Villages Hiking Club Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 25, 2024, Forum Room, Cribari
Call to Order: President, Bob Bogdanoff, called the board meeting to order at 9:32am with the following Board Members attending in person: President– Bob Bogdanoff; VPs Social – Bibi Bruce & Linda Arbaugh; Treasurer– Bert Tang; Secretary – Cheryl Allmen; VP Hiking & Trails – Gordon Carbonetti and, also VP Membership & Website – Jim Beyer, interactive via cellphone.
Reports
Secretary – Cheryl reported November 2023 General and Board meeting minutes had been submitted to the Board members via email and included in the Club’s website. Gordon moved and Bob seconded a motion to approve both minutes. Motion approved.
Treasurer – Bert and Gordon presented the balances of both the November & December 2023 statements as follows: Hills budget status remains unchanged for both months: $2,715.89. The General Budget for November 2023: $2,921.14. Attachment 1. December 2023 ended up: $3,238.67. Attachment 2. Gordon moved and Bob seconded a motion to approve the November and December 2023 fiscal reports. Motion approved. It was also announced that all 12 of the donations totaling $1200 to the associations, foundations and clubs had been cashed. To date the Club had received 3 thank you notes for the donations received.
Bert also gave out a revised Club Expense Reimbursement Form so that payment requests are itemized and recorded accurately and similar to other Villages’ clubs forms. He also has requested copies of check receipts from the VMA to increase accuracy of the Club’s fiscal records. Within the next month, Bert plans to create a 2024 budget based on prior expenses, activities and inflation costs since COVID stopped a current budget processing for several years since many activities were eliminated to protect member’s health. He indicated he will share it with the Board members for review and discussion before a final one is approved.
Additionally, Bert asked Jim to send copies of the following to ensure accuracy of the fiscal records: #1-list of members that were sent the $7 Club membership dues in their January HOA bills, #2-list of new members joining the Club this last month, and #3-the number of individuals requesting refunds after deciding to close their Club membership.
After visiting US Bank, Bert and Gordon indicated that in the future, the bank requires a paper copy of our November General meeting minutes which announces the election results for the next calendar year including identifying the new and departing treasurers so that new signatures are added to our account and the departing treasurer’ signature is removed. This will be noted in the Secretary’s recordkeeping.
VP Membership & Website – Jim via phone reported our membership currently totals 337 individuals including 10 new members: Ned Hales, Sabrina Malcolmson, Nancy Mori, Penny Ortega, Abe Chen, Sarah Yang, Mary Cruz, Rudy Cruz, Eileen Skinner and Ken Kupperberg.
Jim also reported the Club’s website continues to be up-to-date.
VP Hiking & Trails – Gordon shared that he continues to interact with Guy, Katy and Sy to organize and locate leaders for the various Rambler and Rambler Lite hiking activities. He reminds all leaders to complete descriptive information and submit hiking articles for inclusion in The Villager by 4pm on Thursdays for the next week’s Friday publication of upcoming hikes. He is now investigating the Spring 2024 Overnight location possibilities and so far has received ideas including Sacramento, American River, and Placerville. More details coming soon. Since the Club picks ‘better weather’ timeframes for these 3-day adventures, Cheryl mentioned the possibility to select dates that don’t coincide with the Spring Village Voices Concerts scheduled for May 1 rehearsal with concerts on May 2 and 5, 2024.
Gordon announced that he’s tabulating the 2022-23 hill trail logs and is missing January –May documentations. So far 3,200 have hiked the hills trails (mostly 3 trails and Rawhide is most popular) although not everyone signs in at the trail head or at the top of the mountain. Approximately 1/3 have made it to the top.
VP Social – Bibi & Linda announced the February 8th White Elephant and Soup Supper and indicated a clipboard will be passed around at the January 29th General Meeting for appetizers and dessert signups along with reminding everyone to bring their own dinnerware, utensils, and BYOB. They also mentioned the revised 2024 schedule that eliminates the previous Variety Night and Summer BBQ since there is a lot of additional vacations and activities with other clubs/groups during those timeframes. They also emphasized some updated/new activities including Safari Dinner, the first Villages progressive dinner, scheduled for April 20th and the End of the Summer calendared for September 19th with possibility of hiring a special addition such as a special mariachi band entertainment.
President – Bob shared that 3 new members signed up on line at this week’s New Resident Orientation coordinated by himself and Lucy. He also discussed the findings from the January 2024 survey emailed to the membership twice with a total of 54 returns. He indicated he plans to share the survey results and discuss with the membership some of the most popular findings and recommendations. It was important to note how appreciative the members are of the Board leadership and those that volunteer to make the activities so enjoyable.
He also reported that hill signs should be repaired/replaced starting around the middle of February. Since the Villages requested budget worksheets from the Clubs, he submitted the following most important items: improve fire safety, water availability, walker safety particularly on our main Villages roads, hill land replacement/updates, you are here identification, and conference multiple locks.
Next Meetings–General Meetings: Monday, January 29, 2024 at 7:00pm Foothill Center, Easy Tips to Increase Your Longevity – Jane Rowan; Monday, February 26, 2024, 7:00pm Foothill Center, Andrea MacKenzie, GM, Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve; Monday March 25, 2024, 7:00pm Foothill Center, Nancy Hooton, Helicopter Hiking.
Board Meeting: Thursday February 22nd, 9:30-10:30am, Forum Room, Cribari.
Meeting Adjourned at 11:44am.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Allmen
Cheryl Allmen, Secretary
Attachments 1 and 2