MWBA Board Meeting Minutes: October 3, 2019

Original PDF version of October 3, 2019 MWBA Board Meeting Minutes.

BOARD PRESENT: Shamane Morejon, Andrew Hunter, Alex Fore, David Cho, Colin Frazer, Jon Buckell, Jason Chiodo, Bart Bombay

GUEST PRESENT: Erik Hillard, Liz Miller, Rob Praetorian

ABSENT: None

Meeting commenced at 7:15pm, and adjourned at 9:15pm

Updates

• Thank-you card signing.
• Discussed briefly the forming of committees. Discussed that we should form committees with core people, and then add more people later as appropriate, with vetting for anyone that is not already known to us.
  [See later in the minutes the actual committee formations.]
• Expenditures discussion (for committees and individuals)
  • There shall be limits on what can be spent without explicit approval.
  • $500 limit for tools committee
  • Lower limit for all others [we discussed $50 or $100, but didn’t actually decide this limit]
  • When spending more than limit, an approval is required from a finance officer (Andrew or Shamane)
• Communications
  • Slack not always easy – some things get lost.
    • We especially want to follow up when people have communications concerns
    • If anyone has concerns, please speak up. We are all still learning, and we will make mistakes. Easier to fix our mistakes if we know about them. :)
  • We will need to send out info about Women’s Dig Day
  • Aish will help some on communications
• Contact info
  • We invite all of us on Slack to put our contact info (phone) in the Slack profile (click upper right, click on self, edit)
• Accuracy in posts, some mistakes recently
• Protocol for board email decisions
• “[email protected]” email
  • We should remove this from accounts (reduce flood of emails)
  • Use it only for forwarding
• Corona tools – possible sponsor/donation
• Treasurer update
  • Andrew is setting up an extended review of finances
  • Currently $15K in account
  • Invoice on Gabrielino grant has been submitted to USFS
  • Andrew had $203 in expenses (details listed to meeting).  Approved by general consensus.
  • Note: Expense reimbursement request form is on the drive.
    • Receipts handling is an action item for Scott
  • Reimbursements through Zelle or check are available.
• Membership/Media update
  • Jason, Shamane, Rob, Erik, Aish all participating (thanks!)
  • Rob is leading this committee
  • Colin to help by contributing still photos
  • Committee is in process of setting up specific roles & responsibilities
    • e.g., trail work communications
    • figuring out who is best in each role, and what people want to do
  • Setting up logins & access for media accounts.
    • Making update on Facebook page permissions
  • Researching what are the good ways for us to communicate about workdays.
  • Maybe creating a discussion forum for MWBA  – maybe as a widget on web site?
  • How to best share photos? drop box? FB posts? Gallery section on web site?
• Finance/Fundraising update
  • Need to submit for NFWF hours
  • Maybe create a team for seeking grants?
• Trailwork update
  • El Prieto project is approved to begin in the rainy season. Working on the corner in January.
  • Documents are on the drive
  • Next workdays are October 6th and October 20th
    • Maybe sandwhiches from Romas?
  • Sponsorships for lunches?
    • Mt Waterman?
    • Bike shops?
  • Hans’ work donation on Waterman will be counted as professional time donation, and acknowledged in donation thank you letter to him (and he can deduct on taxes).
• NICA trail work day
  • High school teams will join us to work on the trails
  • Contact: John Grace
  • Date = Nov 10th ?
  • Trail = Brown Mountain Trail ?
  • details TBD
  • Andrew and Alex are contact points
• Women’s Dig Day
  • Tentatively Lowelifes Responsible Citizens Club (LRCC) to organize, with MWBA helping. 
  • More details to be determined
• Are we scheduling too many work days?
  • Lot’s going on now
  • We need to be careful to avoid burnout
  • Risk promising too much and under delivering, which would be bad for club reputation and relationship with members, USFS, etc.
  • We will keep this in mind.
• PBS wants to film us doing trail work next Tuesday
  • Carter to organize
• Splitting tools storage
  • For insurance reasons, we need to split the tools in two locations
  • Delegate to Trails/Tools committee

New business & Committees formation

• Formally set meetings for 1st Thursdays 7pm going forward?
  • Motioned by Shamane
  • Seconded by Bart
  • Unanimously approved
• Committees definitions
  • Definition: Advisory committees cannot act on behalf of the board
  • Definition: Ad-hoc committees are temporary
  • Alex proposed that we might organize committees by {internal, external, trailwork}
    • pros and cons were discussed
    • considered an org chart archtecture
      • would have subcommittees
    • assigning responsibilities on specific people helps get things done
    • delegating to volunteers also helpful
  • Colin asked if we should seek professional advice on our organization?
  • What do we want to see for the future of MWBA?
    • How should we develop our vision?
• Waterman: remainder of trails
  • David to submit the remainder of proposed trails at Waterman for USFS approval
  • Once approved, we can work on them in future according to resources/priorities/schedule
• Media/Membership leadership
  • Jason motions that Rob shall be chair of MMM committee
  • David seconds
  • Approved unanimously
• Grant writing
  • Should we be writing grants?
  • Do we even need grants very much?
  • The Gabrielino grant just started this year.
    • Lots of work to do for Gabrielino grant.
    • Justin has offered to sit with us and help us know how to invoice on the Gab grant.
• Committees formation
  • Sponsorship committee
    • Colin + Jon + Carter
    • Chair: Carter
  • Finance & Compliance committee
    • Andrew + Alex
    • Chair: Andrew
  • Media/Membership/Marketing committee
    • Jason + Shamane + Rob
    • Chair: Rob
  • Trailwork & Tools committee
    • David + Alex + Bart
    • Chair: Alex
  • Voting on above committee formations
    • Bart repeated [above] and motioned to approve as described [above]
    • Andrew seconded
    • Unanimously approved
• Meeting adjournment
  • Bart motioned adjournment
  • Andrew seconded
  • Unanimously approved
  • Adjourned at 9:15pm

November Meeting

Date: November 7^th 2019, 7pm