PRESENT: Everett Beuerman, Jean Beuerman, Steve Beuerman, Mark Blair, Bob Cooley, Nick Corsano, Evan Custer, Steve Gregg, Vladimir Gusiatnikov, Hannu Haarma, Marsha Jacobs, Jeff Lanam, Robert Lewis, Nancy Lindeman, George Minarik, Syd Reader, Carl Reisinger, Chuck Spalding, Ian Tidswell, Abby Wolfe
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the Allen Center for Integrated Systems at Stanford University. Nick Corsano volunteered to take minutes in the absence of the Secretary.
1. Approval of June meeting minutes - Abby Wolfe
Minutes of the 6/3/2002 meeting were approved as published.
2. President's Report - Abby Wolfe
On the question of whether BAOC is eligible for 501c(3) status, Abby reported that Treasurer George Minarik felt that the club did not legitimately qualify, that Kevin Schoenfeld, who is a CPA, agreed, and that Meg Gerstner, an attorney, was investigating further and would check with other clubs which had received this status. A group had met to discuss membership incentives, and Ian Tidswell would report later. Abby had not yet compiled the club policy manual, but promised that she would do it.
3. Mapping Report - Bob Cooley
The Fallen Leaf Lake map has been completed by Zoran Krivokapic. Bob said that the map had been very carefully done (it has 2000 boulders), and would be good for the 2003 US Champs/World Ranking Event. The map had needed significant rework. Hannu Haarma, course-setter for the WRE, stated that he had found the work of the original mapper unacceptable. He expects to use about 2/3 of the mapped area for the 2004 event, leaving enough terrain for a later 1-day A meet. Other current mapping projects: Russell Green has mapped Skyline Open Space Preserve, which is being used this month for the Montebello meet; Zoran is starting on the Presidio; Bob will work on Vasona Lake in Los Gatos (suitable for White/Yellow) this winter; Briones is pretty much done. Mark Blair said that he will have Las Trampas converted to OCAD in time for November's Golden Goat, and then will do Indian Valley. This will leave the Forest of Nisene Marks as BAOC's last offset-printed map. Bob has a base map of northern Joe Grant, about 24 sq km. This is a possible site for a 2004 A meet. Finally, there was discussion of printers and print technology, including observations about the use at APOC2002 of laser-printed maps on Teslin paper.
4. Treasurer's Report - George Minarik
George handed out year-to-date budget, event income, and event entries reports. He noted that the club's bank balance has slipped below $4000, due to the fact that expenses are coming in earlier than in past years. He predicted that the club would spend about the same amount as last year on mapping, about $26,000. He referred to the fact that the Board last month approved by an email vote an overspending of the mapping budget by $6000, primarily to cover the extra cost of Fallen Leaf Lake. He thought an additional, smaller over-spending for mapping might need to be authorized, and that both the Bulletin and social budgets would need to be extended. George estimated that income for the year would meet or slightly exceed the budget estimate, and recommended that everyone watch their expenses for the rest of the year. After discussion of the cost of publishing the year's final Bulletin, a motion was made and passed to authorize an over-spending of $500.
5. Holiday Social - Abby Wolfe for Olivia Graeve
The Board had previously decided to hold the annual holiday social at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland, with a Night-O' event. In view of the expense involved in renting the facility there ($540), alternatives were discussed. When Syd Reader said that the room at Stanford was available, and that he could set courses, the consensus of the Board was to move the social and meet to Stanford, on the date scheduled. A motion was made and passed to authorize an over- spending of $400 for the social budget.
6. Event Coordinator's Report - Evan Custer
Only one event this year is still questionable, Shell Ridge on December 1. The original event director has moved out of the area. Evan will cancel the meet if he doesn't find a new director by the end of September. In 2003, the schedule through March is pretty firm. There is a possibility of holding a 3-day A meet over Memorial Day weekend at Lake Tahoe, using Burton Creek and Spooner Lake. For the US Champs in September, there was discussion of the fee to be charged. A motion was made to set the fee at $25 per day. The motion passed with 6 votes in favor, 1 opposed, and 6 abstaining. Evan then reviewed the facilities and services provided by Camp Concord, which will be the event center. There will be a model event on Friday afternoon. National Orienteering Day 2003 was discussed. Many people thought a South Bay venue was very important, as well as having convenient follow-up events.
