GMNC Board meeting minutes
GMNC Board Meeting Minutes, 9 September 2020 6:00-8:10pm
Attending Board members: Caryl Brown, Lynea Schultz-Ela, Dan Tille, Tina Wilson, Joe Ramey. Absent: Callie West
Guests: Martin Wiesiolek, Tim Carter, Sarah Haubert
1. Guest comments-
- Martin- the new website is ready for viewing and comment. Do not share with the public yet. Comments and suggestions by the Board should be shared with Martin. We need photos of lessons, and the volunteer trail work. Martin will monitor the posts for tone and consistency. Joe wanted to make sure the grooming, weather, and road-conditions buttons were easily seen and accessible by web users. The new Groomed Trails section is a welcome addition to the site. This will help people to prepare before making the trip to the trails, and also will make GMNC’s website a more valuable resource. Dan commented the back-end of the new website is very efficient and easy to amend.
- Tim- the Masters Program has 22 potential members, open to anyone older than 30 years. An instructor, Eivund Røed from the CMU team, will only be available until early December. After that it may be Dave or Christie Aschwanden, maybe Martin, providing coaching. The program will be independent of the GMNC, though the Board expressed interest in the success of the program. A motion was made by Lynea, seconded by Caryl, to support the program and promote it on our website and newsletter: it passed unanimously. There was some discussion on COVID mitigation methods to be followed. Tim said he intended to follow Mesa County guidelines.
- Sarah- after reading six months of Board meeting minutes, Sarah thought there were other GMNC needs beyond operations. She has run programs before, including children’s programs, and would be interested in that type of work. Tina asked if Sarah had ever originated a program; Sarah has not. Sarah is currently taking an on-line, grant-writing course. * Prior to this meeting, Winslow and Dave Ashwanden had volunteered to be the Operations team. A paid Operations Manager will not be needed this season.
2. Approval of August meeting minutes – passed unanimously without comment.
3. Treasurer’s Report – reviewed by Board. This ‘dashboard’ (a summary of the overall financials, in an easy-to-read chart) will be very useful through the season. Currently there is not much change to our finances.
This brings up the question of the maintenance to Pistenbully, as to whether it’s been approved or not. Joe has spoken to the Kassbohrer shop. Repairs are approved and they have ordered parts, and are getting it all done prior to ski season.
4. Dan Tille topics –
A. Race update – Tom Ela will be involved with all but one race. Dan would like to let all racers younger than 18 be able to enter without a race fee. Event restrictions may be onerous. https://health.mesacounty.us/wp-content/uploads/GUIDANCE-FOR-OUTDOOR-EVENTS.pdf We will follow all governmental guidance. Races will likely be individual or small group (5?) starts. Likely no food or after event presentations. On-line registration only.
B. Mesa County COVID guidelines – Dan helped Joe submit a business plan for the GMNC to Mesa County. Delta County does not yet have a requirement for a business plan. We decided to keep our COVID mitigation section of our Annual Operating Plan broad so it allows us to adapt to the inevitable changing conditions and guidelines.
C. Children’s lessons (Dan with Martin) – Callie does not want to give children’s lessons and we are uncertain how many of our instructors will want to do so. Tim and Tina both said they wanted to give these lessons. Martin said he is fully certified to teach children. He volunteered to handle the children-lessons’ requests if there is a need.
D. Ski school concept (Dan with Martin) – there is an expectation of accreditation when someone attends a school. It would be good practice for GMNC instructors to gain accreditation. Lynea: this topic should be delayed until Callie can attend as she continues to handle all the details to lesson programs. Ski School sounds great but needs more lazer review so that we know how this impacts lessons, and how it impacts Callie’s work. That said, accreditation is a good direction.
E. Team Building exercise with Ilene Rogensack? Ilene can tailor her exercises to our wants and needs. Board members are encouraged to provide ideas to Dan. Dan will send our e mail request.
5. Operating Plan (Joe and Tina) – The signs section of the OP needs some COVID mitigation messaging. Tina will create, Joe will pull those signs from the MDP and include them in the OP. Joe intends to submit this document to the USFS on 14 September, a month before its due date.
6. Trail work summary and plans (Lynea): Dan and Joe acknowledged Lynea’s early vision that we did not need to hire expensive pro sawyers to accomplish the extensive trail clearing. The volunteer work has been fun and community building with about 30 members involved. All ski trails are now cleared and several trails, such as Summit and Outer Limits, have been significantly improved by removing older dead fall and cutting stumps. Next will be the Skyway snowshoe trail clearing, then blue post and new sign install, along with brush cutting. The trails are in great shape thanks to an active, involved, caring Nordic community. Caryl described the volunteer t-shirts that will include her unique art on the front and a GMNC volunteer message on the back. The t-shirts are of a higher quality.
* Social media guidelines acceptance vote was accomplished via email. Ex-board member Jodi Peterson made a motion to adopt the guidelines, Tina seconded. It was passed unanimously on 3 September. Thank you to Jodi for writing these guidelines and all the valuable work on the GMNC Board. Nobody edits written documents better than Jodi!
The meeting adjourned at 8:10PM.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for October 14, 2020 6:00PM.
Addendum: Board meeting was held on 19 September 9-10AM at Skyway
- New website vision and discussion
- Ilene Roggensack guidance- we will hire her to give us one session on how to best choose Board members
- Voted Winslow on the Board