Matthias Kohler and Dan Greene compare strategies on the Red course at Big Basin 9/21/01 (Photo: Tony Pinkham)

BAOC Board Meeting Minutes

Date: (Tue.) Jun. 16, 2009
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Event Directors: - 650.906.9672, - 650.248.9595
Type: Quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors -- 7:00-10:00 PM; pizza will be available at 6:30 -- All club members are welcome


Approved minutes of the June 16, 2009 board meeting – Trinka Gillis, BAOC Secretary


The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by President Nick Corsano.

Present were Jim Fish, Steve Haas, Esther Heller, Kelly Wells, Rex Winterbottom, Jeff Lanam, Jay Hann, Mathias Kohler, Nancy Lindeman, Rosemary Johnson, Nick Corsano, Trinka Gillis, Bob Cooley, Mark Blair, George Minarik, Chuck Spalding.

1. Approval of Minutes – Nick Corsano

The March 10, 2009 meeting minutes were approved with one change. Per Nick Corsano, in item eight, add that the fee per start is $0.60 this year and $1 next year. Approved as amended.

2. Email Votes – Trinka Gillis

An email vote was held to approve the nomination of the incumbent slate of officers. The motion passed.

3. President’s Report – Nick Corsano

BAOC held the Annual General Meeting at Sunol in April, and re-elected the incumbent officers. The club held a successful A-Meet and US Team Trials at Boggs Mountain. The club received praise for the event, and Nick congratulated the Event Directors, Course Setters and all who helped out.

Nick is impressed with the new USOF Executive Director, whom he spoke with by phone.

BAOC has named our delegates to the USOF General Meeting: Jim Fish, Nancy Lindeman, Steve Gregg, Dan Greene, and George Minarik.

There is 60% chance that we will be able to hold an orienteering meet at Moffett in late July or August. Negotiations are continuing.

BAOC is planning to hold a Trail-O series this summer and fall. Demo courses are scheduled at China Camp, Tamarancho, Montebello, and Calero.

Due to the California budget crisis, some State Parks may be closed as of September first.

4. Event Coordinator’s Report – Alex Finch

(Report submitted by email.)

To help prepare club members for the 2009 Trail-o Champs at Vasquez Rocks in December, we will be putting on a series of short trail-o demonstration courses at some of our existing meets. There should be an announcement by the end of the month.

Peter Graube and Nick Corsano have been working very hard to try to get the details squared away for a meet at Moffett Field. We will announce a pending event as soon as we have a date. If it happens, it will be July or August.

5.Treasurer’s Report – Steve Beuerman

(Report submitted by email.)

We have $47,881.92 in the bank.

George Minarik and the committee have been working on an agreement with Terraloco/GL for the sprint week that I have been a part of. The proposal is that the A-meet will be 100% BAOC and the sprint week will be put on by Terraloco/Get Lost with BAOC support in exchange for a small percentage of the net, after typical meet expenses (similar to the Night and Day agreement with Meridian Geographics). The proposal also contains wording to cover everyone's concerns from the committee discussions.

6. Agreement for Golden Gate Getaway – George Minarik

The proposed Golden Gate Getaway will be a nine-day orienteering festival held this fall. The first two days will be the BAOC A-meet at Pacheco, November 7–8, 100% sponsored by BAOC. Mid-week, Terraoloco/Get Lost will hold informal training sessions, with the North American Sprint Series Finals the following weekend.

Agreement between BAOC and Terraloco for production of The Golden Gate Getaway:

Terraloco and BAOC will co-produce the 2009 Golden Gate Getaway Sprint Finals. BAOC retains 20% of the net proceeds (receipts minus expenses). Expenses do not include the development of new maps or long-term equipment purchases. This will be consistent with the share of the work performed by BAOC (see below). If the event suffers a loss, Terraloco will bear the burden of that loss.
All preregistration checks will be payable to BAOC. Periodically during preregistration, BAOC will send Terraloco a check for the amount collected for the Sprint Finals. After preregistration ends, BAOC will send Terraloco a check for the remaining amount of preregistration funds collected for the Sprint Finals. Terraloco will collect and retain any day-of-event entry fees. This includes recreational events.
BAOC will provide pre-registration, the use of BAOC-owned maps of Bayfront Park, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Oyster Bay, Joaquin Miller Park, and the Presidio, and some equipment (epunch equipment, rental e-sticks, and possibly some other items). BAOC members may be recruited as volunteers.
Terraloco will be responsible for all other event production tasks, including course design and vetting, starts, finishes, results, map development other than those listed above, map printing of all maps, publicity, website, sponsor solicitation, permits, liability insurance, prizes and awards, registration, bookkeeping, event program, and volunteer recruitment.
Within 3 weeks after the event, Terraloco will submit a profit/loss statement for the event to the BAOC Treasurer, along with a check for BAOC's 20% share of the proceeds.