7. Almaden Quicksilver A meet - Evan Custer for Kelly Wells
Currently the plan is to have advanced course runners shuttled to the start both days - hiring of buses is a possibility. The dinner was discussed. It is likely the dinner will cost the club money, but in view of the effort involved in arranging it, the consensus was to leave the decision on going ahead with it to the meet director and social director, with input from the president.
8. 2004 A Meet Proposal - Vladimir Gusiatnikov
Vlad suggested that the club consider an A meet in 2004 where one day will be an ultra-short format, with expected winning times of 12- 15 minutes, in a venue like Golden Gate Park. The second day would be a classic distance event. The goals would be promotion for the sport and a fun experience for the competitors.
9. Tahoe Big Blue Adventure Race - Ian Tidswell
Tahoe Big Blue is a new adventure race. The director contacted BAOC over the summer to solicit assistance with the orienteering segment of the race. Ian volunteered to consult with him. He has directed his efforts to "rubbing off the worst edges" of the O' segment, to try to make it a more fair competition. They estimate about 300 participants, and expect a lot of good publicity. Ian feels that the club has a lot to gain by building a relationship with the adventure racing community.
10. Senior Training Grant - Steve Gregg
As authorized by the Board at the June meeting, Steve headed up a committee to work out the details of a grant program for BAOC orienteers who have reached or are approaching elite status. He modeled the guidelines and application form on those in use for the Junior Training Grant program. It was suggested that the writeup say how much money is available through the program, and that the name be changed to "Elite Training Grant".
11. Membership Incentives - Ian Tidswell
A committee composed of Ian Tidswell, Steve Beuerman, Abby Wolfe, Scott Aster, Evan Custer and Gary Kraght met to evaluate the club's membership strategy. They identified two categories to focus on attracting as members: youth groups, and active intermediate/advances orienteers. Ian and the junior director will brainstorm ways to make a youth group membership beneficial to Scout troops and other groups. The committee suggests that a "new member kit" be developed. There were many ideas on the possible contents of such a kit, including old maps, a schedule, discount coupons, etc. The membership director reported that his statistics show that about half the people who join the club do not renew.
12. Directors' Reports
Registration (Jean and Ev Beuerman): Left over "O in the Oaks" t- shirts have been given to Gavin Wyatt-Mair for Scout O'.
E-punch (Robert Lewis): E-punch staffing has been arranged for the rest of the A and B meets this year. Robert is installing shields on e- punch units that should prevent cell phone interference.
Juniors (Nick Corsano): Nick is preparing a survey for members who have checked off "Youth Activities" on their registration in order to develop a pool of resources.
Event Quality (Ian Tidswell): Ian has been contacting event directors and course setters to make sure that vetting is being done.
Publicity (Nancy Lindeman): Nancy passed around an article from the Contra Costa Times.
Bulletin (Jeff Lanam): Jeff reported that the cost of the Bulletin had increased, due both to postage and to an increase in the size of the last two issues from 11 sheets to 12. He was considering dropping the tabulated results, but many other Board members considered that a valuable feature. Marsha Jacobs suggested that event writeups should be limited to one page. Jeff concurred, and said that worked out to about 500 words. He has boxes of last year's Bulletins - they will be recycled soon.
Web site: There was considerable discussion about the importance of timely posting of announcements and results on the web site.
Outreach (Abby Wolfe for Scott Aster): Scott is working with an East Bay group for a team-building exercise, and with an East Bay home-school group.
13. New Business
Budget Committee: George Minarik will be convening a meeting of the 2003 Budget Committee. The Treasurer, President, Event Director and Mapping Director serve on the committee. George invited other interested people to join. Ian Tidswell volunteered to participate.
Service Award: Ev and Jean Beuerman will post an announcement on the BayOnet for nominations, and will coordinate a meeting of the previous recipients to choose this year's.
14. Next Meeting
Next meeting: Set for Monday, December 9 in Oakland.
15. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 9:55.