ramey, Tom Ela, John Traylor, Larry Gruel, Susie Attaway, Christina Noel, Christie Aschwanden, Dave Smith and Melissa Newell
Meeting started with reading of the GMNC mission statement.
October meeting minutes:
Christina Noelmoves to accept
Tom Ela seconds.
Passed
Financial Review:
- Financial report had no questions
- Memberships have been rolling in.
- November is ahead of projections. We are up 28% Year to Date.
- Financials are in the black.
- Question from Tom Ela, regarding Race sponsorship–showing only $750.
- Christie Ashwanden responded that it will be $1500, made in 2 payments.
Financial Investments:
- Cash flow analysis has been built and is in the report
- This analysis is a work in progress
- Investment strategy will be presented at December meeting.
(John Traylor–will present in 2 stages, this year is a transition year for investment)
Building Update:
- Final bill from schematic design came in today–will be paid promptly
- Christie Aschwanden and Dan Tille will meet with USFS to get written permission for building.
Grant Update: John Traylor and Dan Tille working on
- Federal Government grant leading into state grant which requires permission from USFS. Deadline is December 31, and will take several months to find out if we are approved. This is specifically to help pay for new building.
- John Traylor: Our construction company for the solar installation will be eligible for up to a 30% discount but the company must apply to the state for this, not GMNC. State received $9MM in grant so this is worth a shot
- Dan Tille is working on Goodwin Foundation for a mid-size grant for the solar system or a smaller amount for outfitting the interior of the building.
- John Traylor asking about other grants.
- Dan Tille heard from the Sports commission and it will be a smaller amount, specifically focused on the races. Dan is looking at new sports bibs. We will purchase bibs and GJ Sports will pay us back.
- Next summer Christie Aschwanden will ask for a larger grant from the Sports Commission for a race timing system.
- Christie Aschwanden comments regarding government grants–we usually hear from them at the end of the year. She will follow up although she thinks it’s a little early. She did see an article in the Sentinel that they are tightening their belts–and we may not get our full ask. Slight increase in ask of GJ City and Mesa County, significant increase in ask of Delta County.
Executive Director Report–Christie Aschwanden
Summary:
- Early season snow, trail packing and skiing happening.
- New website up with improvements to grooming report page
- Still tweaking–about to implement new system for event calendar
- Working on all the snags to be fixed
- Christie will be updating content–try to streamline stuff
- Slopeside is our provider and is doing a good job, helping us reorganize so that it’s easier to navigate.
- New Maps
- New swag coming
- New events schedule
- Memberships up 30% from last year–both the amount is increased and new donors.
- Early skiing means money in the bank for us.
- Our crew is doing an incredible job packing snow, following all storms.
- People are super excited and appreciative.
- We are getting an earned reputation for early snow.
- The concern always exists that we are frontloading people who would have donated later anywhere–but there are NEW skiers, new donors, and recaptured donors.
- Ops crew is amazing. David Smith really understands how to manage snow, giving us a very solid base. The excavator work has transformed some of the trails. Scales Glade is really good.
- Logging Project: lots of trucks going back and forth. They will be out by November 15–unlikely they will finish the entire project. USFS intends to hold them to Nov. 15. We will need a big snow to cover Scales Lake Road even with snow moving. Hoping that by December we will have access. Not sure if they will come back in late February and March which they have a right to do. From Dave Smith: We do not have a real connector trail for Skyway to County Line. Not enough snow–We didn’t do the bypass project because of their commitment to get out by Nov 15. And there are a lot of down trees now.
- Joe Ramey wants to know if we have enough snow to move to get over the down trees. 4-5 feet of snow will cover everything–but not wide enough for a snow cat–we can use a snowmobile to groom a connector.
- A subcontractor has been quite abusive in his language to skiers using scales lake road.
- Dave Smith: Tuesday, opening day most trails will be open except for Vista Valley, Arroyo, and Summit (still standing water problems)
- Events:
- Melissa Newell and Christie Aschwanden did the halloween event which brought in donations, and just a lot of fun. Sort of like a pop-up.
- Reminder of KPP dinner on Nov. 14. 6 PM at Delicious Orchards
- Another pop up event for opening day on Nov 15. The snow cat will be there. Music, food, and grooming!
- Dan Cnossen event. Should be a good event–GMNC will pay for chair rentals. Beer and mixed drinks available. Press release will go out this week. Also to any disability organizations. Suggestion to reach out to school district 51 for their special needs folks. And the VA because Dan was a Navy Seal.
