19 November 2008 Meeting Minutes

SKI BUDDIES Planning Meeting Minutes: 19 November 2008
Address: Ski Buddies; P.O. BOX 20003; Seattle, WA 98102

Attendees
Ray Deardorf, Vince Chau, Stuart Stoddard, Cathy Jessup, Mark Pollock, Bud Wright, Steve Wegener, Ray Blocknia, Chris Turcotte, Tom Rowan, Carl Wilson, & Greg Snider met at Ray’s place for our fourth planning meeting of the 2008-9 winter sport season. Thanks for hosting the meeting, Ray.

Agenda:
• Potlucks
• Newsletter
• Website
• Publicity
• Membership
• Officer/Volunteer credits
• Treasurer’s Report
• New season trips
• Next Planning Meeting

Potlucks
• Second potluck at Mt. Baker Community Center 11/16: lighter turnout of 53 folks. Some folks showed up the previous week since this was the 3rd instead of 2nd weekend.
• Quite a few new folks – including some from the “Purr” night out.
• Future dates have been reserved for: December 14; January 11; February 8. Jan & Feb in the smaller upstairs room.
• Tom will be at Manning January 11 so he’s looking for a volunteer to run the potluck that day.

Newsletter:
• The newsletter is totally electronic this year (posted on the website), with 1-page reminders in November to the “expanded membership + others” list, but cut back to members-only in December mailing.
• Carl did the October 1-page mailer before the potluck, including potluck dates and the list of scheduled trips. Feedback is we like it and it saved us a bunch of money. Good job, Carl!

Website:
• Some members are not getting the daily notifications from the website when something new is posted (e.g., the announcement for this planning mtg was sent out 11/12). Stuart suggests checking if your email is catching it as “Spam” and putting it in junk mail or returning them. Some email packages key off of “webmaster” in the address. He’s willing to help folks who are not getting the emails

Publicity:
• Second “Night Out at Purr” was Thursday, October 13th and it was very well attended. A lot of new folks actually were interested and came to the potluck. Steve & Ray will continue to coordinate with “Purr” for 12/11. Feedback is attendance there was because of “the Stranger” ad, however folks who signed up at the potluck said it was the website and not the ad that motivated them.
• Suggestion to change the hours next year from 7-10pm to 6-9pm and then we can take advantage of happy hour until 7pm.
• Steve suggests it would be nice to have a small (3’ x 2’) easel/sign or banner – since our other banner is so big. A banner is better since it can be rolled up. Chris to check into prices for next year.
• If we support the 2009 Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, it would be good to have a better graphic since the one this year was too small. Cathy says all Ski Buddies cards & brochures were picked up – so that’s a good sign our name is getting out there (& Chris said we had more printed than normal). Cathy will try and get the specs in advance so we know what we need for next year.

Membership:
• Our new season rates are: $25 (First year sign-up); $30 (Individual); $45 (Couple)
No comments from anyone about new rates.
• Vince reports we have 146 members this year – so we’re on track where we normally are about this time in the season.
• Beginning this year, only members go on trips: if you want to go on a trip, join the club.
• For specified trips with sister groups (like OutVentures), if they are members of the sister club they do not need to join our club also. This does not mean all trips are open to sister clubs with no membership fee to Ski Buddies. Sister club members still have to sign a liability release.

Officer/Volunteer Credits:
• The agreement for the year was that president, treasurer, secretary, web-master, membership, potluck coordinators, and newsletter would continue to receive $200, while the remaining positions of vice-president & content updater receive $100 each.
• Chris wants to submit trip credits once – so we provide the details tonight.

Treasurer’s Report
• Chris reminds the trip leaders to make sure you check your list of trip participants against the current membership list (available from Vince) – since Chris keeps getting trip checks with no evidence of membership.
• Currently have about $12k in account with no outstanding balance on the credit card.
• With the Canadian exchange rate fluctuating, we will not be re-pricing trips due to the confusion over who paid what and subsequent refunding nightmares. Unless the refund becomes a significant amount, we will not start a precedent of refunding some portion to reflect a change in exchange rate. The preferred means of handling this will be to throw in some extras for folks on the trip (e.g., an apre’ ski party, extra food, etc.).
• Chris really wants to know of refunds and put them in the mail before the trip. Please let Ski Buddies and Chris know in advance that members are not going on a trip; no guaranteed refund if you miss the trip – unless it is for a major reason (e.g., a cold, missing the bus, etc. are not good enough excuses to get a refund after the fact).
• Member payments for trips aren’t considered payments until the payment can clear the bank. So be forewarned that a check that has to be held doesn’t even reserve a spot if someone has cash in hand.
• Chris to send Stuart the summary of the 2007-08 treasurer’s report - to post to the website in the members-only portion of the site.