A motion was moved and seconded that we adopt the proposal as revised by George Minarik, with removal of Get Lost!. The motion passed.

7. Update from JWOC Task Force – Nick Corsano

The JWOC Task Force is in the process of deciding whether it is a good undertaking for BAOC to submit a bid for the 2013 Junior World Orienteering Championship. The task force will present a recommendation to the board at the September board meeting. If the board agrees to proceed with the bid, we would present our bid to USOF who would submit it to the IOF.

At Bogg’s Mountain, the task force met to discuss the proposal. About 30 people attended. Nearly everyone present was willing to help with the event.

Later in May, the task force held a call with Glen Schorr, the Executive Director of USOF. Glen was the Marketing Director at USA Lacrosse before coming to USOF. Supporting an international event is within the scope of his responsiblitiies.

He will help the task force put together a marketing strategy after the USOF meeting in July. BAOC also has a contact at a small marketing firm in the North Bay.

Scott Aster received a favorable response from the permitting person in Tahoe National Forest, obtained a permit application, and the National Forest Service org chart, in case he needs to escalate the permitting issue.

Bob Cooley has suggested other possible places to map in that area.

The Task Force has made contact with Northstar, the potential event headquarters, and obtained reports from the last two JWOCs.

Some people are concerned that the last two JWOC events have served alcohol at the event banquet, but in the U.S., the drinking age is higher than in those countries.

8. Mapping Report – Bob Cooley

BAOC is planning to hold a low-key event in the Tahoe National Forest in August, using a Google/USGS map, to test whether we are able to get a permit to hold an event there.

Zherdev is here now, cleaning the Northstar map in preparation for JWOC-related events. Bob will be fixing the Presidio and Knowland maps.

In order to get the JWOC maps ready in time, Bob needs to get the Lidar flown before the snow falls. This will be a Lidar map, which is higher quality, shows contours, and requires less labor. Bob hopes never to get an old programmatic basemap again.

For historical interest, the first A-meet in northern California was held in Dog Valley by the University of Nevada Reno ROTC in the late 70’s. This is near the area we will be mapping for JWOC.

9. A-Meet Committee Proposal – George Minarik

The A-meet committee has decided to only hold one A-meet in 2010. During the summer, there are already many A-meets being held in the western states. Instead, we will hold a Fall meet at Bogg’s Mountain, which has a lot of lightly-used terrain. The A-meet will be October 1–2, 2010, with a sprint, middle-distance, long-distance, and possibly a night-o event.

A motion was moved and seconded to approve the proposal for an A-meet at Boggs Mountain October 1–2, 2010. The motion passed.

It was suggested that we add more social events to the weekend, and that the Juniors put on the Saturday night dinner as a fundraiser.

Pacheco Pass course setters are Dan Greene, Derek Maclean, Toby Ferguson, and Alex Finch.

10. COOL Events at A-Meets – Jay Hann

COOL events have begun piggy-backing on regular B-meets, and Jay Hann wondered if they could hold a COOL meet at the Pacheco A-meet, or perhaps invite other West Coast Junior leagues and hold a Western Interscholastic Championship. Perhaps they could also hold a meet at Vasquez Rocks.

11. Club Event Fees – Nick Corsano

The USOF fee per start is increasing from $0.25 in 2008, to $0.60 this year, to $1.00 in 2010. If we are going to raise our fees, we need to do it in the fall in order to be more accurate with our budget for the following year.

Nick Corsano has asked Ev and Jean Beuerman to lead a task force on event fees. The club will also be conducting a survey of members. One topic will be to find out how members feel about fees.

A motion was moved and seconded to set up a taskforce to study our event fees and make a recommendation to the board in September. The motion passes.

Discussion:

It was suggested that raising fees in the middle of a recession is not a good idea.
Some members would like more clarity in different type of event fees, second course, etc...
Meet directors have a lot of latitude in determining event fees.
It was suggested that volunteers earn a five-event pass in return for serving as Event Director or Course Setter.

12. Survey Plans – Trinka Gillis

The club will be conducting a survey of club members to find out club members opinions on subjects such as:

Why do people become members?
What should be the price of an orienteering event?
Do people still want to receive the bulletin?
Why people do/do not volunteer.
Should the club offer more training?
How far are people willing to travel to an event?

13. USOF Bylaws Proposals – Rosemary Johnson

Three USOF bylaws changes will be voted on at the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

The first proposed change is to remove regional reps, elect all board members to three-year terms with one-third of the board members elected each year, and elect all officers to one-year terms. Officers will be selected indirectly by delegates at the AGM. The executive Vice President will be the successor to the President.

