by Meg Gerstner, Secretary
PRESENT: Scott Aster, Everett Beuerman, Jean Beuerman, Mark Blair, Bob Cooley, Nick Corsano, Evan Custer, Harold DeMoss, Meg Gerstner, Steve Gregg, Rosemary Johnson, George Minarik
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Scott Aster
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the Alta Bates Imaging Center. The minutes of the March 1, 1999, board meeting were approved.
2. PRESIDENT'S REPORT - Scott Aster
Scott started his first meeting as president by saying that the club is in good condition, with good attendance at meets, including LAOC's Mt. Pinos meet which had more than 50 BAOC participants. He has two goals for his tenure: First, he would like to balance the needs of recreational orienteers with those of more competitive participants; and second, he would like to get more first-timers involved in the sport. These goals may be accomplished by continuing an aggressive mapping program and having more small meets intended for White and Yellow runners. An example of the latter was the meet held at Lake Elizabeth, which provided a good introduction to the sport and required less work than a traditional meet.
3. TREASURER'S REPORT - George Minarik
Income for the year is higher than anticipated due to high attendance, a large number of meets, good weather, and the increase in fees. We anticipate that this will continue. Expenses are holding the line, with use permits less than budgeted. The current bank balance is $16,344, and it is expected that the anticipated mapping expenses for Briones, Tamarancho, and other parks will be offset by the income from the A-meet scheduled for September. A brief discussion was held of some of the different requirements and costs of use permits in the Bay Area, many of which are higher than other places in the country.
4. EVENT COORDINATORS' REPORT - Harold DeMoss
Harold and Penny plan to entertain bids for the 2000 meet directors' positions starting in mid-August. It is hoped that an experienced meet director will be matched with a less experienced person. There will be no meet this year at Nisene Marks, but Syd Reader has agreed to direct a meet at Huddart in late summer, assuming that an acceptable date is available.
5. MAPPING DIRECTOR'S REPORT - Bob Cooley
Bob has ordered a base map of Skyline Open Space, on the west side of Skyline Drive, which will be suitable for white and yellow meets. The map of Burton Creek, to be used for the Sierra 2000 meets, is almost drawn and was checked by George Kirkov last summer. George is also working on the basemap of Tamarancho. A volunteer group, the "Friends of Tamarancho," has agreed to pay for the printing of this map, which will be used by the Boy Scouts. The Northstar map should be done by mid-July and then will be field-checked by George. Christian Frøyd did some work on Briones, but Bob may do additional work before the October meet. Magnus Wallenborg has been working on the Morgan Territory map, and it probably will be ready for a meet next year. It may be suitable for an A-meet in 2001. Bob is now looking for new areas to map, especially in Marin, the Peninsula, and the South Bay. Suggestions from the group included Sonoma State College campus, Henry Coe Park, and Fort Ord.
6. US CHAMPS UPDATE - Evan Custer
We have received the signed permit for Spooner Lake (signed by five different Nevada government officials), and expect the permit for the Forest Service land we will be using this month. There will be an ad in the July ONA, as well as an article, and flyers have been distributed at a number of A-meets, including the annual convention. Course setters will be Bob Cooley for Day 1 and Steve Smith for Day 2. Evan expects the field work to be done in July, the vetting to be done by Labor Day, and the printing of maps, etc., to be completed by mid-September. Contracts with the meet headquarters hotel and the site for the dinner have been signed. Crew chiefs for most jobs have been located. Evan will be looking into appropriate awards/medals. It was suggested that a volunteer group, e.g. Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, might want to have a food/concession stand at the event. Scott passed along comments he had been asked about the meet, including the cost (the $20 registration is less than that charged at the US Champs in Virginia) and possible events for campers.
7. CLUB DONATIONS - Scott Aster
In the past, the club has donated money to both the US team and to James Scarborough, BAOC's representative on the team, for the World Championships. A motion was passed to donate $500 to the US team, and $700 individually to James to help defray expenses.
8. SIERRA 2000 UPDATE - Evan Custer
A flyer concerning this event has been sent to Pacific Region USOF members and to the July ONA. The contract with Northstar (the event headquarters) has been signed. There will an A-meet on Wednesday, a mountain bike orienteering event on Thursday, a casual event on Friday, and a 2-day A-meet on the weekend. There also will be the full range of normal convention activities (e.g. training, speakers) during the event.
9. DIRECTORS' REPORTS
There were no reports or nothing to report for Publicity (Nancy Lindeman), Membership (Steve Beuerman), Technical (Joe Scarborough), Event Quality (Ian Tidswell), Social (Leslie Minarik), Webmaster (Aileen Abernathy), Bulletin (Stacy Goss), and USOF Liasion (Gary Kraght).
Outreach (Robert Lewis): Robert was not present, but Scott said that he would like to have a list of people willing to do activities with outside groups. Such activities are good publicity for the club and sometimes the volunteers are compensated.
Equipment (Mark Blair): 130 new controls with a blue stripe have been received. Fifty will be used with the competition stands, and the other 80 will be used to replace old controls. The old controls will be divided into two groups for East and South Bay training events. Mark is investigating relatively inexpensive, low power (0.5 watt) walkie-talkies for club use. Harold reminded meet directors that we have tents that can be used to provide shade, as well as protection from rain.
Juniors (Nick Corsano): Nick would like to have a list of club members willing to work with schools, scouts, and other groups of youngsters. The goal is to have a more systematic approach to dealing with requests from teachers and other groups who request orienteering instruction/assistance. It was observed that there are a number of juniors who show promise and it may be appropriate to participate in the junior club championship at the US Champs. George will investigate this. Evan suggested that Nick and George could send letters to juniors encouraging them to participate in the US Champs and other meets.
Permits (Rosemary Johnson): Rosemary has obtained all necessary permits for meets up to October.
Training (Steve Gregg): Steve commented that the Wednesday night training sessions in the East Bay have had relatively low attendance compared to South Bay sessions. This is probably due to traffic. Harold passed along a suggestion from Penny that we hold Saturday afternoon/evening training sessions on weekends when there are not Sunday meets. These could be followed by a social event (e.g. a picnic or pizza).
Registration (Ev and Jean Beuerman): We need more club T-shirts, and they will be ordered. Mark will purchase additional staplers for the equipment kits to avoid the losses from the registration materials.
10. MENTORING - Scott Aster
Scott would like to institute a mentoring program in order to help intermediate orienteers learn. At the Spring Lake meet, Neal Barlow has volunteered to take people on the orange course and provide a leg-by-leg critique. Past attempts at mentoring produced many willing mentors, but few willing "mentorees," so Scott would like to encourage those interested to participate. In addition, we should have an official host (or greeter) at each meet to welcome orienteers and encourage new participants to return.
11. NEXT BOD MEETING - Scott Aster
The next meeting will be Monday, September 13, 1999, at Stanford University. The meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm.