Board Meeting Minutes 21-Oct-2021
1. Called to Order: 9:33am by President Al Girolami in the Patio Room at Cribari
2. Attending Board Members:
President – Al Girolami VP Social – Michelle Breslin
VP Membership & Website – Jim Beyer Treasurer – Sandy Petrin
Secretary – Gordon Carbonetti VP Hiking & Trails – Dan Kato (temp)
Also Attending: Bob Bogdanoff, Sy Gellman
3. Reports
Secretary – GORDON CARBONETTI
· Gordon presented the minutes for the September 23, 2021 Board Meeting and made a motion to approve them with a second by Jim Beyer. The approval motion passed unanimously.
· Gordon presented a hardcopy draft of the HC Events for 2022 and asked for feedback before the next meeting. It was suggested to re-sort the meeting groups to the following order: Social Events, GM Mtgs, Board Mtgs.
Treasurer – SANDY PETRIN
September 2021 Hiking Club General Fund
Beginning balance as of August 31, 2021 $3,606.22
Income – Membership Dues (Terri Gavens, Kime Kim Tiger, Ling Yu) $21.00
Income – Villages GCC (Summer Picnic proceeds) $1,509.00
Expenses –
-Sept 22 ATM Withdrawal – Purchase gift cards for John Breslin and Alicia Finger for volunteering assistance with the Summer Picnic. ($100.00)
-Sept 22 – Bank charge for 3 books of new checks ($34.00)
Ending balance as of September 30, 2021 $5,002.22
Note: Bank Balance is $6,002.22 as Ck#1679 ($1,000) is outstanding
September 2021 Hiking Club Hill Lands Project Fund
Beginning balance as of August 31, 2021 $2,801.82
No Income and Expenses $0.00
Ending Balance as of September 30, 2021 $2,801.82
· The preceding Financial Report was approved by a motion made by Gordon, and seconded by Michelle, which passed unanimously.
Sunshine Committee – The HC made $50 donations to the Evergreen Village Foundation (in memory of Bob Hunley) and to the National Parks Conservation Association (in honor of Faye Swanson), both as requested by each family.
Donations – Sandy shared a draft of the 2021 Donations List which was identical to the 2020 Donations List. Discussions followed covering potential updates, and two changes were made: reduce Greenbelt Alliance to $100, and add Big Basin State Park for $100 due to their significant wildfire damage sustained recently, with the $1200 total unchanged. Gordon made a motion, and seconded by Jim to approve such changes, and it passed unanimously. The updated Donation list for 2021 was approved via motion made by Michelle and seconded by Jim and it passed unanimously. Sandy will provide a final 2021 Donations List as amended, at the next Board Meeting.
2022 Budget – Sandy presented a draft 2022 Budget which was identical to the 2021 Budget except for the transfer of $500 from the HC General Account to the Hill Lands Account. Such transfer occurred in 2020 and earlier years, but not in 2021 due to Covid concerns. The 2022 Budget was unanimously approved by a motion made by Gordon and seconded by Michelle.
VP Membership & Website – JIM BEYER
· Jim reported we have one new member (Joy Rem) and the total current membership now stands at 305
· There will be a memorial hike (to the picnic area above the Upper Gardens) for Faye on Saturday, October 30, 2021, at 9a. There will also be a remembrance event for Faye at Foothill at 2p with cookies (provided by family) and coffee, with words from the family and other Villagers. Jim said there could be up to 80 people there. Al would like to add a Faye-remembrance plaque to one of the new benches in the Hill Lands, since she was so instrumental in acquiring them. There will be no cost to the HC.
VP Hiking & Trails – DAN KATO
· Dan reported all long hikes in October are booked, and he will likely do a Mt. Diablo hike in November.
· Al wanted to review how hike information flows to the Villager. Dan, Bonnie and Sy should inform Jim of the various hikes, and Jim will get it into the Villager in a standard format.
· Michelle will send out hike information on Cotoni-Coast National Monument, with the caveat that high clearance vehicles are recommended.
VP Social – MICHELLE BRESLIN
· Michelle advised the Pismo Beach Outing was very good. People said all the hikes went very well. Dinner was delicious and was held in the restaurant’s private tent. Given nearly 25% member cancellations we were looking at a large contractual revenue shortfall with the restaurant. After a brief negotiation, we agreed to eliminate the shortfall by buying about $280 of wine for dinner. This was about the amount we made from the Summer BBQ, so the outing was about breakeven for the HC. There were four long hikers who donated champagne used for a toast to Faye. Two people did kayaking. There were about 10 people who stayed the extra night to attend the Thursday night Farmer’s Market in San Luis Obispo, but the tri-tip sandwiches from McLintocks were disappointing.
· Game Night will be added to the schedule on November 11, 2021 at Vineyard at 7p. This event never made the planned 2021 schedule, but Michelle was able to add it. She is thinking about making it a dessert potluck event.
· Holliday Lights Walk, Hidden Path Walk and Holiday Party will be planned next.
Old Business – AL GIROLAMI, DAN KATO, MICHELLE BRESLIN
· Picnic Table, other Hill Lands Projects – Dan said the VGCC contacted him and Al saying the picnic table cost is now $1300, and asking the HC to agree to a not-to-exceed” amount of $1300. Al says if the Villages had agreed to get the Picnic table when we originally asked, the cost would have been less than $1000. Al will respond to the Villages on this. All other Hill Land projects will be addressed in the Spring of 2022.
· SJFD Fire Danger Review, Grazing Background – The Wildland Fire Manager from the SJ (San Jose) FD was unable to hike the Hill Lands with us to investigate local wildfire risk of years of underbrush build-up, which is a severe fire hazard to VGCC. However, he talked to Michelle to provide background information and said re-introducing cattle grazing would help reduce wildfire risk. Regarding more background information, Dan Kato said he spoke to Bill Johnston, and Bill told him he went to VGCC Club Board President Mike Falarski about Grazing. Bill said Falarski said we’re not going to it now; we don’t have time and it’s not worth doing it. So, Bill dropped it.
President Report, New Business – Al Girolami
· Grazing Proposal – Michelle learned from Julia Meadows that a Club must submit a Villages Board proposal, not an individual. SJFD is very supportive of returning seasonal grazing to the Hill Lands as it reduces the fire hazard of the mass of dry vegetation on the ground due to 24 years of not grazing. Michelle measured ground thatch in our Hill Lands in 3 or 4 places and found there are 9-15 inches built up on the hillsides. Plus, many of our trees have grown all the way down to the ground, which becomes a fire ladder in wildfire conditions. Grass fires will move up hill and could get into the trees (crown fire) and start creating its own wind. Cattle will eat almost everything including poison oak and will eat up 6 feet into trees and thus trim the trees and reduce fire ladders. Rich Vargas, the rancher on our southern border, wants to ride with us on the Hill Lands to see for himself the viability of grazing his cattle. He also may be willing to repair the infrastructure for capturing spring water in our Hill Lands. He did that 24 years ago. Jim made a motion to approve moving forward on the Cattle Grazing proposal with a committee led by Michelle. Gordon seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
· Al again asked for volunteers for Board Positions for 2022. Open positions are VP-Trails and VP-Social. At the October 2021 General Membership meeting this should be firmly announced. If no members step up, it should be emphasized that some HC events will be eliminated. A new slate of volunteer candidates must be presented, with voting and approval to occur at the General Membership Meeting in November.
4. Next Meetings
· November General Membership – Monday, November 29, 2021, at 7:30pm in the Foothill Center (please bring your mask). Program: Sempervirens (Sara Barth)
· NO DECEMBER MEETINGS
· January General Membership – Monday, January 31, 2022, at 7:30pm in the Foothill Center (please bring your mask). Program: TBD.
· January Board Meeting – Thursday, January 27, 2022, at 9:30am, in the Forum Room in Cribari.
5. Meeting Adjourned – The meeting adjourned at 11:15a.
Respectfully submitted,
Gordon Carbonetti – Secretary