This change is suggested because most non-profit boards are smaller than USOF’s, at 19. A smaller board will more easily interface with the director, and the nine regional representatives, currently chosen by club members in that region, and some of whom don’t attend meetings, are the easiest positions to eliminate.
BAOC’s straw vote: 10-yes, 1-no

The second proposed change is to give only the board authority to appoint other administrative staff.

This caused concern because the Executive Director wouldn’t have authority to hire administrative staff, and would therefore have his/her hands tied.
BAOC’s vote: yes-10, no-1, abstain-1

The third proposed change was to give the authority to create or disband committees solely to the President.

Currently, any board member can form a committee, and there are over 50 committees. This change will mean that any committees not required by the bylaws can be disbanded by the President.
BAOC’s vote: yes-13, no-1

Two non-present members of the BAOC board expressed their vote by email. One voted for all the proposed changes, and the other member voted against.

14. Equipment Policy – Mark Blair

BAOC General-Purpose Equipment Policy

1. BAOC and its BAOC Board of Directors shall recognize two categories of equipment owned, maintained, and used by the club:

(1) electronic punching equipment that consists of all devices and accoutrements uniquely involved in electronic punching; and
(2) general-purpose equipment that consists of all other equipment owned, maintained, and used by the club.

2. The BAOC Equipment Director may appoint any number of primary equipment custodians. Each primary custodian shall be a member of BAOC and shall be responsible for the secure and orienteering-related use and custodianship of a portion of the general-purpose equipment assigned to him/her by the Equipment Director. The primary custodian shall carry out the following duties related to his/her assigned equipment and shall hold final authority in all decisions involved in those duties, unless otherwise noted:

A. Ensure that the assigned equipment is transferred among members of BAOC in a secure and timely fashion as it is needed by those members for use in local BAOC events.
B. Ensure that the assigned equipment, when used for any purpose other than a scheduled BAOC event,
(1) is used for a purpose that the primary custodian considers sufficiently orienteering-related to merit the use of BAOC-owned equipment for that purpose;
(2) is transferred directly from and to the primary custodian before and after its use for that purpose;
(3) is used in a manner that minimizes the risk of loss or damage of the equipment; and
(4) does not give rise to a conflict with any other use of that equipment within BAOC for any other purpose. If a conflict of this type does arise, then the primary custodian should consult the Equipment Director to propose an ad hoc arrangement for use of the equipment that shall be permitted if the Equipment Director approves.
C. Ensure that the assigned equipment, whenever transferred for use in a local event, is transferred in its entirety and never in part, unless expressly approved by the Equipment Director.
D. Ensure that the assigned equipment is available in a timely fashion in its entirety whenever it is needed for any scheduled BAOC event or activity which is not a local event, such as a national or international event in which BAOC plays a part. It was moved and seconded to adopt the general purpose equipment policy as written.

An amendment was moved and seconded to change "may" to "should" in section 2B4. The amendment passed.

An amendment was proposed to designate a junior equipment as a third type of equipment.

It was moved and seconded to refer the policy to committee and involve the affected directors. The motion passed.

15. Directors’ Reports

Bulletin – Jeff Lanam

The bulletin is going out at the beginning of next month.

Webmaster – Van Boughner

Chuck Spalding, speaking as Assistant Webmaster, would appreciate some guidance from the Board on how we want results to be presented on the Web site (and, by extension, on the BayONet and in the Bulletin).
There has been considerable discussion during the past couple of months between Chuck and Mark Blair about the presentation of results on the Web site. Mark wants complete details to be included for people who DNF. Chuck contends that there's no benefit to the participants when there is more than one or two errors (e.g., a person who quits knows what they did), and it could be discouraging to people (e.g., beginners) to have their problems displayed to the world.
The results for the Sunol event provide a dramatic example of what Chuck considers overkill. The results for the Indian Valley event provide an example of the proposed compromise approach (which Mark appears to have accepted).
Also, there has been a wider discussion about the distinction between "MSP" and "DNF". Some people contend that "MSP" is not useful when E-punch is used. Chuck points out that the USOF Rules still prescribe the use of "MSP", and that there is a difference between MSP and DNF to the competitor.
As an aside, Chuck points out that each year several Event Directors do not submit event write-ups for the Web site. He hasn't had time to look for them in issues of the Bulletin, but he suspects that write-ups are never done for some events.
Discussion:
Show one missed control
Show all or nothing
Jeff Lanam prefers no adornments for the purpose of the bulletin
Mark created an automatically-generated note describing where an accidentally-punched control was located in relation to the correct control.

16. New Business – Nick Corsano

The tentative next board meeting date is Monday, September 14th, 2009, in Menlo Park.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:03 PM.

Minutes: Trinka Gillis, BAOC Secretary
Approved, September 14, 2009