- Complaints–just a few asking for groom tracks.
- Lesson Program: first free lesson program on Saturday after Thanksgiving
- Women’s clinics starting.
- KVNF is doing public announcements about our free events.
- New maps coming in a few weeks–double checking that the maps follow new protocol–including ratings for difficulty.
- PSIAA free clinic happening the weekend before trails open–requesting donations. 15 people are coming.
Joe appreciated Christie for her leadership skills with resolving problems with loggers mistreating GMNC skiers, disabusing the GMNC in general. Taking it to USFS and trying to calm things down.
Christie appreciated Joe for his positive representation of GMNC on the trails. Christie reminds us all that these are public lands and we need to remain respectful of everyone.
John Traylor asking about the sale of our old snowmobile. Dave Smith said it will be done, but right now we are using it in our early season instead of the new ones. Price for selling (to Jon Canty) for $2,000. Jon is a mechanic and knows the problems with this snowmobile–rather than selling to someone else. Tom Ela asks that we not sell it as long as it is useful. John Traylor asks that we make it a legal transfer so that no one has further concerns about selling internally. One new snowmobile is in the valley still, one is up top. All snowmobiles are at the container.
John Traylor–noted to Christie Aschwanden on the financial report that the farthest tab to the right is out of date. Financial committee will work with Christie to bring it up to date.
Mail chimp coming out end of week with snow conditions. After this it will be a weekly mail chimp for the season. Included will be water hazards. Christie wondering about signage on this–Dave Smith says it’s a problem for Alpine as well. You can’t sign everything and you still can’t save people from themselves. Dave Smith does not want to deadend groom that leads skiers into danger–so there is less of any problem. Such as Summit or Lions. Christie Aschwanden remarks: It’s not dangerous in the sense that skiers would feel the slush and would turn around. Suggestion to put in mailchimp to go only where snowmobiles have gone. Agreed by board members to not do additional signage on closed or open trails. Cold weather is here to stay, so it will all be frozen over soon.
John Traylor–asking Christie Aschwanden about getting donations from ski teams that come and use our trails. They all donate, but amounts vary. She encourages them to put a donation in their budgets. Aspen is the biggest team user. Also Eagle Valley highschool.
Appreciations all around to Christie Aschwanden, our awesome executive director..
Bank bags coming to the people handling the trail box collections.
Joe Ramey and Dave Smith are looking to have our signage up in September so that those that come up to leaf peep get introduced to us, and we can provide them maps. Possible income as well. Christie Aschwanden has put this in the AOP
Operations Report: Encapsulates ops opening the trails documentation for future reference. Joe Ramey believes we have the best ops crew ever in GMNC history.
High winds–tree problem is big. Will have work for several days to clear trees.
Summer excavation has made a massive difference in early trail conditions. Will need to go back to Overlook and the NW section of Sunset and a bit on Lions.
Ward needs summer excavation work as well. It’s tough terrain.
What about wood needed for hut? Ops crew will try to keep it piled up. There are two big piles of wood. We have more wood than we use–but it needs splitting. Don Metzler has handled it in past and is still available to help. He will work with the Ops crew. Biggest problem is making wood accessible to the inside of the hut. Dave will maintain the outside of the hut with snowcat so that it’s easier to get wood from outside. Hut will be unlocked on Friday and Joe Ramey will organize the inside.
Dave Smith got us a $500 fuel donation from Dinomart in Palisade. Please use them for your fueling needs to make this a good investment for them.
Garmin In Reach satellite communicators–unused, 2 years old. Dave Smith doesn’t want to use. It would be $360/unit per year to activate. This could be important with one person down at Ward to prevent problems.
Dave Smith has been driving his equipment around with his van–receiving a mileage fee. This is unsustainable long term so we need to have a GMNC vehicle or rental in the future. John Traylor recommends putting this into budget discussions for next year, possibly a lease. More cost efficient to do a short term rental early and late season.
PSIA should be donating for using the hut and trails–they did a large donation for their spring fling last year when they forgot to get a permit and we helped them out.
Appreciations to Dan Tille for shorter meetings.
Reminder to work on getting new board members–specifically secretary and/or legal expertise.
Next meeting Dec. 6, 2022. Zoom 6 PM
Dan Tille motions to end meeting
Susie seconds
Approved
Submitted by Lynea Schultz-Ela, temporary scribe