New Season Trips (2009):
January:
? 1/2-4 Mission Ridge (Jeff Roberts): do it yourself trip; he will act as a coordinator for dinners, meeting times, etc.
? 1/9-12 Manning Provincial Park (Craig Mabie, Mark Pollock): about 80% full due to some cancellations (40 spaces total reserved). Easy 3-week cancellation fee if don’t need all the space.
? 1/11-18 Aspen Gay Ski Week (Shilpen Patel): One condo: we think it’s full. 7 days for $1100 + airfare; $90 lift tickets.
? 1/17-24 Austria (Gil Price) – Repeat of last year’s trip over MLK weekend; everything is already reserved.
? 1/24 Member Appreciation Crystal Bus Trip (Bud Wright) – $1450 for the bus (capacity 57);it costs a lot so price is at: $85/member & $70/new members. 25 folks have signed up and paid. Bud will check into getting a smaller bus.
? 1/30-2/1 Methow “Rendezvous Hut Trip” (Tom Rowan) - Reserved 4 huts, each sleeps 8-10 (book 6 per hut), in on Friday & out on Sunday. $85 haul (2-3 hours to get to hike). Have 18 folks signed up. If doesn’t fill at next potluck, may open it up to a joint trip with OutVentures.

February:
• 2/1-8: Gay Ski Week, Whistler (Shilpen Patel): same as usual. Lee working with Shilpen – since he’s coming up mid-week.
• 2/13-16: (Presidents Day Weekend: Fri-Mon) Methow Valley (Roy Vermillion): Total /person with 20 people=$220 each. New cabins just being completed, outside of Winthrop along the Methow River. 2 of the cabins include laundry facilities. All sleep 4. He has 16 out of 20 signed up.
• 2/20-22: Steven’s Pass Lodge 26th annual trip (Ray & Chris): annual trip; already full with 22 folks and an unofficial wait-list

March:
• 3/5-9: Red Mountain (Bud Wright): G&L ski week again, space reserved for 20; ~$600; 4 nights lodging at Ram’s Head Hotel; 3 days skiing; lots of events. 10 signed up and paid.
• 3/13-15: Mission Ridge (Mark): annual “do it yourself” ski trip. Mark still deciding whether or not he can lead; someone else can probably do the coordination.
• 3/19-22: Mt Hood Meadows (Steve Wegener) Hood River, OR, Vagabond Inn. Over 30 people signed up; 10 paid so far. 2 days of skiing (tickets are buy one, get one free), lots of flexibility. Less options than last year so less problems.
• 3/27-29: Scottish Lakes (Tim Byrne): Fri-Sun, same as last year, $240, will probably do with OutVentures, but offer to Ski Buddies first. Reservations made but won’t know rates until October when they do their business cycle. We rent the whole place (35 is break-even attendance), we only have 14 signed up.

April:
• 4/3-7: Mt. Bachelor (Shane Balleweg): One house; Friday to Tuesday; space for 8-10?

Banquet
• Easter Sunday, April 12, Bud to determine a location. An annual thing on Easter – since it was very well attended.

Next Planning Meeting:
The next planning meeting is scheduled for 7pm Wednesday, 12/17 at Vince & Stuart's place - centrally located on Capitol Hill at 429 Federal Avenue E, Seattle, WA 98102. If you get lost, call (206) 910-2019.
Greg takes the action to post an announcement via website around December 10 - reminding folks it’s meeting time again.

2008-9 Ski Buddies Officers and Volunteers:
? President: Mark Pollock
? Vice President: Cathy Jessup
? Secretary: Greg Snider
? Treasurer: Chris Turcotte
? Membership: Vincent Chau
? Newsletter: Carl Wilson
? Publicity: Fred Grant & committee
? Web Master: Stuart Stoddard
? Potluck Coordinator: Tom Rowan
? Trip Leader Coordinator: Chris Turcotte
? Banquet Coordinator: Bud Wright
? Pride Coordinator: open